David:
I thought I'd change the subject as it's altered beyond recognition.
Trevor's been a bit tough on you, but just look at it as a case of
"sauce for the goose etc". As it happens, I too dislike the automatic
trope whereby we all attack certain boo-figures (Larkin for one - a
poet I can't abide). But I also heartily dislike the automatic
sniggering that occurs in mainstream journals when one of "ours" pops
his head above the parapet - you may recall the TLS's snide references
to Peter Larkin and to Michael Farrell when Salt published them, a
quite startling dereliction of taste, duty etc etc from an otherwise
decent, if dry, journal.
I don't think it's a bad idea to have to justify such attacks. Let's
get away from the bunker mentality, eh? It's not worth your time or
ours to throw things at persons off-list - I'd like to think we're all
bigger than that and don't need to bolster our egos with a ya-boo kind
of response to those that can't defend themselves, or don't have
defenders on-list.
How about a little more positive approach and get that Chide's Alphabet
back up and running? That's the way to make your statement: show'em by
doing. It's the best way forward.
Tony Frazer
Editor, Shearsman
http://www.shearsman.com/
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