Can't answer your question, Tim, as my own responses to DP, both on the page and in performance, are much akin to yours. I do get,
at times, that there's a kind of cult of dullness in 'official' British poetry, I wonder sometimes whether it all circles around
legacy issues such as the 'bad behaviour' of figures like Wilde or Dylan Thomas, people who were in some ways 'flamboyant', so that
an invocation of 'respectability' is being transmitted. I'm not sure about this thought, in fact it's probably wrong, but do suspect
there is something along that line that happens. It could be too just the anxiety or fear of just what poetry is. A metaphor equals
a lie, there's a long tradition of unease about figurative language in Britain, you can link it back to the Civil War and its
aftermath. Interesting to hear from people about Simon Armitage's recent work though, if that's right it is, at least, a good sign.
Best
Dave
David Bircumshaw
Spectare's Web, A Chide's Alphabet
& Painting Without Numbers
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: Poetry International Finale
Half saw Paterson read last night and half heard him - his face was in shadow
and I was at the back and he mumbled. Therefore can't comment on the quality
or otherwise of the work itself but his deliverance was very poor and the work
sounded dead, lifeless stuff with no energy or spark. How does he get away
with it? The audience were not the usual Plymouth poetry audience but consisted
mainly of students and uni people who had quite obviously come along to
witness a cultural event - very very depressing. No atmosphere - nothing.
I have a question, a question that maybe somebody on this list who is into
Paterson or into the positive advantages that are supposed to come with
traditional forms etc may wish to respond to: why is it that despite all the bullshit
about craft and technique and communication this poetry is so undynamic,
miserable and monotonous?
Tim A.
|