That was me. In the matter of books or chapbooks, I was quoting the late
Barry MacSweeney, a poet in favour of self-publication as witness his
Blacksuede Boot Press. As to individual poems, the connection is my own
recent dilemma over whether to send poems to big national competitions where
a single poem might win kudos and £5,000, knowing that the thing stands
virtually no chance and will moreover be tied up for 6 or 8 months, or
whether to concentrate on getting more poems into decent magazines. I do
agree I should have made all that clear at the outset.
joanna
> * I must disagree with one thing I read earlier, that the important
> thing is to get work out there, regardless of single poems or
> book. I am not 100% sure of who on this list has and hasn't been
> "booked," but I'm one of the Nots. To me a book, honestly come
> by, is significant to me because it validates that someone thought
> my work sufficiently valuable to issue it between covers. I don't
> care if it winds up remaindered an hour later or if it sells to my
> kids, my girlfriend, and my exwife (so she can sue me based on
> content). The idea it was issued at all is what is important. (I
> doubt anyone will be tasteless enough to say Vantage or
> Exposition, thank you.)
>
> Can I go home now?
>
> Ken
>
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