On Saturday 01 Jan 2005 20:19, Jim Andrews wrote:

(delurking just for a moment)

Hi, Jim&all

> have been wondering about the locality/regional/national aspects of poetry
> and art more generally contrasted with the internationalist possibilities
> of networked media.
>
Internet poetry (in particular) fascinates me.

> is it the poetry of poets from your geographic area that is most relevant
> to you? that you know best? are we moving from regionalism/nationalism to a
> stronger international dimension to poetry and art?
>
I pretty much turned my back on the UK poetry scene in the mid-nineties - it
all seemed a bit stale to me back then (and whenever I pop my head back over
the wall to see what's happening I don't see much improvement over the past
10 years or so).

Before the flames start, I'll point out that the disillusionment is entirely
mine - an analogy would be those dotty pictures that were popular a few years
back which, if you looked at them in just the right way, would reveal
themselves into 3-D scenes. Whenever I stared at them all I got was a
headache. Whenever I try to reach the beauty of much of the current poetry
being published in the UK, or winning the big UK awards, I end up shaking my
head - it's as if I'm missing the crucial key in my understanding of UK
poetry which would unlock these poems for me.

Discovering the internet, and the poetry being committed in the newsgroups and
websites therein, was revelatory. It kickstarted my own writing again, and
took me in directions I'd not considered possible before. And I think the
online community is different from the more traditional geographically-based
poetry tribes. Not specifically better, but different and just as valid.

> locality/regional issues are not going to fade away into the woodwork, of
> course, and i suppose there's good reason for it. as long as we distinguish
> between regionalism and nationalism in art. it seems to me there's more of
> use in regionalism than nationalism. given the particularity of art and
> also given the political toxicity of many forms of nationalism.
>
I don't see "internationalism" as much of a movement in the internet poetry
scene. The poetry which works best for me is often intensely focussed on
place or local history. The poetry which is least effective is that which
deliberately tries to cross borders or tap into some universal "truth" (the
reams of offal produced across the 'net in the wake of 9/11, or the
Challenger disaster, or the Iraq war, for instance).

So I think the internet has promoted a paradox: the best written (and
received) poetry that I've come across on the inernet is intensely local (but
not self-absorbing). It's like people have discovered a big new audience, and
are doing their very best to inform that audience of their own locality and
their own history through the poetry they write.

> anyway, just wanted to drop a line and say thank you for the british poets
> list; it's great to read what you are doing/thinking/experiencing/feeling
> and participate a bit with you in that.
>
> happy new year from the west coast of canada.
>
I've got cousins in Prince Rupert, but I haven't been in contact with them for
years. Happy new year back to you and yours, and to everybody on the list.

> ja
> http://vispo.com
>
Rik Roots