Interesting stats, cris, although I'm not sure what they mean; a
corrective maybe. I suppose I have a nostalgic or sentimental feeling
about britpo, but that was about discussions that opened up poetry for
me in fundamental and (for me) very important and life-saving ways,
and when I think about it, they happened almost a decade ago. Hmmm.
There were people on the list then - including you - who were
cheerfully patient with my ignorance and impertinent questions. There
was Ric Caddel's ironically good humoured and committedly open list
ownership. But I think maybe what happened then was that british and
irish poets answered a very specific and perhaps urgently felt need at
the time.
Interesting, in the blog sphere, to compare poetry and theatre blogs.
Theatre came very late to the internet and for the most part missed
out on the list phenomenon - there were mailing lists, but they didn't
really enter the discourse. Blogs really started taking off about two
years ago, and in the past year have been gathering momentum. There
are a number of blogs which are very good indeed, and which function
as nodes of discussion, networks that spider out between blogs and
bloggers and those who comment on them, connections that extend into
journals and mainstream media and back again. Because it's all new,
there is none of that residual history that seems to touch poetry
blogs, the sense of a reactionary turning against lists; just a sense
that a discursive space has opened out that was lacking and that was
deeply desired. And there is a sense of common purpose that maybe
reminds me of the earlier britpo days.
Maybe lists have in a way served their purpose. Maybe if an urgency
arises again, they will find another purpose and focus. It's certainly
true that lists, like everything else, have life cycles. But I wonder
if, for lists to work, there has to be a kind of innocence and good
faith that comes from the desire for them, the commonly held
perception of a need that drives their existence. And that that need
is not so clear among poets, given a slew of alternatives?
All the best
Alison
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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