I have heard the other side of the coin that says a
>researcher/teacher's poetry is *never valued in an academic
>institution, that it's the research papers that matter.
Interestingly, one of the many and multifarious ways in which I have cocked
up an academic interview is by downplaying my creative writing (I was
blindsided by the question: no-one had ever shown any interest before, and
I'm not accustomed to think of my poetry-writing self as very close to my
academic self anyway). The
dept head rang me up that evening to tell me I hadn't got the job, cleared
his throat, and said "The poetry, you know, is RAE rateable". Not *quite*
the same as "valued", I agree, but about as close as the modern university
sector gets, eh?
I agree though, Roger, that problems start when poets go looking for
validation from the academy, the pieces of paper that "say you can write"
(who sez?) For me the lecturing is a job, not so much a vocation. I find it
overlapping less and less with the poems I write. I didn't make a very
imaginative career choice, I agree, and I have felt disillusioned about that
lack of imagination in the past. I looked into doing an electrician's
apprenticeship, but at 26 I was too old. In the UK you can do a City and
Guilds conversion course, but nothing similar was offered in Ireland.
Cheers,
Kit
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