The Bloodaxe +book+ his remarks are in is a fairly open minded
assembly, Zukofsky's there as well as Larkin, Olson as well as Glyn
Maxwell, and so on, but I couldn't help feeling its editors show a
certain fondness for Armitage (could it be that Bloodaxe has a certain
investment in selling his +books+). This following is from the
prefatory blurb I mean introduction to his little essay:
'Witty, sardonic, tough-talking, matter-of-factly lyrical, Simon
Armitage is ... the 'priest of a generation' who more than anyone
reflects the spirit and accessibility of contemporary British poetry
... and an unlikely meeting of O'Hara, MacNeice and the M62'.
It struck me that the conjunction of Frank O'Hara and fast moving
traffic was not entirely a happy one, even if only near prehistoric
beaches.
Come to think of it, wasn't it in the Pennines that MacNeice caught
that fatal unforeseen (his last book was on astrology) pneumonia?
Take care of those sequins, Nathan.
2008/5/15 Nathan Hondros <[log in to unmask]>:
> Ha, yes. No more books for me, also. In fact, tonight I'm going out in
> sequins to dance the fandango (beware, Andrew).
>
> But seriously, whatever the readership of poetry might be (I have no idea
> how large a group it is, or even who they might be, apart from a few of my
> friends) it can only be damaged when its members are described as boring
> perverts. Boring perverts? Almost as rediculous as fascinating purists.
>
> Should poetry be exciting?
>
> On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 2:40 PM, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Nathan, I'm sure you're not as uninteresting as Armitage's recent
>> 'translation' of the Gawayne poem seems to be, from what little I've
>> read of it. Not that I'm going to buy the book, after all, why should
>> I, only boring people buy books, by his argument. And I'm certainly
>> not going to take it out from the library, only geeks in specs go
>> there.
>>
>> 2008/5/15 Nathan Hondros <[log in to unmask]>:
>> > I can't claim to be a purist or a pervert, so I must be utterly
>> > uninteresting. And I despise party games.
>> >
>> > On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 2:01 PM, David Bircumshaw <
>> [log in to unmask]>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> And poets lose faith in all their Imaginary Friends.
>> >>
>> >> You get Simon Armitage:
>> >>
>> >> 'Firstly, bookish people imagine themselves as purists, but are
>> >> actually perverts, belonging to a deviant culture'
>> >>
>> >> (So that explains Larkin's private library)
>> >>
>> >> 'Poetry continually runs the risk of being unexciting because of its
>> >> continual attempts to appeal to unexciting people - people who enjoy
>> >> reading - an essentially passive, silent and solitary activity'
>> >>
>> >> From 'Re-Writing the Good Book' reprinted 'Strong Words', Bloodaxe,
>> 2000.
>> >>
>> >> The essay begins with an imaginary game with Christmas cards and you
>> >> get party tricks as a governing metaphor in some of Armitage's poems.
>> >> So you have the poet here as someone who wants to have lots of friends
>> >> at Poly.
>> >>
>> >> Best
>> >>
>> >> Dave
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> David Bircumshaw
>> >> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> >> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
>> >> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> >> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> David Bircumshaw
>> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
>> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>>
>
>
>
> --
> [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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