Tim, by “mainstream” with regard to Adrian, I meant that he was not considered as being part of the so-called “linguistically innovative” (whatever that might mean) “school of poetry” that is often mentioned in relation to UK avantgarde poetic practices. When I used to mention him to poets who see themselves as “linguistically innovative” they were dismissive of him. So I assumed that because of this they regarded him as being mainstream. From a “popular with the public” perspective, he could be seen as such; after all could a “linguistically innovative” poet ever achieve the mainstream popularity that he did? So my point is really about how he is perceived rather than what sort of poet he actually is.
From: Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: British & Irish poets <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2018 14:35:51 +0000
Getting no work done today, thanks Britpo. Now here's a can of worms. thanks Jeffrey.
For starters I never considered Henri, ever, as a mainstream poet, I considered him to be an avant entertainer, someone who took forms from the modernist and art world and filled them with lovely real content, made from the world around him. That is not 'mainstream'. His main influence on me was his saying that his poems had no beginning or middle or end. His poems were a type of mind-collage.
As someone else said here, Roger is light verse, and only mainstream to the extent that light verse, especially the humorous, is an accepted part of the mainstream, and he is very popular anyway. Brian too was and is mainstream to the extent that his well structured whimsey and love poetry was popular.
But this 'willingness to engage with local communities' - here goes... 90% of the time you only get to engage with local communities and schools etc when you get invited in, either by the places themselves or by some arts and/or community organisation. It doesn't just happen. And who gets invited in? Do I really need to answer this?
Cheers
Tim
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