A lurker who has been away from his desk for a week or so I would
like at this late point to comment on the SubVoicive colloquium;
as someone new to the British Poetry scene one of the highlights of
the day was Jennifer Pike and Bob Cobbing's piece; and the Bob
Cobbing's reading/performing the text which Lawrence Upton spoke on;
I found it interesting to hear through/behind Robert Sheppard's
piece a consideration of the relationship between British and US
poetry, or at least an ongoing anxiety in British poetry as regards
it's relationship with contemporary US poetry; is this because they
both ostensibly use the same (English) language, and so does not
arise in the relations with other European poetries? or is it part of
an old empire/colony thing (excuse my treading on such a point -- as
an outsider I feel allowed to )? but listening to the continuing
Euro and EMU debate I feel that poetry also must be caught in this
determination to measure against the other, to measure up to the
other, and surely there is a danger of losing a sense of what
British poetry should do / enact / effect in British society, in a
British context, parallel to other poetries in their own contexts;
perhaps I should get back to the Colloquium before I completely lose
my thread;
I enjoyed very much Maggie O'Sullivan's contribution, in its enacting
of that which it was discussing;
as regards where the colloquium should go next -- as someone outside
London, the fact of having a full day with a range of different
elements is preferable to it being spread over a series of evenings;
well done to those who organised it, and to the audience who
contributed
Mark Leahy
[log in to unmask]
School of English
University of Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
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