Oh well just to put the cat amongst the dingoes, I was in New York state
last year to deliver some lectures. Although the Brit Academy let me down
badly, or at least the postal system did, and their ridiculous cut off
dates, the British Council came to my assistance. They sorted out some
finance problems I was having, and suggested some extensions to my trip
which involved giving a series of readings in N.Y.. I was impressed with
the professional approach to the whole thing, and I ended up giving reading
which would never have occurred without their intervention.
Now I am not an anyone's wish list, I don't come into any categories for
special help, but I got the help and advise I needed. So there is another
side to the coin.
Oh and I think it is unfair to snipe at the apparent success of other poets,
even if it is not a poetry form that appeals. They are finding an audience.
And if that audience is American and they are going down well there, it
makes it easier in the long haul for others to follow.
There has always been a flourishing reading scene, but I could equally
complain (because I live in Liverpool) that if you do not live in London or
Oxford or Glasgow or wherever and unless the editors of specific magazines
think your face fits, you end up with five minutes at an open mike to get
noticed.
I think it is time those who write poetry began to have a little respect for
other artists, and not use descriptions like "third rate" without justifying
and suggesting why they are, in their opinion, third rate.
Maybe someone should draw up a league table of poets, put them into
divisions, if that sound preposterous, then so is calling someone third
rate.
Jim
A fifth rate poet.
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