Dear all,

Picking up on a few points amidst many good ones. I'll mind my manners
next time I get impatient or bored, and offer a more considered and
considerate tone. Jezzer will survive my quip at his firm place in
history. He needs to get out more, though.

Like Doug, I don't belong in any camp and wouldn't want to, unless it
was the read as opposed to the unread. Of course not belonging can be a
strength, but for the young it can be stifling, which is where this list
can have real meaning. I don't really care to defend the innovation of
the poets I read. I don't think the list would benefit from me
explaining why I like reading someone on the bog anyhow. My passions
are  not fixed either (depends on what I've been eating). On the
simplest level we mustn't confuse difficulty with worth. Nor value the
neglected just because they are neglected. There is more important work
at hand. I'd lie more energy spent on the present than retrieving the
past.

Our versions of innovation are too complex to explain, and Doug's
caution on the value of such terms is pertinent. I can't bring myself to
censor the poets I listed. They _should_ be read. Everyone should get
their chance. Some will continue to nurture readers. Others will not.
I'm not in the business of instructing anyone. I'm in the business of
reading and writing. I think my critical faculties lie around whether
something is of use to me as a poet. Selfish that, but I'm not quite a
lay person. Even less a critic.

If we want to have an impact, we must address these (and other) poets
and help them grow. Surely we can agree on that. How does this list help
nurture young poets? What is the role of the poet in our society? How
should poets live? What advice can we offer?

I think Doug's challenge is a truly refreshing one. It is social and
responsible. However, many of the young have no sympathy with such
notions. Some would argue that it is the job of the poet to detroy
society in order to rebuild it. The English have trouble accepting their
place in Europe, so it is unsurprising that internationalism is cause
for concern. As a culture, we are at the long tail end of a retreat from
the globe, only to discover that the globe has pursued us in to our
living rooms and overtaken our lives, our livelihoods. Identity is
characterised by our own isolated narratives. When societies and
cultures have been detroyed, the poet can help build new ones. Or
wrestle with the dust.

Let us say that, for me, the young are engaged in that dialogue, whilst
many of our forebears have retreated into semantics and a poetry born of
theory. And influences . . . well mine, like most of yours, are washed
in blood and money. They involve birth and death and getting by. I don't
mind being told off for citing Artaud and Tzara, (neither are
influences) through such events one learns. I am taking Doug's hand and
anyone else's. I want to make sense of what I am doing and I want to
think through my direction. I need guidance. These are important times.
There's a vacuum and I need air.

Chris Emery



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