One of the key phrases in your piece was 'so we are made to feel'. The
pressures of 'official' or 'central' culture are very strong and make it
difficult for everyone to have the kind of 'success' they want. Everybody
needs to know, for example, that Ashbery's early work was disseminated
amongst what has been rather dismissively termed a 'coterie'. What this
really means is a group of sophisticated readers who would receive and
respond to his work without treating it as just another product in an
impossibly wide continuum. [This was one of the reasons I did my 'Cities'
thing in a run of 100 - it seemed to make more sense to send the work to
people - known and unknown - who would be likely to appreciate it than to
send individual poems of the sort contained there to the 'big mags' -
so-called - who are only looking for the next social realist anyway.]
I think you're right when you say that poetry is small scale. We should take
what anyone says about sales, popularity etc with a wheelbarrow or two of
salt. As I pointed out at the end of New Relations despite the supposed
success of the 'New Gen' promotion, books by many of the poets involved were
clogging up remainder outlets the following January i.e. six months later.
To make a similar point in reverse, William Oxley has just written to remind
me that it's still possible to pick up copies of first editions from 10
years ago or more in 'new' book shops.
For me as a poet, the most important thing is to know who your readers are
and to make sure they get the work you want them to get. That's the most and
the best that any of us can do - the 'success' of a Harrison or an Armitage
are massive exceptions.
I ought to clear one thing up which you touch on when you say 'you write
from a sectional interest dictated by your sense of where your poetry
belongs'. Actually, 'Mapping Value' functions as my very disillusioned
farewell to a particular type and level of involvement that I've had in
so-called BritPo for a number of years.
Also: on the subject of promotion and PR, it's surprising how little most
publishers will do for poetry unless they feel they've got a racing cert on
their hands.
O yeah: re young woman poet at Bologna: come on, don't be coy, name names!
And yes, finally, I thought the Hugo Williams piece was disgraceful.
best wishes,
David
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