Rupert said:
>"I'm interested in Luke's work because he is developing original elements. I do not believe he is a "slave to a formula." Indeed, "Hang your friends" is quite complex: the world is terrible, your friends drone on about the world and how awful their lives are, which impact on you. So, instead of a poetical suicide note, rid yourself of any contact with the world by killing off those closest to you. With shades of Columbine, it points to the ridiculousness of the world without hitting a series of worthy political bullet points."<

I completely agree Rupert, i never said Hang Your Friends was "slave to a formula", i said his Channel 4 poem was - that was the whole gist of what I was saying, the difference between the two. I was trying to explore the question of why that is, why it is acceptable in the performance poetry context, what the long-term result of this attitude is etc. Loads of issues there, issues that are not answered by the evasion of >"Actually, I don't like the division between performance poetry and poetry per se"<. What do you mean by that?

Tim A.