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absolutely right geraldine. thank you for articlulating that. the Emmett Wiiliams edited 'An Anthology of Concrete Poetry' from the late 60s refers to the way 'the confused gepgraphy of its beginnings reflects the universality of its roots'. And that it (concrete poetry) is 'blessed with a disunity'. many of the earlier practitioners were also ethically and politically committed to internationalism (which is quite different from globalisation), so it wasn't simply a by-product or by chance. The magazine Skald, which i co-edit with Zoe Skoulding, has just published a 'visual' issue. I'll go through the archives for the original notice sent out a month or two back and re-post. best Ian >From: Geraldine Monk <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Geraldine Monk <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: poetry special collections >Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 00:16:56 -0000 > >I know what your asking Mairead and I don't know the answer but when I read >this earlier in the day something niggled me about the question of 'scene' >in Ireland. I just couldn't put my finger on it. > >Anyway a glass of fine port seems to have lubricated my brain and suddenly >I know what it is. It's the very nature of vispo - it seems to transcends >'scenes' and 'countries' in an enviable way. It may be informed by place >or circumstance but on the whole vispo occupies an impersonal/universal >space where the 'scenery' is everybody's. It's as close to music as >poetry can get and even language isn't necessarily an obstacle as the >visual vocabulary almost translates itself. So the origins of the author >don't seem to figure too highly. > >Because of this it's not as clubbable as poetry with is totally word based >giving away far too many clues. >Irish/English/American/German/Australian etc books of Vispo may exist but I >haven't seen them because it seems to operate on another level. It somehow >doesn't enter into the equation. All you get are central points like Simon >and Erica or Bob Cobbing who actually publish the stuff but it's very hard >to think of these in terms of national 'scenes' which is probably why your >question isn't easy to answer. > >Just a late Saturday night thought. > >Cheers, >G. > > > > > >Geraldine Monk >www.westhousebooks.co.uk > ----- Original Message ----- > From: mairead byrne > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 5:39 AM > Subject: Re: poetry special collections > > > Well I'm wondering if there is a vispo scene at all in Ireland. Simon >Cutts, who with Erika Van Horn, runs Coracle Press, is a hub, if there is: >http://www.coracle.ie/ >