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I can't claim to be a purist or a pervert, so I must be utterly uninteresting. And I despise party games. On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 2:01 PM, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > And poets lose faith in all their Imaginary Friends. > > You get Simon Armitage: > > 'Firstly, bookish people imagine themselves as purists, but are > actually perverts, belonging to a deviant culture' > > (So that explains Larkin's private library) > > 'Poetry continually runs the risk of being unexciting because of its > continual attempts to appeal to unexciting people - people who enjoy > reading - an essentially passive, silent and solitary activity' > > From 'Re-Writing the Good Book' reprinted 'Strong Words', Bloodaxe, 2000. > > The essay begins with an imaginary game with Christmas cards and you > get party tricks as a governing metaphor in some of Armitage's poems. > So you have the poet here as someone who wants to have lots of friends > at Poly. > > Best > > Dave > > -- > David Bircumshaw > Website and A Chide's Alphabet > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/ > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk > -- http:[log in to unmask]