cheers tony,
i was a bit confused by this, poets on fire seem to have done a lot to keep the site free of internet poetasters, it's invite only now, which is a great idea, and this is always full of wolesome material.
A lot of good sites have been swamped by poetasters though, a lot of Facebook pages for publishers too. makes them completely unusable. Absolute Write Watercooler used to be a brilliant resource for legal advice for publishers and writers, now it's just people posting about 4 poems a day.
alec
> Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 21:48:20 +0100
> From:
[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: More outspokenness from R. Lumsden at Poets on Fire
> To:
[log in to unmask]>
> David,
>
> This is 4 years old; I'm not sure it belongs here, and, if it does, it should have a date stamp. I mean,
if Roddy took some of the vitriol / ad hominem stuff that have cropped up here years ago and then posted it today at PoF, we'd be narked wouldn't we?
>
> It seems of a piece with Roddy's general take on the UK "avant-garde", actually, so no surprise.
>
> Best,
> Tony
>
>
>
> On 5 Jul 2011, at 21:37, David Lace wrote:
>
> > Sorry, but I just can't resist posting this here:
> >
> >
> > "[...] As for wider comments about BritPo and the listservs, I have some to make...
> >
> > The email based listservs have now had their day. I think any connection between the booming health of UKLIP and the crapulous BritPo is unproductive though. Even forums like this one will probably be dead in another five-ten years and I don't want to take anything away from the important, exciting business of connecting disparate minds which was done by
poetryetc, britpo, wompo and the rest. But it's time to knock some of those old forums on the head - they have mainly become ad sites and, in the case of petc, just another terrible-poem-post site.
> >
> > As to Britpo specifically, it has been a soap opera with a dwindling audience for years. The reasons for this are complex and would take long explanations which would be as tedious as trying to explain Hollyoaks to someone who hasn't seen it since '02. A few reasons are obvious though...
> >
> > - as I've said before, though set up as a discussion forum for poets writing outside of the mainstream, all too often it has been a crap-shoot for puppies humping the ankles of the mainstream, and that has never been stamped on as much as it should have been - it has put a lot of LIP poets off joining and being tarred with that stick
> >
> > - none of the younger innovative poets want anything to do with
britpo - and its whiff of jazz, elbow patches, fag-smoke and 70s politics - it's like walking in on your old folks doing it!
> >
> > - the major reason for its demise is the demise of the list-serv, but second was the change of moderators to Byrne and Rupert Mallin some time back - perfectly credible choices in some ways, but, well, not exactly 'innovative' poets, given the list's focus. Mallin had also, near to the changeover, made some disparaging comments about the state of UK/I innovative poetry - the last straw for many of the bristly old guard like Upton, Allen and Riley.
> >
> > - most of the posters who plaster their ads and poems over the site clearly never read the rest and don't contribute to the community - this sleazy practice ought to have a name really - I'm sure it does!
> >
> > - most of the posters left there have never even heard of most of the fabulous newer poets writing
innovative poetry in the US, UK and elsewhere (and this will be splendidly proved by a clear lack of response to Chris' new post there asking about what is going on now - expect tumbleweeds). And most of them, oddly, are not even innovative poets but old bores of the self-appointed maverick tendency!
> >
> > Time to put it quietly to sleep I think, as happened with Crossroads, which had more credibility and distinctly more viewers."
> >
> >
> > http://z11.invisionfree.com/Poets_On_Fire/index.php?showtopic=627