Hang on everybody I am the geriatric Mc Poetaster here !!
From: British & Irish poets [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Riley
Sent: 30 September 2012 19:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: University chiefs reel under critical attack
OK, I just got the impression that almost everything I've mentioned here recently received a denial from you. Like Poetry Parnassus -- I don't write these things lightly but I research them as best I can, so it is disturbing having someone say You've got it all wrong, it wasn't like that at all. Perhaps it wasn't you who called me a geriatric poetaster either, but someone other Mc-Surname. But to throw the ball back into your court -- what about those eight lines of Reid I quoted. How would you make them out to be a critique of academe? What value would you find in them whatever their purpose? (Having some knowledge of Guardian editors, it occurred to me that they might have omitted a sentence or more between "academia" and 'Brannigen'.)
Peter
On 30 Sep 2012, at 19:15, Jamie McKendrick wrote:
Strange that you should say this, Peter. Even here, I don't consider my comment to be a categorical disagreement, whatever that is. I was just as much disagreeing with John's remark and I conceed that there may be a real concern about Guardian and other press coverage of poetry.
It's especially strange because for the most part I've admired your Fortnightly Review pieces - and have commented positively here on at least a couple of them. The one I took issue with was the description of the Poetry Parnassus event and I tried to explain my objections, again not in the least categorically. Valid or not, they weren't favoured by any reply. On another recent occasion, I replied to Tim:
"The threshold requirement for sense being made differs radically from reader to reader - though my tastes may be very different from Peter's
I have the feeling from what he writes that the placement of this threshold is in the vicinity."
This would suggest to me something far from categorical disagreement - and something rather warmer than qualified agreement.
If I'm coming over as contentious, it may be that I'm not in tune with the aesthetics of this list, if anything as unitary as that exists. But even if I were better attuned, surely disagreements would be natural enough.
In this case, I think Reid is a poet who doesn't deserve the mockery that followed your post, and on my limited knowledge of her work I see no reason to doubt the integrity of Aingeal Clare as a critic. If you consider what I've written misguided or wrong in this or any other instance, why not explain why?
Jamie