Is there any essential difference between a small private circulation between the members of the local poetry group and someone in a university department circulating their poems to their own 'poetry group'? I don't like the way Prynne has become some sort of cypher for elitist practice - actually I don't like the way Prynne has become a cypher in general but there you go. Prynne's relative hermitage status mirrors what was happening to other poets of similar persuasions who happened to be outside the academy (a response to circumstances, both local and further afield) so I think it is a big mistake to read too much into the mandarin myth - a myth which is used by both fans and detractors in their own way and for their own ends. It's become stupid.
I also I think the idea of poets putting their stuff out for free on the net as a marker of anti-commodifactaion is empty. It's a gesture, that's all, and a gesture that gets immediately lost in an ocean of gestures.
As the minority sport of poetry remains outside any serious commercial activity (no matter the few exceptions) what is the point of making it an issue of commodification? I know that there is a kind of emotional or romantic history attached to left-field publication etc but I tend to see that in psychological terms, not as a practical weapon in the struggle against anything, either capitalism or the literary establishment. I might rant and give my opinions on capitalism or the literary establishment - I might even venture the notion that there is a link between them - but I don't see what that's got to do with realistic modes of publication - when Tesco starts putting Shearsman titles on its shelves I suppose I'll have to have a rethink.
Cheers
Tim A.
On 11 Dec 2013, at 17:34, David Bircumshaw wrote:
I'll try to push this a bit further: concerns about commodification are not put strongly enough it most discourse that hangs about the tails of current poetry. They are, forgive me, at the register of whimper not a bang. The whip hand as ever is with 'success'. Prynne's example, however admirable, has a reduced relevance outside the charmed circles of Cantabrig, I would question why many avant-garde writers rely on restricted modes of publication, after all if you are against commodity why not have your works available for free on the net. I do, and with all modesty, I probably have a lower income than almost anyone in the 'sphere'.
Best
DbSent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:01:33 +0000
Subject: Re: baBoom
Yes, we are all complicit, however, allowing that it is hard to speak without a rough edge about the details of anything as inherently unstable as the surfaces of social systems, I'd incline albeit hesitantly to some sort of statement along the lines of having a position at Cambridge is not quite the same as being on the dole in a West Yorkshire housing estate, to suggest a typically furry-edged example? I think there should be a question mark at the end of that, yes?
Best
Dave
