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David, I don’t see how a more pervasive presence of avantgarde poetry would save local libraries from being closed by the Tory government. From: David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: British & Irish poets <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2018 13:42:28 +0000 A few years ago, locally, a sustained promotion of spoken word poetry went hand in hand with the evisceration of the library service, the meltdown of adult education and the sidelining of independent, 'non-professional' groups. In some instances the same people were involved across the spectrum. So it isn't just a matter of beleagured would-be ivory avant towers under duress: avanty writers connected to the unis were untouched by this, while the creative writing programs boomed. These things are part of a wider cultural shift.