on 6/2/01 6:19 PM, Candice Ward at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> let me recall that this was the
> spring of 1999, just after Oxford had announced the shutdown of its
> poetry-publishing enterprise, which had included Chris Wallace-Crabbe, whom
> I overheard telling someone--soberly, in both senses of the term, and with
> evident relief--that Carcanet had just "picked [him] up." (This was in
> Melbourne, where--not incidentally--Collected Works was being evicted from
> its former space, and when I met its owner, Kris Hemensley, he still hadn't
> located new premises for this illustrious poetry venue.) Earlier that week
> in Hobart, I'd met some of the poets affiliated with Island, which was then
> between editors and feared to be about to go under for lack of funding--so
> another sober session there. These were very dire times for poetry in both
> those Australian locales, in other words, and such straitened circumstances
> rarely bring out the charitable side in anyone.
OK, Candice, I understand all of that. At that time, there was the added
problem of all Australian mainstream publishers (incl Penguin,
HarperCollins) withdrawing almost totally from publishing poetry, not just
OUP. There was a lot of doom and gloom about - even, dare I mention it, in
Sinny. There was a period from the lateish 1990s till, well, about now, when
I went underground much as Alison has described. And, of course, I accept
the fact that Sinny is the whipping boy.
At least Kris found another shop (Collected Works is a national treasure by
the way) and many good souls of the small presses have kept poetry alive -
and those presses emanate not just from Sydbourne but Wollongong, Fremantle,
Brisbane, Adelaide, the Hunter and other regions/towns/cities. And at one
stage not so long ago Tasmania (god love 'em) had as many if not more lit
mags than NSW - or so it seemed.
As you say, when you've been doing it tough, it's hard to be charitable and
and it doesn't take much to be red rag to the bull. But despite what you may
think, there is a lot of good will out there amongst poets (even those
dreadful Sinny types) and the scene is as lively as ever. Just depends where
you look, to state the obvious. I wrote a lot today - so maybe a bit of a
barney (as opposed to the 'w' word) can be a good thing, especially for
someone as shy as myself (I assure you there is not an ounce of irony in
that statement.
Cheers,
Jill
_________________________________
Jill Jones
50 Ruby Street
Marrickville NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
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