Mark: “I increasingly see myself in dialogue as a poet with British and
Irish poetry as much as with US poetry (which is why I'm particularly
pleased with offshore publication), though the space I mostly have to fight
for is within the latter.”
This makes complete sense to me, Mark, and I reciprocate, feeling my
conversations as including many of the poets assembled at SoundEye, yourself
included, as well as the vast range of Hispanic writing which I’ve been
granted access to via yourself, Mike Smith and Tony Frazer, among others.
Similarly, those names you mention, David – Apollinaire, Eluard, and Char –
are pretty constantly in the hinterland of my consciousness (well, maybe not
Eluard . . . ) despite my wretched knowledge of the language.
I’d greatly doubt if we’re the only three on this list who see ourselves
positioned in that broader territory, so why doesn’t it inform more of the
discussion here? Maybe because, as Mark notes, when it comes to fighting for
our individual spaces, we’re constrained, often, to do so within national
terms.
I had a chat with Nate Dorward recently about his struggle to produce new
issues of The Gig, and he told me how Canadian funding authorities
consistently look the other way because he’s not primarily publishing
Canadian work. When applying for funding for SoundEye, I’m constantly
confronted by a reluctance to fund any but the biggest names from abroad,
whereas money is immediately forthcoming if I mention some third-rate Irish
poetaster (and yes, there are third-raters, of all persuasions).
The Rothenberg/Joris approach strikes me as immensely attractive, and I’ve
been angling for some years to find funds to bring one or both of them to
Cork. Beyond their disregard for national boundaries in pursuit of
“modernism and its sequellae as an international movement”, I like also the
way it allows them an understanding of poetry as part of a dynamic within a
larger play of art disciplines - poetry, music, visual arts, conceptual art,
performance . . .
Which brings me back to the comments at the end of my previous post which
interested you, Mark, and the unfortunate necessity to admit that those were
Fergal’s contribution, not mine.
“Good luck with the new book.”
Thanks, David.
Cheers, T
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