Jamie, you're right, Todd isn’t advocating poetry prizes as such but you can tell from his repeated referrals to them in relation to the poets he features on his blog that he thinks them important. Here are a few Google results relating to this:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:toddswift.blogspot.co.uk+prizes&gws_rd=cr&ei=i4URVvPrLYnxUviIkNgD#q=todd+swift+eyewear+poetry+awards
So it’s easy to get the impression that he thinks of poetry in terms of status. Here’s a link to a piece in which he's asked to comment about the reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate contemporary British poetry:
http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=39705
In the article he says:
“Naturally not everyone can be invited, so the list has become a de facto Who's Who. It would be a fascinating list to see. I don't seem to be on it, for instance, but I know that the young poet, Keiran Goddard, shortlisted for the Melita Hume prize, is, though yet to have his debut collection out. I actually would have attended, gladly. I am British, and would have been glad to be included. Yet again, though, these hierarchical lists in British poetry - already a small room on a small island - tend to compound divisions, rather than overcome them. We shall see. I hope everyone invited has a grand time.”
That last bit is odd seeing as he has made his own list of who’s who among young British poets. See:
http://toddswift.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/are-you-on-eyewear-young-uk-poets-list.html
As well as setting up his own poetry award:
http://www.eyewearpublishing.com/the-melita-hume-prize/
And according to a Charlie Whalley in his twitter feed, he, (Whalley) tweets:
"Todd Swift "sick at heart" at not being invited to Buckingham Palace"
See:
https://twitter.com/charleswhalley/status/401099091939049472
Whalley links to Todd's blog post where he (Todd) mentions being "sick at heart", but the link is now inactive. Here it is anyway:
http://toddswift.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/usual-suspects-at-palace.html
From this link's address you can see that Todd seems upset at not being invited to the palace, by his use of "usual" and "suspects" in the addresses description. This sound like bitterness to me. Why be bitter if poetry awards don't matter?
Jamie McKendrick wrote:
Not really that weird, Tim - two negative posts by David about Todd Swift,
so my 'animus' was referring to those. Perhaps 'animus' is the wrong word:
maybe vague disapproval would serve better.
My remark about 'general characterisation' referred to your agreement with
David's post. It may be that you both have good reasons for that view, but
there was no evidence given for his "seeming enthusiasm for awards" that
could help others less familiar with his blog have some kind of focus for
the discussion.
I also remember in August that Todd Swift was referred to here with
mention of mental disorders and, absurdly, prior to that, in relation to
police brutality, so it looks as though he's becoming a kind of general
scapegoat.
Clearly I'm not saying he is that for you, or even that you have any
negative feelings about him at all, it's just that it looks like the list is
picking on him.
Jamie
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Allen
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2015 4:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Poetry’s obsession with poetry prizes and awards
?????? What? 'Animus' - what animus? I simply said that Todd appeared to
make it quite clear that he thinks prizes etc are OK. And I said I don't
like prizes. How is that animus or a 'general characterising of his blog'? I
actually have quite a lot of time for Todd Swift even though there might be
more than a few things I might disagree with him about - no big deal. A
weird post Jamie.
Cheers
Tim
On 4 Oct 2015, at 16:01, Jamie McKendrick wrote:
> This is all very vague and it's of little interest to make one writer's
> blog the target of this kind of animus - or at least give some specific
> examples so we know what's being referred to. I can't say I've followed
> Todd Swift's Eyewear more than a few times, and those have often been
> things I disagreed with, but the only reference I've seen there regarding
> poetry prizes was a negative one in which he was criticising the
> narrowness of their shortlists. As he's the publisher of a small press,
> this isn't an unexpected point of view, but it certainly doesn't support
> David's or Tim's general characterising of his blog.
> You could argue that anyone who complains bitterly about the results of
> literary prizes attributes an exaggerated importance to them but that
> would hardly make him unique or worth singling out.
> Jamie
>
>
>> On 4 Oct 2015, at 14:18, David Lace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Hi, Tim. Yes that seems to be the case with Todd. He seems too focused on
>> the "trappings" of what he thinks a poet is or should be (winning awards,
>> being published by respectable publishers, giving readings at important
>> festivals etc). I can’t see the point of awards, myself, other than to
>> bolster the egos of publishers and other interested parties, such as
>> various academic institutions and the press, as David (Latane) and Ron
>> touched on. It seems to me that the same "range of names" always appear
>> in the finalist or winner lists for such awards.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Allen Wrote:
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