Jamie, thanks for clarifying Robert’s remark. It may be true historically, but as a dominant manifestation of contemporary poetry it’s the ‘creeks and backwaters’ that are seen as mainstream—at least by the mainstream who control all the publicity outlets.
As someone said earlier (Tim or Jeffrey?) its perception that matters.
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Jamie McKendrick wrote:
David, I know what you're saying is all relative but 'having a large audience of all social groups and educational levels' would disqualify all contemporary poets except perhaps three or four. At least this is an attempt at a definition but it all seems to me as futile as trying to analyse phlogiston or ether.
I assume what Robert is saying is that the avantgarde is the main stream, the central tradition, the others creeks and backwaters...
Jamie
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