Poetry Scotland:
Webitorial
Hello
and welcome to the chatty bit of Poetry Scotland’s website. It is not ‘just’
a website:
it is the other half of your Poetry Scotland
magazine. The broadsheet, distributed widely
to the general public in Scotland, and to our subscribers world-wide, still
holds the main
contents: good new poems by a variety of Scottish and international poets.
This website
provides the extra information, news, discussion, book information and features
so essential
to the poets and contributors, subscribers and onlookers who want to go deeper
into Poetry
Scotland; literally behind the scenes. And this page is specifically intended
to be interactive.
Contributions
of letters, articles, comments, news, photos to illustrate poems in Poetry
Scotland, any poems offered specifically for the website, and any other suggestions,
may
be sent by post or email. Correspondence
to Poetry Scotland, 91-93 Main Street, Callander,
FK17 8BQ. 'How to subscribe' information is on the Home
page.
Excellent feedback now
coming in on the Open Mouse poems. Do please respond
to
these poems - let me have your comments by email.
On the subject of Open
Mouse, I need to point out that posting on the PS
website
constitutes publication. Most printed magazines stipulate that submissions
must
be previously unpublished, and previous appearance of a poem on the website
may
disqualify them from meeting this condition. Of course, authors retain their
copyright,
and does not preclude subsequent publication in any form, but editors should
be
notified.
Seasonal Poem
Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)
Adlestrop
Yes, I remember Adlestrop -
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat,
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop - only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
StAnza 2008
Every year I'm delighted by all the nice things that happen in St Andrews at StAnza -
the accidental, the amusing, the heartening little incidents. Meeting Brian Turner, for
example, and finding out he comes from Fresno, a place I had written a poem about;
talking to Kenneth White on stage in the Byre during the interval, and realising how
much we have in common; discovering that August Kleinzahler had been taught poetry
by Basil Bunting in Victoria BC, the same place where one of my poems is going to be
read later this year. Coincidences, I've come to believe, are things which you can depend
on happening.
My own specific contribution to the Festival, chairing the Past and Present sessions, was,
as always, an absolute joy. My thanks to August Kleinzahler, Chris Jones, Janice Galloway,
Annie Freud, Adrian Mitchell, Penny Shuttle, Tom Leonard and Tess Gallagher. It was
really special.
A Skein of Geese
Those who attended StAnza 2007 will remember the 100 Poets Gathering, when a huge assemblage of poets (what's the collective noun?) read a poem each over the course of an afternoon, culminating in Alastair Reid's very last reading of his poem Scotland, and its ceremonial burning. Now, thanks to Eleanor Livingstone, the poems have been collected and published in a wonderful anthology, available for only £5 from Eleanor.
A poetry doctor
writes:
On catching the eye of the Mouse
Editing a magazine or a web page like Poetry Scotland's Open Mouse is a subjective
business. Ultimately, what goes in is what I like. Some editors publish their preferences,
or do's and don'ts, on their websites. Look at the Ambit and HappenStance sites for
a couple of examples - there are many more. So, inspired by Sally's new Advice page,
I thought I'd do the same.
Here then are some of the reasons for choosing your poems
for inclusion rather than someone else's.
- Show don't tell. I know this one's a cliché, but that doesn't make it invalid. Don't tell me
you're happy,
show me with your choice of words.
- Emotional reality. I want to know that it was you who experienced what you're describing
in the poem, not something you've read in a newspaper. Second-hand emotions, when you're
reacting to the pain or pleasure of others, are almost invariably weak and ineffective.
- Use concrete terms and images. Woolly abstractions and intellectual or philosophical
concepts have their place, but not in the poetry I like. I go back to the William Carlos
Williams dictum: No ideas but in things.
- The structure of the poem should reflect its nature. Structure is the skeleton upon which
the words are hung. Even the loosest of free verse should have some reason
for being put
together the way it is. I have a particular issue with line breaks. Some of the submissions I get
seem to have line breaks inserted at random. The poems look ragged and uneven on the page
or on the screen, and that is evidence of carelessness.
- Be formal if you like, but be good. I like formal poetry if it's done with style, subtlety and grace.
However, I've read some awful villanelles in my time, and I'd recommend you avoid this form
until you've served your apprenticeship. I love a good sonnet though. Line-end rhyming
can be a problem issue. Let's just say that I prefer ballet to clog dancing.
- Be original. Sometimes, when I receive a poem in my Inbox, I have an intake of breath
at the sheer originality of subject, language or style. I want to share that pleasure with
readers of the Open Mouse.
- Avoid clichés. Everyday speech is riddled with clichés, but that's no reason for poetry
to go down the same road.
- Take advice. As the Open Mouse Guidelines say, I don't usually have time to give advice
to those sending me poems. However, if a poem is a really good one with only one or two
issues in it, I might suggest some changes. If you choose not to take the advice, that's OK,
but don't then expect me to publish. You're not the only one with Attitude.
That's about all I want to say at the moment, apart from the fact that we are truly Open geographically
and by subject. The internet is a universal medium.
Colin Will
