E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Warning: this post is about Todd Swift's recent collection, Mainstream Love Hotel . It is a self-serving notice of a very positive review in the April/May 2010 issue of London Magazine , by Leah Fritz . It is being posted in order to interest readers in the collection, in the hopes that some might seek out the book, to read it, even buy it. If this act is suspect, or even considered downright bad, consider the following: what are poets doing when they a) read their books at launches and book signings; publish their poems? What are publishers doing when they a) send books for review; market books; sell books in shops and online; enter books in competitions? The motives of authors and publishers are complex, and cannot all be boiled down to the purely virtuous act of distributing literary material freely, for the sake of education, enlightenment and entertainment. Poets, and publishers, both want a) their books to be read; and b) their books to be borrowed or sold. This may be i...