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

The editorial of Poetry London's Summer 2009 issue, by Tim Dooley , explores important issues relating to the death and rebirth of poetry criticism and reception in the UK. One of the points he makes is that there are as many new poetry collections out each year as there are film releases, and the possibility for proper engaged reviews of each of these is subsequently becoming limited, in some ways, partially simply due to the numbers; but also because newspapers, other than the Guardian , are less and less interested in reviewing poetry (I think the Times does a bit, too). On the other hand, he observes, there are new forums to read such works. He writes: "The Internet has created new possibilities like the discussion board Poets on Fire moderated by Jane Holland , or Todd Swift's blogzine Eyewear ." I am very proud to have Eyewear mentioned in this way, especially as it is an amateur pursuit without funding and fuelled only by enthusiasm. It is the second time t...

Warning: self-interested plug. Eyewear recommends PoetCasting , always - and especially this week, when I am its featured poet. Poet Alex Pryce has done a great job building an impressive list of recordings - and, fortuntately, with the support of the Arts Council, intends to keep going for some time. Good news for all those who enjoy hearing, as well as reading, their British-based poets.

In case you wanted to know more - or anything - about Postmodern Spoken Word - well, this is the place you want to be . Among other things, it kindly suggests I created a new spoken word genre, "Canadian Fusion". Gee, thanks, but: credit should also go to Tom Walsh , the intrepid musician-composer who pioneered the Swifty Lazarus style with me, in Montreal, throughout the 1990s.

As the Guardian observes, today, in its review (by British poet Frances Leviston ), Bloodaxe has released (yet another) anthology, this time to mark its 30th anniversary, combining word with sight and sound: rather than including a CD with the book it's offering a DVD of poets, to complement the text (as Rattapallax was among the first to do, in 2002, with its anthology, which I co-edited, Short Fuse; now it does DVD/magazines). Despite what Graves and Riding might have said, in their famous critique, anthologies helpfully situate poets, communities, and moments, especially for readers who cannot keep pace with the baffling shifts and turns of the poetry world in all its momentum. The review also (I was glad to note) mentions the Oxfam Life Lines CDs. Oxfam did a limited poetry DVD for the first Life Lines CD , in 2006, but it only featured 12 or so poets; it was made available on YouTube , too. There is nothing all that "new" about the Bloodaxe book/DVD initiative....