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

Candé-Sur-Beuvron, Saturday afternoon by Emily Dening The hour by Victoria Heath Imago by D Nurkse Sylvia's sister by Janet Vickers Veronica's veil, The pilgrim route & Hammock by Sally Carr Shadow & The library by Tamar Yoseloff Playing by Angela Topping Ears & April morning by Valerie Trueblood A note on Delmore Schwartz by Mark Dow Downpipe cat & Monkeys by Nicholas Messenger

the diamond market, the man who had the least of his worries, the things that were beautiful that day & a parliament of saints by Noel Rooney Ings Walks by Justin Hill The woman who walks in the museum, Times of the year & The good matador by Suzanne Harvey Antiphon by Lorri Neilsen Glenn Cleavage by Rumjhum Biswas Irish country girl visits Tate Modern by Elaine Feeney Monopoly by Sue Stanford Concretion & The day the coast came to our house by Paul Carey-Kent Of the mad & For the beautiful by Maggie Zhou Hebe & The tailor's treasure trove by Janice Fixter Ice pilot by Susan Richardson New Year’s Eve & Post-dendranthropology by Andrea Holland

I am reminded of Charles Foster Kane's immortal promise, "Dear Wheeler: you provide the prose poems, I'll provide the war." The TLS (missing the poems, if not the prose) recently [January 5, 2007] asked, in its oft-brilliant NB column (edited and written by J.C .) -"Where are the poets of war?" - before suggesting that one oughtn't to look for them in the anti-war camp, despite what Francis Scarfe wrote in 1941: "a good war poem must also be a good peace poem." As the TLS writes, "We exclude, for the moment, poems gathered together in collections such as 100 Poets against the War , edited by Todd Swift, and 101 Poets .... [the ellipsis is J.C.'s] edited by Paul Keegan and Matthew Hollis , the very titles of which amount to to a political agenda (the former contained new work; the latter poems from all ages). The kind of war poetry you want, as a reader, challenges your assumptions with doubt, pity, glory, even gore." There...

If you have any time alone this holiday season, Eyewear offers something more than coal in your stocking and suggests nth position's bag of poetic goodies for this Yule... Light from the inside out, The sky of many acres & Simple soliloquies by Elizabeth Kirschner Postnatal ward, Holles Street & Grogan's Bar by Dave Lordan Aporia & Inevitabilities by Len Sousa On tiles, All perfectly abandoned, About your parrot & A driving student restarts the car by Arlene Ang In bed, Aquarium & Ungaretti's Christmas blues by Rufo Quintavalle Shoe gazing & Going into the yellow by Tim Liardet To my father & my lover by Marlene Rosen When evening drowning by Carol Jenkins A song about a stranger by Ryk Mcintyre Letter from America & Anticipation by Wayne Smith

New American Writing 24 review by Kevin Higgins Z213: Exit (extract) by Dimitris Lyacos East of London & The church by Rumjhum Biswas Portrait of market researcher as loose cannon, The next day & I want to be a spy by Jon Stone At 8.53pm my television breaks, Rescue & Alternative version by Kathryn Simmonds Poem from travelling on a train, Fem kinetique & Sammy sold at market by Phil Ruthen Last days of Ishmael by Estill Pollock Grist, You are never just out, walking a field & Platform by Siobhan Campbell Traveller's house by Kavita Joshi Singing lessons & Learning to touch by Aleah Sato Beyond your concern & Two old heads by Ian Seed

Good morning, Mrs Garcia & The new geography by Paul Hoover Thinking long range & Intersections of the pause by Mercedes Lawry Winter songs & Rabbit ears by Steve McOrmond Museum, male bust, First frost, The Prodigal by Nathan Hamilton The horse by Laurence O'Dwyer Walking a path between dark hornbeams & Lights in the desert by Paul Kingsnorth On the nature of desire & A rose by any other name by Andrew Boobier Pensacola Beach Bridge by Barbara Marsh One way to use lightning, The Messiah or The Fall & Auteur by Jenna Cardinale My father carried a black lunch bucket by Glen Sorestad Stuffed birds & Minus ten by Norman Jope Casterlan & Spoiler by Dudley Burrow Translating the cactus, Five poems I didn't write & 12 New Zealand Snapshots by Catherine Vidler

It was on February 24, 2003, that Salt (Cambridge, UK) published the printed version of Nthposition's oft-imitated, never-bettered "100 Poets Against The War" series of electronic anthologies - making it the fastest ever poetry book, in terms of conception, to writing, to editing, to publishing (less than a month). It was described as "the 21st century's most controversial and talked about e-book". Val Stevenson 's www.nthposition.com pioneered the use of the Internet for copy-left publishing, and political activism, and the whole world took notice, with The Times reporting 250,000 downloads of our e-books in 3 weeks alone. The Guardian described it as "a remarkable anthology" and The Times said it was "a new lease of life for protest poetry". The books are still available for download at Nthposition, or at www.amazon.com from Salt. Three years later, the illegal war's consequences are still being felt, and Tony Blair's sp...