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

Ten years ago, as the UK prepared for a potentially illegal war against Iraq, Nthposition , edited by Val Stevenson , and myself, the site's poetry editor, hurriedly compiled a global anti-war anthology that was soon followed by many others.  The anthology, ten years later, has been written about in several academic studies, sometimes vilified, and was even mocked by the comedian S. Fry .  It was also downloaded tens of thousands of times, launche d in dozens of cities at once, from Russia to Japan to America to the UK - and was turned into a very rapid book by Salt (when it was featured on CNN).  The Guardian that year selected it as the most popular poetry book of the year, in terms of library loans.  It was called 100 Poets Against The War .  That's what I did, way back then, when younger, with my spare time; it is now available online for sale for one penny .

Here is t he latest Nthposition poetry , now up for October.

Nthposition 's poetry editor Rufo Quintavalle has published his September selection of poems.  Do send him your work for future issues.

Rufo Quintavalle is the Acting Editor for Nthposition (I am on leave) and is doing a bang up job.  This is his latest post regarding the latest slimmed down poetry there.  You should submit poems to him - he is always reading for quality, left-field stuff.

Hats off to Nthposition - Val Stevenson's feisty and original online magazine is now 8+ years old, and has just posted its 2001st article - quite an achievement. Is there a braver, stranger, more innovative and fun British online mag of such longstanding identity?  Maybe.  But none has been weirder, or more wide-ranging.

Just a note to remind readers of Eyewear that Rufo Quintavalle , the superb Paris-based poet, has been the associate poetry editor of Nthposition this year and last while I am away completing my PhD research and recovering from my illness. He's done a stellar job. Do submit and keep reading.

For those who keep track of such things, this is the 1,300th post at Eyewear . April's 14 poets now up at Nthposition . Credit rating & True blank by Peter Robinson Roosevelt Island by Alex Cigale Sales pitch & The cactus by Kathryn Jacobs An alien is for life, not just for Christmas by Steven Van-Hagen Dialogue with the bald spot by James Grinwis Rural New England by Hassan Melehy Fascists built all the best buildings by Jason Monios Firing Squad, an Ars Poetica by Jon Morgan Davies Elliott Smith by Justin Lowe gifted by Noel Rooney Surprising times by Jan Harris Gold and gloom by Donald Brown After the fact by Bill Howell The tryst by Adam Burbage

Nthposition has just uploaded 13 poets for March , including Greg Santos , Jake Kennedy , Steven Waling , Matthew Gregory , Rachel Thompson , and Patricia Clark . I am handing over editing duties for half a year or so, starting with the June 2009 issue, to superb Paris-based poet Rufo Quintavalle .

Sun over a tree line by Liz Gallagher Children going to school by Gopi Kottoor Mermaid & Real by Fiona Tinwei Lam That man with the flattop looks a little too tough to make fun of by Neal Drew A television in dream-time, Desert to dreams & The darks by Annie Finch Tone blind by Paul A Toth Blackpool, 1945 & Inheritance by Hannah Mardell Mother Nature house hunting by Marion McCready Terminus & The hotel by Ailbhe Darcy This is my village by Katie Daniels The waves of the sea by Graham Hardie Molotov cocktail, The coroner's report, Miscarriage, Terminal dwelling, Black song for Billie Holliday & Home on Mother's Day by Suzanne R Harvey

The greater ruins by Tom Phillips Five year plan in four years by Rod Mengham A book, late at night by Aditi Machado The indirect train by Nathan Thompson Mr Dior Cherie & The usherette by Camellia Stafford Meeting by Dominic Alapat How & Suffolk by Katrina Naomi A brief treatise on synaesthesia by JeFF Stumpo Where a foot was by Victoria Heath Storm damage by PJ Nolan Good old days by Mary Madec Fireflies take the dusk by Pam Uschuk The improvisers by Ian Brand

The critical faculty of the poet, The poet's body, A rooftop in Marseilles, Soft as a dewdrop rests her sex on me & Slowly the moon by Sebastian Barker Girl, I have the words & Of uncreation by G B Clarkson Missing by Sophie McGrath There is no cure by Shane Neilson Milestone & Heron by Gill McEvoy Extended family by Anselm Brocki Tag & North by Alex Pryce Picture problems & Invitation by Amy Walter A rhyming reflection on the one-sided heritage of Eros in the Western literary tradition & Sweet-toothed by Bethan Tichborne Modern life II & Depiction of heaven as a virgin forest by Virginia Konchan Dockyard doomette by Adham Smart The illustrator & Swimmers in open water by Rebecca Farmer

grocery aisle by Richard Lighthouse Speaking with hands by Nicholas Messenger Husks of imperfect visions by CB Anderson Art Tatum by Laurence O'Dwyer Vanishing acts & Brass castors by Doug Ramspeck The nineteen sparrows by Linda Benninghoff All children, except one, A six-cylinder Chevrolet & Peter gnashes his pretty white teeth with joy by Phoebe North Starbucked by Rodney Wood Biographies by Anuradha Vijayakrishnan Preening by Andrew Bailey In ballroom dancing class by Mike Estabrook My sundered house by Robin Ford Satori by Gerard Sarnat

In 2006 my father died, and so I missed the publication at the time of the Oxford University Press title of that year, Modern English War Poetry , by Tim Kendall . The final chapter, 12, is "The Few To Profit: Poets Against War" - and, rather flatteringly, I suppose, I'm the Bond Villain (or Aunt Sally) of the piece. Kendall poses the figure of Hecht , the American poet, who writes of "Strephon", the poet who was"one of the few to profit from the war" and then, basically, suggests editors and poets such as myself (and I am prominently featured in the chapter) might have profited, in some way, from the attention we received at the time. Kendall argues that the "bulk of contemporary anti-war poetry seem[s] sentimental and morally dubious." He claims that I use "inflationary language" in thanking the many contributors to the Nthposition 100 Poets against the war anthologies I edited with Val Stevenson (who is nowhere, alas, credit...

Dancing female tomb figure & Drift by Sarah Law God-sized ache & Long weekend by Barry Dempster Blindsided by Rupert Loydell Greek chaos, Malamutes, My culture & Reality by K Silem Mohammad Your lover & Lifeguard by Cherry Smyth Packard Deskjet 610CL & Milk crates by Rose Hunter Almost like real skin by Janice D Soderling The condition of the sparrows by Ryan Croken The acrobat's daughter by Annie Katchinska Kill Kill Kill Kill by Antony Di Nardo What had to be done by Chris Hardy Knack by Matt Bryden

maybe by William Aarnes Feminine musk by Sudeep Sen Last words 1666 & Talking to tourists by Jessica Slentz Hero by Kevin Higgins on the question of which thefts are justified: a series of poems after the Tang poet, Meng Jiao by Kit Kelen Departure lounge by Tolu Ogunlesi Fire burst through the ceiling by Jane Holland Holes which once held by Megan Jones of my by Janet Jackson Ecclesiastes, reduced to by Mark Yakich By all means by Frank Praeger Hinge memory: post-Communist & Karaoke blackout by Nick Admussen

Lettuce by Paul A Toth April snow by Heather Grace Stewart No one poses with their toaster & Fuzzy coffee by Bob Brooks Cancer ward by Alan Buckley Just asking by Bill Howell After the rain by Peter Hancock Symptoms, Pleasant & Wedding food by Jessy Randall I go apple picking, I paint a mug & Don't throw away that VCR by A A Isham A failure of the language by Ray Templeton The house we lived in thirty-two years by Glen Sorestad The following remarks are confidential & Girl #1 by Emily Berry Postcards, Vision & Testament by John Haynes

Rock on the orange meditation mat by Melissa Buckheit Rack & ruin by Stan Rogal The lock-up by Elizabeth Kirschner When, Mud, March ending & Passing by Alison Brackenbury Excuse me while I wring this long swim out of my hair, Equestrian & The cape by Sarah Sloat Ghazal 607 by Monica Mody pilisszentlaszlo.hu by Norman Jope Chyort by David Musgrave Much & Rocks by Rufo Quintavalle System of belief (2) by Ethan Gilsdorf Are we nearly there yet? & House by Aoife Mannix

Bastard no more by Dave Reeves Modest bats of 1993 & The non-existers by Lyle Neff In and out, Hybrid & Community meal by Henrietta Cullinan Caravaggio as Goliath by Laurence O'Dwyer Working in a grocer line in Grinnell, Iowa by Allison Tobey i rather love, one black, i have a bay by Mario Petrucci Blood mark & Food and sex by Hal Sirowitz Current occupant, Rhino & The concert by Aseem Kaul Milk by Fiona Tinwei Lam Consummations by Julie Waugh My father, who art in heaven & Kill a tree, kill me by Kathryn Maris

The city by Celeste Augé The sleeve did not prevent the scratch & Lumière by John Greiner Julia & Solitude by Brooklyn Copeland Browsing all poets.com by Gopi Kottoor Dracul by Mark Leech Ovation balladeer by Diane Tucker Balcony by Heather A McMacken Introspection by Rumjhum Biswas Firewood by Kevin Higgins Luzern Symposium: Der inszenierte Terrorismus & Recalling V-J Day, 8/15/1945 by Peter Dale Scott By a million swallows, God is the shadow the universe casts & Paradox first by MTC Cronin Dusty answer by Julia Deakin Billie Boy by Harry Reynolds The nominee by Ray Hsu

Broken sleep, The belly & The crossing by Sally Read Summer solstice, At the Royal Maritime Museum, Greenwich & NW/SE by Danny Birchall Connecting flight & The Christmas truce by D Nurkse After all this, can you imagine parasols? by Michelle J Boese Yet another prolegomena to any future metaphysics by Tim Keane Living with Cleopatra by Frances Spurrier Stationing, Spring in fragments & Iraq in fragments by Eric Linsker Density & The artichoke by Sara Fitzpatrick Recipe for success & Cruise by Tara Deal Picture awakens memory by Jeffrey Mackie Supermarket selves & Poets are just like everyone else by Susan Millar DuMars Airborne by Andrew Bailey