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

Despite, and because of, our debates and differences of opinion, I had great fondness and respect for Roddy Lumsden , the poetic genius, who has died. When I first moved to London, we worked on editing each other's poems for a few months; he several times read for the Oxfam series and other events I hosted, and I read with him on many occasions. One always could learn from Roddy, he knew more about everything than anyone else. I am very shocked and saddened by this sudden news, and all I have to say is here: https://store.eyewearpublishing.com/blogs/news/major-scottish-poet-roddy-lumsden-has-died You should seek out his poetry collections, and his poems online, you will discover one of the funniest, and most clever poets ever born in Scotland. His death is a sobering reminder that poets in this angry age need to remember to love and support one another, and seek less to divide, and more to join, the common enterprise of creating poems of long-lasting value to others.

Salt's new series, Best British Poetry , has arrived in its first iteration, as 2011.  As the editor of the series, Roddy Lumsden , himself writes in the book, this comes after a long line of such publications in America, Ireland, and elsewhere.  It's a pity that Lumsden fails to mention David Lehman , who had made the US series the benchmark for all others, over several decades of increasing excellence, to the stage where the Best American publication is a major event in the poetry world.  Nor should Lumsden's introduction have told us to get some tea and take a nap if we wanted to question the premise of selecting the year's best poems - he should have simply ignored such potential quibbles.  After all, if the UK series follows in the successful wake of its international counterparts, it hardly needs to establish its credentials.  It is what it is.  A marketing exercise on the one hand - such books sell well and are popular - but, more importantly, ge...

Roddy Lumsden and Salt have announced - over at Facebook - that they'll be launching a new series, The Best of British Poetry (starting with 2011).  This is modelled on the wildly successful series started by David Lehman back in 1988, when the first guest editor was John Ashbery .  Lehman, as Series Editor, has given the series credibility, and a coherent identity, that plays well off of the various poetics each of the guest editors brings to bear.  And, what editors: Lyn Hejinian, Rita Dove, Paul Muldoon, Louise Gluck, Adrienne Rich, Harold Bloom, Jorie Graham, Robert Bly, AR Ammons, John Hollander - none less than a major figure, in their way.  As Series Editor, Lumsden will have a job on his hand to provide that level of serious continuity, and charmed broad church integrity, which somehow Lehman has pulled off.  Fortunately, Lumsden knows most poets he will need to reach. However, to truly reach the heights of the American series (there are other vers...