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

Taste is a matter of opinion - or so goes one opinion. Aesthetics, a branch of pistols at dawn, is unlikely to become unruffled and resolved any time soon, and meantime it is possible to argue, in this post-post-modern age, an age of voter rage, that political opinion trumps taste anyway. We like what we say is art. And what we say is art is what likes us. Simple Minds - the Scottish band founded around 1977 with the pale faces and beautiful cheekbones, and perfect indie hair cuts - comes from a time before that - from a Glasgow of poverty and working-class socialism, and religiosity, in a pre-Internet time when the heights of modernity were signalled by Kraftwerk , large synthesisers, and dancing like Bowie at 3 am in a Berlin club. To say that early Simple Minds was mannered is like accusing Joyce of being experimental. Doh . The band sought to merge the icy innovations of German music with British and American pioneers of glam and proto-punk, like Iggy Pop ; their heroes were ...

I, as editor, have been away too long from this little blog that could... apologies. Why? The limit to our patience reached its peak for a while... in terms of Trump and other real-world/ fake news outrages.... it became exhausting to express more dismay. Also, the residency at Pembroke, Cambridge, and Eyewear Publishing work, has been joyously busy. Anyway, time to return, albeit briefly, with more news, soon.

I am writing this first part on the eve of New Year's Eve day - and as new remembrances come to me, I may well update it. As the years go on, and this blog seems an interminable waste of time and fuss, and as my ego weakens its grip on me (ever too slowly to be sure) it seems less time is required to indulge my need for self-advertising. However, I do like to briefly report in such posts on things done and experienced. The highlight of the year is the time spent at Christmas with my family. No other part of the year is ever more meaningful, and I am always reminded how love shapes and supports my existence. Professionally, managing to keep my small indie publishing press afloat in a bad time for retail and literary publishing, was a major success for me. We published too many vital and important books to celebrate them all here, but two stood out for me, as being watersheds in our company's fortunes and esteem - The Monkman and Seagull Quiz Book - a good-selling en...

well, first, the shortlist... longer than usual because the poems were so impressive... POETS SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPECIAL CHRISTMAS FORTNIGHT PRIZE   1.      Ashish Kumar – ‘Jackfruit’ 2.      Catherine Edmunds – 'Caney The Clown' 3.      Chris Kerr – ‘The Lorelei’ 4.      Drew Milne – ‘Having A Pepsi With You’ 5.      James Finnegan – 'Early December walk' 6.      Janet Dean – ‘Pin the Night’ 7.      Jo Burns – 'Christmas Shelter' 8.      Jose Varghese –‘The Boy from the Mountains’ 9.      Linda McKenna – 'Christmas Day on the Lord Sidmouth' 10. Marisa Silva-Dunbar –‘Body Parts’ 11. Meg Eden – ‘Instructions for Speaking in Tongues’ 12. Megan Pattie – ‘In Blakeney’ 13. Molly Bess Rector –‘Retail Therapy’ 14. Shadab Hashmi – ‘Empire Ekphrasis’ 15. Siobhan Flynn – ‘Christmas baking with...