My copy of The Poetry Review came through today. It was accompanied by a copy of Poetry News and seven glossy leaflets advertising poetry competitions.
It’s fair to say, from looking at this pile, and skimming Poetry News, that poetry is popular at the moment.
I fear, looking at the pile of paper, that the rise of poetry may be linked to a decline in tree stocks. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were all limericks and light verse but there is a lot of very earnest poetry about. To be fair, we wouldn’t appreciate the humorous stuff without the serious verse, but there’s an awful lot of it.
It seems that the Grenfell Towers fire has been a popular subject this year. Last year Donald Trump was a popular subject. I remember that last time I took a serious interest in poetry the 2004 Morecambe Bay tragedy supplied the subject for a lot of competition entries. Misery loves company, as they say, and it seems to love poetry too.
If I’m going to be a proper poet I may have to ditch the clerihews and get serious.
Meanwhile, I also got a copy of Don Paterson’s 40 Sonnets. It’s looking good so far (I just had a quick look at the first two), so that’s tonight’s reading sorted.
Poetry is very big here, too, and there are some fine poets in Maine.
Yes, it seems to keep popping up in poetry magazines.
Oh, don’t ditch the clerihews! They are too fun.
I must do some more – I have not started the rest of the series on Prime Ministers yet.
I’m too saddened by my country’s current political situation to be funny. But I may join in one day in the future.
Start with George Washington and move on until it stops getting funny. 🙂
That’s a great way to look at it! George W was a hoot.
I look forward to seeing the results. 🙂
G. W. had a grumpy face,
bad teeth, and ugly wig.
But unlike our current president,
At least he wasn’t a pig.
There you go, though it’s a bit too polished for a clerihew. 🙂
Try this link. 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/sep/01/he-gets-verse-the-poetry-of-donald-trump
I look forward to more of your poetic works.
I will start now. Watch this space.
I will
🙂
Nice post – Thanks for the thoughts – Ian
🙂