rejection

It didn't take long, sent out first bunch of work to magazine in 6 years last week, and got my first rejection today, less than a week since I sent it. It was the standard photocopied slip, no comments, the usual. I couldn't help but notice how pristine the poems seemed, wondered if they'd even been read. I think I'd have felt better if the magazine had kept hold of them a little longer somehow. Still, I knew this was coming, just didn't know how soon. I am looking at the poems wondering what it may be that they didn't like about them, and can come to the conclusion that maybe they aren't poemy enough. They probably don't have that poem tone somehow. I'm not sure how I define this, it is the sort of thing you know when you see it, when you read the poems that do make it into magazines. Quite often the poems that make it into mags are fairly quiet in tone, seem somehow mystical and mysterious. The poems I sent are new ones, and have a plainess to them, not complicated really, no tricks to them. This may be what will be wrong with them to the poetry world, I dunno, time will tell. I'm still wondering if sending work to magazines serves any function , other than to fluff the poet's own ego, and reinforcing their feeling of being a poet. Think people need this from tme to time perhaps, but is that all it does? I don't think I know anyone who has gained collection publication or readings or anything from getting work in magazines, I don't even know if it sells books, or any feedback from the poems is passed on and is useful. If you've experienced anything positive from sending work to mags let me know, I think I'd like to hear it's not just fluffing.

Also, this week I heard that Colpitts in Durham has limited days. This is really sad to hear. Colpitts is the only regular poetry night in Durham, and has been going for thirty years. It seems that alot of poetry nites are sizzling out, and I worry about this. There are alot of theories buzzing about about why nights may be disappearing: that they aren't getting the audience figures, aren't reaching new audiences, that the arts council have changed their funding criteria, that large arts institutions like The Sage and The Baltic mean there aren't enough funds to go around. I really don't know what the case is, maybe a combination of things. I just know that i would be sad to see Colpitts go, and that I worry about the future of poets in the region. It seems that poets plod along and there are less and less places for them to get together, read their work, and sell their books. There are alot of problems for poets, one of them is that book shops simply will not stock poetry (particularly by small presses.) (Recently I was on a quest to buy some poetry by Sharon Olds, I went in several book shops looking for her work. Not one poetry section had a single one of her collections. I eventually found one shop which stocked her selected works (but being a purist of readuing a collection as it was intended, this isn't reallty the same thing. yes, I could have asked them to look her up on the computer and order a book, I would have to go back for in a few weeks time, but the thing is, I wanted to see a few of her colections on the shelves, have a flick through them, and select the ones I felt held most value for me. Poetry in these shops isn't selling, I'm not surprised. Few people will buy what they cant see. Potentially I would have bought three books that day, in the end I bought none.) I wonder if independent presses will become a thing of the past if there are no regular poetry nights in existence where their books can be sold. What will happen to all the poets?

The general reputation and accessability of poetry is a huge problem. It seems the majority of the population just are turned off by it. There are many many writers producing exciting and vibrant work which I think could change people's minds about their associations with poetry being nothing other than stuff that seeemd irrelevant to them when they were made to study it at school- the problem is trying to get people aware of it. One way audience figures have improved is by incorporating music or comedy into poetry events, and this has worked well. But speaking as a writer I think poetry spaces which do not want to go down the open mic or slam route should be maintained and are due for a re evaluation, and re appreciation. I have read at both types of events in the past, and think both are vital for bringing poetry to life away from the page. Unfortunately the simple fact is books don't sell at events with musicians and comedy. The audience may be younger and therefore do not have the funds to buy books, and I have been to many poetry events were people attend for an open mic or a slam to read their own work and do not stay for the poets (or do not listen.) At events like this poets who are performance or comedy poets are able to gain the attention of the audience, but for those less skilled in this area it is a struggle. There are poems even skilled performers will not read at such events, because they are quieter or more serious poems, and there needs to be a space for poets to read good quality, though not necessarily funny or immediate work. I read at Colpitts a few years ago, and went there worried and holding perhaps some of the prejudices some people may have about such poetry nights.I was worried about not being middle class, about having a regional accent, and about how I would be received. The truth is I was delighted to find something unique there, that is a place were the audience really listen. This is somewhere that doesn't feel like a poularity contest, a battle of charisma or confidence to make the work heard, an attempt to be read your funnier stuff (that in your heart you know isn't as good as some of the serious poems in your bag that you daren't read because there is silence after them)- this is a space that is all about the words. It didn't matter how I read them, who I was or wasn't, words were allowed to stand up by themselves. (And I sold more books as a consequence than I had sold in the last 6 gigs combined.) I am ashamed to say that I am not currently a member of a library- how odd is that for a writer? The reason is that libraries have changed. The library were I live has been closed down. Libraries have been transformed somehow from what they used to be, and the concept of quiet and a librarian saying ssshhh is a thing of the past. Libraries are full of children, teenagers, mobile phones and people who come in to use the computers, and the need for quiet seems to have gone with the digital age. I don't like what they have become. I don't beleive poetry should be something in the exclusive domain of libraries, but nor should it belong exclusively to the domain of pubs. I am grateful that something like Colpitts still exists, an event that I can go to hear good quality poets, were the space a good poem needs is provided and understood.

Colpitts aim to re-apply and ask for reassessment of the decision to stop their funding, and I hope it is sucessful (or like I said, is the future of poetry performance poetry only? I don't think anyone would see this as a good thing?)

As for poetry being so poorly available in shops, I am extremely continually disappointed that The Baltic fails to stock a selection of regional writers in the book shop. A poetry section of regional writers in the Baltic bookshop would take up little space, and be a welcome addition, and way for an arts funded project to show support for artists in the region. It is easy, it's simple- so why don't they do it? Who knows. I also know that phoning to ask about this, or sending an email gets absolutely no response (hey, even a response explaining why this isn't their policy would be nice, and a courtesy.) What started me on this was reading with the Finns at the bookshop in The Museum of Modern art in Helsinki (which is a hell of a building, amazing) , who were very nice to the poets and happy to stock the book. Yet a reply could not be gained as to the prospect of The Baltic stocking the book from the Baltic poetry exchange. Seems that if somewhere like The Baltic would stock regional poets it would become somewhere that could host the ocasional reading in their bookshop (and given the aspect of the shop what better way to get people to see contemporary poets, people pass by on their way in and out.) One art institution supporting in these small ways artists, and smaller arts projects in the region, seems logical and couldn't be easier. Why don't things like this happen? Is poetry dying, and who's going to miss it when it's gone?