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Best Of Lists?

In the world of poetry, there is always a fine line between cronyism and advocacy. After all, as I posited in another post, given the relative neglect of poetry books, friendship between poets is a vital part of getting the work "out there". Eyewear itself selects some books and poets to review and mention; logically, this excludes others. However, an issue may arise, when the main newspapers (I am thinking in this context of the British ones, but the point applies more widely I suspect) run their end of year Christmas Books lists. There is sometimes something farcical about the process; though not always. Naomi Klein, for example, used her space in The Guardian to draw attention to a Canadian book little known in England, which seems noble and useful. The poetry book that got mentioned the most (three times) in The Guardian was Rain. Published by Faber and Faber, and written by Don Paterson, it is a strong collection from a major Scottish poet. However, it is not even the only good Scottish book of the year - one thinks of Roddy Lumsden's latest, which is an extraordinary exploration of various forms. And there are many other books, some from smaller presses, by less well-connected poets. I invite readers to leave the titles of their favourite books here. I suppose my point is well-known and inevitable: some reputations snowball, and accrue a momentum of their own. Paterson now has the sort of momentum once connected to Seamus Heaney. This is in part due to the work itself, and partly due to branding and extraordinary success at winning prizes and accolades. It does not hurt when a poet is advanced into the market, and the papers, by a leading publisher. Given the relative ubiquity of Rain on best of the year lists, a paradox emerges - is it a wasted vote to draw attention to an already widely-acclaimed book on such a list - or a useful thumbs-up only swelling the consensus? The poetry world, like all other fields, is a pyramid, that narrows at the top. Those at the pinnacle of their careers attract more attention and are more widely read, which perpetuates their position. My research into the Forties poets offers many examples of excellent poets, like Terence Tiller and Lynette Roberts, who somehow failed to make it to that pinnacle position. The regretful nature of memory, among poetry readers, is that so often, those not at the very top end up entirely forgotten all-too-soon; until another generation dusts a few of them off.

Comments

Rob said…
Hi Todd, hope your health is continuing to improve. Don't know if you've seen the lists on Michelle McGrane's blog, 'best of 2009s' taken from a huge variety of poets - http://peonymoon.wordpress.com - plenty of names there from outside the consensus.

I voted there for Roddy Lumsden's 'Third Wish Wasted'(Bloodaxe), Andrew Philip's 'The Ambulance Box' (Salt) and Richard Price's 'Rays' (Carcanet). But I could just have easily have gone for The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street' by Tony Williams (Salt), 'The Year of Not Dancing' by CL Dallat(Blackstaff) and 'The Clockwork Gift' by Claire Crowther (Shearsman).
Poetry Pleases! said…
Dear Todd

I read the Christmas poetry list on timesonline and there was nothing surprising there. It would be far more valuable if these lists drew our attention to books that we hadn't already heard of.

Best wishes from Simon
Alistair Noon said…
Allow me to plug once again our mutual friend Giles Goodland's latest, What the Things Sang, from Shearsman. I'll be expounding at more length some time soon on Jacket as to why I think it really is a great achievement.
Kelvin Corcoran's Backward Turning Sea, which ones humble self reviewed here at Eyewear, is a very different but equally deserving candidate for the title of "absolute corker".
best from Berlin
Alistair
Sarah Hymas said…
The Seamstress and the Global Garment, by Maya Chowdhry. Lyrical and honest on origins, community and sexuality.

the shortest day, by Elizabeth Burns. Winner of the Michael Marks pamphlet award, so don't know if counts, but a beautifully sparse collection of elegies.

Silence Fell, by Josephine Dickinson. Uncomfortably intimate portait of a marriage. Playful, bouyant, billowing.

A Stone's Throw, by James Caruth. Deeply moving, compassionate observations.
Angela France said…
Hi Todd
I was going to suggest you looked at Michelle McGrane's blog but I see Rob already did. It is heartening to see so many poets reading right across the range of small presses.
Janet Vickers said…
May I offer suggestions from Lipstick Press (lipstick@smartt.com). I confess up front that I am the publisher of this poetry chapbook press.

A: The Amelia Poems by Heidi Greco - The poems offer a speculative spin on the life of aviator Amelia Earhart, and consider what might have happened after her disappearance in 1937.

Grief Blading Up by Elsie K. Neufeld - a collection that arises out of the way we are haunted by grief, the way we are called to "unhinge" and yet rise to the garden each day.

Winter Gifts by Keith Wilkinson - "an ocean between two continents, a continent between two seas, an unruly bridge that conveys explorers, returns exiles..."
Janet Vickers said…
May I offer suggestions from Lipstick Press (lipstick@smartt.com). I confess up front that I am the publisher of this poetry chapbook press.

A: The Amelia Poems by Heidi Greco - The poems offer a speculative spin on the life of aviator Amelia Earhart, and consider what might have happened after her disappearance in 1937.

Grief Blading Up by Elsie K. Neufeld - a collection that arises out of the way we are haunted by grief, the way we are called to "unhinge" and yet rise to the garden each day.

Winter Gifts by Keith Wilkinson - "an ocean between two continents, a continent between two seas, an unruly bridge that conveys explorers, returns exiles..."
Anonymous said…
Tony Lewis-Jones writes:

Hi TS, sending good wishes for your continuing recovery and Season's Greetings.

I do so know what you mean about these nepotistic, London-centric media 'Bests Of' - usually a means for some sadsack toadying guttersnipe journo to reward their mates in the business for their dubious loyalties. I will happily admit to never having read a single line of Don Paterson, and have absolutely no intention of doing so. Certainly as far as anthologies this year were concerned, the only one worth the cover price in any sense of the words was the Ian Brinton edited CUP publication 'Contemporary Poetry Since 1990' - and all the best British Poetry was published, as usual, by the Small Presses :-)
John said…
Nice post, the old line 'there's only room for a few at the top' rings a sad and sorry bell.

Really would like to see more of a small press presence in the UK papers though. Not even the traditional lefties, Guardian & Independent who you'd expect to champion the underground do so. That's why we have to rely on digital forms of promotion for a push. Does make me wonder though how the landscape will develop over the next few years, and what promotional opportunities will present themselves as digital evolves even more...

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