"So Tim, here's my first question - What actually is poetry?"

Well, Poetry is as various as Music - both in style (Bach, Bebop, Bacharach, Bantu) and purpose (lullabies, soundtracks, hymns, songalongs, propaganda, etc). If two people say they like music, one might be into Garage and the other Plainsong. Two poetry enthusiasts might also have little in common.

In music, fusions are quite possible (Jazz-rock etc). I think that in poetry it's harder to see the joins when styles and purposes are mixed, and switches are more common - The Waste Land's polyphony (with some fragments a word or line long) is hard to do in music.

Music fans make no apology for specialising - if they like brass bands they choose their music friends accordingly - but sometimes I feel that poets who don't understand/like each other's work feel they should stick together anyway to show solidarity against the unbelieving masses. I think some fragmentation of the poetry world is inevitable. I know of poets who say that Larkin's not a poet. I've heard others say that Prynne isn't. And there's the stage/page split - not everybody thinks that Hollie McNish's pieces work off the page. There's Flarf, Doggerel and Found Poetry.

And then there's the march of time - I think some UK pieces that were considered poetry in the 1990s are Flash now. I'm reclassifying some of mine that I wrote back then. And there's the international perspective - there's a tendency in certain periods/countries to view "bad" (or rude, or unpatriotic) poetry as non-poetry.

E-mail and social media has increased the amount and speed of interaction between poets. In the old days a fashion might dominate a nation for years. Nowadays the turnover is so fast that no single style has time to take root - less fashionable styles are frequently re-integrated. This could lead to homogenisation. Fortunately, the improved communication also gives people a chance to find like-minded people, so sustainable niches are more common now, ensuring variety.

Looking back, it's tempting to label poetry eras - "The Movement", etc - but of course many styles of poetry were present in those eras. Nowadays these unfashionable styles remain more visible than before.

So my answer to the original question is the standard one - it depends who you ask, when, and why. Some texts have been considered poetry by many people for a long time. Among those people are academics who influence (at least nationally) what we categorize as poetry. More than ever though, we need to carefully think about what definitions are for.

Acumen 110

The poetry magazine Acumen continues confidently beyond its centenary issue, keeping its combination of poetry, translations, articles (this time about William Carlos Williams, "Jazz & Poetry" etc) and reviews. There are 120 packed pages (poems by different poets sometimes share a page). Here are a few snippets from the more "mainstream" pieces -

• a plane aiming blind for Leeds,/ its noselight a needle threading clouds/ like worn-out sheets in need of mending (Nancy Mattson)
• [About a kite] - You held it up like a placard,/ while I attached the string,// unreeling it walking backwards,// as if I were laying a fuse (Stephen Claughton)
• the wind toys with leaves like loose/ change in the pocket of the sky (Kathryn Bevis)
• [About an Emperor penguin's egg] - When I'm gone and the shell/ of our marriage cracks, believe that what/ we held between us all this time will break/ out live and singing (Kathryn Bevis)
• warm right arm/ of your scarlet sunglasses/ hooked// into the plunging V-neck of your shirt (Martyn Crucefix)
• to seek truth rather than being right (Gabriel Moreno)

10th Sep 2024, Devereux Pub, London

I got there early, had a chat with Matthew Stewart and Mat Riches while they were fueling up ready for their readings, then left before the start! Long story, but at least I got there. Hope they had a good evening.

Later Matthew wrote that the reading was one of 5 done in 6 days, covering over 1,100 miles. 26 books sold. Taylor Swift doesn't have to worry about competition yet.

Busy September

• A poem of mine (34 years old) is due out in Acumen and 2 poems (24 and 28 years old) will be in the final issue of South. The success of these ancient pieces has made me look through my other old, rejected poems. I've already converted one into Flash.
• Every few years I send a story to "The Stinging Fly". I got another rejection yesterday - one of over 1,400 they sent out for this window.
• A story (only 2 years old!) was long-listed in the Leicester Writes competition. Unplaced, but in the anthology.
• I'm hoping to attend a few poetry readings. Last Sunday I heard Steve Logan (new to me).
• For the first time in months I've started writing a story (not Flash!). There's a phase in my story writing when a piece becomes easier to write, the main issues resolved. I feel content then, completion in sight, the remaining challenges superable rather than daunting.
• Suddenly I've written a poem. It's only my 4th this year - none of them even sent off let alone accepted. Maybe I'll send off a pamphlet this year - it's been a while.
• I've read (well, listened to) "Pride and Prejudice" for the first time. Not for me. I can't see what all the fuss is about. I've also listened to "Julia" (a "1984" spin-off by Sandra Newman). Over-long in parts but interesting enough. I'd forgotten how many backstory/world-making ideas "1984" has.
• And the allotment's gone mad. I'll be self-sufficient in veg for a while. Parsnips failed, but I'm picking 4 courgettes a day, giving away most of them. I did a count of plants - Leeks 48, French beans 23, Berlotti beans 44, Dwarf sweetcorn 10, Dwarf French beans 16, Carrots 80+, Beetroot 32, Potatoes 28, Sunflowers 2, Parsnips 2, Courgettes 15, Pumpkins 3.