Christof20 Sep 2002

You're right that it's worth pursuing, it is an interesting project. But I do believe that poetry should always remember that it comes, at source, from an oral tradition, the rhythmic use of language to plant concepts and images into a culture, and that poetry that makes no concession to the ear is going to be hard going. There doesn't have to be a strict metre, but a speech rhythm helps and this poem has the rhythm of a cut-up essay - it doesn't help to bring the reader into your ideas but acts as an obstacle. I wouldn't read a politics essay for pleasure, but I would read a good political poem for pleasure. But there's no reason why your idea shouldn't work with further refinement. Your 'Glamorgan' poem shows that you have very strong speech rhythms in you.