Article
Editorial: November 2005
January 18, 2006
The current issue contains poets chosen by two fellow British poets. Guest editor Peter Philpott picked two well-established names that, somewhat reductively, could be described as post-modernists. “Who anyone is or I am is nothing to the work. The writer/ properly should be the last person that the reader or the listener needthink about”, writes Denise Riley. The influence of the New York School and Dada poetry can be traced in the work of Lee Harwood. Furthermore, Welsh poets Menna Elfyn and Paul Henry are introduced by guest editor Robert Minhinnick.
But before it looks as if we are only publishing new countries this month, it should be mentioned that long-standing PIW participant Colombia introduces us to three excellent new poets in this issue. José Manuel Arango, Santiago Mutis Durán and Andrea Cote represent three different generations in Colombian poetry, and their work is suitably diverse. For Arango, poetry springs from what Unamuno called the ‘tragic sense of life’. Cote incorporates everyday subjects and women’s voices in her work, but emphatically not as “a vindication of a historical feminine subject.” Painting is a major influence in the work of Santiago Mutis Durán, who, among other things, is also a highly respected art critic. His latest book consists of one long poem about a well-known Colombian ‘poète maudit’, who is never explicitly named, and contains delightfully scathing condemnations of those that were trying to fence him in:
PIW Belgium will, for the time being, focus on Flemish poetry – Belgian poetry in Dutch – as our current country editor, Tom Van de Voorde, represents the Flemish Literature Fund. As he writes in his introduction, “launching a website on Belgian poetry is like holding a three-headed monster over the baptismal font”, yet “only one of those triplets can be born today”. We warmly invite Walloon and German organisations to join PIW in order to ensure a more balanced overview of Belgian poetry.
This first issue introduces the five most recent winners of the triennial Cultural Award for Poetry, the most prestigious poetry prize in Flanders: Stefan Hertmans, Roland Jooris, Leonard Nolens, Dirk Van Bastelaere and Miriam Van hee. As if this weren’t enough, the Belgian issue is spearheaded by Hugo Claus, a Nobel candidate and by general consensus the greatest living Belgian writer. Claus is nicknamed ‘the Wizard’ because of his extreme versatility and protean oeuvre. Let us conclude here with ‘Poet’, Claus’ hilarious send-up of the ambitions of a certain kind of poet (“They continue to listen bitterly to the crumpling/ Of the newspaper that keeps on spelling their name wrong”). Although merciless and mercilessly funny throughout, his last stanza nevertheless runs:
We are tremendously pleased and proud, at PIW, to be publishing two new countries this month that we’ve wanted to be part of PIW for a long time: Belgium and the United Kingdom. Both countries boast a substantial and rich poetry tradition in a number of different languages – English, Welsh, Scots, Gaelic, Dutch, French and German – and between the two of them, they present ten major poets here.
The sheer wealth of the poetic traditions involved and the number of languages to be considered pose specific problems to our new country editors. The UK, which is represented on PIW by the Poetry Society, and more specifically by managing editor Andrew Bailey, has chosen to work with guest editors with various areas of expertise for each issue. These include Anne Born, Sinead Morrissey, Roddy Lumsden, WN Herbertand Melanie Abrahams. In addition to showing us the wide scope of contemporary British poetry (mainstream, experimental, performance), the UK team intends to ensure regional variety as well by representing at least two of the countries that make up the UK in each issue. The current issue contains poets chosen by two fellow British poets. Guest editor Peter Philpott picked two well-established names that, somewhat reductively, could be described as post-modernists. “Who anyone is or I am is nothing to the work. The writer/ properly should be the last person that the reader or the listener needthink about”, writes Denise Riley. The influence of the New York School and Dada poetry can be traced in the work of Lee Harwood. Furthermore, Welsh poets Menna Elfyn and Paul Henry are introduced by guest editor Robert Minhinnick.
But before it looks as if we are only publishing new countries this month, it should be mentioned that long-standing PIW participant Colombia introduces us to three excellent new poets in this issue. José Manuel Arango, Santiago Mutis Durán and Andrea Cote represent three different generations in Colombian poetry, and their work is suitably diverse. For Arango, poetry springs from what Unamuno called the ‘tragic sense of life’. Cote incorporates everyday subjects and women’s voices in her work, but emphatically not as “a vindication of a historical feminine subject.” Painting is a major influence in the work of Santiago Mutis Durán, who, among other things, is also a highly respected art critic. His latest book consists of one long poem about a well-known Colombian ‘poète maudit’, who is never explicitly named, and contains delightfully scathing condemnations of those that were trying to fence him in:
Take me to where my enemies are, the serfs
blend me with their blind blood
– so deserving of heaven –
Let them rot in apple sauce
For them your best
your haughtiest
your purest contempt
PIW Belgium will, for the time being, focus on Flemish poetry – Belgian poetry in Dutch – as our current country editor, Tom Van de Voorde, represents the Flemish Literature Fund. As he writes in his introduction, “launching a website on Belgian poetry is like holding a three-headed monster over the baptismal font”, yet “only one of those triplets can be born today”. We warmly invite Walloon and German organisations to join PIW in order to ensure a more balanced overview of Belgian poetry.
This first issue introduces the five most recent winners of the triennial Cultural Award for Poetry, the most prestigious poetry prize in Flanders: Stefan Hertmans, Roland Jooris, Leonard Nolens, Dirk Van Bastelaere and Miriam Van hee. As if this weren’t enough, the Belgian issue is spearheaded by Hugo Claus, a Nobel candidate and by general consensus the greatest living Belgian writer. Claus is nicknamed ‘the Wizard’ because of his extreme versatility and protean oeuvre. Let us conclude here with ‘Poet’, Claus’ hilarious send-up of the ambitions of a certain kind of poet (“They continue to listen bitterly to the crumpling/ Of the newspaper that keeps on spelling their name wrong”). Although merciless and mercilessly funny throughout, his last stanza nevertheless runs:
Adieu the poets write all life long
And greying like lavender in November
They continue – gangrene and jest and puzzle – to
pitifully beg for sympathy,
As I for the wear and tear on my ears and eyes
That loved you, love you.
© Corine Vloet
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