Angel Exhaust 20, edited by the inimitable Andrew Duncan and his co-editor Charles Bainbridge, comes highly recommended. In evidence of which, I need only list the contributors:Kelvin Corcoran
Michael Haslam
David Chaloner
Charles Bainbridge
Colin Simms
John Goodby
D.S. Marriott
Jesse Glass
Carrie Etter
Jason Wilkinson
Out to Lunch
Rita Dahl
Jeff Hilson
Chris Brownsword
John Kinsella
The poets are given plenty of space, and the twenty-page sequence by David Chaloner is noteworthy. At the end, some entertaining responses to the question "what's wrong with us all?" including some nice invective from one Simon Gregory, such as:
"There is no primacy for the aural. Like, writing, heard of it? You don't think it's irretrievably altered our entire relationship with language? Call it [performance poetry] something to do with theatricals and bugger off.Likewise visual poetry, whether traditional, media or computerised. Totally trivial. Nothing to do with poetry. A minor decorative craft, like macramé."
And from AD himself:
"I have to say first of all that the worst thing on the scene is dumbing down. There are powerful institutional interests which want to eliminate every form of poetry except what is suitable for 15 year olds with learning difficulties."
There are also some thoughts on poetry readings by Alexander Hutchison, whose recent reading in Nottingham remains one of the most memorable I've heard.
I also have to mention the excellent cover, showing "the crows fighting the owls with the curling tongues of flame proper to the Altaic hillside" (Not the image at the top of this post, which is just what came up on Google Images for 'angel exhaust').
Contact details on Carrie Etter's blog.
4 comments:
I'd second your recommendation.
Alan, let me ask you: "what's wrong with us all?"
Hmm - I was already looking forward to this, purely on the basis of the dramatis personae - now you've got me positively salivating. The 'macrame' comment is a gem :-)
Um, caught up with this late, too - but now I've got it, it's the best mixed collection I've read for a very long time. David Chaloner on top form, if slightly surprising, Michael Haslam and John Kinsella at the top of their game too. And the "conversation" on the back cover is also a treasure.
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