During conversations with some of my poets over potential edits for New Contexts: 5 yesterday, in more than one instance I came across the challenge of rhythm versus reason. In a couple of instances the sense of a word is potentially questionable or ambiguous – yet it fits a certain rhythm within the poem. Slightly changing to word (even just its tense) to make more sense can challenge that pattern.
It’s an interesting dilemma.
What should a poet do: go for sense or rhythm? Or perhaps find another word entirely that meets both needs? But the latter is difficult if one has already found the mot juste…
There can be no ‘right answer’ as each is an individual case – and at the end of the day, it’s the poet’s choice.
In any event, I managed to get through emailing around half of the authors selected for the anthology – and I’ll hope to get through the rest today.
I’ve started re-watching Simon Shama’s History of Now. The first episode speaks to the role of art in relation to power e.g. defending against authoritarianism and the loss of democracy. It strikes me that there is so much art could be targeted against these days, yet too much (my own work included, I suppose) plays it safe. [Of course, there’s a wider question here about what art is ‘for’ in the personal sphere…]
I applaud people who use their art to take a stand against what is wrong in the world, to make a statement as to what they believe in. Perhaps I should try and be ‘angry’ in my work too…
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Ian Gouge - Writer 