This is just a quick poll to see how much poetry the members of this forum have actually bought in the past twelve months, both printed and in CD form.

You may make up to 5 choices.

Voting is completely anonymous, no one will be able to find out who ticked which box. (Unless you choose 'Other' and then post a message to specify what your purchases were, of course.)

If you have any comments to make on this topic of buying poetry, then please do take the time, that would be very useful!

Many thanks for taking part in this little bit of market research.

Jane :D

Any comments so far?

I meant to comment on this sooner, and got sidetracked. I buy as much poetry as I can, but being broke a lot of the time, often buy second hand. I've found some good stuff in the Red Cross book shop, and there is a bookshop in Gloucester that usually has a good (used) selection of contemporary poetry - bloodaxe collections etc. Buying second hand allows me to take more risks, as less cost is involved, and I can buy collections of people I'm not sure of or that I'm not familiar with.

When I can buy new, I often buy anthologies as I get the benefit of many different voices that way, and can be introduced to writers I am not familiar with. My favourite anthology is the Bloodaxe "Sixty women poets", and I'm also enjoying 'Emergency Kit'.
Of the collections that I've bought new, I keep returning to Carol Ann Duffy's 'Feminine Gospels' and Charles Bennet's 'Wintergreen'.

I read all the poetry I can (I don't think I have read a novel for about 5 years, I don't enough time & don't write much poetry when I am reading anything else)

I am lucky/unlucky to have one of those bookthrift cheap near work, that has more poetry in it than the 20 times bigger Waterstones down the road.
It seems to get F&F and Picador books in about 3 months after they come out for half the price, so wandering into there in a lunch hour, nearly always means coming out with a slim volume.

Also I go to a lot of readings & you know what poets are like for having armfuls of books to sell!

favourites at the moment A Voids Officer Achieves the Tree Pose, by Annie Freud , Podding Peas by Valeria Melchioretto, Safest by Michael Donaghy

I tend to buy poetry CDs but I like to see the poems written down as well, if possible. I can't always catch them on a first hearing, and even on a CD, I don't listen repeatedly, because I'd get bored, so it's nice to have a favourite poem in print. In print, a poem's been 'captured' there, like someone's image in a photograph. In your memory or listened to 'live on stage', the poem can change. Always changes, in fact, can't ever be the same. But not in print. Not unless the poet deliberately reprints after making changes to the original. But the copy you buy, that will always stay the same. I rather like that. It gives me a sense of continuity. You don't get that often in modern life.

Hope that's of use to someone.

If you get back to reading this, Derek, any chance you can elaborate on the Annie Freud title and what you think of it so far. ("Rubbish!" or not?) (Sorry, you have to imagine the squeaky voice there and probably be over thirty at least for that comment to make sense.)

And this isn't a review thread, yeah, but hey, I'm the boss and I've never understood why people ought to 'stay on thread' in forums. I mean, you don't stick to one f*&@! topic when you're chatting over a bag of crisps down the pub, so why do so many forum organisers insist on these regimented conversations? Blearh. Dour on-thread forums, can't stand 'em. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, off thread. Excellent.

And Safest? I never met Donaghy, though I know several people personally who did and who swear by him. Odd expression but you know what I mean. Sounds to me like he was an amazing man and one I could have done with knowing.

I own and have read Safest and ... well, you go first. What did you think of it? What did anyone think of it?

:D

(Podding Peas? Is that a collection of poetry or a gardening book?)

Also, staggeringly off-thread, I've just noticed from the list of credits on your website, Derek, that you've had work in The Whistle House. This is the omniscient Peter Finch on The Whistle House:

The Whistle House in which everything is contributed pseudonymously by one J. Wistlin.

Anything to confess? ;)

I read a lot of new poetry at my local library which luckily for me gets a few new collecxtions in every three or so months; maybe about a year old by the time they reach the shelves? Which isn't bad considering it's free. Unless you count late fines! I do buy poetry too though, when I can.

I like contemporary anthologies because you get such a wide sweep of poets. If you buy a single collection and it ends up you can't stand that poet or that collection, it just sits uselessly on the shelf. At least with an anthology, you can be fairly certain there'll be a number of poems or poets inside that get read on a regular basis. Sometimes I go out specially and buy books that I've taken out from the library and really enjoyed.

Off thread eh? I can do that.

My most recent acquisition was a CD of John Cooper Clarke's work called Snap Crackle and Bop. It was spinning away happily in my car this morning and up came a track called 36 Hours which to my delight features the line "Everybody Looks Like Ernest Borgnine". This is the title of a piece I have seen performed live in a pub in Stoke by a guy calling himself The Trent Vale Poet.

At the time he was known to blag himself a mic slot at random indie gigs around town. I remember thinking THAT takes guts. It's one thing to ramble at people who have turned up to see poetry, but to take your chances in a mid-gig-lull while the masses are looking for more beer? I'll have to find out what he's up to now.

Your use of the phrase 'most recent acquisition' has reminded me of the opening lines of the marvellous 'Bitcherel' by Eleanor Brown (whose other work I'm not vastly keen on, but this is one of those poems that stick, you know what I mean?):

You ask what I think of your new acquisition;
and since we are now to be 'friends',
I'll strive to the full to cement my position
with honesty. Dear - it depends.

I shall not quote the poem in full - it's in the Bloodaxe anthology Staying Alive and possibly online somewhere - but it is hilarious and she delivers it brilliantly; we were on tour together with the New Blood UK Tour back in '97, so I've heard it quite a few times and still find it as amusing as the first time, always the sign of a genuinely funny poem.

It's not that I think she is vapid and silly;
it's not that her voice makes me wince;
but - chilli con carne without any chilli
is only a plateful of mince ...

Vastly over-punctuated, of course. Makes me itch for the green pen. But you can't see punctuation when it's delivered live.

How's that for off-thread? :D

I remember the Whistle House. B)

I was lucky enough to be at a performance of Billy Childish this year and I bought everything I could lay my hands on afterwards.

And I was quite taken by John Siddique's `The Prize' this year which I had to get.

I've also gotten hold of some oldies but goodies that I've been meaning to read for ages - Ted Hughes Collected (which has kept me going for some time now!), Seamus Heaney's Beowulf and I need to get hold of Larkin's Collected that someone who `doesn't like poetry' stole from me.

As for audio, so far this year Sylvia Plath Reads and I've got Ted Hughes audio is on order to put in the car.

I subscribe to half a dozen poetry mags too, my favourites being The Rialto and Raw Edge.

Must read less. Must write more! :D

Im the other way round. Which reminds me I still have some of Sarah's poetry books... :unsure:

Perhaps there should be another poll - how many poems do you read? I buy loads but read less than I buy. :angry:

It doesn't matter to the industry whether you read them or not. Just whether you pay for them. ;)

I read alot from references on the internet, but try to buy as much as possible. I recently read Logues War Music, excellent, my favourite this year so far. There is alot out there and it is difficult to choose, second hand bookshops are a good source for me.

Jim

War Music is excellent, yes. I love the contemporary feel to it and the experimentalism, using CAPITALS! and the whole page as a canvas rather than just the obvious left to right margin thing. It makes the text far more lively and modern than I would have imagined possible and really pulls you in to read further. :D

I adore Christopher Logue. All Day Permanent Red is one of my favourite things I've ever read.