{"id":383,"date":"2020-07-13T07:27:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T05:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=383"},"modified":"2020-07-27T16:31:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T14:31:30","slug":"our-poetry-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=383","title":{"rendered":"Our Poetry Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our Poetry Party<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kim proposed that we organize a Zoom reading.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m obliged to admit that I responded with a soup\u00e7on<\/em> of misgiving.<\/p>\n

Not so, Marianne. \u2018It will be a global event! We can divide it into sections \u2013 Poems of Resistance! Poems of Exploitation! Poems of Engagement!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You\u2019ve already given this some thought?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018It isn\u2019t rocket science!\u2019 Marianne said. \u2018It\u2019s what we are already doing \u2013 but with a different platform!\u2019 I noticed she was speaking in exclamation points.<\/p>\n

And, she is right, of course. Zoom and other devices of relatively recent vogue lend themselves to performance \u2013 plays and concerts and all kinds of entertainment \u2013 so, why not poetry?<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s the word \u2018performance\u2019 that I had difficulty with. Poetry is cerebral, contemplative \u2013 isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u2018And we can have a competition!\u2019 Kim said, adopting Marianne\u2019s exclamatory manner. \u2018We can have prizes!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Prizes!\u2019 My misgivings multiplied.<\/p>\n

\u2018A poetry slam!\u2019 Marianne said. \u2018A global poetry slam! Why not prizes?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018But . . .\u2019 I began.<\/p>\n

\u2018A bit of a departure from our regular beat?\u2019 Dimitri said. He has a cooler head than me, but he is often just as sceptical about things that are new and disconcerting.<\/p>\n

\u2018Would the performers submit their work in advance,\u2019 Patrice asked, \u2018so that we can check the suitability of the poems they propose to read?\u2019<\/p>\n

I wondered if Patrice was showing an untoward though entirely understandable reaction to Hongkong\u2019s new security law. In other matters \u2013 free metre and the imaginative deployment of sprung rhythm, for example \u2013 he is all for radical departures.<\/p>\n

\u2018Albus?\u2019 Kim asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s an interesting idea,\u2019 I said.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s what you say when you think something\u2019s a terrible idea,\u2019 Dimitri said. This was true.<\/p>\n

\u2018We don\u2019t have to call it a poetry \u201cslam\u201d,\u2019 Marianne said. I believe she may have identified the snobbery that fuelled at least a part of my scepticism.<\/p>\n

\u2018It would certainly suit the current circumstances,\u2019 Patrice acknowledged, \u2018and it is<\/em> a logical extension of what we\u2019re already doing. It would be an opportunity for new voices to be heard.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018As long as we know in advance what the \u201cperformers\u201d are going to say?\u2019 I suggested, no doubt a little snidely.<\/p>\n

\u2018No,\u2019 Patrice replied firmly. \u2018I erred on the side of timidity there. If it\u2019s to have resonance, poetry cannot be muzzled!\u2019 Despots ought undoubtedly to tremble in the face of statements such as this. I could see that Patrice was coming round to Kim\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

\u2018What about practicalities? Logistics?\u2019 I asked, taking refuge, I am ashamed to say, in the sort of territory where spurious objections live. \u2018Do we even know how to organize an online poetry event?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, we do publish an online poetry magazine,\u2019 Dimitri pointed out with rather magisterial simplicity. \u2018We should be able to manage a virtual reading.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll put out the word on social media and publish the link,\u2019 (I\u2019ve noticed that since she sold the film option for her verse epic about nineteenth century transpacific migration, Kim has become something of a dab hand at the jargon of today) \u2018and if more than fifty people log on, we\u2019ll have a smash hit! Fewer than that would come to a real event. I have some students who can set up the Zoom meeting. I\u2019ll ask them.\u2019<\/p>\n

And so, On Lines is going even further online. Our first Global Poetry Party will not be competitive \u2013 no prizes. It will be open to all. And there will be no vetting, so we may get into trouble (if we\u2019re lucky).<\/p>\n

As I consider these things, it occurs to me that this project, about which I was initially lukewarm, is a celebration of the free and expressive creativity that makes poetry matter. I\u2019m a little sheepish that I had to be persuaded in the first place. In this respect at least, the exercise seems to have blown away some artistic cobwebs. Another unexpected dividend in the age of Zoom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine. Our Poetry Party Kim proposed that we organize a Zoom reading. I\u2019m obliged to admit that I responded with a soup\u00e7on of misgiving. Not so, Marianne. \u2018It will be a global event! We can divide it into sections \u2013 Poems of Resistance! Poems of Exploitation! Poems of Engagement!\u2019 \u2018You\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[46,47,48,45],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/cropped-banner-K1-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}