Published 2024. Paperback, 336pp, 9 x 6ins, £19.95 / $27.50
ISBN 9781848619418 [Download a sample PDF from this book here.]

The very idea of beautiful feelings makes people laugh, but surely we prefer beautiful feelings toother feelings and sensitive poets to insensitive ones. Few poets proclaim their insensitivity. All the same the phrase points to a possible lack of balance. If the focal point is sensitivity then that might restrict the world of the poem to a small zone close to the poet’s skin, with everything collective, objective, political, abstract, technical, etc., disappearing from view. Even if we accept that poetry is now subjective and egocentric, we can ask if this is an ideology, and look for external forces supporting it, for the currents of poetry which breach its rules, and for historical moments which closed off an exit into other possibilities.

The main feature of the 21st C scene is the great number of poets at work. This is a motive for writing about as many poets as possible, eighty in this case. They are only partly hidden by the details we don’t know. The field may have no overall shape but its local fabric looks like a rich differentiation into linguistic micro-climates, brought about by the sheer number of people and their interest in fine distinctions. If we stroll through enough of the new poets, we may find that sensitivity and the need to be original have shaped a landscape of diversity and achievement which excels our capacity to take it in. This is a park designed for collectors of exotic and finely wrought artistic sensations. Where realms of talent are hidden behind realms of talent, an expedition can last for years.

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