I think poets should take to heart the old adage(would it be an adage? what's an adage?)'Vote early and vote often'. Me, I flog my poems as often as I can, mostly for a pittance, sometimes for nothing, but AS OFTEN AS I CAN. I urge my fellow poets to do likewise. TReat your verse chldren as bits of journalism, and the editor Janet quoted, he has the right idea. The great Les Murray says, 'a different hemisphere doesn't count'. The other thing you can do is to CUT THEM UP. Alexander Pope is my model. Cut them up and sell them bit by bit. Tim's got something going here. 150 poems workshopped and placed. THAT's what I call poetry! Did I tell you that EVERY ONE of the poems in 'Being the Bad Guy' had been sold somewhere, sometimes more than once. Didn't I say? It's true nonetheless. Having said that I haven't won any money for BLOODY MONTHS. I'm getting twitchy. A guy called James Michie used to give me loads of £25 prizes for the Spectator. But he died of being so old. The new ones don't know what they're doing. They don't give me the money. Tste is a thing of the past. BASTARDS! That's the attitude to have. You lot are so GOOD. Stop being so modest. The stuff here is much better than most of the published stuff. This is degenerating into a rant and I haven't had my dinner yet.
[This message has been edited by John Whitworth (edited July 31, 2008).]
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