"binary myths 2" by Andy Brown (ed)

This time the focus is on poet-editors. Astley, Ken Edwards, Peter Finch and Loydell all have energy tempered by the realism of experience. Don Paterson hasn't been around as long but has risen further. His comments are the most out-spoken

• "I can't believe that there are more than 30 books of poems worth publishing each year"
• "One or two of the subsidised lists publish far too much, so their major poets don't get a look in. Until it becomes a condition of their subsidy to publish ten books a year and spent (sic) the rest of the money on marketing and distribution, things are going to be quite impossible for many of their authors."
• "I'm afraid it's a complete fantasy that poets choose to operate within the small presses".

Both in this and the 1st book, the question of whether contemporary poetry is (or should be) a divided thing elicits a wide range of answers. Some think that between different poetries there's as much of a gap as between the Spice Girls and (say) Glen Gould, and that there's no particular reason why poets should band together. Others disagree, saying that poets should unite against apathy.