Poets on Writing - Britain, 1970-1991 (Paperback)

For this collection, a number of contemporary poets, distinguished by their energy and thoughtfulness, were asked to write on aspects of the working processes of poetry in whatever ways they believed would be helpful to readers. The result is an invaluable account of their reflections on writing and its conditions, on their enthusiasms, and on their sense of the directions of others' poetry as well as of their own. Some poems, preoccupied by the questions of this book, are included. A scarcely-documented history of sustained work in Britain, non-parochial and outside a restricted "mainstream" is illuminated in these essays; many of the contributors here are or have been small-press publishers and journal editors too. This engaging book will serve as an introduction to the work of some fine writers, as it debates questions of significance for readers and writers of contemporary poetry.