Spent a long time in Hay's poetry bookshop yesterday, first browsing among the fairly pricey books, and then chatting to the shop's co-owner about a variety of topics. A very nice, friendly guy, but he noticeably shuddered when I asked if he was involved in the poetry scene himself, as a writer. Although he had written some poems in the past, he had strong views about how quickly poets can go out of fashion and become forgotten. As a bookshop owner, having to price everything, and the value of individual poets, you get that way, I guess. It's wonderful that he runs a dedicated poetry bookshop, but if it was mine it would be stuffed with notices and flyers about forthcoming poetry events, and convey a sense of the excitement of poetry. A bit like Write Out Loud! Maybe I'll set up a rival bookshop one day ...

Yes - I think that the modern poetry world turns so much around the spoken word now - and there's that feeling that anyone can have a go, which isn't a bad thing.

Whether that leads to more books of poetry that you'd want to buy though - I'm not sure... Most poetry is quite hard to get your head round - it's not a particularly restful thing to do - sit down with a book of poetry - best done in small bites, I think.

i agree with you there, isobel. i think certainly trying to sit down and read a full book at once is hard work sometimes. i tend to skip in and out of the books i have. same with novels however.

a poetry bookshop however.. oh that's a idea!

Definitely agree too. Often a poem or two a day (one in the morning, one in the evening?) is the best way to read a book of poetry rather than all at once, unless the style and content is very similar. Usually I need time to soak in what the poet's trying to say, it almost always requires three or four reads before I start to understand!

Great idea at starting up a bookshop of your own Greg! I know the south-west, for instance, is crying out for a decent few, hehe.