What was it like to be part of the echo in 1995, and to find that one had somehow offered to edit the new anthology, though one had thought oneself offering to proof read?  The position of proof reader was already taken by two people who are very important to scribble indeed. I discussed my impressions of scribble and scribblers in an afterword I had nearly left no space for..

With over three hundred poems to choose from, an editor might be excused, I suppose, for being somewhat overwhelmed. The range and skill of the poets in this book is barely sketched. Each poet has given permission for the work to be published, but the final choice has been the responsibility of the editor. To that extent it reflects her tastes and prejudices, not to mention her mistakes. Sometimes the exigencies of space rather than personal preference or intrinsic merit have dictated the selection of one poem over another. The only comfort must be that no Anthology could ever do justice to this art which is finding new life in a medium born of our times; life which is volatile, and dynamic, and unruly. 

CONTEXT AND PLEASURE
       I have included two examples of Poetic Prose. The day to day examples of this talent are spontaneous. By nature of the medium, they are interrelated as they are interwoven. Publication in some sense destroys what it seeks to preserve, for the works are cut rudely from their context to be framed and revisited. However, it gives such pleasure in itself, that an example seemed warranted. At its best such writing elevates a conversation into clarity, brilliant in internal rhythms and precise in expression. 

COMMON VERSE
      Poetry has sometimes been accused of being effete, esoteric, unmeaningful to the person in the street. Here, we have discovered that the person in the street is a poet already. Perhaps this has always been so. Poets are able, now, to share their poems with those who would, once, have been removed by education, history, age, taste or physical distance. Scribble 2 contains examples of shamanic poetry; lyrical poetry; of cynical, critical poetry; of imagery which has the classicism of silver poetry; of stressed poetry, rhyming poetry and therapy poetry. It is raw, it is prolific, it is inspired. It is not always 'good' art, but I have found it profoundly readable. Indeed, it reminds me in some ways of Elizabethan Poetry: felt, and thought, and not quite always 'finished' or stylish. Here is the forging of a new tradition in an old art form, using new technology. 
     The poetry has a raw, and sometimes awkward immediacy. It is poetry, thought and felt in everyday life, and expressed in the words and rhythms to which the poets themselves are accustomed. There is nothing mannered or,  particularly, modern, about this work. If it is tutored, the tutoring is that of mutuality, and laughter. A new form of Bardic College, or Mermaid Tavern, or fireside conversation. 

ENVOI
For these reasons, aside from my own enjoyment of poetry, and personal debt to the Echo, it has been a privilege to et these works. I hope you enjoy these poems. I hope you return to the book again and again. I hope you find, as I have, ever new pleasures and insights in its pages, while learning perhaps, new compassion for its frailties. 

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