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EXCITING!
February was!
And then NexusBBS
had a wonderful Wake in the park. Needless to say the pun pleased their
Contributing Editor. There were several net scribblers there too. You saw
some of them on the front page of this section, courtesy of Snakefinger's
talent, time, and (dare I use the word again?) generosity.
MORE CLOSURES
Meanwhile news
continued to come in of BBSs closing. More evidence of what had been troubling
us in the past.
Even more disconcerting, was the
news that Poetry Workshop, the international Fido Poetry Echo is to close
mid year, and - presumably, - the web page with it. My best wishes
go with V. A. Blevins as he wanders into pastures new. He did five
- nearly six -years sterling work for poetry, and did it with great love
and a refreshing style.
HERE WE ARE THEN
Not only
did Nexians have a fine party in the light rain, but Scribble was launched
summarily into the public eye. This was a bit of a shock to the system,
as, in my mind I was still in the process of tidying up. The second big
shock to the system was the statistics as they began to roll in I put this
down to, in large part, the popularity of Nexus itself. My little heart
pounded and my eyes glowed. The one, as I realized how ill prepared we
were, and the other as I realized, not for the first time, but in a new
way, that poetry is a great deal more popular than it looks. Our highest
day showed thirteen visitors, and while I'm sure this will settle down,
and some of these people may well have been my extremely nervous self,
still we've had people log in from Europe and the USA, and that really
can't be me in the machine. For those who are interested in such things,
the counter began on March 2, and we have had 79 visitors this month.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Without Stardancer's
help and Ftp programme, Scribble would find it much harder than it does
to come home to the net. He and the Dragon have been ever ready with advice
and kindness when it comes to where I may find what, and who to ask for
help.
Terry Bowden was kind enough to seed the Search Engines for us too, and
to keep me apprised of the technical standing of the site in the first
week. At this point I have a public apology to make. It appears in a highlighted
box in this page.
BACK TO THE NEWS
So much
for having the Net news up at approximately the same time as the Echo news.
There were far too many invisible (I hope) bits to deal with, many of them
still there. (grin)
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APOLOGY TO
TERRY BOWDEN
In the original version of the tentative
copyright issue I made a slanting reference to Terry which made it appear
that he had only just come round to thinking of publication on the net
as true publication.
The truth is far otherwise.
Not only is Terry extremely knowledgeable
about copyright especially on the net, and a web master with a lot of experience
in these and other areas, he's also worked hard to improve the standard
of publication on the net, and campaigned for its acceptance elsewhere.
The offending portion is now removed.
I make no excuse for it, but offer instead my profound apologies.
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POETRY
Yes indeed,
we've not been public, yet the poets have already been magnificent, and
contributed generously to the site.
AND POETS
In order of contributions:
Will
very generously made me free, not just with the recent work, which he had
shown to me, but with work written last year. His poetry is showing that
he values emotional weight and sincerity. I'm interested that often he
seems to be using himself and his environment as a symbol and link to the
world and the way it is. His insights are sharp, as is his language at
times, though it could sometimes be tighter. Will has five poems up. Two
poignantly personal poems (at first glance) that linger, and leave a taste
of insight into the way things are and the inner and out worlds cruelly
intertwine. War is a very different poem, which rides on a double
understanding of the last line. Talk about life for a while
is a screamingly personal sense of inner warfare and outer longing, neatly
juxtaposed with 'everything in me is turning into a dream'. He's
come a long way since I first saw his poetry and I'm looking to seeing
more work by this writer.
Stardancer
whose delicate poem once more researches the edges of belief and personality,
history and inner being. I'm glad to see him back. He is an accomplished
and subtle writer who never the less gives us a sense of the uncertainty
and fragility of being, the knife edge between predestined decision and
choice.
Max
I had seen only one of her poems before, and had been impressed by it.
If there was a theme in this month's work it was 'the poet in context'.
Will's world which can't say it is wrong, Stardancer's world which
beckons but will not define, and Max, with her poignant sense of place,
and nature, and the pressure of personal history. Stepping Stones
has a delicate, shifting sense of time and place. It is very beautiful.
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