NEW CONFIDENCE
    This past month has seen me, for the first time, confident that the range of  net poets had achieved some kind of balance between passion and maturity. It has now enough range to have strength as well. 

NEW POETS
    Two new poets have joined the Scribble fold this month. I've been 'head hunting' ANDREW C. DALLASTON for some time, but was thoroughly delighted to find my fellow Aucklander not only writes better than I remembered but was willing to be published. Eyes of the Storm, Fall, Panmure Basin, and Pohutukawas are each in their own way, outstanding poems; moving, dignified, beautifully written. They're stylish and deceptively simple. I certainly want to see more of Andrew's work and have returned again and again to read those we have on the site.

DOUGLAS H. THEW first submitted his poetry some months ago. The difficulty has been one of communication and wandering emails. Three of his works are up this month. The Kings of Summer, Beltane Fires and O' Gwenhwyvar show us that this poet is capable of variety and freshness of style. I'm hoping to see more from him too. This is, in a way 'genre' poetry and makes an interesting comparison to the work of Stardancer, who has been involved with Scribble for some years.

WILL kicked off the month with three of his best poems to date. Untitled and Unissued, Little Mind and Alone. They  demonstrate his growing technical abilities and what seems to me to be a growing consciousness of what he is doing and why. 'Night' - which he posted last month was, if nothing else a struggle with layers of meaning and experience and his growing ability to express the modern understanding of forms of power and authority. He shares this absorption with A. Lee-Nate, though the imagery these poets use if very different. 
Untitled and Unissued looks at outward form, and rests on another word play - the plastic/plasticity contrast, and that between weakness and inner light. 
Little Mind, looking for the miracle pill to make it better without the struggle and without the suffering of discipline
on a cosmic plain with no mind
little life and no soul
we just need our little 'pick me up' pill
Alone is a puzzling little poem hinged on the many interpretations 'it' and it's closeness might suggest, well worth dwelling on. 
 
 

    Early on, A Lee-Nate sent me a letter which was in itself a poem. Up in the Clouds was attached. This wonderful description of a night time drive into the clouds, which itself speaks of the isolation and comfort of being separate. I love the mood of this seductive poem, it is another which repays revisiting.

NEW RETROSPECTIVE
    The first four poems of Terry Bowden's Retrospective now hold pride of place in our Retrospective section. Re-reading them, and working on their layout has given me great pleasure. They're better than they were even in my memory, which is saying something.  There is more to come from Terry and I'm feeling very eager to get on with this section. 

THE SITE
I'm attempting a gradual simplification of the site structure, so a great deal of the work done should be invisible to the visitor, at least for the time being. This is one of the big drawbacks with 'learn as you go' webmaking. One learns things too late and almost invariably every lesson involves redoing most of the work which is up so far. I'm hoping to make the transition fairly painless, but it is time consuming and frustrating work. (rueful grin) I'm learning a lot, I'm learning a lot.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR. 
The FidoNet echo poets section should receive an update in the next few days. A fine exposition of Concession to Paradise will also appear in the Poetry Resources section. I'm hoping to have permission to reprint more of Terry's work in the Retrospective, as well as his fine essay on Enigmatic Poetry, which first appeared as two messages in Scribble the Echo. In other words I am spending every free moment lately crawling through the archives, and am coming up with treasures. 
    Purple Witch is still rewriting her guidelines for poets who are looking at being published in New Zealand. I am also taking a look at the work of some very young Waiheke poets who were inspired by Purple Witches writing. 

ENVOI
One way and another it has been a fascinating month, not nearly so quiet as one might have supposed, I'm looking forward to what comes next, since everyday seems to bring new riches in my mail box. 

Alice Thorpe