In everything but poetry?
I’ve been comparing the frequency and level of engagement in the responses in this forum to those in this one.
And at least this UK discussion board has a forum for US (& other) poetry. I’m not aware of any US discussion board which gives a specific reciprocal place to UK (& other) poetry.
The US and UK poetry seem, from here, to be two separate universes, two distinct planets, with only the occasional pond-straddling pioneer (Rob Mackenzie and just a handful of others come to mind) at the ‘working’ level, where most of us operate. (At the mega-poet level - where there are mega-poets - all things become much more equal, don’t they?)
Is this an accurate picture? If so, is such working-level separateness good or bad for Poetry?
And that’s just the US-UK divide. There’s also the huge and important rest of the English-speaking poetry blogosphere. Is there more or less connectedness there?
Should people who care about Poetry be trying to do anything about any of this?
Or should we just be all Candide and il faut cultiver son jardin?
American poets who want to bridge the divide should join the Poetry Book Society and get a new British book of poetry every quarter (or if you become a full member, FIVE of them!).