h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I rang her back last night, as she requested, and it was a *very* peculiar call.

For a start, after I had introduced myself, she appeared to be waiting for me to explain why I had rung, so I said "you asked me to ring you". There were a few moments while neither of us had much to say to each other, (I didn't have anything to say, so I said nothing), and then she seemed to warm up or remember or something.

Long and the short of it is that she has passed the stuff over to someone else, and I should wait patiently for them to get back to me. No apologies for the amount of time or for the confusion, and an emphasis that they are a hard critting group. I re-emphasised that I am looking for hard crit, and respond intelligently to it, and that was about it.

Odd. If you ask me.

The more I have to do with these guys the less impressed I am, though the more impressive I think they assume that they are being.

B

Surely that kind of posturing has little to do with art? why do you pursue these nutters, Ben?

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Well, after my first call to her and sending her some poems, I heard nothing from them for months, and deciden to leave them to it.

Da nada.

Then out of the blue a message on my answering machine saying 'call me back', so I did.

Go figure.

I agree with you PC that these guys are not worth persuing. If they get back to me saying 'come along for a meet' then I'll go out of curiosity. I am wary of being too dismissive, but I confess that I would like them to realise after the event that they could have had me as a member before I got famous!

B

I hate to say this, but....'I told you so'

I agree, but what have I lost? Two phone calls and a stamp. Big deal.

As I said - if they do eventually get back to me I will go along out of anthropological curiosity more than anything else.

B

True.

You can have the pleasure of declining their invitation to join.

Now would I do a thing like that?



B

Well I finally got along to meet them. They run occasional evenings when people bring along poems by *other* people to read and discuss, and it was a pleasantly low-key introduction.

In fact, I enjoyed the evening.

I haven't critiqued poetry in that way since A Level, and then it was so drummed into us that we were dealing with Great Literature, that we had no confidence in our, admittedly immature, responses.

All of the poems read were new to me, and we had interestingly different reactions to a lot of them. The odd woman was still odd, but of all the poems read I liked two of the three she brought along the most. It may be just that she is offensive on the basis of tough love.

No matter.

I am going to take along two treatments of the same theme, one in free verse and one in a metrical form, which are experimental and drafts, and I can find out if they dislike the same things I do in them, or if they dislike other bits.

And I am going to be performing three or four at the Live Poets Society next weekend, which will be fun.

B

Well, I'm very glad you got to meet them. And they aren't so up themselves as I thought they might be.

Let me know how you get on. And, if you ever give a reading in Nottingham, I'd like to go to it.

FM

If I ever give a reading anywhere, I'll announce it here. Nottingham isn't likely, but stranger things have happened.

Cheers, FM. I'll keep you posted.

B

I've resurrected the Nottingham meet, btw. We could do with a resident poet.

So long as I don't have to make up an Ode to Hootoo.

I have to say, GaGaBraiN might be a loony, but he is an affable loony. Far more entertaining than most that we've had here.

B

Actually a meet with party tricks would be very cool. Bassman could bring his band, Hoovooloo could juggle three flaming torches, you could nick a piano or two.

What do you think?

B

No, absolutely not. When I go to a hootoo meet I do so in the intention of discovering other facets to those I have met on line. I don't want to talk or even think hootoo. It's the starting point of getting to meet people, not the be-all and end-all of it.

Sorry, that was replying to your previous posting. Yeah, I could nick a piano or two! Trouble is, I don't tend to get very far with them.

Where do *you* live, btw?

I'm not that far from Nottingham..

*goes back into woodwork*

On the Internet.

Between Bristol and Birmingham.

B

Do you have any party tricks, Z?

I can keep to a vegan diet and put on a stone?

So you're that derelict soul I see kipping on the hard shoulder of the M5?