Articles in other places.

SPL column 16: Originality, reloaded

What makes a poem original? In my previous column, I referred to originality as something more than mere novelty - "perhaps some combination of exactness, particularity, intelligence and beauty", "something ineffable" - which admittedly dodged around the tricky business of actually defining it. These approximations are still my best working description of originality, but the fact that I can't pin it down doesn't prevent me from indulging in that fine artistic tradition of speculating about where it comes from.    [Read more]

in Scottish Poetry Library Blog, August 2011

SPL column 15: On originality

"Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."

I was reminded of this pithy slapdown (attributed, apparently unprovably, to Samuel Johnson), when I encountered the following remark from Paul Sutton in a recent review in Stride:    [Read more]

in Scottish Poetry Library Blog, June 2011

Facing up to Facebook

Kona Macphee surveys the ups and downs of social networking.    [Read more]

in Poetry News, Spring 2011

SPL column 14: Dalliance or defection? Dipping the toes in prose

Writers and would-be writers are always being advised to "do a blog" for PR purposes, as though this were some mechanistic process akin to a self-assessment tax return or a used-car listing in the local classifieds.    [Read more]

in Scottish Poetry Library Blog, February 2011

SPL column 13: Racing bikes and rainbows: The poetry judge's plight

Here's a puzzle for you. Which of these four items is the odd one out?

• A ham sandwich
• A rainbow
• A goldfish
• A racing bike

Take a minute or two to think carefully...    [Read more]

in Scottish Poetry Library Blog, December 2010