Net Verse
  Article 7 - for Poetry Review Vol. 87 No. 3 Autumn 1997

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Many poetry Web sites have a strong American bias, so it's nice to find the admirably British Poetry Update, at the admirably brief address of http://www.poetry.net/1. Eric Goldsworthy has an useful miscellany of contests lists, poetry library reviews, competitions advice and much more. He's recently started a cyberspace Who's Who, and I'd urge you to contribute if you've any sort of internet presence.

Another cisatlantic site is the rather good, and beautifully designed SNAKESKIN poetry webzine at http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~simmers/2 There's no sort of stable pecking order of Web magazines yet, though when (and if) one emerges, I suspect Snakeskin will be one of the ones worth being seen in. It certainly gets read: I had a couple of pieces in a few months ago and received several comments by email as a result.

The Ultimate Science Fiction Poetry Guide is a scholarly essay on the history and range of the genre, and makes much more interesting reading than you might at first think. It covers science in poetry to some extent, as well as science fiction, and includes such poets as Homer, Aristotle, Chaucer and Kepler, as well as more modern exponents. Find it at http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/sfpo.html but be warned that the only concession to visual excitement is a green background of peculiar unpleasantness.

Although Net Verse aims to bring you the good stuff, there are, of course, many truly dreadful poetry sites. Most are unintentionally dire; one exception is devoted to the poetry of William McGonagall. It's at http://www.npcts.edu/~ailiff/gh/mcgonagall.html if you must know. But if you go there, make sure you also visit The Real McGonagall at http://www.barint.on.ca/~bambrick/index.html3 where Gordon Bambrick speculates on the need for a re-evaluation of the author of The Tay Bridge Disaster.

Send any news of good or bad sites (but preferably not indifferent ones: I know of enough of those) to: ...

Copyright © Peter Howard 1997-2004

1The British Poetry Update was fairly short-lived. This URL still works (well, you wouldn't expect a domain like poetry.net hang around for long, would you?), but just takes you to a site that lists hundreds of other 'poetry' sites of dubious interest.

2This URL still works but it's probably better to visit via http://www.snakeskin.org.uk.

3Gord Bambrick's site has moved to http://www.geocities.com/williamtopazmcgonagall/.

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