Identity Parade

Identity Parade, edited by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe)

Roddy Lumsden's introduction to this anthology of 'the generation of poets who have emerged since the mid-1990's' is wordperfect, explaining how it has been longer than usual since the last such collection and how pluralism continues to be the right word to describe the current zeitgeist. Suddenly, it would appear that we are free of dominant schools and attitudes, the identification of a period with Georgian or 'pylon' or Movement poetry but now celebrate a democratic diversity of individual expression.

Pluralism is desirable and poets being understood in terms of group agendas is bad but the more one thinks about pluralism the less it really means. One can't really be plural on one's own and so it means that there are lots of poets doing different things, as surely there must always have been. It might be difficult to find anything that these 85 poets have in common, it is a generous selection but picked from over 1000 that were considered, but moving from poem to poem one is perhaps overawed by the sheer weight of work on offer and the wide selection of poets with only a few poems each might begin to look like an unwillingness to select more rigorously. Eventually, many of the poems could in fact have been written by roughly the same poet or at least by poets who all studied for the same creative writing MA. One becomes accustomed to the choice adjective, the erudite lexis (intaglio, ingleberried, periphrasis) and the well-read references worn like a casual off-the-shoulder number. Some of these writers are trying a bit too hard.

Although many might find plenty to admire for its professionalism, I don't find enough to like. I like Julia Copus, I like David Wheatley's A Fret and thus far I make James Sheard's The Lost Testimony of R. Catesby the best thing I've found in the book. This is as well as several poets whose books I've admired and bought, like Caitriona O'Reilly, Sophie Hannah and Kate Clanchy. Roddy doesn't select my favourite poems of any of these, or Matthew Welton or John Stammers for that matter, but it's less the poems selected than the poets I'd take issue with because I'd have had Kathryn Simmonds, Kathryn Gray, Martin Mooney, Stuart Paterson or Sue Hubbard ahead of almost any of those featured here. And, of course, Lumsden himself, who by modestly leaving himself out becomes probably the most accomplished poet not to feature in such a generational anthology even if Seamus Heaney was less than enamoured at being made central to the Motion-Morrison volume of the early 80's.

It is a fine and laudable thing to not nominate a towering talent or two unless, of course, there isn't one and there is still time for a few of these names to establish themselves as 'major' but one looks and keeps on looking for the clues as to which might establish a long-term reputation to put alongside a Larkin, Heaney, Harrison, O'Brien, Duffy or Armitage and hope that somebody will. However healthy and active the poetry industry is at the moment it will look like an impoverished age if it provides nothing more memorable than the writing exercises displayed here.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and keep on looking.