I don't particularly like writing blogs, I don't write them very often, but today I feel I must. A huge injustice occurred last night when one of the most talented and original poets I have ever read on this site was evicted. I just thought it would be nice to put up this blog so that if anyone wants to post any comments, thoughts, whatever, about Ian's poetry, or indeed his colourful character (!), they can do so here. You never know, he may pass this way and read it. No negative comments, thanks, only positive, in particular comments about his actual work, which is groundbreaking. Did he inspire you? Do you feel any of his comments made you a better writer? What did you think about his use of imagery and metaphor? Because I don't think I've ever seen such a natural, raw ability with imagery and metaphor. As an obsessive reviser who takes forever to complete a poem, I found the concept of 'fugue writing' really fascinating, so different to the way in which I write.
I'll never forget my first encounter with him back in August last year, when he left a comment on my 'Birth Day' lune poem, asking me "Can you explain the words 'you' and 'your'?"! I thought: "Bit odd, is this person for real? Is he trying to be funny?" lol. I recall I gave a rather sharp reply, and thought nothing more of it until a few days later when I was perusing the new poems list and happened to spot a poem by him which had been inspired by a contest I was running at the time, but he had written 'Not For Contest' after it. Intrigued as to why someone would write a poem for my contest but not enter it, I clicked on it. What I read blew me away. I knew I was looking at something very special.
The poetic loss to this site is huge, the loss of a very unique talent who had much to offer. But you cannot shackle a creative talent like his, it just has to fly free.
I don't want to get into any debates about admin's decision to evict him - even though I believe it was a bad move for poetry - lest this blog is removed. I just want to focus on the poetry aspect, and if it opens up a wider discussion about poetry in general, I welcome that, as I'm sure he would.