Tuesday Poem draws a circle after five years of poems – and what of my blogs?

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There are a number of unpaid people who work tirelessly and creatively to promote NZ books and authors.  I was sad to see the end of this wonderful project but completely understand that circles need to be drawn. Bravo on five wonderful years. We will miss you. Thanks Mary McCallum and the Tuesday Poem team.

Perhaps a fitting moment to salute Graham Beattie! Cheers for all your hard work! Wonderful!

Every December I face my blogs and question their survival – I assess the toll on me and my own writing. This year it seems worse as I need to protect time to write my big book in 2016/ 2017. Yet I can’t cope with the loss of the blogs. I see two black holes. Poetry gets so little attention in media in New Zealand whether for children and adults.

I can never review all the poetry books that come my way and that does not mean (as one anxious poet proposed) I do not love books I have not managed to feature. This is an anxiety for me at times.
To have so many poets respond to my recent letter to share  favourite reads, is a boost. It seems we have a vital poetry community that stretches beyond localised pockets.

On the one hand I want to reduce the time I spend on these blogs, but on the other hand I want to find ways to strengthen them. To widen the audience. To celebrate the length and breadth of poetry we produce. Hmm!