This seems to be a common view amongst editors - just recently I
received this on a rejection slip: "in the main I'm not interested
in poems about poetry. Let the poem exemplify poetry by its technique
& register, & be about something else".
Poets and readers often distrust the genre too - "Above all, I am not concerned
with poetry" (Wilfred Owen).
I think that several factors are involved in this bias
- an over-reaction to the dreaded "sonnets about sonnets"
- a trend away from "essay poems", especially if they have a didactic component
- a feeling that people only write about poetry when they have run out of things to say
- a lack of interest in technique, and a wish to hide devices
- a wish that poetry could transcend words, escaping from the page into
the real world.
Edna Longley has said that every poem worth its salt is in part about
poetry, but I see no harm in occasionally using poetry more blatantly
as a subject. Unlike "Custer" say, or "The Troubles in Northern Island", or a
Biblical event, it's a subject with which an international readership might
fairly be expected to be familiar (and be interested in). With so many styles,
theories and schools of poetry around there is no shortage of subject matter.
If nothing else, at least the poem might be educational.
I'm going to be pretty narrow minded about selection for the
first issue, though I might loosen up later to focus on poems about writing and the anxiety of poetry workshops.