Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes …

… Generation next: the rise – and rise – of the new poets | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The world is changing; mediums are evolving; and the language and content of poetry is shifting, too, to accommodate this. So why the anxiety? Well, to paraphrase William Gibson, the future may be here, but it’s not evenly distributed. For all the talk of a poetry boom, this appears to be confined primarily to poetry’s new wave; the traditional market remains challenging. Although Paterson reports a rise in poetry sales across the board at Picador, he acknowledges “it hasn’t quite been the tide that’s lifted all boats”. At Carcanet, meanwhile, director Michael Schmidt believes “the ‘boom’ is based largely on poetry which originates in the social media, where would-be writers develop a substantial following”.