POETRY FOR THE FUTURE

by Jonathan Telfer

Despite a job writing for Britain's bestselling subscription-only magazine, Saga, Folkestone poet Ben Barton can’t get enough of writing in his free time.

‘I have pads all over the place. I’ve been published for about the last eight years or so, but I just don’t have as much time as I’d like. I do try though ’ he says.

Favouring free or blank verse over rhyming poetry, which he jokingly describes as ‘greetings card doggerel’, Ben has been published in many small press magazines but took a big step forward by approaching the BBC for its ongoing Video Nation project.

‘I used to watch it quite a lot so I just wrote a letter asking if I could have a go and the next thing I knew I had a BBC crew round my house. They leave you a camera, tell you to get on with it, and then edit it together. I had quite a lot of input but you don’t have much time to spare with only three minutes.’

Ben’s film, NO ONE READS POETRY, about his struggles to juggle poetry writing with his busy day job, can be viewed online at the BBC website.

Although the title quotes him from the film, he knows there are still people who read poetry. ‘They do, but there’s a kind of vacuum, with more people writing it than reading it,’ he says. ‘I don’t know if there is a market there.’

Ben thinks the future of poetry is in multimedia projects, presenting sound, music, images and film alongside poetry. ‘The BBC have some really good projects but there’s still a lot more to be done. I want to see poetry DVDs!’ he says.

Originally published in Writers' News, October 2004