Well, I mentioned some time back, that some of my translations of the poetry of Kaneko Misuzu would appear in the journal Modern Poetry in Translation, and indeed they have. I didn't know much about the magazine before I submitted my translations, but I find it to be a quality publication and a cracking read. I would recommend it to anyone interesting enough not to have the boring kneejerk reaction that poetry is boring. (Poetry seems to have become a truly minority concern, for some reason.)
Anyway, I don't believe that poetry is dead. And as proof I offer the fact that poetry can still be censored. Anything that can be consored is obviously a vital force.
Back in 1982, in the song Know Your Rights, The Clash summed up quite succintly the true situation in the great bastions of democracy in this world:
"Number 3
You have the right to free
Speech as long as youre not
Dumb enough to actually try it."
Here's Bill Hicks on the same subject:
"I myself am a strong supporter of the 'Right of freedom of speech', as I'm sure most people would be if they truly understood the concept. 'Freedom of speech' means you support the right of people to say exactly those ideas which you do not agree with. (Otherwise you don't believe in 'freedom of speech', but rather only those ideas which you believe to be acceptably stated.) Seeing as how there are so many different beliefs in the world, and as it would be virtually impossible for all of us to agree on any one belief, you may begin to realise just how important an idea like 'freedom of speech' really is."
Simple enough to understand, surely?
Under such criteria, is Britain a country of free speech? Well, we know it is supposed to be. However, I can offer proof positive that it is not, and I can do it now.
The idea of a banned poem might bring to mind a country such as China, where the government is very sensitive to criticism, and has a great deal to be sensitive about. But, in a section on banned poetry in this issue of MPT, alongside the poetry of the exiled (and brilliant) Chinese poet Yang Lian, there is a contemporary poem banned in Britain which shows exactly where the 'sensitivities' of this great democracy of Britain lie, and exactly those issues over which it still cannot afford free speech, and still fails, therefore, to be anything other than a sham democracy.
The poem in question deals with Third World debt. You can read the poem itself, and the details of its censorship, at this link.
