Quote of the day

"I did not want to publish civilised, neat poems that ignored the psychotic savagery of twentieth century life. Why, only the previous decade there had been Auschwitz and Belsen, Hiroshima and Nagasaki - so shouldn't poetry be more vital, angry, rough, urgent - in short, Dionysian? Should not poets write out of an urgent, personal predicament rather than compose neat little clever exercises?"

Dannie Abse, writing in his autobiography 'A Poet In The Family', offers a powerful poetic manifesto - and one which is equally suggestive for other branches of the arts. The world ain't a pretty place, so why pretend it is? Art as escapism and consolation - no thanks.