"People can put their best poems straight onto the web"
About this Quote
A small, almost throwaway line that smuggles in a quiet revolution: the web doesn’t just distribute poetry, it reroutes who gets to decide what counts. Coming from Roger McGough - a poet shaped by performance, pop cadence, and the democratic impulse of Liverpool’s scene - the phrasing is tellingly plain. “People” matters as much as “poems.” Not poets, not prizewinners, not those with the right endorsements. Just people. The sentence is an open door.
The verb “put” does a lot of work. It’s casual, unceremonious, anti-gatekeeping. No editor’s desk, no submission queue, no cultural passport control. “Straight onto the web” has a similar bluntness: direct, frictionless, almost physical. The subtext is that older routes to legitimacy were never purely about quality; they were also about access, class, and networks. McGough isn’t romanticizing technology so much as pointing to a shift in power: publication becomes an act you can perform yourself.
There’s optimism here, but not naivete. “Best poems” implies a new kind of pressure: in an infinite feed, work doesn’t get buffered by scarcity. The web can elevate a gem, but it can also drown it. Still, McGough’s intent feels less like a tech forecast than a cultural vote of confidence. Poetry, often treated as an elite room with a narrow door, becomes something you can carry in your pocket and share at full volume.
The verb “put” does a lot of work. It’s casual, unceremonious, anti-gatekeeping. No editor’s desk, no submission queue, no cultural passport control. “Straight onto the web” has a similar bluntness: direct, frictionless, almost physical. The subtext is that older routes to legitimacy were never purely about quality; they were also about access, class, and networks. McGough isn’t romanticizing technology so much as pointing to a shift in power: publication becomes an act you can perform yourself.
There’s optimism here, but not naivete. “Best poems” implies a new kind of pressure: in an infinite feed, work doesn’t get buffered by scarcity. The web can elevate a gem, but it can also drown it. Still, McGough’s intent feels less like a tech forecast than a cultural vote of confidence. Poetry, often treated as an elite room with a narrow door, becomes something you can carry in your pocket and share at full volume.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
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