I have been thinking recently that with the preponderance of poet-bloggers who are out there hacking away at their blogs and seem to have ample online time, it’s sort of amazing that there aren’t functional message boards where these conversations can be more… well, conversational.

Obviously, there’s no shortage of message boards for “writers,” places where people are fawning over drafts of their online friends’ greeting card verse. I recognize how elitist I sound– how elitist I am– when I say that these boards serve a purpose, but it’s not the purpose of which I speak. I’m not interested in poetry boards for sharing poetry– if I really needed that, I’d get a writing group going. I’m thinking more of a central place where you could get some of better minds in the poetry blogosphere talking to each other about the interesting things they observe, rather than talking at each other. (This statement ignores the fact that some interesting conversation does happen in comments sections, because those conversations never last more than a day or two, while good conversations in message boards usually have a life of 4-10 days.)

Such a set of forums could not just spontaneously occur, of course– one or more of the active hubs in the poetry blogosphere would have to make a concerted effort to populate those boards. Message boards generally fail quickly without a dedicated community “hub” aggressively building them.

When I say “hubs,” I refer to a crude taxonomy in which you can basically divide people in the poblogosphere into three categories:

• observers– people who do not actively blog, but read and comment on blogs
• nodes– people with low-traffic blogs who are active but not immediately recognizable to most participants in the poblogosphere (like, say, me)
• hubs– people with higher traffic blogs who direct a lot of the traffic that runs through our community, either through discussion of poetry (Poetry Hut, Silliman), or by noting some of the interesting conversations that are happening, which may or may not be poetry-focused

You probably know who a lot of these hubs are– they show up in the majority of poetry blogrolls, whether or not the blog is poetry-focused. Some are “important in the real world,” which in turn, makes them attractive reads, while others’ digital presences have made them relevant to the larger conversation. I expect that this is a function of the newness of the poetry blogosphere and the fact that many of the giants of the poetry world are non-participants in the virtual community (Chaucer excepted). (Besides, those giants’ inaccessibility is both lamentable and desirable at the same time– it makes them easier to gossip about, in so many ways. Imagine if Tina Fey were to post in your 30 Rock discussion boards. What use would the rest of you be?)

It seems to me that if one established hub blogger, or several fairly recognizable hub bloggers were to commit about a month to poetry message boards, establishing norms for the community and identifying the police (who would be tasked with chasing away the newbs who come to post their own verse), the community would evolve in new and interesting ways. Of course, “interesting” would likely be synonymous with “horrifying” in so many ways.

Really, I’m just thinking out loud here. It’s a slow day, and a little gossip or in-fighting would be ever so entertaining.

In lieu of that, here’s Chaucer’s recent take on one of my favorite little poems:

THYS IS JUST TO SAYE

by Nostre Trespuissant Kynge Richard II

We haue had y-slayn
the knightes
that were in
Newgate

And which
ye were probablie
wisshyng
vs to pardoun

Forgyveness
nevir!
The lawe of Engelonde is ower will and lieth in ower breest, knave.