Is it all you need? I think it is. In fact, I would say that there can only be love, hate destroys everything and everybody.
Only love can be creative.
Make love,
Be love,
Live love !
Aw reet love?

How do I respond to this without plugging my gig at Nexus Art Cafe, Dale Street, Manchester this Sunday 15th February at 3pm?

Given that the gig is called LOVE POETS and I'm launching my zine of love poems there?

It's a tricky one. A real dilemma. I'll give it a go...

I'd like to think that love is all we need. I'm almost certain that if I tried to live on love (and water) after about a week or so I'd be down to my ideal weight. I'd hesitate to suggest it as a diet plan though.

I despise people who drone on about how love poetry should be banned. The only type of poetry that should be banned is bad poetry. And I don't mean bad in the James Brown sense of the word 'bad' either.

In my experience the sort of poets (nearly always male) who are dead set against love poetry are the first to gush and be full of flowers and rainbows the moment some poor unfortunate decides to embark upon a relationship with them. The inevitable twisted and spiteful bilious poetry accompanies the break-up.

The mistake, I think, most people make is assuming that love poetry (or poems about love) has to be - "you're dead good and I think that you're the loveliest, cuddliest snuggle-bunny I've ever wuvved" type stuff. It doesn't.

Larkin's poem called 'Love' is an amazing poem about love and has the devestating final lines...

'Only the bleeder found
Selfish this wrong way round
Is ever wholly rebuffed,
And he can get stuffed'

Love is discourse. It generates discussion. You may love or hate it, but there's no getting away from it.

Bad poetry should definitely not be banned. It is the yardstick against which we judge good poetry and anyway anybody who wants to ban my poetry can get stuffed.