"But methods of communication, whether they are as old as roads or as new as digital broadcasting, make where you are less definitive of what you are."

-- Peter Howard

One thing I find amazingly compelling about the Internet is the fact that it gives us all access to the poetry and points of view of so many writers from other countries. As words zip back and forth on newsgroups, bulletin boards and mailing lists, all of us find certain people with whom we feel an enhanced form of kinship. Their ability to express themselves in writing, the nuances of their 'virtual' personalities, sense of humor (or humour, depending on what form of English you're typing in), stylistic tastes, all these things (if one is very lucky) add to and amplify one's own sense of enjoyment in being a writer in the late twentieth century.

For me, one of these people is the very talented and well-spoken poet, panellist, and columnist, Peter Howard.

Peter Howard was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, and at Hertford College, Oxford where he read Physics and Philosophy. He taught Physics for four years before switching careers, and becoming an Electronics Engineer. He currently works as a telecommunications systems design consultant in Cambridge.

Peter's poetry has appeared in Poetry Review, The Rialto, Orbis, Envoi, Poetry Nottingham, The Independent, and The Faber Book of Christmas, amongst many other places, and has been broadcast on Channel 4 television. He has won numerous prizes and commendations in poetry competitions.

He published a short collection "Low Probability of Racoons" in 1994, which was favourably reviewed: "Deep insights underlie much of his wordplay" - New Hope International "Intriguing angles, twists and humour" - Weyfarers "...a satisfying wit and crispness" - Envoi

His poems can also be found on many sites on the World Wide Web. His own site Low Probability of Racoons contains many categorised and evaluated links to other Internet poetry resources, as well as poems and hypertext poetry.

Peter writes an Internet poetry column for Poetry Review, provides Internet consultancy for the Poetry Society, and has acted as Section Leader and joint Sysop of CompuServe's Poetry Forum. A panellist at the first trAce conference on Writers & the Internet, organised by Nottingham Trent University in 1998, and a speaker at the Beyond Art? colloquium organised by the Humanities Computer Unit of Oxford University in April 1999, Peter was an obvious choice when I decided to look for guest editors to help broaden the scope of my previous publication. I am grateful he accepted my invitation, and has had the patience to wait with me as we sorted out the details for Riding the Meridian; it has been a real honor to work with him on this issue. Here are his thoughts on his chosen theme: Nationality or Not.


Humankind is notoriously territorial. Those whose responsibility it is to draw the lines on maps will never be out of a job, as we all strive to define what belongs to which individual, family, village, county, country or continent. It's as much to do with belonging as with ownership: geography traditionally defines allegiances.

But methods of communication, whether they are as old as roads or as new as digital broadcasting, make where you are less definitive of what you are. So we invent pseudo-territories of class, fashion, occupation and so on, to reassure ourselves about where we, so to speak, stand. To put it another way, we talk to some people more than others. Culture develops amongst the members of a group; if some of the members also belong to other groups, the cultures of the groups may influence each other. This may be a Good Thing, or it may be a Bad Thing. And nastier things can happen when groups overlap in some territory or pseudo- territory.

The Internet is just one more pseudo-space in which pseudo-territories can be defined. What makes the Internet particularly interesting is that the influence of real geography on the definition of such territories becomes vestigial. There are still a few markers - my email or web address may define where I'm located - but otherwise, it's down to local time affecting when I log on, and how I spell 'colour.'

The broad question that motivated me to choose the theme of 'Nationality or Not' for this issue was how far and in what ways the use of a non- geographical medium influences the poetry of those who use it. I've selected poems that illuminate some aspect of this question, though not always in a straightforward way, of course.

Oooh, but I'm assuming everyone speaks some variety of English, aren't I? Naughty of me. The difference it makes to those who don't (in a pseudo-space where most do) is an interesting question in itself. There's some illumination of that in this issue too. But this is a poetry magazine, not a sociology journal. The theme exists to give a shape, not to define the content. The poems are here because they're good. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

My thanks to Jennifer Ley for giving me the opportunity to guest-edit this edition of Riding the Meridian, to all the contributors, and to you, gentle reader.


Peter Howard, Guest Editor for Riding the Meridian, Volume One, Number One

with an introduction from Jennifer Ley