Poetry and Statistics

When looking up something about Seamus Heaney just a while ago, I came across this astonishing statistic: according to the BBC, his books make up two-thirds of the sales of all living poets in the UK.

Poetry and success are as rare companions as poetry and statistics, and in that book which I seem to keep raving about, Stepping Stones, Heaney tells a funny story from his early years as a poet, when he met the legendary Monaghan poet, Patrick Kavanagh, a difficult man to say the least. For him, recognition of his poetic gift was slow in coming, and it's very probable he never made much money from it.

And this was obviously a sore point with Mrs. Kavanagh. After an evening drinking with the Kavanaghs and others, Heaney offered the moody, taciturn Bard and wife a ride home in his VW Beetle. Mrs. Kavanagh and Pat were clambering into the back seat when Heaney heard her say, "see, Pat, you can be a poet and have a car."