DUP, Starsrite and me

Dear everyone

Before I start I would first like to express my great heartfelt sorrow at knowing that Deepundergroundpoetry is closing down. DUP had been a second home to me and to many poets like myself. I have met many friends, read some amazing words, poems and stories that touched my heart and made me the person who I am right now. But most of all I’m very grateful to the owners of DUP and everyone who has worked relentlessly to bring together such a great community of poets and writers under their wings. I also know how difficult it is to make such a site work, and what efforts they had put both emotionally as well as financially. We are forever in their debts, and if I could help in any way to persuade them to change their decision to close DUP down, I would not hesitate one bit.

Having said that, many people have been asking me what next. What about Starsrite? And will it take over where DUP started. Some of you might know that I am the owner or part owner of Starsrite. However it has never been my intention to take over from DUP. As I said DUP has been my home for years. That is why I’m staying here until it shuts down its last lights. That is  the least I could do to show my gratitude to this site. When it comes to it, I am a poet and a writer just like you here on DUP. I will always be a poet and a writer where ever I end up setting camp. Hopefully where I find friends and be part of a community like the one I found here in DUP.

Of course many of you have been scrambling to find a new home after DUP announced their closure, so have I. One of the destinations many of you chose is Starsrite, and I’m grateful you have given me that trust. I know Starsrite is an infant site, it needs lots of love and support if it is going to evolve as the site you all want it to be. I’m hoping that we can all work together to make it the shining beacon for every poet and writer who wants something different, who wants a loving community of friends and support. It’s going to be a long road. But I have all the confidence in all of you and your vision for our future together.

However before I go I would like to touch on a few things that has happened those past days. Many of you have asked me to make an announcement to invite people to move from DUP to Starsrite. Unfortunately I can not do that. I can not in all intent and purpose ask people to come to my site. As the owner of Starsrite and as a member of DUP I can not personally ask that of anybody. That would be dishonorable, immoral not to mention illegal even though DUP has already announced it is closing down. I still have great respect to the owners and people in DUP to do such a thing. DUP management have not endorsed any successor to their site, nor are they likely to do so, so until that time comes I will continue to be a faithful member of their site and their community until their last breath.

Of course many of my close friends like Mary (Her), Malcolm, Willow, Debbie… etc have been actively encouraging people to go and check out Starsrite. Of course that is their prerogative since they do not have any interest either way. And I’m very grateful for all their amazing help. However since I am the owner of Starsrite I do not have that luxury. Therefore I can not and will not do any such thing. I will leave it to everyone to choose where they want to go next. There are many options out there. I do wish all and everyone of you the best wherever you decide to go. However I do hope to see you all again, to read your words, those that you have written, and those that you will be writing in the future. And I hope to continue to grow our friendship wherever you end up going. I have known many amazing friends here in DUP,  like Mary, Fia, Willow, Debbie, Damian, Duende… and many many more for a long time, and I’m honored and will always be in their gratitude for the rest of my life and will always cherish their love and friendship.

I wish you all the best my friends. But most of all I wish all of you to continue to show the world your poetry, your stories … The world needs you my friends. It needs poets and writers like you, otherwise life will stop being that wonder place we all live in.

So please don’t ever stop writing ….. please …