Catching up....

Hi, it's been a long while I know. Can't believe my last entry was back in August. It's been a little overwhelming for me both home and work wise, but I'm trying to remedy things. Some poetry related highlights over the last few months have included attending some excellent readings by Jo Shapcott and Cherry Smyth, as well as being in the audience for Nine Arches Press's first 'Poet-tea' reading in Leicester. Also managed to catch a couple of writing days at The Poetry Business in Sheffield. Other than that it's been EDITING! Yes, EDITING! This hasn't been easy. Over the last two or so years, (I started wrapping up the Melanchrini manuscript around December 2011), I've written nearly 70 or so (maybe more, hard to tell in a way) poems and come to the conclusion that only around 25 of those are acceptable. That seems low in a way, but I'm getting very fussy. Some poems will need redrafting, some are just sketches and some are not worth reviving. There is a poem cemetery in my hard drive, many poetic corpses are lying around in unmarked graves. I think most poets like to think about new pieces, but I've wondered about those other 'abandoned'  poems and what their value was and still might be. Maybe their value was to write other poems alongside them where the original intent was actually realised. I've sent out a lot of 'not ready' poems as well as 'ready' ones and it's only time that makes your realise that. The moral is perhaps to hold on or to get decent feedback.

Anyhow, I have a reading coming up in Beeston! Here's a fabulous poster designed by Pippa Hennessy:

I am reading with John Gallas and Roy Marshall. Readers of this blog will know my high opinion of Roy's work and I'm also looking forward forward to hearing more of John's work. Roy Marshall has an EXCELLENT new collection out now with Shoestring, The Sun Bathers. I hope to write more on this very soon and include a poem from the book. It's wonderful that Roy's work is being so well-received in the press at the moment. His Crystal pamphlet Gopagilla has just been reviewed in The TLS alongside other great pamphlets by Kim Moore, Suzannah Evans, Ian Parks, David Clarke and others.

Come and join us in Beeston!

I will try and keep-up-to-date with this blog promise.

'Whistle' - Martin Figura

On Friday, took a trip into Beeston for a performance of 'Whistle' by Martin Figura. This was part of the Beeston Poets series at the library. The ingredients of the show consist of a poet, a backdrop of images and brief recordings of a mother's voice. Sounds straightforward, but the results are mesmeric.

When Martin was a boy, his father murdered his mother. That much I knew about the show's content, but the story didn't begin there. Martin describes how his parents met and married, had three children and were a seemingly 'normal' happy family. That was especially moving as you knew where the story was heading. It's not just the story though which makes the performance so individual, the show is delivered with some sharp poetry and carefully arranged images. Not just still photographs, but images which speak to the audience and establish a type of dialogue with the poems themselves. In the Q&A after the show Martin explained how photographs are like poems, which I'm inclined to agree with both in this context and in the wider sense. The narration was so smooth that when I picked up the copy of the book after the show I was surprised to see a collection of individual poems, almost thought at times I was hearing an extended poem.

The delivery was quite something. Most poets read poems with brief (or not so brief) introductions. They 'um' and 'erm' a lot, some can even be quite apologetic about their work. Martin's poetry was delivered with pure conviction, nothing was explained, everything was there in the verse. As a performer there was something trance-like about this, it felt almost like a spell was being cast over the audience. When the show finished everyone needed a few moments to come-to. There was a brief interval and then the Q&A which I've mentioned, and there were lots of questions, such was the interest in the work. 

There are some clips here, and do take a look. Finishing though with a clip of 'Vineyard Boys' a poem about the Vineyard children's home to which Martin was sent. I love the way the children are described in a way which is moving and yet unsentimental.