What I Read On My Holidays...

Summer is usually reading time. For some it’s writing time, but I seem to do an awful lot of reading in the holidays; sometimes for reviews, sometimes when someone wants me to cast an editorial eye over something and sometimes even for pleasure. As for the writing I’m working on a few things, including the odd commission which I’ll say more about later.

My summer reading kicked off with a novel, John McGregor’s ‘If nobody speaks of remarkable things.’  It was all about an unremarkable street full of apparently unremarkable people, but there was a type of spell cast over all of them by the narrator. The ending especially was particularly gripping, but I probably shouldn’t talk much about that. As a side note, I like the book’s title. I like the way it sounds like an unfinished sentence. Another book to stay with me for a long time I think.

Next was Matt Merritt’s ‘The Elephant Tests.’ Having heard so many out loud, many of the poems felt very familiar, but I think that’s part of the skill of Matt’s work. The tone is familiar, almost confiding, but then the poet slips in a line, word or image which surprises and engages. There were some fabulous poems, including a longer one called ‘Ravens, Newborough Warren’ which appealed to me for its repeated line, ‘don’t be surprised if nothing happens.’ There were so many poems I could talk about but you can find out more here on the Nine Arches Press website. Earlier in the year we read together in Leeds and I was struck by the way Matt’s work really connects with an audience and heartened to see lots of books sold and going to good homes.

I’m including a poem from the book on the blog. It’s called ‘Azul.’ Considering I was abroad visiting my family as the time of reading, there was something in the vividness of the images that made me look up the skies and consider the ‘inadequacy’ of the words for blue. Ironic perhaps, there’s so much vitality in Matt’s presentation of the colour:

Azul

The sky high and no limit at all.

Each time, the mind’s migration. Sky-blue

sky. Enough to understand

You live on an island. The distance

At once turquoise, cobalt, cyan. Blue

As eyes exactly açor-blue. Shades of the hawk,

Caught on its amphetamine rush against

A sea-blue sea. Caldeira-blue, hydrangea blue,

And the lights coming on

on ships in the harbor.

A navy-blue, and now the night,

Lunar-blue, celeste-blue, shot through

with silver-blue star wounds

that will only heal to a horizon

blue with mountains behind heat haze

or slipping in and out of cloud, like

The piecing together of dreams,

Like realising there are other

islands, and the inadequacy

of the word for blue.

I took a few Happenstance pamphlets with me as well. Recently, I've been reading quite a lot from the press. Fiona Moore’s ‘The Only Reason for Time’ is a pamphlet I’d really recommend, I've been re-reading many of the poems. Many of them deal with the loss of a partner and this is done in a way which is moving, incisive and elegant. The pamphlet initially sold out, but I'm happy to report it's back in stock and be ordered here, so do get hold of a copy before they sell out again. Here's a remarkable poem from the collection called 'The Shirt.' In earlier drafts of this entry I included a link to the poem, but I've found that the site didn't always work on my computer, so I've typed it up: 

The Shirt

I didn't find it for months, your shirt
bundled into a corner of the airing cupboard.
I shook it out. It had been cut
with long cuts, all the way up the sleeves
and up the front, so it looked like a plan
of something about to be put together.
They must have had to work so fast to 
save you there was no time to unbutton it.
An office shirt, because that's where 
it happened. The thin stripes slashed through - 
terrifying, unprecedented - a reminder
of everything I wanted to forget.
I'd washed it afterwards, not knowing what to do
with it, or that in three weeks the same thing 
would happen to another shirt, a favourite,
dull cotton whose thick weave made it look 
as if all the pink shell-grains of sand 
had come together on one beach, 
a shirt for a gentle hug; and from on,
nothing happened that we would forget.

Another special and very different pamphlet was Mark Halliday’s ‘No Panic Here.’ It was recommended to me and I finally found out that the quirky, conversational poetry I’m often drawn to has a name, it’s called ‘ultra talk,’ a phrase Halliday coined himself. It’s quite different in style to a lot of things you’d find in magazines. One bright, peachy Cypriot morning, before anyone else was up, I opened up the pamphlet and this was the first poem I read:

Numerous Swans

So many brooding swans like floating inkstains on a lake of

slender wakefulness. Really a lot, like more than fifty.

Across the narrow hips of the lake they glide,

dark and darkling, their plumes so silent yet not at all sleepy

Nor is the lake itself sleepy; it is a body of water

deep and liquid with liquidity of apprehension

as I turn my phrase like a dinghy and the oars clack

in the melancholy oarlocks. Ah there they pass again,

so many, I had not figured th’ineffable had bred so many,

possibly as many as sixty, swans the inky colour of night,

they are my thoughts if you haven’t twigged to that already,

and I delight to see them there, slender and brooding

and feathery and light and pensive and dark upon the lake of moi.

Mark Halliday 

Click here for more info about the poet himself and the pamphlet from Happenstance.

I like what this poem does and the humour achieved with the swans that become more numerous in the final stanza. The repetitions and images satisfied. The poem offers a way of stepping out of a poem, in the same way you might watch an old cartoon and Bugs Bunny may have stepped out the frame and be talking directly to the audience. Another way of putting this, I suppose may be Brechtian, but that's an overused term. On the other hand, poetry as theatre? Something to think about.

It's still August, there's still more reading to be done. I've got a few review copies to get stuck into. There's also the magazines of course, the most recent issues of 'Under the Radar' and 'The North' have been top reading material. I'm also open to any other recommendations.

The Next Big Thing

New year and new things to do. I was tagged by Matt Merritt to answer the following questions. The questions were devised by Sophie Mayer and the idea is that poets answer them and tag other poets to do the same. The project is called 'The Next Big Thing.' This morning I am very bleary eyed, but luckily for me I answered these questions on Sunday. Ah the joys of cut and paste! 'Tagged' poets put the questions and answers on their blog and then nominate poets for the following week. Please read on...

Where did the idea for the book come from?


I didn’t approach the book with a particular ‘idea’ or ‘concept’ in mind. It was only when I came up with the title that the book felt more cohesive. The title is ‘Melanchrini’ which is a Greek word for dark featured and dark-haired. It’s a very common nickname. I needed something which would hold the book together, even if it wasn’t an easy word for audiences. Perhaps the collection is mainly based on memoir, but with some flights of fancy. I have some friends who would like to know the facts from the fiction, but I think poems should have their own sense of truth.
What genre does your book fall in?

Poetry, unless you’re a rather harsh critic.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hmmm. The main character would be played by the love child of Louise Brooks and Kathy Burke under the acting tutelage of Bette Davis. The film would probably have the Mise-en-scène of an early 60s kitchen sinker, but with modern splashes. Rita Tushingham would be wandering around in the background like a monochrome ghost. The poet Philip Larkin would make a cameo role in the ‘Larkin’ poem. The Greek actress Irini Papas would play the role of Thea; she has the face for her I think. I’d like Stephen Poliakoff to direct and Scarlett Johansen to make the tea.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

This book is about being at once modern and out of time; present and vague; a native and a foreigner and everything within these poems is underpinned by a personal sense of history.

How long did it take to write the first draft of the manuscript?

The poems were written over a span of roughly two years. I didn’t realise I was writing a manuscript, as far as I was concerned I was writing individual poems. The book was published in July 2012. I started initial drafts in the summer of 2011. However I was still writing new poems for the book alongside this. The first ‘official’ draft was completed in December 2011. There were at least 4 or 5 drafts between then and May 2012. Some poems needed tweaking, while others were completely altered. Some were consigned to the big paper basket in the sky.


Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The birth of my twin daughters. When I was pregnant I suffered from Pre-eclampsia, a rather serious medical condition. I was in hospital for months and was very closely monitored. When the twins were born and we settled into a less traumatic but very busy routine I found myself being drawn back to writing, poetry in particular. I had one of those ‘life is short’ moments. I would pick up a book and read a poem in between feeds.My priorities felt very different.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I’d like people to read these poems and feel they could relate to them. The poems are set in familiar territory, but with a surreal take on life.

Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither. I don’t think many poets are represented by agents. My book is published by Nine Arches Press. Matt and Jane had heard me read at various Open Mic events in Leicester and Nottingham and approached me with the offer of publication. I’ve been very lucky. My publishers are very supportive and given me some great opportunities for public readings.

My poets to tag are:   Nottinghamshire poet and publisher Alan Baker on Litterbug. Leicestershire poet and lecturer Pam Thompson on Heckle Poet and Canal Laureate Jo Bell on The Bell Jar

Shindiggery - Monday 22nd August.

The Leicester shindigs jointly held by Nine Arches Press and Crystal Clear Creators have a real sense of buzz about them and last Monday's was exactly in that vein. The headline readers were Matt Meritt, Roy Marshall, Alex Plasatis and Deborah Tyler Bennett, whose new pamphlet 'Mytton, Dyer, Sweet Billy Gibson' is out now. All of them were wonderful. Alex's reading was a real surprise, of a very lascivious nature you'd say, very funny though. I'd go into details but there might be children reading. Matt's work is always a pleasure and was, as always, evocative and well-written. His writing is at full strength, and we were lucky to hear some brand new pieces. Deborah's work is always a treat and some of the poems from the pamphlet were based on her own great-grandfather and very strongly-voiced, making use of her Nottinghamshire roots and dialect. I was born in Worksop, you know, I'm very fond. Roy's work is imaginative and sonorous, my left ear was right next to the speaker, I savoured every word.

         The open mic, was very strong indeed, performances came from Mark Goodwin, Jayne Stanton, Gary Longden, Jane Commane, Jonathan Taylor and others. All wonderful. I left with rather a glowing feeling, happy that such things were occurring in my own city. Put that in your pipe, London town. If you would like to read other accounts of this event then are two I know of, one by Gary Longden: http://behindthearras.com/wordsandvoices.html#Shindig
and Matt Merritt: http://polyolbion.blogspot.com/

Housekeeping...

This is a misleading entry. On the surface it may appear informative, but actually it's an attempt by me to keep tracks. So, this month sees the next Leicester Shindig! This will be held on June 27th at The The Western Pub, 70 Western Road. Doors open at 7:30 and if you want to read get there early, you know the drill. Guest readers include: Luke Kennard, Joel Lane, Simon Perrill and Lydia Towsey. Simon's collection Nitrate, published by Salt, is wonderful, I've written a review on it, which should appear in the next issue of Under The Radar.

The event also sees the launch of the third issue of Hearing Voices which is out now and not available in book shops, but can be purchased via Amazon or send me a message. We've come to the end of the funded issues, there was only money for three. However, issue 4 looks like it's going ahead, following the fate of magazines up and down the country and across the world where there are no tramlines, just wings and prayers. So do buy if you like the sound of it. Here's a pic of issue 3, the front cover was designed by Helen Walsh:

Issue 3 has been guest edited by Alex Plasatis and Melissa Flowerdew-Clarke and features work from Kathleen Bell, Georgina Lock, Matt Merritt, James Walker, Geoff Stevens, and many others, including an 'other' called Maria Taylor.
Other things coming up include the Southwell festival, (can't go this year), featuring Simon Armitage and Matthew Welton. I haven't looked at the full schedule, but I'm sure there are some excellent things going on. Yes, and the Lowdham festival, I may be going in the capacity of woman-helping-out-on-stall-for-DMU, but the twins are coming so it may end up closer to origami, then book selling. There's a talk by John Lucas and a reading by Deborah Tyler-Bennett on June 25th at Lowdham too. My dearest, Jonathan Taylor, is also reading at the Swansea festival tonight, which I couldn't get to, on account of motherhood, but he's reading some of my work.

What else, competitions. Right, I have a phobia of competitions. I'm never sure if they're worth the hassle or not. So, why not just see them as a contribution to worthwhile organisations, such as Cheltenham Buzzwords, judged by Alison Brackebury. A worthy one I think. If you're a woman you could try Mslexia, judged by Jo Shapcott. I'm reading Of Mutability and it's excellent. The lucky woman will win herself £2,000, a week at a writing retreat and an afternoon with Fiona Sampson. There's lots of details on The Poetry Kit, about all these comps, many noteworthy ones are coming up such as the Keats-Shelley Prize, Bridport and others. There's one on Eyewear, celebrating six years of the blog. The prize is £6, there's a lot you can do with that amount, you could enter more competitions for one thing. Will I be entering any, I think not, I'll have to really persuade myself. What I would advise is that on the Mslexia and Poetry Society website, you can browse through the winning entries which is always interesting.

Shindig!

Last Monday was the date for another Leicester Shindig with not only me reading but Kathy Bell, Matt Merritt and Matthew Stewart. All three guest readers were excellent. Kathy Bell has a powerful command of language and imagery, a rich contemplative music exists in her work. Matt Merritt is just brilliant as always and I think 'Things left in Hotel Rooms' is one of my favourite poems at the moment. Matthew Stewart was the surprise for me because I'd never heard him read before and living for much of the year in Spain, this wasn't likely. I'd come across a few things in magazines, but to hear him read poetry which was so well-crafted and sonorous was such a pleasure. He has a pamphlet out with Happenstance called 'Inventing Truth' so do yourself a favour and get a copy, I would absolutely recommend it. Matthew blogs here: http://roguestrands.blogspot.com/

The open mic was another lively mix of voices, with readers like Mark Goodwin, Jayne Stanton, Pam Thompson, Mal Dewhurst and lots of other interesting stuff. I enjoyed Laurie Cusack's piece, even though he forgot to print off the last page, very well saved I thought. I also met and listened to Gary Longden, Brummie based poet,actor and reviewer, who also reviewed the night here at: http://www.behindthearras.com/pubreviews.html

Shindig happens again in June with Luke Kennard, Joel Lane and others as yet unconfirmed. Look forward to it as ever.

At the Altar of Shod

Monday night was Shodfest at the Looking Glass in Leicester; an event to celebrate the launch of Shod by Mark Goodwin, published by Nine Arches. The collection 'follows the trail 'of Sidney Realer, the new Shoe Messiah of the modern age. Mark had chosen an array of local poets to read from the book of Shod; Simon Perrill, Steve Carroll, Pam Thompson, Lydia Towsey, George Ttouli, Stevie Blue, Katie Daniels and Matt Merritt, with the man himself shoeing in here and there to read the odd poem. The methodology was ritualistic with the chosen ones being assigned a number from the holy rock shoe and having to read in a Kabbalaesque numerological style. (You following?)
What I really liked about this was the mix of different voices and reading styles, not unlike a church ceremony. I think praise had to go to Simon Perrill who read out the long list of 'begats' which frame the collection in a near trance like fashion - try reading them out. My favourite poem from the collection is 'The Barn of the Sinking Moon' which on the night I think was read by Pam, who was wearing a lovely pair of gold shoes.
Open mic was good and we were treated by the first ever reading on the open mic by Kathy Bell, who read two very strong poems.
May Shod be with you and to quote the Shoe Shine Psalm and so and so.