I had a post planned (I know, it’s almost like I think about this sometimes). I wanted to mention that I think I’m fit enough to do the Race To The King next weekend. I wanted to mention the reading for Red Squirrel and being Zoom-bombed (not me personally, but the event)
I wanted to mention the four poems I had in two magazines that arrived this week, and week 2 of The Friday Poem being out, and a few other bits and pieces, but Saturday night I got a phone call from a friend to inform me that my dear friend Lorraine died. She had been very ill with cancer. I will miss her immensely.
My thoughts are with her family and friends back in Norfolk.
A total legend
THE WEEK IN STATS
39.5K , Some short and some longer runs to test my calf. I think it’s ok… 1 trip into town 1 hangover 0 x acceptance 0 rejection: 0 poems worked on 1 new Submissions: Northern Gravy 31 poems currently out for submission. 65 Published poems*: Was 66, but one was not used in the end, having been accepted. 44 Poems* finished by unpublished 27 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0 Review* Need to write one this week 3 reviews to write 4 weeks without cigarettes… 1 Days without drinking (if one glass of wine counts) 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Helium Balloon Tank
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Stand
Music
The Archers Johnny Flynn & Robert Macfarlane: Lost In The Cedar Wood Martina Topley-Bird: Quixotic Mercury Rev: Snowflake Midnight Joe Wong: Nite Creatures Badly Drawn Boy: Have You Fed The fish? The Octopus Project: Memory Mirror Field Music: Making A New World Pearls Before Swine: Balaklava Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird: These 13 One Little Plane: Into The Trees Kikagaku Moyo: Masana Temples Barry McGuire: Have You Heard Cursive: The Storms of Early Summer Molly Sarlé: Karaoke Angel Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say…, Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?, Favourite Worst Nightmare, Humbug, AM, Suck It And See, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino The Rolling Stones: Aftermath The Starry Tides: One Lit Window Scarce:Deadsexy Collections of Colonies of Bees: Flocks, Customer, Hawaii, Collossal Squid: Swungert Cowboy Junkes: All this Reckoning, At The Ends of Paths Taken The Essex Green: Hardly Electronic REM: Green, Document, Reveal My Bloody Valentine: Loveless, MBV
TV/Film
Mare of Easttown: E3-7 Waking The Dead S4E1-7 England V Croatia
Zooms, etc Red Squirrel Fundraiser for the Lit & Phil
Radio/Podcasts None
Ordered Various running things (Sock, Anti-chafing cream, collapsable cup)
Arrived Various running things (Sock, Anti-chafing cream, collapsable cup)
It’s finally here…well, Friday has been and gone(I started this on Friday for a change), but The Friday Poem is here. I made some vague reference to it a couple of weeks ago, something about getting in on the ground floor, but let’s ignore that.
Here’s the closest they get to a manifesto in the first editorial on the site
“We are not aligned to any particular school or type of poetry. Long or short, old or new, lyric, narrative or dramatic, from haikus to epics, from sonnets to soliloquies, from ballads to blank verse, it’s all good. Poetry can be political, elegiac, prophetic, obscure, but it must be honest (by which we don’t mean autobiographical) and crafted. The poetry we love is arresting, felt. Submit yours. Surprise us.
We want The Friday Poem to be accessible to everyone. This means it must be free to read. It means we have made the site work for blind people and people with impaired vision, through — for example — underlined links, semantic headings (read about semantic structure here), alt text and and high contrast. It also means we welcome contributions from anyone. (It’s traditional to stick a list in here — any gender, any colour, any sexuality etc, but we just mean anyone.)“
Will you just look at that…In fact, do that now…go and look at it and subscribe, and then come back here.
Helen Ivory on finding and reacting to her voice. I’m pleased to see Helen is an All About Eve fan – I have fond memories of their first album (and I’m morally obliged to mention that TOTP appearance).
“Before there was an ‘online’. I just knew that it felt somehow like solid earth; somewhere I could live, even though it sounds ethereal. And then she went homeward, just one star awake . . . you can use language like this?! Two others on the album are In the Clouds, and Wild-Hearted Woman, which of course spoke to me in my crimson velvet skirts and aura of patchouli. I was different, always a bit out-of-kilter, and this song, this album, made me feel part of something bigger, and that there was something else out there. Julieanne Regan’s voice is within my range too, so of course I’ll sing along with this song — with all of their songs — at the drop of a black velvet witch hat!“
Helena Nelson’s interview. There’s much to love in every response (and question for that matter), but I will highlight this bit.
Yes, ranking poetry is highly subjective. But that doesn’t mean people can’t explain their aesthetic and their choice in considerable detail. As sometimes they do. And other readers don’t necessarily agree, any more than they did about Tracey Emin’s Bed.“
I think TFP (not 100% sure about The Frip yet, but it will sink in and become shorthand soon enough, I’m sure) will be with us for a long time to come. I’m looking forward to seeing the new poems arriving week by week, perhaps I may even manage to get one in there; although the famous adage of Meet us half way and submit one first applies at the moment.
I must confess that I was a bit worried when Hilary first approached me and asked me to review Rendang. I can’t put my finger on it, but it felt like the biggest review I’ve been asked to write so far, the most complex book yet, and I wondered if I was up to the task if I could find something interesting to say (and to be fair that’s the same with every review I write, and every poem, and every post here…and every sentence I say out loud, etc).
If I’m honest I was worried about engaging with the “contradictions of identity and cultural memory” mentioned in the blurb. Not because I didn’t want to or don’t feel I need to. I absolutely do, it was more a feeling of do I have anything valid to say on the matter without falling into the lazy tropes that Alyca Pirmohamed refers to here in her excellent essay at Wild Court, those adjectives like ‘urgent’, ‘important’, etc?
I think I avoided that, but I don’t think I can be the judge as to whether I had anything interesting to say. However, I found it fascinating and educational for a variety of reasons to engage with the collection as a whole by examining how the poems developed between pamphlet and collection, as well as the newer work, and how that benefits from the space and time afforded by a collection (literally and metaphorically).
(NB have I mentioned how excellent Hillary’s own poetry is before? I’m sure I have, but go and look it up. I also pleased to see news of a new pamphlet via Broken Sleep…I won’t link to it as they are limited editions, and I want one.)
THE WEEK IN STATS
0K , Recovering, I think. Will know more tomorrow when I attempt a short run. If that goes well then I may allow a moment of positivity about making the “big run” 1 visit from my mum 1 trip to Brighton 1 week off work 1 child just back from a camping trip 0 x acceptance 0 rejection: 2 poems worked on: Bullshit Bingo (now renamed ‘The Kimono Is Open’) and Half Term At Longleat. 1 poem finished: Half Term At Longleat 1 new Submissions: Acumen 31 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 41 Poems* finished by unpublished 29 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 2 Review* Patrick Cotter and John Killick to High Window and OPOI respectively. 3 reviews to write 2 weeks without cigarettes… 1 Days without drinking (if one glass of wine counts) 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
Music The Archers The Natural: Tethers Liz Phair: Whip-Smart Loamlands: Sweet High Rise The Long Blondes: Someone To Drive You Home Love: Da Capo Small Sails: Similar Anniversaries The Cure: Anniversary Waxahatchee: Cerulaean Salt, Ivy Tripp Bo Ningen: Sudden Fictions Wolf Alice: Blue Weekend Badly Drawn Boy: One Plus One Is One Hiss Golden Messenger: Terms of Surrender, Hallelujah Anyhow Bill Ryder-Jones: Yawny Yawn
TV/Film
Fargo S2 E1-4 Mare of Easttown: E1-2 Waking The Dead S2, S3E1-2 The Masked Dancer
It’s still Sunday somewhere I reckon, so we’ll glass over that.
Yes, the calf is getting better, thanks. Not sure if I’ll be ready or healed in time for the 19th, so if you could all pray a little faster like what we did when Beckham did in his meta-tarsal pre-World Cup I’d be most grateful. No pictures on the front of The Sun though, they’re wankers.
I have to say thank you this week for my copy of Dreich’s Sci-Fi-themed anthology arriving. Available here. I’m honoured to be among such company and on the first page….
After that, this will be one of those cheating posts where I mention something I’ve just done and then post a vaguely appropriate poem.
So…my wife and I have just bought two trees for our garden. It feels a lot like we’ve put down deeper roots here (and we’ve been here for 10 years now). We had talked about leaving in a few more when F has finished school, but let’;s not get ahead of ourselves. It also seems appropriate/timely as I finished a poem about another tree in our garden last week. except, of course, it’s not about that at all. It’s about gentrification and new neighbours and pear rust and the changing make up of the area. I hope you get to read it in a magazine very soon.
Here are the two trees
I’ve not named them yet, but I reckon one will be called Thora
And now, to the poem.
There’s another tree, just out of shot on the other side of the fence, and I have in mind the trees chatting to each other; the other one telling these newbies about the area, pointing out friendly robins or the noisy parakeets, etc…And that reminded me of a book I’ve been meaning to read called The Hidden Life of Trees (Please use your local bookshop). R has a copy, so I’ll get to it as and when the TBR pile dwindles a bit.
However, we need a poem here, so I’ve gone with something from Marion McCready‘s ‘Tree Language’. I was going to put in the title poem, but I prefer this one
Wild Poppies, by Marion McCready from ‘Tree Language, Eyewear
Isn’t that just brilliant? Go out into some green space now and read it aloud. Your day will be much improved (and I hope it’s wonderful already).
Sod it, here’s a bonus poem from over at the marvellous Atrium called ‘The Orange Trees of Altea’ by the same author.
THE WEEK IN STATS
8K , a short walk to test things 0 x acceptance 1 rejection: I’d already assumed so, but official confirmation cam through for the Brotherton prize 1 poem worked on: Bullshit Bingo. When I say worked on, I mean 3 words added as notes 1 poem finished: Pear Rust (was Gentrification) 0 new Submissions: 28 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 41 Poems* finished by unpublished 29 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 1 Review* written and submitted. 4 to do though, so must crack on 1 week without cigarettes… 3 Days without drinking 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Birches Sea Glass Apologists For Escapologists Famous Lost Words
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Richie McCaffery: Coping Stones John Killick: The Wordy-Gurdy Man Spelt #1 Raceme #10
Music
The Archers Chihei Hatakeyama: Late Spring Adem: Seconds Are Acorns Nada Surf: The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy Buffalo Tom: Birdbrain, Let Me Come Over Rita Graham: Vibrations Rodan: Rusty Laura Veirs: The Triumps & Travails of Orphan Mae, Troubled By The Fire, Warp & Weft Jason Isbell: Reunions, Sea Songs, Sirens of the Ditch, Something More Than Free, Southeastern, The Nashville Sound, ST, Live Margo Price: That’s How Rumors Get Started, Margo Price, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, Perfectly Imperfect The New Mendicants: Into The Lime North Sea Radio Orchestra: ST Ohbijou: Swift Feet For Troubling Times Old Canes: Feral Harmonic Parts & Labor: Receivers, Stay Afraid Jim James: Uniform Distortion, Uniform Clarity, Regions of Light and Sound of God, Eternally Yours Minotaurs: Eat Yr Hate, Weird Waves Miranda Lee Richards: Existential Beast Pavement: Brighten The Corners Public Service Broadcasting: Live At Brixton, White Star Liner Purling Hiss: Water On Mars Red Light Company: Fine Facination Red Paper Dragon: Songs of Innocence Reperata & The Delrons: Magical Musical History Tour VA: Nowhere Men- British Rare Beat 64-66 Nada Surf: The Proximity Effect/ High/Low Billie Marten: Flora Fauna Roddy Woomble: Lo! Soul Sufjan Stevens: The Ascension Dinosaur Jr: Sweep It Into Space Teenage Fanclub: Endless Arcade The Brazda Brothers: ST
TV/Film
Fargo S1E6-10 Waking The Dead S1 E4-8 The Masked Dancer
This weekend was meant to be the last big weekend of training before starting to taper ahead of the big, big run in June. However, this week has ended with an enforced rest after pulling my left calf at the start of yesterday’s training run. 5K in to a planned 32K I felt something going ping (to use the technical phrase) and had to hobble back to somewhere where my wife could pick me up. Yesterday and today has involved loads of RICE…no, I’ve not been to a wedding (and this is where I remember the Tom Waits song that mentions “She’s been married so many times she’s got rice marks all over her face” – different times, Tom, different times), I mean Rest. Ice. Compression and Elevation as per the image below.
Actual legs were harmed in the making of this photograph
It’s quite incredible how tired you get when you’re forced to slam on the breaks. Fingers crossed please for a swift recovery and that it holds up until the end of June.
One benefit to this rest is that I made some headway into my reading pile of books to review. I’m almost finished with the first pass through Patrick Cotter‘s Sonic White Poise (Dadelus Press). I’m very much enjoying it, so I expect the review to be positive (next job this week, David, I promise). I enjoyed discovering Patrick’s (now defunct) blog, and this post in particular on the thorny issue of elitism in poetry. I’m not sure I agree with it all, or that that matters, but have a read and see what you think. Sadly, I don’t think it’s an issue that’s going away in a hurry.
One poem from SWP that caught my eye yesterday, largely because the first line seems so apt for this week is ‘Matador’
I love this poem already for what isn’t happening in it as much as what is. I want to know what questions the neighbours ask themselves when they see a Matador costume on a clothes line? Wouldn’t you want to know more?
I’m trying to avoid getting to carried away with what/how the poets is saying things as I found myself having to “have a word with myself” a couple of weeks ago in relation to a review that’s due out soon as part of a new thing. I can’t talk about the “new thing” yet, but it is exciting to be in “on the ground floor”. However, in writing a review I was really pleased with myself for seeing that the poet in question had changed a word in a poem when moving it from their pamphlet to their full collection.
The change was subtle, one letter, but it was a shift that made me wax lyrical about the poet’s intentions for a few sentences, exploring the reasons behind the change and what it might be saying about a poets voice becoming stronger with experience, etc. However, that was quickly deflated when the editor for “new thing” said (and I hope they don’t mind me quoting) that it was more the “proofreaders that preferred the more modern version (carcass) so I don’t think we can read anything much into that“.
A potent reminder that sometimes a change is just a change is just a change. I welcome that reminder. I’ll welcome the arrival of “New Thing” even more when it arrives sometime in the next month or so.
THE (last two) WEEK(S) IN STATS
54K last week, 13 this due to the incredible exploding calf muscle 1 old school friend not seen in 28 years met for 8 pints 0 x acceptance 1 rejection: Assumed my submission to The North was declined 1 poem worked on: Bullshit Bingo 1 poem finished: Pear Rust (was Gentrification) 7 new Submissions: Bad Lillies, Manchester Review, Poetry Review, Wild Court, 14 Magazine, New Statesman, Popshot 28 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 41 Poems* finished by unpublished 29 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 1 Review* written and submitted. 4 to do though, so must crack on 1 week without cigarettes… 9 Days without drinking 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Horse Casino Chupacabra Stale Hand (HT to Edward Bonham-Carter in a work meeting) A Sudden Craving For Toffos If The Forks Happen (as written in a work email) Does It Tell A Picture? (As heard in a work call)
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Patrick Cotter: Sonic White Poise
Music
VA: Agrim Agadez: Musique Guitare De La République Du Niger Alexandre Desplat: American Pastoral OST VA: The B-Music of Jean Rollin 1968-1973 Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs: Present Three Day Week VA: Circus Days-Obscure Pop Sike Vol2 & 5 Bud Powell: Live At the Blue Note, Paris 1961 Buffalo Springfield: Buffalo Springfield Again Matthew Ryan: May Day Buffalo Tom: Sleepy Eyed Levitation: Need For Not Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: Superwolves Thee Oh Sees: Panther Rotate The Wonderstuff: Eight-Legged Groove Machine Julien Baker: Little Oblivions The Staves: Good Woman LNZNDRF: To A Lake, Green Roses, ST Big Thief: U.F.U.F.O Anna Meredith: FIBS Lottie Kestner: China Mountain Elbow: Asleep At the Back New Dynamic Chico Hamilton Quartet: Drumfusion Squid: Bright Green Field Juliana Hatfield: Beautiful Creature, Bed Death Cab For Cutie: Codes & Keys, Plans Fridge: Eph, Happiness, Semaphore, The Sun Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson: ST Pele: A Scuttled Bender In A Watery Closet Suede: The Blue Hour There Will Be Fireworks: ST St Vincent: Daddy’s Home, Marry Me Gabor Szabo: Nightflight, Mizrab, Faces Unwed Sailor: Truth Or Consequences Eels: The Deconstruction My Morning Jacket: Live Red Rocks 2015, 2012, Chocolate & Ice EP, Circuital, At Dawn, Waterfall, Waterfall 2 My Latest Novel: Deaths and Entrances Sylvan Esso: what If Arthur Russell: Another Thought Bark Psychosis: Hex Bathyscaphe:-11034m Bob Dylan/ & The Band: Before The Flood, Blonde on Blonde
TV/Film
Vera S2e1-3 People Who Kill S2 SAS: Who Dares Wins Fargo S1E1-5 Teachers S1, S2 E1 The IT Crowd S1 E1-2 Waking The Dead S1 E1-3 Eurovision 21 (Iceland were robbed!!)
Zooms, etc None
Radio/Podcasts The Archers
Ordered Stand A running bladder Soft water flasks Compression Top Hat with neck cover Calf Compression Sleeves Headband Battery Pack Headphones Lisa Kelly: From The Ikea Back Catalogue William Wooten: Looking For the Horsemen
Arrived Stand A running bladder Soft water flasks Compression Top Hat with neck cover Calf Compression Sleeves Headband Battery Pack Headphones Lisa Kelly: From The Ikea Back Catalogue William Wooten: Looking For the Horsemen Lewis Buxton: The Boy In Various Poses
I had a post all planned out two, or is it three weeks ago, but tiredness and life got in the way. The gist of the post was me attempting to connect the work I was doing in the garden that weekend to the construction of a poem.
I was building, and staining two planters and some trellis (NB Trellis was bought, but I made the planters) as you’ll see below.
I’m sure I missed a bit, but once the raspberries start growing and I get my tommys in…
I forget how exactly how I was going to make the connection, but it probably involved the idea of some sort of planning followed by making it up as you go along. (Yes, like these posts…)..or something about taking raw materials and shaping them into a finished product over time…Yeah, it was probably something as pretentious or as tenuous as that.
However, while I was putting the stain on I was listening to 2 of the excellent Alice Oswald lectures (the Interview with Water and Art of Erosion ones), an Episode of The Verb (on punctuation) and the Toast podcast with Fiona Benson being interviewed by the excellent Laura Barton (I recommend her writing and radio stuff, and her novel, Twenty-One Locks).
The Benson interview was fascinating, and among all of it one point really stood out where she mentioned that the idea of calling yourself a poet should be no less of an issue than being a plumber…And I think she’s bang on. I’m not doing her justice here, but that idea that being a poet is somehow a higher calling is one that I totally concur with.
It really hit home today as well as I was attempting to swap some taps over in my kitchen. I’ve got better at saying I write poetry/calling myself a poet, but there is never going to be a time when I can say I know anything about plumbing, let along call myself such a wondrous thing. Dear god, we’ve got it the wrong way round…These people need to be the ones on plinths…
THE WEEK IN STATS
Several running – over the last few weeks..including a consecutive 16 and then 20-miler last weekend. Less so this weekend, but back to it next weekend 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 1 x rejections: A lovely email to say thanks but no from Finished Creatures 0 x acceptance 1 poems worked on: Gentrification..dear god, it’s slow 0 new Submissions: 19 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 40 Poems* finished by unpublished 30 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0.5 Review* written and submitted. 4 to do though, so must crack on 1 week without cigarettes… 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Dead and Bereted
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Will Harris: Rendang Luke Turner: Out of the Woods
Music The Walkabouts: Devil’s Road, New West Motel Betty Wright: Danger High Voltage Mary Wilson: ST Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg Mogwai: As The Love Continues Taylor Swift:Evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Pearl Jam: Gigaton Pele: A Scuttled Bender In A Watery Closet Steve Gunn: Eyes on the Lines, The Unseen In Between Barnaby Bye: Room To Grow Teenage Fanclub: Endless Arcade Dinosaur Jr: Sweep It Into Space, Hand It Over, Without a Sound, Where You Been, Bug, Beyond, Farm, Give A Glimpse, Green Mind, You’re Living All Over Me Bicep: Isles Saccades: Flowing Fades The Happy Dragon-Band: ST VA: Fuzz, Surf & Psych Sounds Vol.2 Cornershop: Woman’s Gotta Have It Bryce Dessner & Australian String Quartet: Impermanence/Disintegration The Octopus Project: The House of Apples and Eyeballs, Memory Mirror The Blue Up: Spool Forka Dish 6ths: Wasps’ NestsClever Girls: Constellations Mary Margaret O’Hara: Miss America Kathryn Edwards: Total Freedom, Voyageur The Cure: Disintegration, Head on the Door, Lost Wishes, Wish, Anniversary, Bloodflowers, Cureation, The Cure, Entreat Female Species: Tale of my Lost Love Lady Lamb: Little Flaws Sharon Van Etten: Because I Was In Love, Are We There, Epic Explosions In The Sky: The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place The Go! Team: Rolling Blackouts Walcot Cherry Vasconcelos: Condona Ultra Vivid Scene: Rev Samantha Crain: I Guess We Live Here Now Chocolate Milk: Action Speaks Louder Than Words Tarnation: Mirador The National: Alligator, The Boxer, Cherry Tree, High Violet, I Am Easy To Find, ST, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, Sleep Well Beast, Trouble Will Find Me, The Virginia EP, The Coral: Coral Island, The Curse of Love New Order: Education, Entertainment, Recreation Art Pepper: Smack up The Wedding Present: Seamonsters Caspian: On Circles Cassandra Jenkins: An Overview On Phenomenal Nature
TV/Film Shetland S2- S5 The Dig Blinded: People Who Kill E1-2
Zooms, etc Three Hounds Poetry – Bad Betty evening
Radio/Podcasts The Archers Weird Norfolk My mate Rance’s Film show on local Radio
Arrived Joshua Mehigan: Accepting the Disaster Adrian Mole Secret Diary & Growing Pains Louisa Campbell: Beautiful Nowhere Gboyega Odubanjo: Aunty Uncle Poems John Gallas: The Exstasie Fenland Poetry Journal #4 New running trainers from Brookes Poetry Wales
Ordered Joshua Mehigan: Accepting the Disaster New running trainers from Brookes Adrian Mole Secret Diary & Growing Pains Louisa Campbell: Beautiful Nowhere John Gallas: The Exstasie Fenland Poetry Journal #4 Jeremy Page –
We’re just back from a restorative weekend in Norfolk, and I can safely say that we needed that. As we were driving back earlier we went past the sign for Stanta…
I always allow myself a little chuckle and think that it’s meant to be Santa or perhaps more poetically, Stanza. Sadly, I couldn’t take a picture of the roadsign (road safety, driving, etc), but at the time we were listening to the new album by Cassandra Jenkins, ‘A Phenomenal Overview On Nature’, and the song ‘New Bikini’ came on. The chorus of this song is
“Baby, go get in the ocean If you’re bruised, you’re scraped, you’re any kind of broken The water, it cures everything” Cassandra Jenkins, New Bikini
You can hear it here from 3.30 – 7.52. You may as well just buy the album though.
As I heard those words, that if I’m honest I hadn’t noticed when I’ve played the album so far, I feel a little twinge of agreement.
Yesterday afternoon we’d walked along the beach at Horsey, and my wife turned to me and said “I feel better already”. That’s the kind of review we should be leaving in a guestbook—if beaches had guestbooks. Perhaps we should have just scratched it into the sand as a temporary review, and perhaps we would have done if a) we’d thought of it at the time and b) the beach wasn’t lined with seals. Horsey is famous for this, and it is one of my favourite places in the world, even though I don’t get there much.
Seals at Horsey Beach
Look at them…aren’t they just amazing creatures
The seals there are a magnificent sight, and the sea air was the perfect tonic after the best part of a year in the city. At the risk of being incredibly self-centred (and hey, why not) It reminded me of my poem, ‘Horsey Seals’ – can you tell why it reminded me of this??
I first wrote this about 12 years ago when Flo was really young. The poem was taken by Ben Banyard at Clear Poetry, and I was very happy. I have, however, re-written it in the meantime. I’ve not looked at it in two years, and as such would probably change it again now, but here it is.
One old version of the poem described them as “writing their own hieroglyphics” on the beach, and I liked the line a lot, but it was a darling that had to go. In the video above they look like tally marks on the beach, and I wish I’d thought of that when I was working on the poem.
Seals
We’ve been awake for hours, the tension telling us we need to get out, to leave the nest of the car and feel different air on our faces. We take turns with your small and unfamiliar coat buttons
while gulls scribble pencil-line shrugs across the sky and follow straggling trawlers back from early starts. In this light it’s hard to see what’s rocks, damp driftwood or seal pups sheltering in the lee of parents.
They spread themselves out along Horsey Beach, making their own constantly moving languages to tell each other how to stay safe while we pass through. We stay beyond arm’s length behind wooden fences,
huddled to shield you from stinging rain. The wind drowns the words and nicknames we’ve coined just for you — salting them away for a time when we can give them meaning. We pull you in closer to spell this out in full.
Mat, it’s time to stop and let the professionals takeover.
I’ve had a scan of my bookshelves, and Norman MacCaig leapt out at me. A cursory flick through his Collected Poems has lead me to this poem, ‘On A Beach. I’d not read this poem until about 30 minutes ago, and now I think it might be one of my favourite poems ever.
Norman MacCaig, On A Beach. Collected Poems, Chatto & Windus
As we drove back towards my Mum’s house, Rachael spotted an enormous Hare ducking for cover into the hedgerows between Horsey and Waxham. This is fortuitous as it gives me the chance to hamfistedly point you towards a poem I’ve had published at One Hand Clapping this week.It’s called Lucky Foot and is not about a Hare, but it is about a Rabbit. Well, it’s not really, but it does feature a rabbit, so I’m calling that close enough. I’m in among some quite luminary names (Julia Copus, Samuel Tongue, Rosalind Easton, some bloke called Matthew Stewart and many more), and this is the issue before the penultimate issue of OHC..(Pre-penultimate??), so go and have a look.
There’s a different photo of me up there to the one I normally use.
I normally use this one:
However, Alan felt it wasn’t serious enough. I can’t imagine why. So we went with this one that I’d taken for use in some promo for a work-related thing.
I think I prefer the older one, but perhaps it’s time to start taking the author photo thing more seriously.
Perhaps that’s a post on its own.
Finally, bon voyage to Bad Lillies. I hope the champers was suitable smashed across the bows for Kathryn Gray and Andrew Neilson. Issue One looks like an absolute corker, and is the very next thing I will be reading once I’ve pressed submit on this nonsense.
No, finally, finally I have to push you towards the lovely Mark Antony Owen’s own poems. Mark does so much for poets with Iamb, but it’s good to remember he’s an excellent poet in his own right. So, it’s awesome to see he’s put out wave two of his ongoing collection, Subruria.
THE WEEK IN STATS
36.5k running – Inc 30k yesterday 1 trip to Norfolk 1 visit to see my mate Geller and his family 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 2 x rejections: Got the answer I was expecting from 192.com, and I think the deadline has passed for the Brotherton Prize, so I’m calling that a loss. 0 x acceptance 1 poems worked on: Gentrification 0 new Submissions: 19 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 40 Poems* finished by unpublished 30 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0 Review* written and submitted. 3 to do though, so must crack on 1 month, 7 weeks without cigarettes… 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Ramekins I sometimes find myself looking for Global Hypercool T-Shirts on eBay Walking in Hot Coals You And Your Fucking Gonk A Slowly Melting Fox (H/T to Florence)
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Will Harris: Rendang Luke Turner: Out of the Woods
Music Balmorhea: The Wind DNTEL: The Seas Trees See Cosmic Rough Riders: Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine Henry Mancini: Hatari! OST The Hold Steady: Open Door Policy (Live), Teeth Dreams, Thrashing Thru The Passion, Heaven Is Whenever Holler, Wild Rose: Our Little Hymnal Kate Rusby: Make The Light The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: The Echo Of Pleasure Saloon: If We Meet In The Future, (This is) What We Call Progress Art Pepper: Intensity, Saturday Night At The Village Vanguard, Smack Up The Left Outsides: Are You Sure I Was There? Barry Manilow: 2AM Paradise Cafe Beck: Colors, Morning Phase, Mutations, Delay, Sea Change Cherry Glazerr: Stuffed & Ready Explosions In The Sky: Friday Night Lights (Demos), Friday Night Lights OST, How Strange, innocence, Live @ Capitol Theatre 2017, The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, The Rescue, Take Care X 3, Those Who Tell The Truth.. Mary Lattimore: Silver Ladders Billie Marten: ST Cassandra Jenkins: ST, A Phenomenal Overview of Nature Tara Clerkin Trio: ST Tall Ships: Impressions
TV/Film Walking Dead S10 E17-20 Shetland S1, S2 (E1-4)
Zooms, etc Three Hounds Poetry – Bad Betty evening
Radio/Podcasts The Foxhole Companion- Commandos Strike At Dawn The Archers
Arrived My new glasses and sunglasses A sweatshirt
Ordered Nothing, I don’t think
Any excuse to play some That Nguyen..Also, worth signing up to her emails as she works on a new album.
Wifi is amazing isn’t it? Especially now it’s back up and running. We had to sacrifice a number of small creatures—I couldn’t confirm their virginity, but I’m assuming they were as we have the internets again. I can sense the joy returning to every household that comes into contact with this post.
**Brief pause in typing while I go and put the Yorkshires in the oven** **That took longer than I thought**
It’s coming up on a year now since I printed out Derek Mahon’s ‘Everything Is Going To Be Alright’ and Blu-Tacked it to the wall near the skylight in the home office I made for myself when it looked like this was going on for a bit longer than a month.
As an aside, I am slightly concerned that the running gear I left in my locker at work has now become sentient.
Back to Mahon…
On Tuesday this week, the printout finally fell off the wall, and while it’s now up on the pinboard I put on the wall the day before, it felt like something of a sign. Something to pay attention to, that perhaps the ghost of Derek had chosen to tell me something.
That sign from beyond had me starting to think that the last line might be right, that things are starting to recover, that it is all going to be ok or alright; but perhaps that’s very naive and very foolish of me. Am I placing too much focus on the powerful last line, and not enough on what gets us to it…not enough on the “There will be dying, there will be dying”? Arguably, there very much is the need to ” go into that”, Del…!
However, that does feel a bit like being one of those Whataboutery-wankers…You know the kind, the type that finds it impossible to believe you can hold different concepts together in your head at the same time. It is possible to be happy about one thing, and then sad about another at the same time.
So, I’m choosing to focus on the sense of some relief that is coming down the line, the sense of things opening up again – in a literal and metaphorical sense. That may come to bite us on the literal and or metaphorical arse further down the line, but in a week where I’ve seen more people in one place (well-spaced out gardens, of course) than in the last year, and in the week where things in our garden have started turning green (as they should), and in the week we have wifi back, there’s some cause to focus on Mahon’s last line.
Speaking of ghosts and meeting people…We met up with a friend of ours and his kids on Friday for a walk aroundtown. How quiet was the Blackfriars part of town?!!!
Part of our day out was a self-guided Ghost walk from Blackfriars to St Paul’s Cathedral (not far, I’ll admit, but it stopped the bin lids from moaning). The high point, for me, of the walk was at The Deanery. The below is taken from the guide…
Who wouldn’t be interested in a haunted toilet roll holder? Spookily, we watched Taskmaster last night and part of that revolved around a toilet roll holder…You literally couldn’t make this up.
Where else would you get Derek Mahon and a loo roll holder, eh?
THE WEEK IN STATS
46k running – Inc 2 Half marathons in two days 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 0 x rejections: Got the answer I was expecting from Spectator 1 x acceptance 2 poems worked on: Gentrification, Nature Abhors A Vacuum but I Love My Cordless Dyson (working title) 1 new Submissions: Frogmore Papers 34 poems currently out for submission. 66 Published poems*: 40 Poems* finished by unpublished 30 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0 Review* written and submitted. 3 to do though, so must crack on 1 month, 6 weeks without cigarettes… 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
The Dude of Edinburgh
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Will Harris: Rendang
Music Bill Janovitz: Live From Q Division Studios World’s End Girlfriend: Enchanted Landscape Escape Renée Reed: ST Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg Cassandra Jenkins: An Overview of Phenomenal Nature Hannah Peel: Fir Waves Allie Crow Buckley: So Romantic Flock of Dimes: If You See Me, Say Yes The Julie Ruin: Hit Reset Ratboys: Printer’s Devil Kate Rusby: Ghost Sera Cahoone: Dear Creek Canyon Courtney Marie Andrews: Old Flowers Spacemen 3: Perfect Prescription Pixies: Indie Cindy, Trompe Le Monde Bill MacKay & Nathan Bowles: Keys
TV/Film Masterchef Semi Finals Real Madrid Vs Liverpool.. Back To Life E4-6 Superstore: S1 E6-8 Return of the Jedi Palm Springs
Zooms, etc None
Radio/Podcasts The Verb: Planets Spectator Book Club: Jon Day on Homing The Archers Poetry Society – Selima Hill interviewed by Emily Bell
Arrived 3 x Graham Mort books from Seren Luke Turner’s ‘Out of the Woods’ via local bookshop Spelt Magazine Poetry Review Mike’s Birthday Present My Brother’s Birthday Present
Ordered A sweatshirt Running Insoles Mike’s Birthday present
Wifi is amazing isn’t it. It’s almost a necessity now, and the sort of thing you see perched atop a Maslow diagram of needs.
So you can imagine my joy the last few days when our wifi has been very much like the first 20-30 seconds of this clip
God bless Oddball
The lack of t’interweb has made it very tricky to work the day job given I rely on it to get stuff done. I’m typing this and hoping the connection between my phone and laptop lasts/holds until I finish this.
Now, get out and enjoy the last of the sun…there’s nothing to be gained reading this post -apart from wanting to go and watch ‘Kelly’s Heroes’.
You can find out more about Kelly’s Heroes here in this very interesting podcast
Normal service resume next week, I hope, once we’ve finished shouting at our ISP…Then I can mention Poetry Scotland and photos for other places
THE WEEK IN STATS
First hangover of 2021. It was a doozy. 2 x Planters built 45k running – Inc 1 Half marathons 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 1 x rejections: Got the answer I was expecting from Spectator 0 x acceptance 2 poems worked on: Adrasan Bay and Gentrification 0 new Submissions: Finished Creatures, Raceme, Spectator and Poetry Ireland 29 poems currently out for submission. Last week saw a few more rejections 63 Published poems*: 43 Poems* finished by unpublished 27 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0 Review* written and submitted. 3 to do though, so must crack on 1 month, 5 weeks without cigarettes…Last week not great 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Disposable Thumbs Lateral Flow
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Will Harris: Rendang
Music Swell: Too Many Days Without Thinking Whispertown 2000: Swim The Wonder Stuff: Never Loved Elvis Wooden Shjips: Back To land, Dos William Tyler:Behold The Spirit, Deseret Canyon, Impossible Truth, Goes West, Modern Country, Music From First Cow, Parallelogram Chantal Acda: Saturday Moon Joe Strummer: Earthquake Weather Waxahatchee: Saint CloudThe Carpenters: Voice of the Heart, Ticket To Ride, A Song For You My Bloody Valentine: m b v, Isn’t Anything My Morning Jacket: Live Red Rocks 14/08/15, The Waterfall II, Z Ryley Walker: Course In Fable
TV/Film Line of Duty S1 E2 Unforgotten S4E6 Walking Dead S11 E17-18(???) The Flight Attendant: E6-8 Arsenal V Liverpool – Wish I hadn’t bothered
Zooms, etc None
Radio/Podcasts The Archers Foxhole Companion S2 E1-3 Grandbag’s Funeral latest ep
Arrived
A jumper Poetry Scotland(inc my poem) Richie McCaffery’s ‘Coping Stones’ 3D Connect 4
It’s not often I find myself thinking about milking horses, but there have been at least three occasions that I can remember. (Let me know if it crosses your mind more frequently, but know this —it isn’t a competition).
The first was about ten years ago when I remembered an incident from when I was a nipper. My mum helped some friends of ours with a foal that was born on their land. Pleas note that they had horses, it’s not the kind of place where horses just roam about dropping off baby horses for a laugh. Regardless of this, it set me off on the path to write a poem about it.
I did, and there have been many, many drafts since then…and name changes…and submissions to magazines…and rejections and redrafts and resubmissions, etc.
The next time was when I got an acceptance email a couple of weeks ago (March 11th) from the revived Poetry Scotland to say they were taking the poem. I was lucky enough to have been in the last issue of PS under the control of Sally Evans, and I’m very happy to say I’m in the first issue back under the auspices of Judy Taylor & Andy Jackson. I was (and still am) very honoured to be in there, and that this poem has found a home.
I knew it was meant to be when I saw this post on the wonderful Daytime Pics Twitter account a few days after the email came through from Andy.
Posted March 16th
No, this hasn’t been an excuse to post that picture.
Yes, I am pleased I have.
THE WEEK IN STATS
300 quid vets bill for Wilbur. 56k running – Inc 2 Half marathons in a row…Ouch 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 1 x rejections: Got the answer I was expecting from Dark Horse 0 x acceptance 3 poem sworked on: Adrasan Bay, Bullshit Bingo and Gentrification 4 new Submissions: Finished Creatures, Raceme, Spectator and Poetry Ireland 32 poems currently out for submission. Last week saw a few more rejections 63 Published poems*: 42 Poems* finished by unpublished 28 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 0 Review* written and submitted. 3 to do though, so must crack on 1 month, 5 weeks without cigarettes…Last week not great 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Zombie Statistics
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Will Harris: Rendang
Music Led Bib: Sizewell Tea Ryley Walker: Hypnotic Pulse of the Reindeer Range (with Bill MacKay), Course In Fable, Land of Plenty (with Bill MacKay) Charles Rumback: June Holiday Pearls Before Swine: City of Gold, The Use of Ashes Mary Lattimore: At the Dam, Collected Pieces, Hundreds of Days, Hundred Days of Remixes, Luciferen Light, New Rain Duets, Returned To Earth, Silver Ladders, Terelan Canyon, The Withdrawing Room Bas Jan – Instant Nostalgia Lift To Experience: The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads Kathryn Williams: Hypoxia, Over Fly Over, The Quickening, Two Khruangbin: Hasta el Cielo King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Eyes Like The Sky Levitation: Need for Not Roger Rodier: Upon Velveatur Mono: For My Parents, Holy GroundAmbulance Ltd: ST The Las: ST Neil Young: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Landing On Water, Ragged Glory Faye Webster: Atlanta Millionaires Club Pharoah Sanders & Floating Points & LSO: Promises The Kabeedies: Soap, Rumpus Kevin Morby: Sundowner Land Observations: The Grand Tour, Roman Roads EP, Roman Roads IV – X1 The Like: Release Me The Afghan Whigs: In Spades The National:Alligator Pearl Jam: Gigaton
TV/Film (2 weeks worth) Unforgotten S5 E5 Line of Duty S6 E1 Teachers S1 E1-2 Malcom In The Middle ( Various)
Zooms, etc Poetry Wales writing group
Radio/Podcasts The Archers Foxhole Companion S1 E3-5
Arrived
Will Harris: Rendang A shirt Poetry Ireland
Ordered A Shirt Poetry Ireland 3 x Graham Mort books from Seren
I may have got a bit drunk last Sunday after Arsenal’s victory against the Spuds. I had my own spud-based victory too in the sense that I managed to finsh a roast whilst slightly drunk. All of this is meant to excuse the lack of post last week…to myself, I’ve not finished reading all of the letters of complaint I received.
Anyhoo, in keeping with the running/poetry crossovers, I went too far last weekend (boozing aside) when I ran 30k on Saturday. This was (and still is at the time of typing) my longest run ever, and it nearly broke me…I didn’t really run again until yesterday (eg a week) and that’s unheard of for me. Even yesterday and today were way shorter while I recover and get some oomph back.
My previous few posts have been a bit long too, and while they’re hardly massive essays (or particularly coherent), I am a touch bereft of things to say. Every time I turn on the news or catch it via eg Twitter I find myself unable to process what’s happening. I mean, I have viewpoints, but I tend to find blog posts aren’t the best place for those discussions. I look back at my notes of late and just think what’s the point?
So, for now and until anything approaching something that isn’t self-promotion or the usual gibberish, a randomly selected poem will have to suffice.
I grabbed Fleur Adcock’s ‘Poems 1960-2000’ from my shelves, had a flick and stumbled on this. It seems apt as we are all not long back from a family walk today. I like what I take to be the sentiment of the poem. I hope you like what you take from it.
Fleur Adcock, From Poems 1960-2000, Bloodaxe
THE WEEK IN STATS
26k running – Not great, no energy or motivation midweek, but lesssons have been learned 0 day of 2 x 7-minute workouts, but the above means I don’t feel so bad 1 x rejections: Got the answer I was expecting from Dark Horse 1 x acceptance for Feb 22. Eek. 1 poem worked on: Adrasan Bay, 0 new Submissions: 14 poems currently out for submission. Last week saw a few more rejections 63 Published poems*: 42 Poems* finished by unpublished 28 poems* in various states of undress 554 Rejected poems* Eg I’ve decided they are not good enough 1 Review* written and submitted. 1 still to do though, so must crack on 1 month, 5 weeks without cigarettes…Last week not great 1 more week that I’m not having an affair with Eva Green
* To date, not this week. Christ!!
TITLE GIVEAWAY
Shorn of bees
READ/SEEN/HEARD/ETC
Read Rialto 95 Martha Sprackland: Citadel
Music (2 weeks worth) Arab Strap: As Days Get Dark Electric Prendergrass: The slow cancellation of the future Tindersticks: ST 1st Album Turin Brakes: Invisible Storm, JackInABox, Lost Property, Outbursts Dorothy Ashby – The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, Harping On A Tune, Afro-Harping Michael Nyman: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover OST William The Conqueror: Maverick Thinker Don Cherry: Eternal Now, Brown Rice, Organic Music Society, Symphony for Improvisers Caribou: Suddenly, Swim Caspian: Live At South Church, On Circles, Castles High, Dust & Disquiet, The Four Trees, Hymn For The Greatest Generation, Live At Larcom, Tertia, Waking Season, You Are the Conductor Obay Asharani: Sandbox Mogwai: Atomic Sunburned Hand of the Man: Pick a Day to Die Allie Crow Buckley: Moonlit and DeviousBardo Pond: Peace on Venus Claire Rousay: A Heavenly Touch Matt Berninger: Serpentine Prison Grouplove: This Is This Blood Everywhere: Watersports Mogwai: As The Love Beginners Billy Jones & The Stars: Love Is Gonna Rain On You Sleater-Kinney: The Woods, The Centre Won’t Hold, Dig Me Out, No Cities To Love The Cure: Disintergration The Anchoress: The Art of Losing Chad & Jeremy: Of Cabbages and Kings Mono: Beyond The Past Four Set: Randoms, Pink William Doyle: Great Spans of Muddy Time Hania Rani: Esja Christian Lee Hutson: xxx Cristine 23 Onna: Acid Eater, Shiny Crystal Planet Craig Finn: I Need A New War, Plattsburgh Fleet Foxes:Shore The Telescopes: Splashdown Peter Duchin: Comin’ Home Baby The National: Alligator, High Violet
TV/Film (2 weeks worth) The Terrors E4-109 Arsenal Vs Spurs (2-1, yeah!!) City Heat Catch 22 New Girl S2E1-9 Kelly’s Heroes Unforgotten S4 E3Taskmaster S10, E1
Zooms, etc Three Hounds Poetry Evening Grandbag’s Funeral recording
Radio/Podcasts The Archers
Arrived Orbis 195Running water bottles Andrew Waterman: Collected Poems Khairani Barokka: Ultimate Orangutan Apple Lightning to Earphone Jack Patrick Cotter: Sonic White Poise
Ordered Running water bottles Andrew Waterman: Collected Poems Apple Lightning to Earphone Jack
