I came across this nice podcast on the Poetry Society website and thought I’d share it – Jack Underwood talking to Maurice Riordan about his background, what got him into poetry, being a Faber New Poet, transitioning from pamphlet to full collection and so forth.
Category: audio
Love this: recordings of poems by Denise Levertov
Huge thanks to Brain Pickings for leading me to this.
‘The Fishermen’s Farewell’ by Robin Robertson
Now that I’m enjoying a brief work hiatus (book submission made yesterday, drum-roll please) I’m hoping to catch up on my reading. This morning I picked up Hill of Doors (Picador), Robin Robertson’s T S Eliot award-nominated collection, and was reminded of how much I enjoyed my first brief meander through when it was givenRead more ⟶
Harry Man’s ‘telesue’ from Lift
Just as I was umming and ahhing about doing a video blog post in which I would read something from Harry Man’s pamphlet ‘Lift’ (tall-lighthouse), I learn that it’s been awarded the Bridges of Struga Prize – part of the award being translation into Macedonian – golly! I’ve really enjoyed ‘Lift’ – not least ofRead more ⟶
Something completely different – sound poetry
I was just reading this post on Rebecca Gethin’s blog and from there followed a link to Hannah Silva’s blog, which led me to watch some videos of her performing. Hannah’s amazing ‘sound poetry’ made me think again about the Magma theme ‘the music of words’ – I hope the editors are planning to includeRead more ⟶
Faber Social: Sam Riviere, Joe Dunthorne, Luke Wright, Ruth Padel
It was a arts-studenty sort of scene last night at the Faber Social in London: a narrow basement room, concrete floor, a sweaty mix of music and conversation growing in volume, a parade of pretty, thin girls in dresses with cinched waists, ponytails and fifties make-up and fresh-looking lads with pale skins and serious glasses.Read more ⟶
Audio poem (an experiment)
I was inspired by Mark Hewitt’s performance of ‘expiry tbc‘ the other evening here in Lewes. It was actually a 3-person production featuring Peter Copley on live (and looped) cello, and wonderful lighting effects by Kristina Hjelm. I’d had the privilege of being in Mark’s workshopping group led by Mimi Khalvati earlier in the year,Read more ⟶
Seamus Heaney. Just my 2p-worth
What a very sad loss. I think I’d be useless as an obituary writer, as anything I’ve tried writing about the death of Seamus Heaney just sounds crass or obvious. I don’t have anything new to add to what’s been said across the blogosphere, but I enjoyed listening to this short piece on Radio 4Read more ⟶
Setting words to music
What do you think about setting poetry to music? (As opposed to writing song lyrics, I suppose). Personally I rather baulk at the thought of something I’d written being given a tune. I worry that adding music doesn’t just create another layer to complement the words, but it has the capacity to alter themRead more ⟶
New poem on Ink, Sweat & Tears
Very nice of Helen Ivory to take ‘Left’, for Ink, Sweat & Tears. It’s the closest thing to a love poem I’ve written, I think. Whether it was appreciated as such (by the person it’s about) it’s hard to say! It’s a poem I workshopped at our regular Mimi Khalvati group here in Lewes. I seemRead more ⟶