Tag: Dante

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Readings, decisions, fresh starts

I’m feeling very uplifted by real-life in-person poetry events. Last week in Lewes was the launch of three Frogmore Press publications: The Naming by Jeremy Page, Marion Tracy’s Evidence of Love and Neil Gower’s Meet me in Palermo. Strong readings all round and a cautiously-convivial atmosphere.  Fast on this comes tomorrow’s Needlewriters event, our first live readings since January 2020, featuring Jeremy Page and two prose writers Alice Owens and Anna Hayward.

Peter Kenny’s and my podcast Planet Poetry has restarted, the first episode of Season 2 featuring the wonderful American poet Kim Addonizio. There are several interviews currently in the bag, so it will be great to see how listeners respond. I was a bit sad not to see Planet Poetry in a recent round-up of poetry podcasts in Poetry News, and it was a kick up the bum to finish our new website and make sure it’s Google-friendly. Although having worked in online marketing for decades I find it hard to get enthusiastic about keywords and search terms any more. Anyway, those lovely folks at the Poetry Society offered to give our Season two opener a plug on Twitter, which was nice.

Although I’m on a year’s leave of absence from the University of York, I’m actually still plugged in to Dante and also Chaucer these days, and find myself referring to notes I was making on my core course module last year. I’m loving Mary Jo Bang’s translation of Purgatorio, incorporating characters and language from the present day, although I suspect it might be sniffed at in some scholarly circles!

As regards submissions to magazines, I’ve decided to step away from them for bit. I have half a dozen poems out at the moment, but I’m not sending any more for now. I have a few reasons for this.

Firstly, I don’t need to, in the sense that I have a track record of publication now, and I’ve nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. I think I’ve found my level. It would have been nice to be have published in The Poetry Review or Granta, but it’s OK to accept that it’s not going to happen. I could kill myself trying to write the ‘right’ sort of stuff, or I could write what I want to write, and enjoy honing it as best I can.

Secondly (related to the first point), I have a publisher for my first collection. I don’t have the collection yet, but I have the freedom to complete it, knowing it will have a home. This is a very privileged position to be in and I want to enjoy the moment, not fret about why Publication A, B or C don’t want any of the individual poems. Plenty of high profile poets have told about how the individual poems in their (successful) collections were consistently rejected by magazines. Or even that they never submitted them to magazines.

I can’t swear that I won’t submit the odd poem here and there, but I’ll be very happy not to be constantly putting my work up for possible rejection. I think the course at York has opened my eyes/mind to a lot of things. Perhaps a leave of absence makes the heart grow fonder – I’m starting to look forward to going back, which is quite a turnaround.

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Purgatory and the wonders (and pains) of technology

After the excitement of having my site invaded last week, and the subsequent tsunami of ‘new posts’ about ‘how to make a salad’ or ‘best value beanies’ etc (could have been a lot worse I suppose), I thought I ought to write a genuine post if nothing else to check whether I still have any readers. (If you’re reading this then I guess you’re still with me – thank you for you good humour and understanding.)

On Sunday I had hoped to watch the T S Eliot prize readings ‘live’ but was thwarted by some ill-configured viewing platform that had hundreds of us locked out for the first half hour. After several attempts, and having to watch a 90 second ad for the Southbank Centre four times, I gave up and decided to rescue what was left of the evening. I haven’t yet read the prize winning collection by Bhanu Kapil but I look forward to so doing.

A bit of a shame about the livestream fiasco, as I was in the mood for the TS Eliots – I’m currently reading Selling and Self-Regulation of Contemporary Poetry by JT Welsch which has some fascinating insights regarding ‘prize culture’ and ‘debut fever’. The book itself is a tad expensive to buy (I only have access to a PDF) but Billy Mills has written an excellent review here, if you’re interested.

More excitement : last week I interviewed Mary Jean Chan for Planet Poetry and it should be going live next Thursday for Episode 8 – I can warmly recommend Mary Jean’s collection Flèche (Faber, 2019), and she was lovely to interview.  There are yet more excellent poets coming up on the podcast, so do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Last Monday Nick and I attended Live Canon’s Burns Night event – it was great fun seeing people having their Burns Supper on Zoom, hearing Burns poetry read by Live Canon’s brilliant ensemble, and trying to follow the official proceedings of toasts and incantations… hilarious, innovative and oddly quite moving too.

I’m currently enjoying my second journey into Purgatorio, this time with the help and enlightenment provided by the University of York. A whole term of Dante is pure luxury, and a real solace in these grim days. Purgatory is actually a much nicer place than many people imagine, and there are some lovely images to be found, which help a reader orient themselves… like this one! I’ve no idea where to give credit for this, as it seems to be all over the web…

Diagram of Purgatory

As you can see, it’s quite a climb. I’m currently on the 2nd terrace, among the Invidiosi (the envious) – feeling quite at home, actually!

Meanwhile, it’s coming up to the end of January (O GIVE THANKS), so in the next day or so I’ll be shooting off an email to remind people about poetry magazines with submissions windows about to close or open. If you’re not on the list, you know what to do! 

Take care, and hold on, we’ll get there soon. XX

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Readings this coming week, Planet Poetry & Uni stuff

Today feels like a desk-work day even though the sun is shining outside – we did go for a long walk on the Downs yesterday and I always need a day to recover after sustained exercise, although of course I have to keep up my Yoga with Adriene sessions! It was cold and frosty up on the hills yesterday, but beautiful:

On the South Downs winter walk

Poetry & Poetics course update

The good news is I wrote my essay and submitted it a week ago – woop! I could have delayed and kept fiddling with it, but I didn’t really see the point. So now I’m free to devote my reading time to Dante. It looks like the entire Spring term will be taught online, which is a shame, but I’m clinging onto the idea that as I’m doing this over two years, next year I might be able to go up to York more regularly. My small coterie of fellow students is lovely and we’ve enjoyed some sociable Zoom chats. All this is much harder for them than for cosy old me of course.

A couple of readings coming up

Nothing at all since last March and now I have two readings in a week – hmmm. Actually both are team readings, the first is on Monday 11th at 6pm (GMT), an event organised by the Mary Evans Picture Library and Arts Destination South Molton, in which 15 of us will each read a poem from the Poets and Pictures blog, accompanied by the photo or image that inspired it. We had a run through the other evening and there are some intriguing poem/picture combinations. It makes good use of Zoom to have the pictures up while we read. Lots of fine poets taking part, including Janet Sutherland, Jane Clarke, Rosie Jackson and Martyn Crucefix. Its free and open to all, but if you’re interested in attending do drop an email to Alison Verney at admin@artsdestination.co.uk who will send you a link.

Meanwhile on Thursday 14th, again at 6pm, there’s a Needlewriters/Frogmore Press Zoom event in which eight of us will read something from the Poetry South East 2020 Anthology. Drop a line to Jeremy at frogmorepress@gmail.com if you’d like a link to attend. It would be lovely to see you at either or both readings!

Planet Poetry

The podcast is back for 2021! In yesterday’s episode Peter interviewed Mario Petrucci, and then we had a bit of banter about prose poems, New Year’s resolutions and whatnot. We have some very interesting interviews coming up over the next few weeks, including Mary Jean Chan, Inua Ellams, and a number of other lovely poets and pundits to be confirmed ….why not have a listen and sign up?

Planet Poetry 7/1/21: Mario Petrucci

Spring

More good news – the days are getting longer! Daffodils are pushing up already! last week I did a big clean up in the ‘potting shed’ and that felt good. The seed catalogues are here and I’m thinking about what to plant. Bring it on!

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Rejections, invitations, forthcoming events & what I’m reading

Despite feeling quite positive about what I’m writing at the moment, I’ve started the year with rejections from two magazines.

As usual, when I checked what it was I sent out, I thought well OK I guess it wasn’t my best work. But that can’t be right, because I remember being happy with it before sending. So who knows what kind of mind-bending reverse-psychology self-help bullshit I’m trying to pull on myself. Anyway, I wasn’t too aggrieved, partly because they were magazines I hadn’t tried before. And also I think I’m robust enough not to get too hung up on rejections these days.

I still have a handful of poems out and awaiting judgement. The question is – do I dare send out any of the new material? Or re-send the old stuff? Although I’m working around just a couple of themes at the moment, with en eye to a collection, part of me thinks I still need to get some of the individual poems published. Even though experience tells me that many new collections contain only a small percentage of published poems, if the ‘acknowledgements’ sections are to be believed.

A few interesting things on the horizon

The indomitable Helen Eastman of Live Canon has invited me, as one of the four 2019 pamphleteers, to read at the Boulevard Theatre in London on March 8th, at its weekly Sunday Service series. We all had our joint launch at the Boulevard in November, in the bar, and it was a brilliant event. I’m so glad this time I won’t have to rush off to get the last train home. I’m so hoping I can persuade friends to come to this, as my only invitee to make the Live Canon launch was lovely non-poet friend Lucy, who is such a stalwart at supporting me. Let’s see.

I was recently asked if I would judge a poetry competition for a local writers’ group, and of course I’m flattered. But with great power comes great responsibility! Being a closed competition there won’t be a huge number of entries, however they do expect feedback. I think it will be fun though.

Last week I was at the National Poetry Library in London perusing the magazines with a view to updating my quarterly list of poetry magazines, submissions criteria and windows. There are quite a few ‘artisanal’ mags among the collection – limited edition, handmade, quirky formats etc – and I was also reminded how poetry journals come and go. Magazine publishing is a tough job, for sure. Many are called to it, not so many manage to keep it going. And yet alongside the artisanal and the fleeting are the grandees that have been going 50, 70, 100 years. If you’re not on the list but would like to receive the update,  please sign up on my ‘About’ page. Next update beginning of March.

On Saturday 22nd February it’s the Free Verse Poetry Book Fair in London, back at Conway Hall. It feels like it’s been ages since the last one so it’ll be a pleasure to re-visit. I’ll be helping out Jeremy Page on the Frogmore Press table in the afternoon – please come and say hello if you’re there!

Currently reading

This month’s random shelf-pick is R F Langley’s Complete Poems (Carcanet 2015) which I’m reading through without pausing to re-read anything until I reach the end (much in the style of my ‘Reading List‘ project). Having not read anything of his before it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I’m not far enough through to come to any conclusion yet.

One collection I keep going back to is Kim Addonizio’s Wild Nights (Bloodaxe 2015). I’m back into it again this month. Kim’s work is such a palate-cleanse and there’s always something new in it for me.

Dante’s Paradiso has slipped down the pile a little – I’m finding it the toughest of the three Divine Comedy Cantiche. I’m dipping in and out of it though.

Coming up: I have Anthony Wilson’s The Afterlife (Worple Press 2019) in my to-read pile, and am looking forward to it. Anthony is undergoing a self-imposed ‘digital detox’ at the moment, the results of which I await with interest.

Just arrived: The Rialto 93 – a quick glance tells me there are some new-to-me names and some experimental-looking poems. Interesting…

Angst/

A chilled start to the year

January 15th and I’m just getting round to my first post of the year, something that would have concerned me a bit in the past but for the new decade I’m surprisingly chilled. A new decade. Hmmm. Is it me, or has it passed rather under the radar this year? I think I remember the start of the 80s in terms of pop music if nothing else. “Pop go the seventies!” You have to put that into context: there were only 3 TV channels in those days, no web, no TV on demand, no mobile phones etc etc. So Who Was Number One in the Hit Parade was pretty key. BUT I have no time for all those click-bait/lazy media articles about how ‘boring’ the Olde Days were. I’m probably preaching to the converted, so moving on…

Currently reading

I have a lovely pile of books to read and so far I’ve absolutely loved Hubert Moore’s The Feeding Station (Shoestring Press) which I’ve reviewed for an upcoming issue of The Frogmore Papers. Moore is a good example of a poet who’s been writing for some time and isn’t part of the social media merry-go-round, nor the champing-at-the-bit-for-readings crowd. I’m sorry to say I’d not heard of him, because this collection is wonderful. I feel quite inspired, and certainly will be seeking out more by him.

Another poet I’ve finally got around to reading properly is David Borrott. David was one of the standout poets on a course I did at Ty Newydd back in 2013. His pamphlet Porthole was a Laureate’s Choice (Smith Doorstop) in 2015 and I can see why. The pamphlet is wide-ranging in subject matter and very accomplished. Nothing predictable about it, very enjoyable.

My subscription to Stand magazine is drawing to a close so I’ll be moving onto another publication shortly, in line with my ‘subscription rotation’ policy. I’ve really enjoyed my year with Stand, it’s quite different and I’ve discovered names I’ve not read before, for example in this issue (Volume 17/4) Natalie Linh Bolderston and Iain Twiddy.

I’m about halfway through Robert Hamberger’s Blue Wallpaper (Waterloo Press) and enjoying it immensely, which is probably why I’m taking my time over it. For me his work still feels vastly underrated. There is so much to love in his poetry. Robert is also quiet and modest, qualities that I can’t help but find endearing. All I can say is, seek him out. The works speaks for itself.

Back in the summer I decided to read Dante’s Divine Comedy, in a Penguin parallel edition with the original Italian and Robert Kirkpatrick’s translation. Many decades ago I was an eighteen-year-old ingenue in Rome, arriving by train and taking up an au pair job while speaking no Italian. My host family were kind enough to enrol me in the Dante Alighieri School to learn the language. This was my first encounter with Dante, and I’m ashamed to say it took me all this time to decide to actually read his most famous work. It would have happened sooner if I hadn’t changed course at University and ditched Italian literature. So – I galloped through Hell (Inferno), then spent around two months in Purgatory. There was so much to process. When I reached the end, I felt I needed to re-read the introduction. But now I’ve just started Paradiso – although I’m still only on the introduction, which is itself daunting. Interestingly, Nick is conducting a performance of ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ in Brighton in March, which is basically a story about a soul’s journey after death through Purgatory and beyond. So we’re been comparing notes over dinner: is there actually a Lake in Purgatory, or two rivers (as Dante describes)? Is it possible to be regaled by Demons trying to lure you to Hell once you’re in Purgatory (Gerontius) or are you impervious to that? (Dante) I have to remind myself now and then that this is all pretty much theoretical.

Currently writing, and a resolve for 2020

One reason I haven’t been blogging much lately as that I’ve been writing, which is of course an excellent thing. Several new poems in the pipeline plus I’ve been creating a skeleton for a collection, complete with ideas and poem titles on card which I move around and play games with. The new work is putting flesh on the skeleton.

This year I’ve decided not to enter any competitions, a decision that was reinforced when I received a recent email exhorting me to enter a particular competition which appears to have raised its entry fee considerably, while the prize money seems spectacularly unspectacular. Harrumph! My magazine subscriptons and submissions will carry on though.

My competition ban (in terms of pamphlet or book comps) may have to be relaxed if my collection plans progress well… but I’m trying not to succumb. Definitely no single poem comps though!

Angst/

A dry month in Purgatory and book launch imminent

Day Four of No-booze-vember and I’m thinking of making an advent calendar to count down the days to when I’m allowed a glass of wine.  Last year it all made sense – nothing much happening in November, Christmas to look forward to…I certainly wouldn’t want to do this in January, the most dreary of months and impossible to get through without AT LEAST the odd hot toddy.

But this year November is alight with events: my first concert with a new choir, a friend’s birthday ceilidh, two book launches (one of which is my own – hell’s teeth can a girl not have a drink at her own launch?), a meal out with an American work-friend I haven’t seen in 7 or 8 years, a night at the Troubadour AND a reading in London with a host of starry poet-names. What was I thinking?

I’m trying to see it as a creative experiment-slash-meditative opportunity. It’s a happy coincidence that I’ve finished Dante’s Inferno and have moved on to Purgatorio, which is surprisingly, well, surprising. According to Dante (and I’ve only got as far as the introduction, so not yet immersed in the poetry) Purgatory is where most of us go when we die, to think about how we’ve lived our lives and how we might do better. The idea is that if we take responsibility for and (importantly) are penitent about this, then there’s a chance we’ll get to heaven. It does involve a bit of pain and much patience but compared to Hell (or living through this Brexit debacle) it’s not all that bad really. There’s no guarantee if or when you get to move on – some poor sods have been there for a thousand years – but the hope is always that when you get out it’ll be an upward not a downward move. So not drinking this month feels like a small kind of penance. Not that I imagine it’s anywhere near enough for all the bad behaviour I could be charged with when the time comes.

Meanwhile things are gearing up for the Live Canon pamphlet launch which is scheduled for Monday 25th November, at the Boulevard Theatre Bar in Soho – fancy! It used to be the Raymond Revue Bar apparently, so I just hope my poems are seedy enough to do justice to the place’s heritage. Still not sure what the title of the pamph will be, but a lot can happen in three weeks (I hope!) I’m looking forward to meeting & reading alongside fellow launchees Miranda Peake, Tania Hershman and Katie Griffiths, and toasting all of us with a glass of sparkling water…

A few bits and bobs on the submissions front – one poem on the Bridport shortlist (which is a lot longer than it sounds), two poems accepted for Stand magazine, although they may only want one of them as the other is in the forthcoming pamphlet, and one for The Moth, very exciting for me as I feel they are seriously good magazines and it’ll be a first appearance for me in both. And actually the poem that The Moth have taken is one that I’ve been trying with for ages – I started it six years ago, and it was in my ‘Business Class’ pamphlet (the one that nobody wanted as a collection). It’s had 12 iterations over the years and I’ve tried it on any number of journals. Then earlier this year I asked Catherine Smith for advice on a pamphlet submission and I was wailing about this one. She spotted the potential issues right away and suggested a bit of re-ordering, and as a result it’s now good enough for The Moth. This isn’t the first time Catherine has helped me on poems that aren’t quite ‘there’.  She’s the real deal, for sure.

On the other hand I wish I could say I had a bunch of poems out at the moment but I haven’t started anything new in weeks. Several poems in for competitions (actually pretty much the same poems in different comps) and of course you never know. Can you imagine winning the National and then having to withdraw the poem because it was commended in the Waltham Forest comp? TEE HEE. Not that I’m dissing the WT AT ALL (results not out yet!) but I know that Paul McGrane (being involved in both comps) would blow the whistle on such a thing, and *AHEM* quite rightly!

Getting back to reality, I’m fortunate to be going to Cumbria in December for Kim Moore’s Poetry Carousel, so four days on a poetry roundabout and I should have a few proto-poems in the pipeline (not if I don’t kick THAT sort of alliteration in the teeth though). The other Carousel tutors are Malika Booker, David Tait and (gulp) Clare Shaw (the subject of this mildly inappropriate post last year) … it’s gonna be hot stuff.

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Competition season! Be afraid. Plus the odd launch

Those Darn Comps

Love ’em or loath ’em, but some of us just can’t stop ourselves entering. “Is there a competition season?” someone once asked me and I feel as if there is, and it’s now – not sure why except that the National always closes on October 31st, this year a particularly loaded date, sadly. Plus the results of the Bridport out soon.

If you keep up with Angela T Carr’s comps and submissions blog posts then you’ll already know this, but just a reminder:

National Poetry Competition (a misnomer actually – it’s International, as the list of prize winners generally confirms) – closing date 31st October, judges Mona Arshi, Helen Mort and Maurice Riordan. First prize £5,000 but tons of kudos and visibility to anyone making the ‘commendeds’. Even reaching the ‘long list’ is pretty good. First entry £7, Poetry Society members get a FREE second poem. Enter here and lashings of good luck to you.

Also don’t forget the Troubadour Poetry Prize, closing on 21st October. £5 to enter and £2000 first prize, with the very interesting combo of Kathryn Maris and Pat Boran judging this year. I predict there’ll be one grandaddy of a pile of paper in the Maris-Riordan household come November.

Launches, readings

This evening it’s the Needlewriters in Lewes with readings by poets Clare Best, Robert Hamberger and Anna Reckin, alongside prose writer Martin Nathan. I’ll be the host, which is always fun. Do come if you’re able.

This Sunday I’m off up to Greenwich, my old manor, for the Live Canon readings & competition results (for which we’re all being kept cruelly on tenterhooks, having made the ‘long list’ – I’m assuming I haven’t won since I haven’t had the call to say ‘you are coming, aren’t you…?’ But it will be a fun-filled afternoon I’m certain, and every one’s a winner baby (NOT! – whoever thought up that stupid phrase!) Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing the Live Canon ensemble perform the winning poems, it’s an amazing experience.

November is shaping up well – my new pamphlet launch is scheduled for 25th and (same week) I’m reading for Rogue Strands in London on 28th – more to come on both. I’m also hoping to get to Lynne Hjelmgaard’s launch of A Second Whisper (Seren) on Monday 11th.

Meanwhile I’m getting close to the end of Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary – I’ve been slowing down as we approach the second World War, I almost can’t bear to read her thoughts on it all – and am also in the ‘Rotten Pockets’ of Hell c/o Signor Dante Alighieri. No wonder I’ve been having such weird dreams lately.

 

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Dante on Brexit

I’m only at the first layer of Hell but am already enjoying the ride that is Dante’s Inferno. And it’s all feeling rather relevant despite having been written over seven hundred years ago.

In his excellent introduction Robin Kirkpatrick explains Dante’s conception of Hell, where sinners are ranked according to just how bad their crimes have been. Some readers may be surprised to see the ‘sins of the flesh’ and even murder consigned to the mid-range.

Go right down to the depths and you’ll find the ‘sins of deceit’ : corruption officials,  intellectual dishonesty, ‘rabble rousing’ and treachery.

‘For Dante, the most heinous offences that a human can commit are those which threaten to destroy the unity and cohesion of the social order,’ says Kirkpatrick. He reminds us that the Commedia was written at a time when ‘the new wilderness of mercantile capitalism began to establish itself’ and when ‘there appeared an irrigating surge of prophetic voices, declaring that too much a concentration on the here-and-now […] could only diminish the scope of human possibilities.’

Here’s the map, just in case our PM and any of his supporters would like to set their SatNav now:

Dante's Plan of Hell