Short of poetry reading over the weekend? Here's a few things that have caught my eye...
Alan Baker takes a look at the Roy Fisher/Matthew Welton reading at the Flying Goose last week over at Litterbug. There are links to a couple of good Fisher reviews, too.
Over at the Salt blog, meanwhile, there's a fine interview of Tony Williams by Mark Burnhope. Very thought-provoking (not least where 19th century novels are concerned).
Finally, at Michelle McGrane's Peony Moon, Nine Arches poet Milorad Krystanovich's Improvising Memory is featured, with an excellent selection of pieces.
Showing posts with label Roy Fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roy Fisher. Show all posts
Friday, 5 November 2010
Friday, 29 October 2010
Fisher and Welton
It was standing room only at the Flying Goose last night - I got there at about 7.15 and was one of the last to be allowed in, I think.
I'm glad I made it, though. Matthew Welton and Roy Fisher read two shortish sets each, and both were excellent.
Welton's published two collections with Carcanet - The Book of Matthew and We needed coffee but... (it's the longest title collection ever - Google it), both of them highly praised. On this evidence, I can see why. He's interested in patterns and repetition, in the mathematics of poetry, but not in some dry, dusty way. In fact, virtually all of what he read - in a quiet, Nottingham accent, and from memory - struck me as extremely musical. I need to read more of his work, I think.
Roy Fisher was everything you'd hope for, really. He's an elder statesman of the British poetry scene now, and to some extent he's become the non-mainstream poet that virtually all mainstream poets read and praise, but hearing him, I was struck by the same thing that hit me when I first read his excellent collected works, The Long And The Short Of It. Which is to say, it's strange that he should have previously been marginalised for so long - he strikes me simply as a very fine poet who's willing to use whatever subject matter, and whatever tools, come to hand.
Anyway, it was a great way to close the Beeston Poetry Festival, and for those of us who haven't been to the Flying Goose before, a good advert for a really nice venue. I don't think I'll make it to the regular reading there next month, but I'll definitely get to the Alexander Hutchison reading on December 14th.
Oops, nearly forgot. There are pictures and videos of all the Festival readings here.
I'm glad I made it, though. Matthew Welton and Roy Fisher read two shortish sets each, and both were excellent.
Welton's published two collections with Carcanet - The Book of Matthew and We needed coffee but... (it's the longest title collection ever - Google it), both of them highly praised. On this evidence, I can see why. He's interested in patterns and repetition, in the mathematics of poetry, but not in some dry, dusty way. In fact, virtually all of what he read - in a quiet, Nottingham accent, and from memory - struck me as extremely musical. I need to read more of his work, I think.
Roy Fisher was everything you'd hope for, really. He's an elder statesman of the British poetry scene now, and to some extent he's become the non-mainstream poet that virtually all mainstream poets read and praise, but hearing him, I was struck by the same thing that hit me when I first read his excellent collected works, The Long And The Short Of It. Which is to say, it's strange that he should have previously been marginalised for so long - he strikes me simply as a very fine poet who's willing to use whatever subject matter, and whatever tools, come to hand.
Anyway, it was a great way to close the Beeston Poetry Festival, and for those of us who haven't been to the Flying Goose before, a good advert for a really nice venue. I don't think I'll make it to the regular reading there next month, but I'll definitely get to the Alexander Hutchison reading on December 14th.
Oops, nearly forgot. There are pictures and videos of all the Festival readings here.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Don't miss this!
Just a quick reminder that Roy Fisher and Matthew Welton are reading as part of the Beeston Poetry Festival tomorrow night (Thursday the 28th) at the Flying Goose Cafe. It starts at 7.30pm and entrance is £3.
Fisher's one of those poets who manages the difficult act of straddling the so-called mainstream/avant-garde divide, although I'd have to say that the main reason I started reading him was that he's such a distinctively Midlands poet (rarer than you might think). Whatever - he's a real giant of the UK poetry scene, and I'm looking forward to hearing him a lot.
I have to admit that I've encountered very little of Matthew Welton's poetry, but I've heard nothing but good things about it from people whose opinion I trust. And it's always good to hear someone new. Anyway, get along to the Flying Goose if you can - you won't be disappointed.
Fisher's one of those poets who manages the difficult act of straddling the so-called mainstream/avant-garde divide, although I'd have to say that the main reason I started reading him was that he's such a distinctively Midlands poet (rarer than you might think). Whatever - he's a real giant of the UK poetry scene, and I'm looking forward to hearing him a lot.
I have to admit that I've encountered very little of Matthew Welton's poetry, but I've heard nothing but good things about it from people whose opinion I trust. And it's always good to hear someone new. Anyway, get along to the Flying Goose if you can - you won't be disappointed.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Beeston International Poetry Festival
Beeston, a small town now swallowed up by the urban sprawl of Nottingham, might not seem like the obvious place for a poetry festival, but that's just what's happening there over the next couple of weeks.
Full details are here, with many of the events taking place at the excellent Flying Goose Cafe. At the very least, I'll make it along to the Roy Fisher reading on the 28th, but there are several other events there that look appealing.
Full details are here, with many of the events taking place at the excellent Flying Goose Cafe. At the very least, I'll make it along to the Roy Fisher reading on the 28th, but there are several other events there that look appealing.
Monday, 20 April 2009
The Titanic Cafe closes its doors and hits the rocks or: Knife, fork and bulldozerultra modern retail outlet complex development scenario with flowers
The Titanic Cafe closes its doors and hits the rocks or: Knife, fork and bulldozerultra modern retail outlet complex development scenario with flowers - David Hart, Nine Arches Press
I've mentioned before on Polyolbion that, despite the image its generally had in the UK, as the butt of every comedian's jokes, I like Birmingham.
I like it even more now that I've read this new long poem by David Hart, which takes the demise of the Titanic Cafe ("still the best tea in the UK") as the spur for a long, poetic ramble through some of the unseen corners of the West Midlands. And I mean ramble in the very best sense - Hart's sharp eye for detail picks out all sorts of little nuggets that the rest of us rush past in our haste to be somewhere else. This is poetry as urban archaeology, and that's no bad thing in my book.
Because of that, it's inevitably going to get compared to some of Roy Fisher's work, but while there are traces of his influence in Hart's sharp, witty and frequently funny free verse, it's never overpowering. That's partly thanks to Hart's use of song and even playground-style rhymes, I think, as he uses them skilfully to hang a certain amount of found material and reported speech on (they also make sure that there's no danger of this becoming po-faced or dry).
It also brought Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns to mind, but while Hart isn't afraid to bring the distant past into his work, he's primarily concerned with the present, no matter how unpromising it might seem. Throughout the poem, he seems to be asking the same question - "Can this be beautiful?" - even if it's only voiced explicitly just the once. And the answer seems to be yes, even if it's an unexpected beauty that he finds in the everyday.
The poem works well with the series of Hart's photos that are published alongside, and the extensive footnotes are a good read in themselves, but of course it's the poem itself that matters most. Its very nature means that Hart doesn't reach for easy effect (hence my reluctance to quote from it, because you really need to read the whole poem), but it's both highly readable and extremely multi-layered - I defy you not to read it straight through again immediately you finish it.
David Hart's THE TITANIC CAFE CLOSES ITS DOORS AND HITS THE ROCKS or: Knife, fork and bulldozer ultra modern retail outlet complex development scenario with flowers is launched on Thursday 23rd April, from 7pm onwards, at The Quaker Central Hall, The Priory Rooms, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF. It's all free!
I've mentioned before on Polyolbion that, despite the image its generally had in the UK, as the butt of every comedian's jokes, I like Birmingham.
I like it even more now that I've read this new long poem by David Hart, which takes the demise of the Titanic Cafe ("still the best tea in the UK") as the spur for a long, poetic ramble through some of the unseen corners of the West Midlands. And I mean ramble in the very best sense - Hart's sharp eye for detail picks out all sorts of little nuggets that the rest of us rush past in our haste to be somewhere else. This is poetry as urban archaeology, and that's no bad thing in my book.
Because of that, it's inevitably going to get compared to some of Roy Fisher's work, but while there are traces of his influence in Hart's sharp, witty and frequently funny free verse, it's never overpowering. That's partly thanks to Hart's use of song and even playground-style rhymes, I think, as he uses them skilfully to hang a certain amount of found material and reported speech on (they also make sure that there's no danger of this becoming po-faced or dry).
It also brought Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns to mind, but while Hart isn't afraid to bring the distant past into his work, he's primarily concerned with the present, no matter how unpromising it might seem. Throughout the poem, he seems to be asking the same question - "Can this be beautiful?" - even if it's only voiced explicitly just the once. And the answer seems to be yes, even if it's an unexpected beauty that he finds in the everyday.
The poem works well with the series of Hart's photos that are published alongside, and the extensive footnotes are a good read in themselves, but of course it's the poem itself that matters most. Its very nature means that Hart doesn't reach for easy effect (hence my reluctance to quote from it, because you really need to read the whole poem), but it's both highly readable and extremely multi-layered - I defy you not to read it straight through again immediately you finish it.
David Hart's THE TITANIC CAFE CLOSES ITS DOORS AND HITS THE ROCKS or: Knife, fork and bulldozer ultra modern retail outlet complex development scenario with flowers is launched on Thursday 23rd April, from 7pm onwards, at The Quaker Central Hall, The Priory Rooms, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF. It's all free!
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Fisher featured
This week's Poem Of The Week over at The Guardian is Roy Fisher's The Running Changes. Not necessarily too representative of his work (but then what is, because he covers such a wide range of poetries?) - still, I like it a lot.
For a change, there's lots of good stuff in the comments section, too. I particularly liked the suggestion that the compound words in the second half of the poem are an echo of Anglo-Saxon poetry and its kennings, and Old Norse, for that matter - Eric Bloodaxe was the king of the Viking kingdom of York. He was also, as I mentioned a week or so ago, the rival of saga hero Egil Skallagrimmson.
Everything I read lately keeps leading me back to the so-called dark ages.
For a change, there's lots of good stuff in the comments section, too. I particularly liked the suggestion that the compound words in the second half of the poem are an echo of Anglo-Saxon poetry and its kennings, and Old Norse, for that matter - Eric Bloodaxe was the king of the Viking kingdom of York. He was also, as I mentioned a week or so ago, the rival of saga hero Egil Skallagrimmson.
Everything I read lately keeps leading me back to the so-called dark ages.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)