As my first real foray into the work of Simon Armitage, our Poet Laureate, I had expected fireworks from "Paper Aeroplane"... Unfortunately I found it more 'Sparkler' than giant 'Roman Candle'. Several things struck me about this volume, a collection culled from twenty-one of Armitage's other books: There didn't seem to be any consistent 'voice' … Continue reading “Paper Aeroplane”
Category: Poetry
“Selected Poems” – Denise Riley
In her poem 'Dark Looks', Riley says "So, take me or leave me ... or don't flick and skim to the foot of the page and then get up to go -" - which is precisely what I did do. After all, most of the time I had pretty much no idea what was going … Continue reading “Selected Poems” – Denise Riley
Speed-dating
OK. Let's get a couple of things clear up front... This post isn't about speed-datingActually I've never had any experience of speed-dating, so if you hear anything to the contrary they are just vile rumours So, speed-dating. The 'topic' - or at least the title of the topic - comes from a recent post of … Continue reading Speed-dating
“e.e.cummings: selected poems 1923-1958”
There can be few writers more generally inaccessible than e.e.cummings. By breaking so many conventions - both in the language and structure of poetry - perhaps the primary thing cummings' achieved was to release the traditional shackles and taboos which may have been constraining poetry in the first part of the twentieth century. You could … Continue reading “e.e.cummings: selected poems 1923-1958”
“The Collected Poems: Robert Frost”
Forgive me, but to my mind Robert Frost is no great time-traveller, his verse is stylistically too anchored in the past. I find it amazing that some of this vast collection was actually written in the Sixties, especially when you think about what had been going on in poetry (and literature in general) since the … Continue reading “The Collected Poems: Robert Frost”
So maybe poetry isn’t about the language any more…
Yesterday evening I, along with at least a couple of hundred others, sat in on the Zoom launch of the Autumn 2020 edition of The Poetry Society's quarterly tome, the Poetry Review. For some time now there has been a consistent refrain among members of the poetry groups to which I belong that an unreasonable … Continue reading So maybe poetry isn’t about the language any more…
Searching for good writing…
I am currently working my way through two-hundred-and-seven submissions for an anthology of poetry and prose I plan to publish early in 2021. It's an interesting experience. As a first stage I've taken to dividing pieces into three groups: Shortlist - those that are clearly good and likely to make the final cut; Longlist - … Continue reading Searching for good writing…
“So how’s the not working / writing more thing going…?”
I confess to have been prompted to this mini self-assessment by Andrea Badgley's post Writing More Means Doomscrolling Less, and as a follow-up to my own Missing Work Already? It's not the kind of thing I normally do; I'm not a natural "look at me" kind of person - though I am belatedly realising that … Continue reading “So how’s the not working / writing more thing going…?”
The 4 a.m. alarm call…
Sometimes you can do nothing about it. Unbidden a phrase or a sentence will pop into your head and not let go. It could be something new, or the need to change something old - but let's hope not borrowed!! Today gifted me one of those mornings. Reeling a little from a writers' group the … Continue reading The 4 a.m. alarm call…
Missing work already..?
Today is the first 'new Monday'; the first whole week where I can decide what I do with my time, how much I write. Staggeringly it is a month since I wrote The Daunting Prospect of Reinvention - and what's more bizarre is that it feels as if I have been footloose and fancy-free for more … Continue reading Missing work already..?
Ian Gouge - Writer 