Poetry Book Society article

http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/poetry_portal/knives_fists_and_spoons
Huge thanks to Peter Hughes

Article ImageI hope Alec Newman and Steven Fowler are having a relaxing break this summer. They have been busy.

Earlier this year, Alec Newman's Knives, Forks and Spoons Press was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award for outstanding UK publisher of poetry in pamphlet form. It is easy to understand why. KF&S has been putting out an amazing range of innovative poetry at an extraordinary rate. There is a buzz and an urgency about the whole project which has made it a particularly welcome addition to the British poetry scene. The website is riddled with unpredictability - as well as some enticing offers, such as three books for £10.

The first KF&S pamphlet I can remember reading was by S J Fowler and was the first in his fightsseries. There are now at least twenty of these, each one inspired by a different boxer. The first fifteen have been assembled and published in a single volume by Veer books, in July 2011, under the title fights cycles I-XV.

Maggie O'Sullivan describes this as a dazzling, visceral, proficient, kinetic work. Tim Atkins agrees, saying there are not many books of poetry where you turn the page not knowing what is coming next, but this is one of them.

Steven Fowler was born in Cornwall in 1983. He studied philosophy at Durham, then at the University of London. Somehow he finds time to edit the Maintenant interview series for 3 am magazine, write extensively, study for a PhD in contemporary poetics at Birkbeck, and hold down a job at the British Museum. He has been an employee of the museum since 2007 and its vast holdings inform his recent volume Red Museum, (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2011).

It is difficult to convey the breadth of reference in this book. Perhaps listing a few of the titles will give some idea: a cubic mile is sufficient to contain one hundred billion souls, provided they are packed tightly, 'like anchovies'; the Crusaders treacherously Crucify those taken at Odessa; William of Orange; how to shorten the yard; Tamerlane harvests horses; how to enlarge the Pudenda; Porphyria; The Hospitalier grand master Guillaume de Villiers or Guillaume de Clermont defends the walls of Acre without enthusiasm; Blue cocoon; Pagan depression; the sixth fiddle; Oswald Spengler has a go; Jesus wept; I leave my meals to Neseus.

I feel that this should whet your appetite. Iain Sinclair is impressed too:
A tremendous and persuasive surge of the red and the black: conflicted doctrines, scorched paper. Gothic scripts and plague-year screenplays for an apocalyptic cinema. Death chess. Heretical crusades. Hurt flesh. Fire angels. Madness. A grimoire for a haunted river-city. The poetry lies in the interpretation of malfated woodcuts. It is sinewy, knotted, persistent. And true.

So it has been a year of formidable achievements by Alec Newman and Steven Fowler. Red Museum is just one of their accomplishments, but it is the most startling book of poetry in English to appear this year. I hope they are sitting somewhere sunny, nursing chilled drinks, enjoying well-deserved breaks. But something tells me that they're not.

Peter Hughes' poetry publications include Paul Klee's Diary, Blueroads, Nistanimera, The Summer of Agios Dimitrios and The Pistol Tree Poems. Nathan Thompson writes of it as ‘flickering, intense, innovative and utterly mesmerising'. Peter also runs Oystercatcher Press, based on the Norfolk coast, which has published more than 40 poetry pamphlets over the last three years.

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Maintenant #74 - Ailbhe Darcy


Already considered one of the finest poets of Ireland’s new generation, Ailbhe Darcy has gained international recognition for her vibrant poetry and rapidly growing body of work. Being at the forefront of a tradition as considerable as Ireland’s has required her to maintain the idiosyncracy of her own taste and voice, and though undoubtedly, the lilt of her work, it’s care for being read and for being rhymtical, resounds with the narrative tradition of Irish poetry, it is also true her idiom can be disjunctive, unpretentious and colloquial. More vitally she creates poems that are conceptually often unresolved, an act of humility that sits apart from neat lyricism. Yet it is too far to say she has made a break from the tradition of her nation, and many would say this is the bigger achievement. For the 74th edition of Maintenant, our first Irish poet, Ailbhe Darcy. thanks to Michael Schmidt
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-74-ailbhe-darcy/Accompanying the interview are three of Ailbhe's poems. http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/3-poems/

» Maintenant #73: Lidija Dimkovska

The poetry scene in Europe seems, from the vantage of the UK, to be far more fluid and less divisive than that of the UK. This may not be true, but there certainly seems, through the regular festivals, readings, residencies and academic exchanges, a sense of physical communication between poets who traverse many nations, languages and traditions. In the case of a poet like Lidija Dimkovska, we seem to have an individual whose experience is truly pan-Balkan, traversing Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania … but whose reception is continent wide. She carries her influences with a fidelity that makes them invisible within her explicitly well considered and captivating poetry. A formidable academic, a poetic folklorist, a respected translator and an innovative and elastic lyric poet, we are pleased to introduce Lidija Dimkovska as the 73rd edition of Maintenant (and furthermore, we are very pleased that she will be reading at the Maintenant IX event on October 15th 2011 thanks to Literature across frontiers and Arc publications.)
Accompanying the interview are four poems by Lidija translated by Ljubica Arsovska and Peggy Reid

Enemies: so many collaborators!

The process of collaboration is intrinsic to what I am attempting to achieve, and over the last year, without design, it has become a fundamental resource of new material and environments which force me to be agile across mediums and projects. Hopefully next year all the collaborations will be collected into a volume, at the moment I am or already haved produced work with Tim Atkins, Marcus Slease, David Kelly, Joel Ely, Mia Porter, Tommi Musturi, Ghazal Mosadeq, Sarah Kelly, RDG Thomas, Jeff Hilson, Patrick Coyle, Drew Millward, Anatol Knotek, Marco Giovenale, Wenjing Wang, Joseph Royce Lewis, Katerina D'Autremont, Edith Bergfors, Lone Eriksen, Eirikur Orn Norddahl, Philip Venables, Ben Morris, Robert Lye, Sian Williams, Matteo Patocchi, Ragnhildur Johanns, Michael Zand & Holly Pester. Some are being published in journals and online.

Covers: episodes 1 to 6

Like collaborations, cover versions are under used and under acknowledged in poetry. This is most likely because poetry is not disseminated like music, via the page and not in audio files, and also because readings are not so frequent. None the less I have initiated a small project to shed some light on the poetry that contemporary poets consider vital to their own work. The first six installments of the Covers project were taken on August 31st in and around Soho and Chinatown. Patrick Coyle was kind enough to film my own, a reading of Bill Griffith on some stairs in the Curzon cinema:




Readings upcoming readings



Voewood festival - August 27th - nr Sheringham, Norfolk - reading with Emily Critchley, Luke Kennard, Christopher Reid and Kate Kilalea http://www.voewoodfestival.com/

Slease book launch! - August 31st - Soho Curzon, London - collaborative reading with the gorgeous Patrick Coyle http://www.patrickcoyle.info/

Aubin & Wills - September 21st - Notting hill, London - reading with Ahren Warner, Nathan Penlington and Mark Waldron

the Other Room - October 26th - Manchester - reading with Colin Herd

Mercy online - November 11th - Liverpool - reading in collaboration with Ex Easter Island head http://www.mercyonline.co.uk/

Minimum Security Prison poetry - November 24th - London - reading with Willey, Atkins, Pester, Coyle, Hilson, Barrett, Emmerson, Irving, Slease etc...

» Maintenant #72: Johannes Göransson




A Swede who is an American, an American who is a Swede. The irrelevancy of the nationhood of Johannes Göransson is never more obvious than in the multifarious and rapacious nature of his work - it calls on traditions too intertwined, too psychological and introverted to make its genesis of much interest. What is of interest is his industry as a translator. As well as being one of the most interesting and acerbic poets and educators currently at large in the US, he is also a vital conduit to the breadth and brilliance of contemporary Swedish poetry. For Maintenant in it’s 72nd guise, the excellent Johannes Göransson


Accompanying the interview is a significant selection from Johannes' most recent publication.

» Maintenant #71: Lies Van Gasse


The exceptional nature of the work of Lies Van Gasse, established, formidable and achieved well before her 30th birthday, is clear to all who follow central European poetry and the figures who are now showing themselves as the future of the medium. Emerging from the vivid and remarkable tradition of Flemish poetry, Lies maintains a focus and an exactitude about her work and its direction that well belies her relative youth. Adept and acclaimed at both more traditional lingual poetry and highly original 'graphic' poetry, her oeuvre is innovative and confident, straddling the finer points of language and art. Our first Belgian poet to be featured in the Maintenant series, Lies Van Gasse is undoubtedly a figure whose prominence will only increase in the coming decades.Thanks to Jan Pollet.
Accompanying the interview are 7 of Lies' graphic poems, translated into English by Trees Van Gasse.

» Maintenant #70: Ilya Kaminsky


Simply one of the few boundless poets on the world scene, and already a centrifugal presence in American poetry, Ilya Kaminsky carries with him the power of the great Russian tradition and the obvious potential to be recognised, in an age where poetry is a reticent presence in the public’s eye, as one of the finest writers of the oncoming century. An activist as well as a poet, his remarkable energy and intellect permeate his earnest, fulsome poetry and his unforgettable, idiosyncratic readings. In an interview which seems typically representative of his generous spirit, Ilya has offered one of the most ebullient accounts featured in the Maintenant series, and we are especially excited to have him read at the next Maintenant event in London, this coming october. To mark our 70th edition, Ilya Kaminsky
with thanks to Nikola Madzirov за многу нешта


To accompany the interview are two of Ilya's poems.


Ilya will actually be visiting the UK and reading at the next Maintenant event in London! On October 15th at the Rich mix arts centre in Brick Lane, Ilya will read alongside Macedonian and Latvian poets and those involved in the culmination of the first Maintenant Camarade project, which sees nine pairings of British based poets reading work they have created specifically for the event, which will be published by the fantastic Red Ceilings press in a limited edition chapbook. http://www.theredceilingspress.co.uk/

The following poets will be reading original work in what should be a truly memorable night of poetry, please do come along!: Sean Bonney & Jeff Hilson / Tom Jenks & Chris McCabe / Holly Pester & Patrick Coyle / Marcus Slease & Tim Atkins / Emily Critchley & Tamarin Norwood / Sam Riviere & Jack Underwood / Tom Chivers & Ben Borek / James Byrne & Sandeep Parmar / James Wilkes & Ghazal Mosadeq

Here are the poets published on 3am over the last few weeks:
Tim Atkins: the Wrestlers Series - http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/tim-atkins-wrestlers/
James Davies: Budgies - http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/james-davies-budgie/

'Fights' poetry book available to buy


My new collection 'Fights' is now available to order from Veer books, and if you're kind enough to nab one, then you can use paypal to order http://www.bbk.ac.uk/cprc/publications/Veer_Publications/Veer040

You can use paypal with the payee address: estaphin@hotmail.com ( Stephen Mooney - editor of Veer) and the book is £9.00 + £0.80 p&p = £9.80

For any questions or for ordering outside of the UK, the contact is at veerbooks@gmail.com




» Maintenant #69: Márton Koppány


Márton Koppány’s opus of visual poetry stands as a remarkable entry into the ledger of post WWII European poetic innovation and expression. Behind him sits a life’s work, denoted by intellectual rigour and brilliance, as he has quietly, but indelibly, edged his medium forward. Producing work of immense quality, consistently, in the field of visual poetry for over thirty years, he has inspired new generations of poets while working from the inside out of his environs in Budapest and with a capacity for profound inflection and wholly accurate understatement (to a level of humorous / satirical reverence so poorly missing from much experimental poetry) he has tackled the nature of his own family history and it’s entwining with the darker days of modern Hungary. His work is thus indicative of the possibilities, and even the necessities, of visual poetry, his fundamental mode one of honesty in expression, led by a suspicion and engagement with the limits of language. Koppány has always maintained an incisiveness that has attracted the plaudits from poets in his field, and his sophicated, intellectual and urbane corpus has rendered him simply one of Europe’s finest poets and an immense contributor to often the most stimulating field of contemporary poetry.

http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-69-marton-koppany/

Incorporated into the interview are 13 poems by Marton, selected to display the width and evolution of his work over the last 30 years.


Here are the poets published on 3am over the last few weeks:
Grzegorz Wroblewski - http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/grzegorz-wroblewski-5-poems/
Kristen Stone - http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/kristen-stone-4-poems/

Pugilistica!

This past thursday was the release event for my second collection called 'Fights', put out by Veer books. From writing to publication the book was over 18 months in the making, and I read the first cycle (one of 15) 'Arthur Abraham' at my first writers forum workshop in January 2010. The book is made up of 15 cycles with 9 poems per cycle, so 135 poems in all. Each cycle is an attempt to record or synthesise the life / acts /persona of a modern era boxer in the lexicon of poetry, be it visual, verbal or otherwise.

I have always said that Fights has been my favourite project to work on purely because it needs no internal justification when being written. I love boxing, am enamoured with the sport and watch so many hours of it whenever possible, so the poetry is just a representation of that experience. There is no middle ground, no possibility for posturing, for finding a reason to write each poem. This is probably why the book is so structured, just to find a form to my 'recordings'.

The evening itself was a lovely experience because of the generosity of others, the readers who made it an event and the friends who came to support me.






3 poems on the Red Ceilings

These three poems are taken from my upcoming collection Minimum Security Prison Dentistry to be published later this year by Anything Anymore Anywhere press. Thanks to Mark Cobley, always a supporter of good British poets, for placing these on the Red Ceilings



Herbarium reading

Friday night, the 22nd of July, was the release of the Herbarium poetry anthology edited by James Wilkes. Held in the Urban Physic garden, it was a lovely evening. I took videos of the readings, 35 poets in all, and some of my favourite working in London like Jeff Hilson, Tim Atkins, Marcus Slease, Michael Zand, Chris McCabe, Philip Terry and on and on. Such a unique evening with such great work and the anthology itself was beautiful. Jamie Wilkes did an incredible job and it was one of those readings that seems special because it is so fundamentally unique, wide ranging and justified, it wasn't for the sake of it, the concept was fantastic. It also is a credit to James that he is aware of so many excellent poets, there were many i had never come across before who were real discoveries. http://www.physicgarden.org.uk/