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The Poem as Party Guest: an interview with Wayne Holloway-Smith
Hi Wayne, we’re very excited you’ve joined the Poetry School team. Can you tell us more about your course, what’s it all about? Wayne: Cheers. Yes, the course idea came to me after I attended a friend’s party and was collared by an individual who monopolised my attention for an extraordinarily long time. As the individual’s…
James Trevelyan (Poetry School)
CAMPUS Debate: Other Peoples’ Voices
“This is my story, not yours”. In last week’s posting I gave myself a virtual sore throat arguing for the political imperative in poetry. This conviction is rooted in my own experiences: silenced as a child, silenced again in the psychiatric system, I have a deep-rooted belief that as poets we have an obligation to…
Clare ShawThe Complete Works Poetry – call for submissions
An update from our friends at The Complete Works … The Complete Works Poetry (TCW 3) Deadline: February 14th, 2016 Are you a Black or Asian poet at the stage where you are committed to producing a full-length collection? Would you benefit from a tailored programme of support and career development? Funded by Arts Council England…
Julia Bird (Poetry School Staff)
The Line Break #6 – Caroline Bird: Punched in the Dark
THE LINE BREAK
Ryan Van Winkle
How I Translated It: ‘When I left you, afterwards’ by Brecht
Some notes on my translation of Brecht’s ‘Als ich nachher von dir ging …’ and some hints on translation more generally. First the text itself, with a very literal interlinear translation: Als ich nachher von dir ging When I afterwards from you went An dem großen Heute On the great today Sah ich, wie…
David Constantine
Primers Announcement!
The manuscripts are dog-eared and the Judges dog-tired, but we are now delighted to be able to make the final Judges’ announcement in our Primers publishing and mentoring scheme. From the origianal submissions of about 350 poets, the four writers who we are going to take forward to publication with Nine Arches Press are ……
Julia Bird (Poetry School Staff)
‘littoral’
2666, pp.642. “He drew Porphyra umbilicalis, a particularly lovely seaweed, nearly eight inches long and reddish purple in colour. […] There were various species of Porphyra and all of them were edible. The Welsh, in particular, were fond of them.” i had been reading up on instant nori made from greenish laver, on sugar kelp…
Flo Reynolds
I do not believe in silence.
I’m guessing the fact that you’re here online means that you don’t just enjoy reading poetry – you also like to read about it. Me too. In fact, sometimes I enjoy it even more than poetry itself. The Life of Poetry by Muriel Rukeyser is a case in point. I first read this book on…
Clare Shaw
‘Robo-mow’
Alan dreams 256 shades of green, hibernating in his glass docking pod at the bottom of the garden. Self-starting at sunrise, his solar panels slowly energise. Recharged and updated with new kinds of seed, 66 brands of feed and non-toxic weed killers plus the latest on invasive alien species. Alan zips up his latex happy…
Lydia Popowich
Instructions for Throwing your Voice
1. Learn to speak without moving your lips. Hold a finger over your mouth as if trying to tell someone to be quiet. This will help prevent your lips from moving. Gritting your teeth together may help. 2. Change your voice. A convincing “vent” voice must be very different from yours. Choose your “vent” voice carefully…
Clare Shaw
Open Workshop: ‘The Art of Ventriloquism’
A history of ventriloquism, to be summarised and re-written: Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. The name comes from the Latin for to speak from the stomach, i.e. venter (belly) and loqui (speak). The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist…
Poetry School
‘She’s a game old bird’
My granny takes canary sips from her service-station tea, jaundiced eyes lantern-bright as she asks, again, who the ambulance is for. is magpie-quick the nurses say, fills her knicker drawer with plasters, rubber gloves, someone else’s dentures. sticks her beak in other rooms Look at’em! Lolling! picks over the injustice like a pigeon pecking at…
Liz Soar
‘At the table’
two chairs. One for me and one for him who will not come. COMMENT “I live in the north of Germany near the Kiel Kanal. I also live in a lifelong very passionate love affair with language /s. Three years ago I started to study poetry of all ages and nationalities and to…
Magret Peper
Meet the Digital Poet in Residence: Clare Shaw
Hi Clare! Tell us about your upcoming residency, ‘You took the words right out my mouth’. Clare: I’m a poet, but until recently I spent most of my working life as a trainer and researcher in mental health services. This work was explicitly rooted in my own history – a history which has also found…
Will Barrett (Poetry School)
‘Poor, becoming moderate later’
If I wis waddir I’d cheenge i da blink o a untrained ee – I’d be warm, laek da pert breists o wid pigeons a smidgeon ower don, a trifle gien I’d be weet, laek monkfish cheeks lattin da saat wash aff afore divin back in tae aa dey keen I’d be dull, laek a…
Christie Williamson Primers Shortlist – Roderic Vincent
With this final poet, we reach the end of our Primers shortlist features. We hope you’ve enjoyed discovering their work as much as we have – and we’re certain you’ll be anticipating Kathryn Maris and Jane Commane’s final decision as eagerly as we are. The judges are due to announce the three poets that will…
James Trevelyan (Poetry School)
‘Long Poems & Invocations: Making the Measure Work for You’
Often teachers tell poets to hone, edit and show not tell, or use language more sparingly, but what if we want to rage and roam, and embrace the mental rollercoaster ride which is the long poem? Writing a long poem can be a chance to immerse yourself in the subconscious and surprise yourself with the…
Melissa Lee-Houghton
How I Translated It: The Poetry of Sarah Kirsch (1935-2013) by Anne Stokes
I first came across the poetry of the German poet Sarah Kirsch when studying East German literature. But I returned to her work more recently in an attempt to understand more about how free verse functioned by entering Kirsch’s poems through the close reading and mimicry required when translating. My main interest in Kirsch’s poems…
Poetry School
‘A Life on the Edge: Hinterlands and Homelands’
Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales console the lodger looking out across a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls a child’s name as though they named their loss. Darkness outside. Inside, the radio’s prayer – Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre. ‘Prayer’ by Carol Ann Duffy The number of people who will have…
Holly Hopkins Primers Shortlist – Maureen Cullen
We hope you’ve been enjoying discovering the work of the Primers shortlist as much as we have. Over the last few weeks we’ve been showcasing those poets in the running for our mentoring and publication scheme with Nine Arches Press. We’re entering the home straight in our poem features having already presented work from Geraldine Clarkson, Jo…
James Trevelyan (Poetry School)
‘The Word made Fresh’ – Restoring the Bible to English Poetry
My history with the Bible goes back a long way and has materially influenced the course of my life as well as my intellectual, artistic and religious development. As a militant teenage atheist from an a-religious background, I would nevertheless regularly read the King James Bible — as ‘literature’ (that is, for enjoyment) but also…
Steve Ely
‘Binge-Watch’
A poem for Chris Packham You— all cable-knit dadbod, clean cut, clean eating, lisping your feathered Corbynomics, warning of the plight of hedgehogs, the risk of transgender fish and Oh! those otters. This is Binge-Watch, not Autumn Watch. I watch you— boxed, badger-setted, episode by episode, not as young as you used to be (but…
Karen Jane Cannon Primers Shortlist – Mark Cooper
We hope you’ve been enjoying discovering the work of the Primers shortlist as much as we have. Over the last few weeks we’ve been showcasing those poets in the running for our mentoring and publication scheme with Nine Arches Press. We’ve already featured poems from Geraldine Clarkson, Jo Young, Kate Davis, Katie Griffiths, Ken Evans, Louise Ordish and Lucy Ingrams. Now, let’s…
James Trevelyan (Poetry School)
Announcing our Spring 2016 Courses!
Here’s a quick look at what’s on offer for our Spring Term (beginning 25 January 2016). To find out about a particular course or tutor, follow the title links or call us to enquire on 0207 582 1679. If you’d like to print out a copy of our brochure to look through at home, you can…
Poetry School
A New Director for the Poetry School – Update
Keen observers of the Poetry School’s news reports will have noted that we have not yet announced a new Director for the organisation. Ollie Dawson, our previous Director, has now moved to his new job, and the route to find his successor is one we’re taking slowly and carefully. Board, staff and tutor representatives are…
Julia Bird (Poetry School Staff)