Archeological Avenues (3): Palmyra, Petra ... and the Parthenon

The Parthenon

I was delighted to find that my sonnet, Palmyra, had been selected for inclusion in the first edition of Chapter & Verse, the electronic in-house student magazine for The Writers' Bureau. You can read my poem about another archaeological site, Petra, on Wendy Webb's TIPS for Writers blog. My profile listing has now appeared no the Poetry Society site (you may need to scroll up a bit).

• Blog post on Palmyra (part of the Carnival of the Arid).
• Speaking of things archaeological, the new Acropolis Museum will be officially opened tomorrow.
  

News Stories (2): a place for poetry?

I felt that this article by Harry Eyres from (of all unusual sources) the Financial Times raised some thought-provoking issues. Is there a place for poetry? What is poetry for? What does poetry do? ... questions that confront us all the time in our writing life.

Poetry Events (1): The Seventh Quarry

Mumbles Pier, Swansea, Wales, UK

THE SEVENTH QUARRY Swansea Poetry Magazine,

edited by Swansea poet Peter Thabit Jones,

presents a

POETRY WORKSHOP

with America's Kristine Doll and Catalonia's August Bover

at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Saturday, 20th June, 2009

10 a.m. to 12 noon

Fee: £10 on the door.

I would like to commend this event to anyone within reach of the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea. Check out other events organised by The Seventh Quarry at this link to MySpace.

Poetry Submission (1): poems translated into Romanian

My first poems translated into another language (in this case Romanian) are to appear in Contemporary & Literary Horizon (C&LH), edited by Daniel Dragomirescu and translated by Professor Lidia Vianu and students at the University of Bucharest.

Professor Vianu is Director of CTITC (CENTRE FOR THE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEXT) at Bucharest University, Professor of Contemporary British Literature at the English Department and a Member of the Writers’ Union, Romania.

• Peggy Landsman at the Red Room
• On the subject of Romania and translation...
  

Writers' Realms (1): Scotland and its literary heritage

I came across this BBC web page of Scottish writers, and was particularly pleased to find Edwin Muir and John Buchan on the list. You can read about George Mackay Brown (featured on the recent TV series, 'A Poet's Guide to Britain' presented by Owen Sheers).

Wonderful Words (6): Photoetry

I always enjoy keeping up with the Poetry Book Society recommendations, and I was particularly interested to read the word 'photoetry' in the latest edition (PBS Bulletin, Summer 09).

Paul Muldoon's book, Plan B, is described as 'photoetry' on account of the fact that the poems are complemented (and perhaps enhanced?) by the images of Scottish photographer, Norman McBeath. The PBS reviewer points out that, in this instance, the cover image alone serves as an illustration in the conventional sense of the word. The photographs sit alongside (or run parallel to) the poems and create an environment in which 'poems and images are in conversation'.

I enjoy ekphrastic poetry of all kinds, despite the fact that poems about artworks abound in profusion. By the sound of it, Plan B does not quite fall into the usual category. To date, I have only read about it. There are times - many times - of course, when a poem speaks entirely for itself, and any images it conjures up remain in the eye of the writer and of the reader. That can be very special. There are other times when external images play a key role, times when an electrifying symbiotic relationship develops on the page between text and image.

I have particularly enjoyed two recent collections of photoetry (as I can now refer to them!):

• Recollections (Flambard Press) by Maureen Almond. This volume of poetry developed out of Maureen's time as poet-in-residence at the Museum of Antiquities (now part of the Great North Museum), Newcastle upon Tyne. Her poems were partnered by the photographs of the museum's Audio-Visual Officer, Glyn Goodrick. The collection as a whole celebrates the work and collections of the museum and explores (in my opinion very successfully) the interaction between the Romans and the modern museum visitor.

• Batu-Angas (Seren, ISBN: 9781854114648) by Anne Cluysenaar is subtitled 'Envisioning Nature with Alfred Russel Wallace'. The poetry constitutes an exploration of the life of Wallace, whose independent discovery of natural selection in 1858 led to Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species. The enhancing illustrations and photographs represent some of the specimens collected by Wallace during his journeys. Cluysenaar runs the Henry Vaughan Society and edits their magazine Scintilla. She lives in Vaughan's hometown of Usk in Wales.

What photoetry editions have you encountered - and enjoyed? Do let me know.

I cannot, I cannot, I think, quite count this next volume as photoetry, but it definitely deserves a mention in this post:

• The Terracotta Army by Gary Geddes (Peterloo 2007). This book is beautifully produced. Each poem appears opposite a page containing a calligraphic Chinese character by Shuai Lizhi. I imagine (at least I am guessing) that each character represents the title of the facing poem. Each poem (in English) bears the title of one of the warriors: you will encounter the spy, the harness-maker, the military historian and the chaplain - to name but four.
  

Since we are speaking of definitions, how does photoetry differ from an anthology with illustrations in the traditional sense (think children's books, perhaps)? I believe that there is a distinction based around those words 'in conversation', but it is not easy to define with precision.

Poetic People (13): Chris Kinsey at the Dylan Thomas Centre

We had a terrific evening at the Dylan Thomas Centre last week, when BBC Wildlife Poet of the Year and 'Greyhound Laureate', Chris Kinsey, read from her sparkling collection, Kung Fu Lullabies, published by Ragged Raven Press and praised by UA Fanthorpe. You can read a review on the NHI site. All proceeds from the evening were sent to Greyhound Rescue Wales and the Gower Bird Hospital.

Chris also read from an anthology published by Pont called Poems of Love and Longing. I bought a copy of the book, and was delighted to find that it also contained a sequence of poems (about the north) by fellow poet and blogger, Susan Richardson. Other contributors include Gillian Clarke, Owen Sheers and Christine Evans. I am looking forward to a good read!