Claire Crowther's new pamphlet, Mollicle--first selection

Here's my first selection from Claire's new pamphlet, Mollicle, published by Nine Arches Press. Tomorrow she'll be launching it in London alongside Matt Bryden with his prizewinning pamphlet, Night Porter (Templar, 2010), and me with my US chapbook, Divinations (Punch Press, 2010), now sold out but for the four copies I'm bringing to the event. For details of the reading, please see the Readings & Events page.

Self Portrait as Windscreen

Do you think I'm clear on every issue

just because I'm glass?

Have you heard yourself calling 'Claire,

Claire, Claire, Claire' when you're confused?

A name is lulling

when you aren't clear on every issue.

So your favourite phrase 'Let's be clear

on this one thing'

is the public face of 'Claire, Claire.'

I see you everywhere, using my nature,

hardened from soft,

imagining you're clear. Fired, made

to soften, harden again. We're laminated.

The crack that comes

won't shatter us or your calling.

Claire Crowther

Mollicle (Nine Arches, 2010)

Matt Bryden's Night Porter, first selection

Winner in the 2010 Templar Poetry Pamphlet Competition, Night Porter is the first collection by one of my dearest friends, Matt Bryden. Here's the blurb for the pamphlet (which, I admit, I wrote): "Stemming from the poet's experience working in a Yorkshire hotel, Night Porter portrays life in the small hours among guests and staff, a life that steadily becomes more about witnessing the lives of others than the speaker's own. With each new glimpse into the interrelationships at the hotel, the mood deepens with new emotional tensions and an overriding sense of alienation. In this remarkable debut, Matt Bryden creates a compellingly layered portrait of ordinary lives." To purchase the pamphlet, please visit its page on Templar Poetry.

Here's the first poem I'd like to share:

Practicalities

I shake the box in my lap:

gold and black as, es, is, os, us

and consonants, in sections.

Over time, the ss have cross-pollinated the ws,

the 1s mixed into the Is, 0s interbred with the os,

the Cs, or rather the splintered Os,

jaggedly pressed into the felt of the Arrivals board.

In the hotel supplies catalogue,

alongside lecterns and whiteboards,

shower caps and reception bells,

a small box of numbers and letters: £85.

‘Not at those prices,’ says Anne.

Matt Bryden

Night Porter

Templar, 2010

Congratulations Matt Bryden, winner in this year's Templar pamphlet competition

Congratulations to one of my dearest friends, Matt Bryden, on winning this year's Templar Poetry Pamphlet and Collection Prize. His pamphlet, Night Porter, will be published this autumn, and his first book some time next year. There's a special pleasure when I work with someone closely on their poetry and it comes to fruition; Matt's been working on the poems in this pamphlet for over four years and I can't imagine how many times they've been by me. I'm so excited and proud. Congratulations, Matt. Hard earned, well deserved.