Another lovely review of The Son

To cover as many pamphlets as he can in a limited word count, David Morley reviews in Twitter-style in his largely appreciative review of pamphlets from Happenstance, Oystercatcher, Rack, Donut, Knives, Forks and Spoons, and Smith/Doorstop presses. Hence I think I can get away with quoting Morley's entire review of The Son (Oystercatcher, 2009) here without violating fair use: "Carrie Etter's sparkling, serious beating-out of prose poetry and catechism continues in a finely judged sequence, grieving and honouring and surprising on every page. 'It is time' (Etter quotes Celan) 'the stone made an effort to flower'. And so this fine book, its respect, sadness and subject." 

As The Son is the basis of my third collection, Imagined Sons, yet another positive review heartens me that much more. 

i.m. Henry Ross Etter, 26 September 1940-13 March 2009

I'm listening to Billy Joel's Glass Houses (1980), which we listened to and loved together. Every day is less than it could have been since you've been gone. 

100,000 Poets for Change in Bath on Saturday, 29 September

Here is the final schedule for Bath's day of readings as part of the international 100,000 Poets for Change, this Saturday, 29 September at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute on Queen Square, with all money raised going to support Julian House, Bath's charity for the homeless. We'll be in the large Elwin room. Here's the schedule:

2:30-3 p.m. Bath Poetry Cafe, with readings from David Cohen, Teresa Davey, Rose Flint, Rosie Jackson, Jill Sharp and Sue Sims

3:10-3:40 p.m. A Pamphlet Party, with poets reading from their pamphlets: Seren Adams (Small History, Shearsman), David Hale (The Last Walking Stick Factory, Happenstance), Dikra Ridha (There Are No Americans in Baghdad's Bird Market, Tall Lighthouse), and Robert Walton (Waiting for the Wave, Pighog)

3:50-4:20 p.m. Bath Spa University MA Poets Past and Present: Graham Allison, Daisy Behagg, Matthew Haw, Caroline Heaton, Alan Summers, Natasha Underwood, John Wheway and Andy Wright 

4:30-5 p.m. Swindon Artswords Presents, with readings from William Bedford, Emily Harrison, Cristina Newton, Bethany Pope and Hilda Sheehan

5:10-5:40 p.m. Bath Spa University Undergraduates

Dinner break

7:30-8:05 p.m. David Briggs and Kelvin Corcoran

8:20-8:55 p.m. Claire Crowther and Tim Liardet 


There will be drinks and books tables throughout the event (manned by Bath Spa student volunteers), and donations will be requested for Julian House. There is no entry fee as such. I am most grateful to Bath Spa University for its support--paying for the room, readers' travel expenses, etc.--so that all donations can go directly to Julian House.

'one thought galore' from Daniel O'Donnell-Smith's cOdes (Leafe, 2012)

Leafe Press has a new pamphlet series, beginning with the first collection of young poet Daniel O'Donnell-Smith, cOdes, which effectively combines heightened, vernacular and computer languages. This poem has less of the latter, so you'll have to pick up the pamphlet yourself to get a better idea of the extent of O'Donnell-Smith's project, so to speak.












one thought galore


that first spark
at sleeping
where
great thinkers
are vitamin supplements
for things that a slow boy learnt

the sum born from giants
is
trickle down

a pool hall of ideas

                                             [multiple user content]

and there i was reading this:

the mind automaton.


Daniel O'Donnell-Smith
cOdes (Leafe, 2012)


If you buy cOdes directly from the publisher, it's £4.50 with free shipping.

Here's Daniel O'Donnell-Smith's account of himself: "Daniel O'Donnell-Smith lives in Leicester but will soon be moving to London to begin a PhD and make electronic mistakes with his dark pop collective @MoscowYouthCult. He loves synths, trashy horror/sci-fi, VHS wonk & cat lick. His first poetry collection is currently available from Leafe Press, entitled 'cOdes'."

100,000 Poets for Change day of readings in Bath

As part of the international 100,000 Poets for Change, I've organized a day of readings on Saturday, 29 September at Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute on Queen Square, with all money raised going to support Julian House, Bath's charity for the homeless. We'll be in the large Elwin room. Here's the schedule:

2:30-3 p.m. Bath Poetry Cafe, with readings from David Cohen, Teresa Davey, Rose Flint, Rosie Jackson, Jill Sharp and Sue Sims

3:10-3:40 p.m. A Pamphlet Party, with poets reading from their pamphlets: Seren Adams (Small History, Shearsman), David Hale (The Last Walking Stick Factory, Happenstance), Dikra Ridha (There Are No Americans in Baghdad's Bird Market, Tall Lighthouse), and Robert Walton (Waiting for the Wave, Pighog)

3:50-4:20 p.m. Bath Spa University MA Poets Past and Present: Graham Allison, Laura Burns, Matthew Haw, Caroline Heaton, Alan Summers, Natasha Underwood, Andy Wright and several others

4:30-5 p.m. Swindon Artswords Presents, with readings from William Bedford, Emily Harrison, Cristina Newton, Bethany Pope and Hilda Sheehan

5:10-5:40 p.m. Bath Spa University Undergraduates, with readers to be confirmed

Dinner break

7:30-8:15 p.m. Emerging Poets, with readings from David Briggs, Rory Waterman and possibly one other poet to be confirmed

8:30-9:15 p.m. Kelvin Corcoran, Claire Crowther and Tim Liardet 


There will be drinks and books tables throughout the event (manned by Bath Spa student volunteers), and donations will be requested for Julian House. There is no entry fee as such. I am most grateful to Bath Spa University for its support--paying for the room, readers' travel expenses, etc.--so that all donations can go directly to Julian House.

I Don't Call Myself a Poet: Interviews with Contemporary Poets Living & Working in Britain

As part of her teaching at the University of Middlesex, Sophie Mayer has done a wonderful thing, creating a compendium of interviews with a wide range of UK poets, including, happily, myself. It includes Andrea Brady, Vahni Capildeo, Mimi Khalvati, John Kinsella, Ira Lightman, Chris McCabe, Daljit Nagra, Shazea Quraishi and Jane Yeh--and many more! Apparently the 68 interviews are just the beginning, with more forthcoming. It looks to become a valuable resource for readers and students alike.

Laura Kasischke's Space, in Chains (Copper Canyon, 2011)

Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Poetry, Space, in Chains combines the banal and the metaphysical with surprising effectiveness. I'm especially intrigued by Kasischke's ideas about mortality and death. 



How easy it would have been instead
to stand up shouting
about cold, dumb death.

from "View from Glass Door"

July, that lovely hell, all

velvet dresses and drapes

stuffed into a hot little hole.

opening stanza of "July"

I stumbled into this place with my suitcase packed full of prior obligations. The floor of the orchard littered with soft fruit, and the wasps hovering drunkenly over it all, and the last few pieces dangling from the branches--happiness, melancholy, sexual desire--poised in the vibrating air, ready to fall.

*

In our fading animal memories:

The humming gold of being, and ceasing to be. The exposed motor of eternity.

the beginning and end of "Wasps"

And all the embezzled

cents and dollars

of the last time I saw you.

last stanza of "Rain"

The trees

in their temporary trances, and we in our animate brevity.

from "Medical Dreams"

The last hour waiting patiently on a tray for her somewhere in the future. The spoon slipping quietly into the beautiful soup.

end of "Near Misses"

There is a bridge from here to there. But we all know it is the kind of bridge that blows away. The kind of bridge made mostly of magazines, cheap beer, TV.

from "Riddle"

The way music, our savior, is the marriage of math and antisocial behavior.

from "O Elegant Giant"

And then 

through my weird tears

a clear vision

at the center of the others:

My father 

and the way for decades he drank his beer

beneath our bare bulb in the basement, like

a man desperately struggling to drown

a pale deer slowly in a shallow pond.

end of "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Mist"

Most days I cling to a single word. It is a mild-mannered creature made of thought. Future, or Past. Never the other, obvious word. Whenever I reach out to touch that one, it scurries away.

opening stanza of "Riddle"

In the UK you can buy Space, in Chains from Foyle's; in the US, try your local independent. 

Sea Pie: a Shearsman Anthology of Oystercatcher Poetry

I'm absolutely delighted to be in this lovely, surprisingly slim volume edited by Peter Hughes, editor of Oystercatcher Press. Those looking to further their acquaintance with quality experimental poetry should look no further (it's largely British). The anthology contains selections from Oystercatcher pamphlets. Contributors include Kelvin Corcoran, Emily Critchley, Ian Davidson, Amy Evans, Giles Goodland, Catherine Hales, John Hall, Michael Haslam, John James, Rachel Lehrman, Sophie Mayer, Alasdair Paterson, Rufo Quintavalle, Peter Riley, Sophie Robinson, Lisa Samuels, Maurice Scully, Nathan Thompson, Carol Watts, John Welch and more. I can hardly wait to begin reading it!

You can purchase the anthology directly from Shearsman Books. 

Építészpince, Budapest

Just several blocks down from where we were staying, we found one of our favourite restaurants in Budapest, where we had our first and last dinners. Just look at this for al fresco!

If you're going to be in Budapest and want to go, its website is here. It's right by the Hungarian National Museum.

Song a Year After My Mother's Death (draft)

Like all my drafts, this will only stay up a few days. I'd be glad to know if you enjoyed or liked it.