Matthew Stewart’s excellent pamphlet, Tasting Notes, has now been professionally produced as a short film. One of Matthew’s hopes was that the pamphlet would introduce poetry to a new audience, and this film does that too. I was clocked by a number of people whilst watching it in my school’s staff room; it provoked laughterContinue reading “Tasting Notes – poems by Matthew Stewart”
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Not Fade Away – Nikola Madzirov’s Remnants of Another Age
My great-grandfather, who hung through my childhood at the centre of a shrine tended by my great-aunt, now hangs in my house. After eighty-six years of exposure, his ghost is gently parting from the paper, which feels strange as, despite the chains of office, his cocked head and half grin suggest real warmth. His attitude’sContinue reading “Not Fade Away – Nikola Madzirov’s Remnants of Another Age”
Run with the dogs tonight – Luke Samuel Yates’ The pair of scissors that could cut anything
Ann Summers had nothing on our neighbour’s washing line. All the usual flimsy suspects were pegged up flaccid in a breezeless criminal line-up, a celestial conjunction of lingerie that betokened a professional intent. ‘She’s a prostitute,’ whispered my wife. Admittedly, she drove an Audi TT but, beyond the front door, in our naff mews ofContinue reading “Run with the dogs tonight – Luke Samuel Yates’ The pair of scissors that could cut anything”
Robert Wrigley’s Soundings on the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog
The Poetry Trust’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog has updated with a close reading of Robert Wrigley’s Soundings, and you can find the poem printed in full there too. RELATED LINKS Robert Wrigley on Poor Rude Lines Robert Wrigley at the Poetry Foundation
Danse Macabre – Katha Pollitt’s The Mind-Body Problem
As we stood filling the ashtray, a whey-faced seminarian dispensed advice about the forthcoming term at Rome’s Gregorian University. I forget the lecturer’s name, but he’d made quite an impression on my friend, who struggled through the laughter as he related how this nutty priest regarded dance (dance!) as the highest form of expression. AsContinue reading “Danse Macabre – Katha Pollitt’s The Mind-Body Problem”
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Shazea Quraishi’s The Courtesans Reply
When I admit to reading almost nothing in translation, people are unimpressed, and I admit it: they have a good point. It’s just that I feel uncomfortable about the presence of a shadowy intermediary between me and the text’s first writer. The words on the page matter: the writer wouldn’t have put them there ifContinue reading “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Shazea Quraishi’s The Courtesans Reply”
The Drowners – Kim Moore’s If We Could Speak Like Wolves
I eventually looked through the bedroom window, towards the source of the noise, and a ghost, street lit in Thames water, stared back. The thrashing in the river suddenly made sense: the teenage boy had leapt from the road bridge, and had been in the water a while. It was two in the morning onContinue reading “The Drowners – Kim Moore’s If We Could Speak Like Wolves”
D. Nurkse’s The Past on the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog
Regular readers will know that I try to avoid dishing out other people’s poems in full. Doing that would hardly help poets sell more books, and I’m all for that. However, as Aldeburgh Festival Blogger, I will be offering close readings of poems by a few of the festival poets, and these poems will beContinue reading “D. Nurkse’s The Past on the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog”
Full fathom five – Richie McCaffery’s Spinning Plates
On clearing my great aunt’s house, my parents presented me with her ACME Thunderer. She was a teacher from the old school, and I can imagine her, the stillness in the playground’s white-painted centre circle, as demented little tots bounced off of one another in a wheeling, shrieking mass. Her lips purse and her hand raises theContinue reading “Full fathom five – Richie McCaffery’s Spinning Plates”
The shiny new Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog
Poor Rude Lines will continue to offer its regular service. However, as Blogger in Residence at this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, I will also post to The Poetry Trust’s website. In the coming months, I’ll post close readings of work by the Festival’s poets to whet your appetite for the stellar line-up for this, theContinue reading “The shiny new Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Blog”