Reading Bashō in the original
If only. My smattering of Japanese is barely adequate for ordering a meal and getting back to the hotel afterwards, let alone reading one of the most subtle and enigmatic poets of all time. Factor in the spiritual, cultural and historical differences between myself and an itinerant 17th century Japanese poet, and I’ve got about as much chance of reading the original Bashō as I have of solving the Zen koan about the sound of one hand clapping.
Translations obviously help, but they’re a bit of a tease. However much I enjoy a particular English version of a poem, at the back of my mind I’m always wondering “How close is this to the original? Did he really write ‘perfume’ or was it more like ‘a nice smell’?”. And so on.
Which is why it was so exciting to come across Toshiharu Oseko’s Basho’s Haiku in a Tokyo bookshop earlier this year. It was the subtitle that drew me in:
I was certainly one of “Those who wish to Read the Original Japanese Text”, and the prospect of being able to do so without undertaking the arduous labour of learning Edo-period Japanese and the attendant literary history was frankly appealing. But how could this be possible?
Magma 34 out now!
I’m delighted to announce that issue 34 of Magma poetry magazine, which I edited, is now available.
You can read a selection of the magazine’s contents on the Magma website.
Poets featured in Magma 34 include Mimi Khalvati, Maurice Riordan, Myra Schneider, Catherine Smith, Tim Turnbull, Susan Wicks and Lorraine Mariner.
For our regular Presiding Spirits feature, in which we ask a leading contemporary poet to write a poem drawing on a past master, David Harsent has written a poem inspired by a 17th century Cornish poem. He also talks at length about his writing, including his latest book Legion, which won the Forward Prize for Best Collection of 2005.
The Magma Showcase highlights the work of poets who are likely to be new to our readers. I’m very pleased that for this issue we have the first UK publication of the Japanese poet Machi Tawara. In Japan Tawara is a household name, having sold 2.5 million copies of her first book of poems, Salad Anniversary (1987). In Magma 34 we publish a selection of newly-commissioned translations from Salad Anniversary and from her latest book, Pooh’s Nose (2005). Doumo arigatou gozaimasu Tawara-sama!
For our Poetry in Practice feature I’ve written an article about creative flow, taking the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as the starting point. I interviewed Paul Farley, Myra Schneider, Susan Wicks and Matthew Sweeney about their creative process, who were all very generous in sharing their experience. You can read an edited version of the article here.
And for our Guest Choice feature Alastair Campbell has written an engaging appreciation of a poem by the French poet Théophile Gautier.
If you like what you read in the online version of this issue I you can follow these links to buy Magma 34 or subscribe to Magma. Each issue is approximately 80 pages and contains much more poetry and prose than the online version. Magma is run on a voluntary basis and all income from our sales goes straight back into the magazine’s production.
I hope you enjoy the issue - please let me know what you think of it on the Magma web forums.
Editing Magma 34
Over a period of about 5 months last year I read literally thousands of poems, as the editor of Issue 34 of Magma magazine. It was my first time as an editor, and it was very interesting to be on the other side of the fence for a change. Having submitted lots of poems to magazines, like most poets I’ve received more rejections than acceptances. So it was a slightly surreal experience to be the person opening the letters and e-mails and making the judgements myself.
After ploughing through so many poems I have a new-found admiration for all those editors out there who keep the poetry world going. It’s exciting, challenging and eventually tiring work. I’m lucky because we rotate the editorship at Magma, which means I’ve handed over the baton to Tim Robertson for Magma 35, but I’m amazed to think of the enthusiasm and sheer stamina of editors who edit issue after issue single-handed.
I’m also hoping the experience will be useful for my own writing, by sharpening my critical judgement and helping me to weed out mediocrity in my drafts of poems. I wouldn’t have taken on the editorship unless I was fairly confident of my critical judgement, but having to get through so many poems certainly forced me to focus my attention quickly on the essential qualities of a poem - Does it catch my attention and hold it? Does it have the spark of energy that brings it alive? Read more
Article - ‘Net Gains?’ (Magma 32)
I wrote ‘Net Gains?’ about poetry and the internet for Magma 32. The links in the online version make it easy to visit the sites I reviewed. If I missed out your favourite poetry site, please add it to the list on the Magma forums.
Poem - ‘Astonishment’ (The Wolf - live audio)
My poem ‘Astonishment’ was published in Issue 3. of The Wolf magazine. This page has a recording of me reading it at the launch.
Here’s the text:
Astonishment
For Isobel, aged 4 months
You’ve just arrived from nowhere.
We can see it in your face. Enthroned
on your royal blue rocking car chair,
you lift a clean astonished gaze
to meet our clean astonished faces,
as if you can’t believe we can’t believe
you’re here. As if life were always like this.
We’ll do our best to break the news gently,
we’ll make you laugh, we’ll make mistakes,
we’ll teach you to be Isobel,
to play the game we always play
that constitutes our life together –
but don’t believe all we say.
~
You can’t hear me yet, so I’m writing this
for a girl who’s climbed the stairs to her teens,
who can turn and hear my younger self
telling how Once upon a time
a fairy princess with a Tintin quiff
held court in a Greenwich flat
where Anton, Paul, Jane, Lee,
her Mum and Dad and I
played awkward courtiers in jeans
and t-shirts, and drank her health
to excess; while she sat and mused among us
with her wrinkled hands and lucent gaze,
ancient and slow as a tortoise,
quick and light as yesterday.
Welcome to my poetry blog
I originally intended to include poetry reviews and articles in the Wishful Thinking blog - but the poems wanted a space for themselves, so here it is.
I enjoy writing magazine poetry reviews and there are other books I want to write about, even if some of them are too old to be reviewed in a magazine. So a blog seemed the perfect place to round up all those stray thoughts and stop them getting into trouble.
I’ll include links to my poems and magazine articles that appear online elsewhere. And I hope you will join in and share your thoughts.