Review - Roddy Lumsden, Tim Cumming (Magma 31)
Here’s my review of Roddy Lumsden’s Mischief Night and Tim Cumming’s The Rumour, which appeared in Magma 31.
Review - Longley, Clanchy, Kleinzahler and others (Magma 29)
Here’s my review for Magma 29, covering the Poetry Book Society’s quarterly selection of poetry books. The PBS Choice was Michael Longley’s Snow Water. The PBS Recommendations were Matthew Hollis’ Ground Water, Kate Clanchy’s Newborn, August Kleinzahler’s The Strange Hours Travellers Keep, James Sheard’s Hotel Mastbosch and George Szirtes’ translation of the Hungarian poet Agnes Nemes-Nagy - The Night of Akhenaton, Selected Poems.
The Last Three Poetry Books I Bought
Rob MacKenzie asks ‘What were the last three poetry books you bought?’ so here are my latest purchases:
1. Pillars of Salt by Judy Brown - I liked Judy’s poems so much I published three of them in Magma 34, including Passenger. So I was very pleased to see she’s just published this pamphlet - an absolute steal at £3 (including postage) from Templar Poetry.
2. Scattering Eva by James Sheard - I was cautiously enthusiastic when I reviewed Sheard’s pamphlet ‘Hotel Mastbosch’ in Magma 29; now I’m really enjoying his first full-length collection. Poems that demand (and repay) careful reading. He’s got a pretty good website too, with poems and a blog.
3. Stranded in Subatomica by Tim Turnbull - I didn’t strictly buy this, it was kindly given to me by Tim’s publisher Andy Ching, after I was overheard enthusing about Tim Turnbull in the pub. Magma published the headline poem Stranded in Subatomica in Magma 31, and my first encounter with Tim’s work was hearing his extraordinary reading of the poem at the launch. Very dark and very funny. Watch out for his new stage show, Caligula On Ice, via www.timturnbull.co.uk
Magma 35 - the London Issue
I’ve been meaning to post for a while that Magma 35 is now available, and very good it is too. Tim Robertson has done a terrific job of selecting poems on the theme of ‘London’, including some excellent writing about the difficult subject of the bombings last year.
Laurie Smith has complemented the new poems with a thought-provoking article about the poetry of London - among other things, it has made me see Blake in a new light. His assertion that there is currently a poetic ‘School of London’ has provoked some heated debate on the Magma forums.
Of course I’m delighted that Tim has included one of my poems, but there are many more reasons to buy the issue than that! - such as new poems by Wendy Cope, Don Paterson and Adrian Mitchell, and Jo Brand writing about her favourite poem.
A distinctive feature of Magma is our rotating editorship, which means that each issue has a different character. So Tim’s issue is completely different in tone to Magma 34, which I edited.
If you’re not yet convinced that you should rush out and buy a copy (or order one here), then you can sample some of the contents for free on the Magma website.
Review: Matthew Caley, Sarah Wardle, Christopher James (Magma 35)
My review of Matthew Caley’s The Scene of My Former Triumph, Sarah Wardle’s Score! and Christopher James’ The Invention of Butterfly has just been published in Magma 35.
Review - Brian Henry, Maggie Sawkins (Magma 28)
Here’s my review of Brian Henry’s Graft and Maggie Sawkins’ Charcot’s Pet, which appeared in Magma 28.
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Review - E.A. Markham, Ian Duhig (Magma 27)
My review of E.A. Markham’s John Lewis & Co. and Ian Duhig’s The Lammas Hireling appeared in Magma 27.
Technorati Tags: E.A. Markham, Ian Duhig
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.