Editorial: May 2006

June 07, 2006 From Australia, we welcome {id="6619" title="Jill Jones"} whose refractive poetry is descriptive of her environment. In ‘Facing the Harbour’ she writes, “Harbour hauls and surface trades/ with wind wing and sail out there. /Here the wall, crevice anchorage/ after, and now/ in this messed up/ abiding/ daylight still holding.”

When she’s not on the seafront she’s further inland, visiting the cash point, using the phone, or peering into other people’s houses. You can just imagine her walking around, closely observing, the poet as flâneur.

The Belgians bring us a wonderful classic writer, {id="6636" title="Paul van Ostaijen"}, whom in ‘Baroque Account’ expressionistically describes metaphorical boats, and in another very short but interesting poem writes of ‘The sailor's suicide’:

The sailor / hears the voice of the Lorelei / he looks at his watch / and jumps in the water

Paul van Ostaijen has been very influential on Flemish and Dutch avant-garde poetic movements, read his jazz-inspired ‘Homage to Singer’, published in 1928 and you’ll see why.

We find the death of a captain amongst the writings of Colombian poet, {id="6686" title="Julián Malatesta"}, in ‘The Captain’s Final Voyage’ he writes:

The old Juancho
As he was known in the ports,
Had known since childhood when his time would be up.
Now he participates in the ritual of his last voyage
With the self-possession of he who sails his ship to a known port

Julián Malatesta is joined by the lesser known {id="6687" title="Rafael Patiño"} whose work is more erotic in tone, and the great writer {id="6685" title="Fernando Charry Lara"} who died last year aged 85. I urge you to read the powerful poems of Charry Lara, reminiscent of Pablo Neruda, if you are not already familiar with his work. Try out the somniferous lines:

The night, near the sea
Will not leave, against the rocks, the shore, its dramatic accent
Of overflowing waters beating white and sleepy foam. (‘Solitary Night’).

- and then travel to UK, this time featuring four Scottish poets, with a variegated mix of folk and fable. There’s not much seafaring here but {id="6964" title="John Stammers"} has a ‘House on the Beach’ which directly compares with the Colombian lines above. You could even run one quotation on from the other:

I strain to hear your breathing in almost the wash
of the water’s edge and the lisping of the shingles
as they deliquesce into the sea

I love Stammer’s rich and evocative verse. He’s joined by {id="6962" title="David Kinloch"}, {id="6965" title="Tracey Herd"}, and young poet {id="6963" title="Jen Hadfield"} in an extremely diverse quartet.

Israel are temporarily changing the format of their pages for their next two issues and focus on the forthcoming International Jerusalem “Mishkenot Sha’ananim” Poetry Festival due to take place in the autumn. This issue skims the work of five very different poets – {id="6836" title="Lyor Shternberg"}, {id="6838" title="Tamir Lahav-Radlmesser"}, {id="6835" title="Israel Eliraz"}, {id="6837" title="Raquel Chalfi"} and {id="6834" title="Dana Amir"}. There is also an article about the festival – should you wish to attend please contact the organisers!

Finally, from China we have the young lyrical poet, {id="6662" title="Duo Yu"} whose style strikes me as rather European in influence. In his passionate essay, “Inside Me, It’s All Darkness”, he confers an important message, “Real poets confront themselves first and foremost; poetry should become a tongue that speaks for personal salvation. Is it a matter of using knowledge, morality, lies . . . to save a poem, or to save a person by means of a poem? This is the test of a true poetry.”

There’s an awful lot of food for thought in this May issue. Enjoy.