Article
Editorial: February 2007
January 15, 2007
As if one part of you were coming to the rescue
of the other, across the highest part of the sky,
in your memory of the straight road flying past,
I uncovered your feet as a small refuge,
damp as winter kisses in the street,
or frost-voluptuous cider
over a fire of cuttings from the vine.
Whoever goes near you is isolated
by a double row of candles. I could escape
from any other prison but my own
unjust pursuit of justice
that turns one sort of poetry into another.
Several of this month’s poets seem drawn to the mystical. The very talented Australian poem, Luke Davies, has composed an impressive Whitmanesque cyclus, ‘Totem’, which is split into two parts. It bears reading and rereading, and rereading again. I love his expression, “world-in-a-belly”, and he is very good at describing man’s interaction with the natural world, he uses landscape and environment to deftly seek out the intangible.
Chinese poet, Han Dong, does this too. Consider his haunting image of someone burning money in ‘Winter Solstice’, or the following lines from ‘What I said to Myself’:
one should take a turn for the worse
and observe the real outside: rivers and mountains,
a plant or a tree
while on the inside: mind open as a valley
Flemish writer, Karel van de Woestijne was born almost a century before the other poets in this issue; as a post-symbolist his interest in consciousness vs nature, mind vs spirit and his desire to create ‘atmosphere’ was very much of his time. It is interesting to see how his work can be considered a natural precursor to some of the contemporary poetry featured here.
Finally, my appreciation of Children’s poetry and “world-in-a-belly” might offer a clue as to my own current state. I’ll be on maternity leave for the next issue and Wendy Davies will be taking over the editing. The UK editor, Andrew Bailey, will act as March’s host and will write the editorial. I'm sure they will both do a fantastic job.
I should be back in time to introduce April’s issue. Until then, enjoy!
This month in PIW, British poets Tony Mitton and Brian Moses allow us to revisit our childhoods. Children’s poetry is a genre which tends to get forgotten about but it is seminally important if it engages young readers and instigates a lifetime of poetry appreciation. I remember discovering Pam Ayres and Spike Milligan, around the age of seven, and never looking back. Here’s an extract from Brian Moses’ delightful poem ‘Cakes in the Staffroom’:
Nothing gets teachers more excited
than cakes in the staffroom at break time.
Nothing gets them more delighted
than the sight of plates
piled high with jammy doughnuts
or chocolate cake
The playful humour of these children’s poets is offset by the two Northern Irish poets, Leontia Flynn and Medbh McGuckian who add some high sophistication to the UK pages. Here’s a verse from McGuckian’s ‘The Albert Chain’:As if one part of you were coming to the rescue
of the other, across the highest part of the sky,
in your memory of the straight road flying past,
I uncovered your feet as a small refuge,
damp as winter kisses in the street,
or frost-voluptuous cider
over a fire of cuttings from the vine.
Whoever goes near you is isolated
by a double row of candles. I could escape
from any other prison but my own
unjust pursuit of justice
that turns one sort of poetry into another.
Several of this month’s poets seem drawn to the mystical. The very talented Australian poem, Luke Davies, has composed an impressive Whitmanesque cyclus, ‘Totem’, which is split into two parts. It bears reading and rereading, and rereading again. I love his expression, “world-in-a-belly”, and he is very good at describing man’s interaction with the natural world, he uses landscape and environment to deftly seek out the intangible.
Chinese poet, Han Dong, does this too. Consider his haunting image of someone burning money in ‘Winter Solstice’, or the following lines from ‘What I said to Myself’:
one should take a turn for the worse
and observe the real outside: rivers and mountains,
a plant or a tree
while on the inside: mind open as a valley
Flemish writer, Karel van de Woestijne was born almost a century before the other poets in this issue; as a post-symbolist his interest in consciousness vs nature, mind vs spirit and his desire to create ‘atmosphere’ was very much of his time. It is interesting to see how his work can be considered a natural precursor to some of the contemporary poetry featured here.
Finally, my appreciation of Children’s poetry and “world-in-a-belly” might offer a clue as to my own current state. I’ll be on maternity leave for the next issue and Wendy Davies will be taking over the editing. The UK editor, Andrew Bailey, will act as March’s host and will write the editorial. I'm sure they will both do a fantastic job.
I should be back in time to introduce April’s issue. Until then, enjoy!
© Michele Hutchison
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