Three Poems by Cliff Yates

Hair


A cow chomping grass outside the window
left open all night even the coldest. Fresh air
she said, brushing hers in the full-length mirror.
Her hair was shiny and probably still is.

As she brushed it got shinier. Where
would you rather be, she asked. I had no idea.
She assumed this was to do with happiness
but it wasn’t, I just had no idea. By that time

there were two cows, you could hear their huffing
as well as grass tearing. They seemed hungry
but not desperate. I can’t imagine a desperate cow.
Maybe that’s a failure of nerve, she said,

turning towards me, for the son
at that moment had entered the room.
He had her eyes and was towelling his hair
tall and moist from the shower.



10 Easy Pieces for Piano


*

Everyone watches the child walk
through security and spread out her arms.
Today she’ll fly. You can always tell an Italian.

*

The Cuban landlady sings: ‘when you’ve had black
there’s no going back.’
Her Slovakian cleaner has no papers.
We have an appointment, remember?

*

My hearing went and my head exploded I’ve never had that before.
Remember Klaus? He sent a postcard: hey British how you doing.

*

We missed the headlines on that day:
man with backpack on CCTV.

*

In Hintersee Gasthof the framed cartoon
the king, the farmer, the bishop, the worker
and top of the pyramid the man in black:
‘Der Jude - er nimmt das Geld’.

*

Where does the roof end and the wall start?

*

She said she found herself joining in
throwing flowers at Hitler. When he’d gone
she rushed into church, feeling
she’d slept with someone she shouldn’t have.

*

Anna went to collect her rabbit
‘that’s not my rabbit’ she said.
He held it by the ears, back legs spread-eagled
and put his hand around its balls.

*

This is my second favourite café in Vienna.



Mid-Gallop

Fried egg on toast, tea and chocolate biscuits
and a letter from a friend...
I don’t know whether we had a good Christmas
but if I write about it I’ll find out.

Today I drew a horse, a Chinese horse
in mid-gallop. Best thing I’ve done all week.
A complete accident

                                   satisfying
like the chocolate biscuits, a bit of shading
or a line or two here and there
makes all the difference.

                                         You go so far
then do something else, and suddenly
here’s life in it.

===
Cliff Yates is the author of Henry's Clock (winner of the Aldeburgh first collection prize and the Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition). A new collection, Frank Freeman's Dancing School is forthcoming from Salt.

James Wilkes: Reviews (1)

Robert Steinbeck, The Leaping Pebble: a Philosophical Novel, ed. and foreword by James Lewes, Gertrude Felix and Ray Harms (Edinburgh: Stott Books, 2002), 198pp.

Speculative biomedical ethics meets dancehall reverie in this elegant folio reprint of the hard-to-find private press original (1908). Editorial cuts by Lewes et al. are largely faithful to the author’s intent, unlike Kendal’s bowdlerising excisions of 1934 (though see Selene Camphor, ‘Kendal, Steinbeck et le problème de proprioception’ in Études baltiques 65 for an alternative view). Relocating the scene of the ambiguous sexual encounter from Behlersee (Schleswig-Holstein) to Battersea (Wandsworth) is an interesting move, though it does make the appearance of the famous black stork a bit anomalous.

For anyone with even the slightest interest in whether the neural correlates of consciousness might be understood via a bedsheet tied to broomhandles on which coloured images flurry, settle, detach like film of ashes, this is a must. Otherwise wait for the stage adaptation. If chatroom gossip is correct, this will be set in Thessaloniki circa 2030, and opens with Ludwig (Robert Redford) attempting to fence DNA stolen from a medieval saint’s fingerbone.



===
This review is forthcoming in City State: New London Poetry (May 20th 2009, penned in the margins). Gists & Piths will be serialising a number of James Wilkes' reviews over the next few weeks.

Friern Barnet Honours Young Poetry Star

In an unprecedented move, planners at Friern Barnet Town Council have decided to rename a housing complex after one of Britain's greatest young poets. At the age of 26, Luke Kennard was the youngest poet to be shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. The move by the Barnet Borough district town hall coincides with Luke attaining the ripe old age of 27, to chime with his third collection, The Migraine Hotel.

A spokesperson for Friern Barnet Town Hall was unavailable for comment, but would have said, "We understand that the move may be considered controversial, as most people don't read poetry and won't have heard of Luke, but we want to encourage our residents and visitors to Friern Barnet to view the urban landscape as one big canvas, upon which they, and fellow residents and visitors, are able to create and recreate what they can actually see."

To ensure people passing Kennard Mansions don't miss the importance of the young poet's name to the area's plans for creative nurturing, Barnet Borough Council have insisted on renaming the adjoining street to match the housing estate. As of going to print, Friern Barnet Library, which is just a few streets away, hasn't yet catalogued any copies of The Migraine Hotel, but Chipping Barnet Library does have Kennard's second collection, The Harbour Beyond the Movie, in stock.

We asked a number of residents of Kennard Mansions and Kennard Road for their opinions of the name change. Here's what they said.

"Oh yes, I'm so excited I ran down to the fancy dress shop on the corner of Glenthorne and bought myself a wolf costume. It's great, but it cost me most of my month's pension." Eddie, 88, retired.

"I think it's a lovely idea. The children have never read a poem before, especially not by a poet who died so young. What do you mean he's not dead? You mean some poets are alive...? Oh, they will be disappointed." Margaret, 47, housewife.

"Get out of my dream space, or I'll set the dogs on you." Name not given, early thirties, poet.

"Well, personally I would have gone for a poet that rhymed a bit more, but I've nothing against it, I suppose." Angela, 52, marketing manager.

"This has buggered up my satnav. I'm well pissed off with the council." Gavin, 22, retail assistant.

Finally, Friern Barnet Town Council are undertaking a public survey to inform their plans to replace the nearby JG Ballard installation. Formerly situated on the plot at the end of Kennard Mansions, the installation used to feature a crashed World War Two bomber in a glass maze, surrounded by naked, headless mannikins in provocative poses.

Suggestions so far include: a pile of burning books that never turn to ash; a giant teddy bear with Tony Blair's face and bloody fangs; a sculpture of the Last Supper, featuring a selection of G20 leaders; a children's playground with no right angles or children, the bare swings frozen at acute angles; a pyramid of live grenades surrounded by 'Danger of Death' signs.

So have your say now! Put your comments in the space below, as to what you'd like to see replace the former installation.



===
Luke Kennard's third collection, The Migraine Hotel, is out this week as part of the Salt Modern Poets series. This is the only actual fact in this article, except for the existence of Kennard Mansions and Kennard Road, in Friern Barnet.

Mercian Lit Festival Frenzy

Just heard from Katy Evans-Bush that there's a reading this Wednesday in the Shakespeare Centre, as part of the Stratford Poetry Festival. There'll be four published poets, Katy among them, as well as the opportunity to read out your favourite poem, if you get there early enough to sign up. It's for Oxfam, so the £10 ticket goes to a good place.

Also on the bill later in the festival is a special double bill hosted by David Morley. (Not the Bear Hunt event for under 5s, though I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had a hand in that too.)

Thursday 14 May, 6.00pm & 7.30pm
in The Studio, The CAPITAL Centre

BEGINNING IN GLADNESS

A unique showcase of poetry from the bright young things of the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham, East Anglia and Northampton - taught by the poets who take the platform later this evening. FREE ADMISSION.

PRIZE WINNING POETRY

The poet David Morley introduces three major poets: GEORGE SZIRTES, ZOE BRIGLEY, LUKE KENNARD

George Szirtes won the prestigious TS Eliot Award for Reel. His New and Collected Poems were recently published by Bloodaxe. Zoe Brigley won a Gregory Award; her first collection The Secret was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Luke Kennard was, at 26, the youngest poet to be shortlisted for the Forward Prize with his second collection The Harbour Beyond the Movie. Tickets: £7, Students: £2. Ticket price includes a free glass of wine or juice at the interval.

And if lit-fests weren't already ten-a-penny, also in May is the Third Coventry International Festival of Literature. Events too numerous to list here, but in particular is Iain Sinclair's visit:

Saturday 9th May, 12:00pm, Waterstones, Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre:

Book signing by Iain Sinclair.

2:00pm, Central Library:

Poetry reading by Iain Sinclair. Sinclair has lived in (and written about) Hackney, East London, since 1969. His novels include Downriver (Winner of the James Tait Black Prize & the Encore Prize for the Year’s Best Second Novel), Radon Daughters, Landor’s Tower and, most recently, Dining on Stones (which was shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize). Non-fiction books include Lights Out for the Territory, London Orbital and Edge of the Orison. In the ’90s, Iain wrote and presented a number of films for BBC2’s Late Show and has, subsequently, co-directed with Chris Petit four documentaries for Channel 4; one of which, Asylum, won the short film prize at the Montreal Festival. He edited London, City of Disappearances, which was published in October 2006. His most recent book is Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire, published in February 2009. “ORBITAL will be read 50 years from now. This account of his walk around the M25 is on one level a journey into the heart of darkness, that terrain of golf courses, retail parks and industrial estates which is Blair’s Britain. It’s a fascinating snapshot of who we are, lit by Sinclair’s vivid prose, and on another level a warning that the mythological England of village greens and cycling aunts has been buried under the rush of a million radial tyres” — J. G. Ballard. FREE.

The main festival takes place from 13th-16th May, at the Belgrade Theatre, including Anthony Owen's book launch on the 14th which I'm going to pass up in favour of the G-Z-L event (and I'm going to keep referring to it as that, because it makes them sound like an off-shoot of the Wu-tang) at Warwick.

There'll be fringe events with local writers through the two weeks before that weekend, though, including an earlier event with David Dabydeen and Warwickshire's Green Man, Barry Paterson, along with two other Heaventree poets, including Anthony Owen and Martin Brown.

JG Ballard

Just heard that JG Ballard passed away, yesterday morning.

Guardian

Telegraph

Guardian Blogs

NME

BBC

Rest of the Google News links

One of the greatest C20th British novelists.

One More News Item: PalFest 2

With thanks to Gloria Dawson for sending this through:

The 2nd Palestine Literary Festival launches in Jerusalem on 23rd May. The website went live on Wednesday. Founded by Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif, this year the festival will be held in 5 cities and towns in Israel and Palestine, no small feat considering the difficulty of movement caused by Israeli walls and checkpoints. At a pretty dark time for the 'peace process', it's incredibly important to sustain a good cultural life for those who have suffered many years of occupation and exclusion.