Friday 13 January 2017

Writing through the lens of what we know


Do we seek to write the opposite of what we know, or do we often use as our "writing muscle" the tools we were given in our formative years? In Contemporary British Poetry and the City Peter Barry suggests the latter - giving as an example Roy Fisher, who in his later life relocated to the English countryside, yet his poetry remained very much located in the urban environments he knew so well. I think there is some truth in this hypothesis - my own writing, for instance, often resides in a small town - a somewhat claustrophobic urban space that is surrounded on all sides by a brooding army of evergreen trees.

I am currently reading Edgelands by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts and I find myself wondering if the whole town of my childhood is an edgeland of sorts. It is a kind of odd urban sprawl that rather like an over enthusiastic creeper has attached itself to the the few remaining historic landmarks sending out hundreds of shoots and runners. And yet despite this seeming sprawl of housing estates and industrial estates, the Thetford of my childhood was very much contained - contained by the thick and brooding pine forest planted and managed by The Forestry Commission that surrounded it. This inky perimeter gave the town a hemmed-in claustrophobic feeling.

Before the town was eventually bypassed there was a high metal footbridge that went over the All (the main Norwich to London trunk road). The bridge was built to enable pedestrians to pass safely over the road from the estate where I lived to the housing estate, cemetery and industrial estates on the other side of the road, without risking life and limb. As teenagers my friends and I spent many evenings on top of this bridge; smoking roll-ups and weed, playing guitar and just hanging out. The bridge enabled the casual viewer to observe how truly surrounded by forest the town actually was. We had been told it of course, every year or so someone from The Forestry Commission or the Fire Service would come to our primary school to pummel into our heads, through talks and videos, the dangers of setting deliberate or accidental forest fires. They never mentioned the threat to the town itself directly - it was more by implication, but any potential invader would have stood atop that bridge and seen immediately how vulnerable to fire the town was.

The town itself consisted of six or seven sprawling housing estates (mostly council housing, and largely in the 1960s and 70s filled with London overspill families like mine, who had chosen re-location with a job attached over squalid high rises in London), two rivers, a small but thriving town centre and several large industrial estates full of large and small factories. There was also a big golf course, the Grammar School's massive expanse of playing fields and a large common. It is amongst these landmarks - and the more historic landmarks of the town, that some of my poetry resides. Even if it doesn't always allude to it directly there is often a feeling, a sense of it being there in the background somewhere, this odd juxtaposition between rural and urban that I grew up with. It's like a mood or a coloured lens through which I view the world.

You can read my poem about Thetford Forest on the Oxford Brookes University website here.



BOOKS READ IN 2016

  • 166) Ground Water - Matthew Hollis (poetry, re read)
  • 165) The Blindfold - Siri Hustvedt (fiction)
  • 164) Sunshine - Melissa Lee-Houghton (poetry)
  • 163) Acts of God - Ellen Gilchrist (fiction, short stories)
  • 162) Ghosts - Anna Wigley (poetry)
  • 161) Bearings - Isobel Dixon (poetry)
  • 160) Domestic Interior - Stephanie Brown (poetry)
  • 159) Jam - Cliff Yates (poetry)
  • 158) Book of Bones - Kathy Gee (poetry)
  • 157) nothing more to it than bubbles - Jane Burn (poetry)
  • 156) Fifth Business - Robertson Davies (fiction)
  • 155) The Swell - Jessica Mookherjee (poetry)
  • 154) Catch - Fiona Sampson (poetry)
  • 153) The World's Two Smallest Humans - Julia Copus (poetry)
  • 152) Some Perfect Year - Cameron Gearen (poetry)
  • 151) Amazon - Catherine Ayres (poetry)
  • 150) Serious Concerns - Wendy Cope (poetry)
  • 149) What Just Happened - Sara Berkeley Tolchin (poetry)
  • 148) Pictures from an Exhibition - Maureen Duffy (poetry)
  • 147) Memorandum: Poems for the Fallen - Vanessa Gebbie (poetry)
  • 146) The Keys to the Jail - Keetje Kuipers (poetry)
  • 145) The Terrible - Daniel Sluman (poetry)
  • 144) The Stonegate Devil - Carole Bromley (poetry)
  • 143) Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter (poetry)
  • 142) The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly - Sun-mi Hwang (fiction)
  • 141) The Game Parade - Maurice Spillane (poetry)
  • 140) The Most Beautiful Thing - Satya Robyn (fiction)
  • 139) Fragile Houses - Nina Lewis (poetry)
  • 138) Coyote - Colin Winnette (fiction)
  • 137) Girl on a Train - A.J. Waines (fiction)
  • 136) This Changes Things - Claire Askew (poetry)
  • 135) Small Nuclear Family - Mel Pryor (poetry)
  • 134) The Mother's Tongue - Heid E. Erdrich (poetry)
  • 133) Bee Journal - Sean Borodale (poetry, re-read)
  • 132) Almanacs - Jen Hadfield (poetry)
  • 131) Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie (fiction)
  • 130) The Illusion of Separateness - Simon Van Booy (fiction)
  • 129) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - William Blake
  • 128) My Sunshine Away - M.O. Walsh (fiction)
  • 127) Lapidary - Rosamund Stanhope (poetry)
  • 126) Asylum - Janet Simon (poetry)
  • 125) Snowdrops - A.D. Miller (fiction)
  • 124) The Art of Falling - Kim Moore (poetry)
  • 123) Old School - Tobias Wolff (fiction)
  • 122) Pessimism for Beginners - Sophie Hannah (poetry, re-read)
  • 121) Wife - Tiphanie Yanique (poetry)
  • 120) An Ocean in Iowa - Peter Hedges (fiction)
  • 119) Weeds and Wild Flowers - Alice Oswald (poetry, re-read)
  • 118) What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt (fiction)
  • 117) The Case of the Imaginary Detective - Karen Joy Fowler (fiction)
  • 116) Spacecraft - John McCollough (poetry)
  • 115) Handwriting - Michael Ondaajte (poetry)
  • 114) Crowd Sensations - Judy Brown (poetry)
  • 113) Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn (fiction)
  • 112) The Sea - John Banville (fiction)
  • 111) The Flower and the Plough - Rachel Piercey (poetry)
  • 110) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (fiction)
  • 109) The Lighthouse - Alison Moore (fiction)
  • 108) The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (poetry)
  • 107) He Wants - Alison Moore (fiction)
  • 106) Kink and Particle - Tiffany Atkinson (poetry, re-read)
  • 105) Little Usherette - Michael Scott (poetry)
  • 104) Say Something Back - Denise Riley (poetry)
  • 103) The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You - Paul Farley (poetry, re-read)
  • 102) The Tortilla Curtain - T.C. Boyle (fiction)
  • 101) Falling Awake - Alice Oswald (poetry)
  • 100) The Treekeeper's Tale - Pascale Petit (poetry)
  • 99) We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler (fiction)
  • 98) Doors Opening - Sally Festing (poetry)
  • 97) Articles of Twinship - Peter Wallis (poetry)
  • 96) Bad Influence Girl - Janet Rogerson (poetry)
  • 95) The Sea House - Esther Freud (fiction)
  • 94) Dark Pool Ripple - Mike Saunders (poetry)
  • 93) Shed - Martin Figura and Natty Peterkin (poetry)
  • 92) Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O'Farrell (fiction)
  • 91) Our Tragic Universe - Scarlett Thomas (fiction)
  • 90) Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 89) Boyhood - J.M. Coetzee (non fiction)
  • 88) One - Sarah Crossan (fiction)
  • 87) The End of the World Running Club - Adrian J. Walker (fiction)
  • 86) Girl in the Dog-tooth Coat by Zelda Chappel (poetry)
  • 85) Groundings by Nicola Warwick (poetry)
  • 84) No Map Could Show Them by Helen Mort (poetry)
  • 83) The Skin Diary by Abegail Morley (poetry)
  • 82) Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Milwood Hargrave (fiction)
  • 81) Emergency Poet by Deborah Alma (poetry)
  • 80) The Beechwood Airship Interviews by Dan Richards (non fiction)
  • 79) Hometown - Carrie Etter (fiction)
  • 78) Scar - Carrie Etter (poetry)
  • 77) The Forward Book of Poetry 2015 (poetry)
  • 76) Torn Awake by Forrest Gander (poetry)
  • 75) Catulla et al by Tiffany Atkinson (poetry)
  • 74) Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera (fiction)
  • 73) Tilt by Jean Sprackland (poetry)
  • 72) This Can't Be Life by Dana Ward (poetry)
  • 71) The Stripping Point by Brian Henry (poetry)
  • 70) Daredevils by Shawn Vestal (fiction)
  • 69) Kink and Particle by Tiffany Atkinson (poetry)
  • 68) Long Haul Travellers - Sheenagh Pugh (poetry)
  • 67) Redgrove's Wife - Penelope Shuttle (poetry, re read)
  • 66) Prufrock and Other Observations by T.S. Eliot (poetry)
  • 65) The Bonniest Companie by Kathleen Jamie (poetry)
  • 64) Dr Zeeman's Catastrophe Machine by Martin Figura (poetry)
  • 63) On the Saltmarsh - Ruth Valentine (poetry)
  • 62) Here and Now by Paul Auster, J.M. Coetzee (non fiction)
  • 61) Bones Never Lie - Kathy Reichs (fiction)
  • 60) Dissolve to L.A. - James Trevelyan and Enma Wright (poetry)
  • 59) Snow Child - Abegail Morley (poetry)
  • 58) Primers: Volume One - Maureen Cullen, Lucy Ingrams, Katie Griffiths (poetry)
  • 57) Myrtle - Ruth Wiggins (poetry)
  • 56) salt. - Nayyirah Waheed (poetry)
  • 55) So Many Moving Parts - Tiffany Atkinson (poetry)
  • 54) Long Time No See - Hannah Lowe (non fiction)
  • 53) True Tales of the Countryside - Deborah Alma (poetry)
  • 52) The Soho Leopard - Ruth Padel (poetry)
  • 51) Deep Lane - Mark Doty (poetry)
  • 50) Our Post-Soviet History Unfolds: Poems - Eleanor Lerman (poetry)
  • 49) The Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 48) Mr. Vertigo - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 47) Alphabet - Inger Christensen (poetry)
  • 46) Virgin: A History Of Virgin Records - Terry Southern (non fiction)
  • 45) Leviathan - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 44) Deep Field - Mark Doty (poetry)
  • 43) Bones of the Lost - Kathy Reichs (fiction)
  • 42) Skin Divers - Anne Michaels (poetry, re read)
  • 41) The Plucking Shed - Jill McEvoy (poetry)
  • 40) Cathedral - Raymond Carver (fiction, short stories, re-read)
  • 39) The Print Museum - Heidi Williamson (poetry)
  • 38) The Life and Death of Sophie Stark - Anna North (fiction)
  • 37) The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 36) Not in This World - Tracey Herd (poetry)
  • 35) Curves to the Apple: The Reproduction of Profiles, Lawn of Excluded Middle, Reluctant Gravities - Rosmarie Waldrop (poetry)
  • 34) The Summer Without Men - Siri Hustvedt (fiction)
  • 33) Antler - John Clegg (poetry)
  • 32) Loudness - Judy Brown (poetry)
  • 31) The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway (fiction)
  • 30) How We Light - Nick Sturm (poetry)
  • 29) A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway (fiction)
  • 28) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (fiction, re-read)
  • 27) Actual Cloud - Dalton Day (poetry)
  • 26) Out of Everywhere - Maggie O'Sullivan (editor) (poetry)
  • 25) The Music of Chance - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 24) The Gathering - Ann Enright (fiction)
  • 23) Kid - Simon Armitage (poetry, re-read)
  • 22) The Razor's Edge - W. Somerset Maugham (fiction)
  • 21) The Remains - Annie Freud (poetry)
  • 20) The Good Doctor - Damon Galgut (fiction)
  • 19) Shingle Street - Blake Morrison (poetry)
  • 18) Elephant and Other Stories - Raymond Carver (fiction, short-stores, re-read)
  • 17) Oracle Night - Paul Auster (fiction)
  • 16) In the Kingdom of Men - Kim Barnes (fiction)
  • 15) A Country Called Home - Kim Barnes (fiction)
  • 14) Paul Klee: Painting Music - Hajo Düchting (non fiction)
  • 13) With Deer - Aase Berg (poetry)
  • 12) The Fifteen Minute Rule - Caroline Buchanan (non fiction)
  • 11) Selected Poems - Denise Riley (poetry)
  • 10) The Poet, The Lion, Talking Pictures... - C.D. Wright (poetry/essay)
  • 9) The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (fiction)
  • 8) The Cherry Tree Cafe - Heidi Swain (fiction)
  • 7) Narrow Road to the Interior: And Other Writings - Matsuo Bashō (poetry)
  • 6) The Bird Artist - Howard Norman (fiction)
  • 5) Passing - Nella Larsen (fiction)
  • 4) The Life and Works of Chagall - Nathaniel Harris (non fiction)
  • 3) The Terrors - Tom Chivers (poetry)
  • 2) Red Dust Road - Jackie Kay (non fiction)
  • 1) The Last Pilot - Ben Johncock (fiction)