Blog

Commiserate is a monthly experiment in poetic collaboration.

April, 2013: Katherine Leyton

—

notes to a husband

I.

When I feed the ducks
my hard heels of bread

I hate how the black-
necked geese often do not care

for my crumbs.
That’s not really news

but it’s what I care
to report.

II.

The bed is cold ground
when you’re gone

my obsessions sweat
through the sheets
and I blink
at the ceiling

as it lowers itself.
In the morning
I think about our kitchen window–
the time a sparrow collided with our reflection

we’d been eating toast
hands gripping mugs
everything like any day.

III

When I swim
I know only swimming

this water remembers my body

you will come back and say
I’ve memorized every inch of you

but your hands will feel cool
strange and I will shudder the first time

your mouth moves for my skin.

IV

My bookshelves prove
I will keep expanding
like a universe, unchecked

V

When you are here
and sitting still
I make you read to me

I lay my head in your lap
and you get nervous:
“She gave him his eyes, she found them
Among some rubble, among some beetles.”

You stumble
and I reach up and put my hand
to your neck.

VI.

I don’t know whether to answer the telephone
or the emails or the door. I am too drunk

to eat fish. Windows or not,
your eyes are broken

and we have conversations
in my head like a television

on somewhere,
letters I don’t send.

VII.

Your job is to be forgotten
but present. A rattling

glass eye or some trashy
romance novel I never read

but refuse to throw away.

VIII.

Call me.
Call me and don’t say anything.
Call me and pray.
Call me and talk for the dead.

I will call you.
I will call you when my legs open wider.
I will call you when yolk sticks on the plate.
I will call you when night wakes me.

Call me when you buy carrots / when you feel like a run / it is raining / the bus is late /
you stop to help an old woman up the stairs/ I will call you

when i notice the moon again / when i rinse out the bottles / before the trash / must go out / call and there are no answers / no endings / i will call you when i remember
what it is / i entered / the kitchen for

—

Katherine says: I’m a bit of a fascist when it comes to my poetry, so I’ll admit I found this exercise very frustrating at first, especially since Ryan took the lead on it and decided both the context and the opening stanza.

Here, Ryan says, go anywhere you want, but only in this room. Or, in this case, be anyone you want, but only in the confines of this marriage.

In the end, of course, constraints are wonderful things because they challenge you to go places in your writing you normally wouldn’t.

And working with Ryan is exciting: what I like about his work is that it explodes in these unexpected places into deep grooves and melodies that I really want to get into, be a part of, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to do that. I’m really glad he asked me to participate in this project.

Ryan says: Originally from Canada, I’ve known Katherine since her days of study in Edinburgh. Her mature, considered, (occasionally angry) voice and rare concern for The Poem struck me from our very first workshop together and, indeed, my first collection remains indebted to her eyes.

Since then she’s been at work on her craft and it has been my privilege to read her poems as often as she cares to send them along. Having just read her recently finished first manuscript, I remain excited about the future.

Katherine’s poems have appeared in places like The Malahat Review, The Edinburgh Review, and Room. She was also the founder one of the more exciting poetry projects I’ve seen in a long time — How Pedestrian. Without any funding or sponsorship, Katherine took poetry to the streets and got random people in random places to read poems aloud. You’ll want to dip into the project. But, first, have a read of our poem which was loosely inspired by a Tomaz Salumn poem which might have been called ‘Notes to My Wife’ (though, I’m not 100% positive) but was definitely in ‘A Ballad for Metka Krasovec‘.

— Read More From Commiserate 2013 —

This Saturday (30 March) I’ll be jaunting down the west coast to sunny Manchester to join SJ Fowler and his awesome collaboration project Enemies. From 5-9.30pm in the Annexe Room of the Cornerhouse, let us take you on a journey of original collaborations in poetry, sonic art and visual art, celebrating the resurgent energy of the northwest innovative poetry scene. Enemies in the North will also see the launch of “Gilles de Rais” (by David Kelly and SJ) and “The Estates of Westeros” (by Ben Morris and SJ), two books in boxes, published by Like This Press; also “Elephanche” (by Marcus Slease and SJ), a book of poemplays, published by Department Press. If you hadn’t noticed, SJ is a busy busy man.

The show will feature so many pairs of awesome creators. These pairs are: Zoe Skoulding & Robert Sheppard; Richard Barrett & Nathan Thompson; Sarah Crewe & Jo Langton; Michael Egan & Bobby Parker; Steven Waling & Matt Dalby; Adam Steiner & Eleanor Rees; Alec Newman & yours truly; James Byrne & Sandeep Parmar; SJ Fowler & Marcus Slease; Daniele Pantano & David Kelly; Tom Jenks & Chris McCabe & Ben Morris. If there isn’t a tag team on that list that quickens your pulse, you may well not have a pulse.

What: Enemies in the North

Where: Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH (adjacent to Oxford St Station)

When: Saturday 30 March, 5-9.30pm

How Much: FREE FREE FREE

Hope to see you there!

Great news! Pakistan-based arts magazine The Missing Slate has included yours truly as part of a massively exciting bunch of emerging British poets in an extended feature/showcase. Even more excitingly, you can read the whole thing as a digital edition here! The feature includes an introduction from Todd Swift and work from Jen Hadfield, Jon Stone, SJ Fowler, Liz Berry, Lorraine Mariner, Anna Selby and a bunch of others. The whole collection is really worth a concentrated read, and I defy you not to find something to grab your attention.

On the site, just click on the button marked ‘Expand’ on the Winter 2013 edition. The Emerging British Poets section starts at page 52 via a totally fancy magazine viewer, or jump straight to my poems if you’re not inclined to read anybody else’s. But that’s a terrible idea.

The Missing Slate is a quarterly magazine run by a really excellent group of young editors and creators, and really worth keeping tabs on. You can check out regular features and articles on their main site, or if you like using Facebook, they maintain a really active and appealing profile here.

As if that weren’t enough, Dan Gorman and yours truly will be back down south the following weekend for Ausform! Join us there for a personal slide-show for your eyes and ears only. You choose the journey and we will bring you on a sometimes surprising, sometime surreal, tour accompanied by the ambient sounds of the man they call Dan. Performances are one-to-one-to-Viewmaster, and last under 10 minutes. A rare chance to travel, listen and pause in one beautiful space. Ausform is an amazing festival of new artwork and dudes with vintage playthings. Come along! You’ll be glad you did.

Bristol:

Ausform

From the site: The Ausform Platforms happens in November and April in Bristol where we present 4-6 new pieces of work from artists we think are exciting. Ausform presents local, national, as well as, international work. We present work which has not been shown in Bristol before. We aim to work with a mixed bag of artists we believe in.

The festival runs over four days at the Cube and The Parlour Showrooms from 11-14 April, and includes performances and exhibits from six artists. You can buy tickets here for all six events for the awesome value of £13.50.

Where: The Parlour Showrooms, 31/31a College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TB.

When: SATURDAY: Cafe open 11-8pm – VIEWMASTER a slideshow for one (one-to-one performance) Ryan Van Winkle and Dan Seizure 1-3pm + 4-6pm
FUMES from Noemi Iglesias 3pm + 8pm (limited capacity)

SUNDAY: Cafe open 11-6pm – VIEWMASTER a slideshow for one (one-to-one performance) Ryan Van Winkle and Dan Seizure 1-3pm + 4-6pm

How Much: £13.50 for all festival events.

The date is almost upon us! Join us for a personal slide-show for your eyes and ears only. You choose the journey and we will bring you on a sometimes surprising, sometime surreal, tour accompanied by the ambient sounds of the man they call Dan. Performances are one-to-one-to-Viewmaster, and last under 10 minutes. A rare chance to travel, listen and pause in one beautiful space. We’re really excited to be joining the Supper Club, can’t wait to play them tunes and eat their supper.

Brighton:

Supper Club hosted by Stacy Makishi

From the site: Maker of mayhem, agent provocateur and performance artist par excellence, Stacy Makishi hosts an evening of the sublime and the ridiculous. Featuring performance, film, music and installations, Supper Club is a fantastic social night of intriguing occurrences and unexpected encounters taking place throughout the venue’s various subterranean spaces. On offer this evening, the provocative spoken word of Sabrina Mahfouz, spellbinding poetry from Ryan Van Winkle, the beguiling Yve Blake and many more. Grab a tasty, home-made bite to eat and see what the night will hold.

Where: The Basement, 24 Kensington Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4AJ

When: 6 April, 8pm-2am

How Much: £8/£6 Conc/Under-25s

My one-man poetry experiment Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel got even more generous reviews during its short run at the Battersea Arts Centre. Here’s further proof that people are lovely and say words about things.

OneStopArts.com: **** ‘There is something about curating a room and condensing an experience into a tight fifteen minutes that is like writing a poem, choosing a form and filling it with images. […] Red, Like Our Room Used To Feel offers a unique way of experiencing poetry, together with a unique perspective on another person’s life. I will certainly be going back to find out what’s in the other envelopes.’ – Becky Brewis

LoveTheatre.net: ‘This is poetry made fluttering and ephemeral, rapidly dissipating into the warm air and attaching itself to objects and thoughts. Much of this is achieved by the gentle presence of Ryan himself, whose voice lulls and cradles, sending the mind on journeys. […] I was also struck by how the piece somehow manages to be both intensely personal and overwhelmingly generous. It is as though, by indulging in this space of imagination and memory, Ryan offers us the room – in more than one way – to traverse our own imaginings and reminiscences.’ – Catherine Love

The Stone and the Star: ‘It was all rather magical. I’m a bit at a loss as to how to describe it, especially without giving everything away, but even if I described it in minutest detail I couldn’t really convey the sense of comfort and nostalgia. It was certainly one of the most unique poetry experiences I have ever had, if not one of the most unique experiences full stop.’ – Clarissa Ackroyd

And keep your eyes open — the Red Room will be returning to London at the end of May as part of the London Literature Festival. Fingers crossed, I’ll see you there! For previous reviews click along here.

Stirling: The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour has packed houses throughout the world — from the Edinburgh International Book Festival all the way to Melbourne with stops in Berlin, Paris, Beirut and Montreal. This time, we have the distinct pleasure of bringing our closing party for Reel Iraq to Stirling’s Raploch Community Campus, featuring renowned Iraqi and Scottish poets, short films, and music from Billy Liar & Hailey Beavis.

We have Iraqi poetry from Ghareeb Iskander, Sabreen Kadhim, Zahir Mousa, Awezan Nouri and new translations from John Glenday, Jen Hadfield, William Letford and Krystelle Bamford. We did some great work with these guys during our stay in Iraq, and we’re really proud to host them in Scotland. It’s a free show, so if you’re in Stirling on Monday 25 March, come join us for some amazing and unique poetry performances.

What: Reel Iraq Closing Party

Where: Raploch Community Campus, Drip Rd, Stirling, FK8 1RD

When: Monday 25 March, 7pm

How Much: FREE!

Big news! This week on the Scottish Poetry Library podcast, former Poet Laureate of the United States Robert Pinsky discusses poems, poetry readers, jazz and his curious family history, he talks about his enthusiasm for his Favorite Poem Project – “For me a poem is a work of art that’s so intimate and so internal that its medium is any reader’s voice,” he talks about all sorts of stuff in a voice that could announce this summer’s blockbusters. In a wide ranging interview, he speaks about his formative years – “I grew up among very verbal, eloquent, skillful joke tellers and complainers and arguers and liars” – and the way he tries to capture music in language. He also reads a number of his poems and talks about his passion for poetry. “I never defended poetry. I don’t believe in commercials for poetry. It is so fundamental, so large, so central… It’s an insult to poetry to advocate for it or defend it.”

This is a pretty special conversation that I enjoyed the heck out of, and I hope you do too! Click the little triangle for some of the best words you’ll hear today.

A really special Culture Laser for your ears, as we focus on the intense and unique work from Iraqi artists and Reel Festivals, which will be touring Scotland this month. We feature actor and playwright Dina Mousawi, who performs an excerpt from her show about the lives of Iraqi women, Return, and talks about the work and its genesis. We also feature music from Hasan Bressm, Khyam Allami and Leila Albayaty, who will all be performing in March as part of Reel Festivals all over the UK. This is a great opportunity to hear a totally unique perspective about our recent history in the country, and these guys are mega talented. Hear it all through the little pointy triangle.

Exciting news! My good buddy Dan Gorman and myself have two exciting gigs coming up in April! Join us for a personal slide-show for your eyes and ears only. You choose the journey and we will bring you on a sometimes surprising, sometime surreal, tour accompanied by the ambient sounds of the man they call Dan. Performances are one-to-one-to-Viewmaster, and last under 10 minutes. A rare chance to travel, listen and pause in one beautiful space.

Brighton:

Supper Club hosted by Stacy Makishi

From the site: Maker of mayhem, agent provocateur and performance artist par excellence, Stacy Makishi hosts an evening of the sublime and the ridiculous. Featuring performance, film, music and installations, Supper Club is a fantastic social night of intriguing occurrences and unexpected encounters taking place throughout the venue’s various subterranean spaces. On offer this evening, the provocative spoken word of Sabrina Mahfouz, spellbinding poetry from Ryan Van Winkle, the beguiling Yve Blake and many more. Grab a tasty, home-made bite to eat and see what the night will hold.

Where: The Basement, 24 Kensington Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4AJ

When: 6 April, 8pm-2am

How Much: £8/£6 Conc/Under-25s

Bristol:

Ausform

From the site: The Ausform Platforms happens in November and April in Bristol where we present 4-6 new pieces of work from artists we think are exciting. Ausform presents local, national, as well as, international work. We present work which has not been shown in Bristol before. We aim to work with a mixed bag of artists we believe in.

The festival runs over four days at the Cube and The Parlour Showrooms from 11-14 April, and includes performances and exhibits from six artists. You can buy tickets here for all six events for the awesome value of £13.50.

Where: The Parlour Showrooms, 31/31a College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TB.

When: SATURDAY: Cafe open 11-8pm – VIEWMASTER a slideshow for one (one-to-one performance) Ryan Van Winkle and Dan Seizure 1-3pm + 4-6pm
FUMES from Noemi Iglesias 3pm + 8pm (limited capacity)

SUNDAY: Cafe open 11-6pm – VIEWMASTER a slideshow for one (one-to-one performance) Ryan Van Winkle and Dan Seizure 1-3pm + 4-6pm

How Much: £13.50 for all festival events.

It’s going to be fantastic fun, Dan and myself are really excited to share our work with you, and we hope you enjoy. See you there!