You Must Write As If Your Life Depended On It

1. The Meeting

For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
'Tell them I came, and no one answer'd,
'That I kept my word,' he said.
I suspected it might come to that: leaving me curiously light-hearted, after a quiet and nostalgic afternoon in Cafe Oto. I can do as I wish as it were. So, when not looking after Ianthe, recovering from looking after Ianthe, assisting in looking after Ianthe, and other things on occasion too, a small step into the 21st Century (not the Century of the Internet, but more likely of the Mobile or the Handheld Device (sounds like a dildo, but there we are, that's progress for you), plus some further plans

2. Poetry Readings in London Now Mobile

I've just created a mobile-friendly version of the Readings in London webpage, with the next month's readings, with details stripped down, but all links and crucial stuff like time, place, cost, names still there. It should be readable on any phone able to access the internet. Try it at www.modernpoetry.org.uk/mobilepoetry.html. I've altered the title of the page to Poetry Readings in London: nothing else entitled that, so we'll claim it.

I would really like as much feedback as possible from anyone who uses the page on a mobile or PDA. I'd also be interested in anyone accessing the more web-oriented Poetry Readings in London webpage, which I think ought to be quite usable on many tablet devices, maybe larger PDAs. Both versions have a link for phone numbers, tho' obviously that ain't going to work on anything without a SIM.

I've thought of trying to turn the page into a self-contained App - that seems beyond me at present I'm afraid, and might well need more complicated updating than the present webpages. We'll see. I need to buy the Golden Wonder Book of Easy Web Applications and carefully read it.

But please do respond if you use the pages on anything smaller than a laptop, especially a phone. I fantasise it could even be useful to check locations etc, and to have access to What's On whenever & wherever.

3. And Beyond?

After I've replaced my  work on Great Works, with a complete text of In the Dirt, using a different host for the pages than previous - get some lists. I'll ask, initially those who have expressed interest in the MPorgUKCollective , to send in a list of bestest books etc in last so many years, and publish 'em.  Await news!

Then, late summer redo & update links. I shall request suggestions & corrections.

Labels: Cafe Oto, contemporary British poetry, Great Works, links, Modernpoetry.org.uk, Modernpoetry.org.uk Collective, Peter Philpott, plans, update

I have been assured by a number of people how very useful they find Great Works and modernpoetry.org.uk in their own exploration of Contemporary British Innovative Poetry, or in helping others explore the terrain. Well, good. That’s what I want. Now, I have lain Great Works into a quite quiet state for the present (however long that may be); but I would like if possible to further develop modernpoetry.org.uk (MP for short), and make it more useful. And I feel this will need to be a collective effort.

MP is a compendious resource for anyone wanting to understand Contemporary British Innovative Poetry (just poetry after this – you know what I mean and what I don’t). The site concentrates on online resources as these are universally accessible, and it is itself a website (duh!) It isn’t an academic resource (though if it is useful, excellent), so I underplay the academic contexts for much poetry. I have moreover some reservations about the recent increasing importance for supporting poetry of the academic world (on a level of principles and strategy, not the individuals concerned). I aim always at a model user of the site who isn’t in close contact with academic institutions and resources. That strikes me as important. It may well become more important as the current regime’s HE policy increasingly cuts in and the English Higher education system is lopped down to fit their nightmare visions.

Another important element in the site that I want to ensure is its broad church interpretation of poetry. I’m happy with any and all offspring (legitimate or not, adopted, or even just abducted) of the British Poetry Revival and its antecedent 1950s modernists. And their offspring etc etc. We are all sealed of the one tribe, so far as I am concerned. Anything between highly informed and cute as lace pants takes on the post-avant and a Writing Degree Zero basal modernism I’ll accept. Anything to avoid narrow and negative definitions that exclude what may have some promise, power or interest, and could possibly contribute to as varied as possible gene-pool for poetry. (Hybrid vigour beats specialised adaptation every time in my book of biological metaphors.)

Now to the nub. The site gets bigger and bigger. The volume of worthwhile poetry is ever-increasing at an even faster rate. (Hurray!) My time and energy are, though, unfortunately being taken up by other things in ways I hadn’t fully prepared for, apart from I’m just feeling fed up after ten years heavily devoted to doing websites. I think, more importantly, that if MP is to carry on effectively, it needs to be a more collective, less personal enterprise. Not just my take and presentation, but something better.

What, in my opinion, the site needs is a wider range of input for continuingly useful links and lists, a wider and more informed input on books etc, and indeed consideration of what other sorts of material could be included on MP, eg should there be more details on individual poets? more lists of publications?? I have I am well aware a total blind spot on online video material, and am not very interested in audio for that matter – pure text or pure performance are what engage me, not mediated versions – and am well aware that this limits what I draw attention to or can usefully comment on, in a way that excludes many internet users. The site would also benefit from a considered use of social networking and mobile phone technologies – would these be of any use in reaching its audience and how? And should there, could there, be reviews? Lists of books published? And is it all too London-centred? Is MP keeping up with what is really happening? Is it actually compelling and attractive enough (sufficiently “sticky” as a site, as it used to be said) for its target audience? I am undoubtedly way too old to do this as well, and there may well be too much now purely historical material. So, how then to include you, dear reader?

I propose to set up a Modernpoetry.org.uk Collective, for both users and those willing contribute material and ideas or help in production. I see this existing on several layers of contact and commitment:

• Actual face-to-face contact – meeting every two months, say, (initially, inevitably, in London). Turn up and contribute. We’ll vary the times and locales; but let’s start with my beloved Café Oto in Dalston (April 3 – details at end). Anywhere else with space, good ambience and wifi would be equally suitable, but let’s start here.
• The inevitable Facebook Group. It is a nice open format, so let’s use it. Already set up as Modernpoetry.org.uk Collective.
• But not everyone loves the time- & privacy-consuming monster. There is also now a modernpoetry.org.uk blog, at http://modernpoetryorguk.blogspot.com. If you want to post rather than comment, email me on peter@greatworks.org.uk or Facebook, and I’ll formalise the permission. Comment is open, and I will put up if requested email or postal contributions, and will endeavour to coordinate material with that on the Facebook Group page. Please use either of these for suggestions, contributions, comments etc

Let’s see then how this all pans out. At the very least, feedback will be obtained. I hope people willing and able to contribute, in whatever way, will be able to do so, and roles will be defined as they develop. I suspect it’ll be up to me to conduct the orchestra for a while – but ideally a spontaneous and confident collective improvisation can replace that metaphor by one more appropriate to our poetry.

Two technical points to end with. I have altered the copyright on most of the pages on the site (excepting the autobiographical material) to a Creative Commons License, meaning, to quote the Creative Common website (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ – altered punctuation etc), “You are free to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work – and to Remix –to adapt the work – under the following conditions: Attribution – You must attribute modernpoetry.org.uk to Peter Philpott (with link) –; Noncommercial – You may not use this work for commercial purposes –; Share Alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.” So, really, feel free to go ahead and reuse and remake anything from it.

Second point is to note that MP has been produced by me coded in not totally kosher Transitional XHTML, with the aid of Dreamweaver. This is technology I am reasonably confident with. It is a rather dated and unprofessional approach nowadays. Suggestions and assistance to make things easier to add and update, and also to give less of an amateur hobbyist visual style would be also greatly appreciated. Personally, I find a lot of cute and cool design gets in the way of legibility and clarity. On the other hand MP’s style may repulse or bore its would-be audience. MP’s availability for a range of platforms also needs to be considered, as it looks as though smartphones, e-readers and tablet computers are all now entering the electronic data ecosystem, and may well need to be catered for if the site is not to become obsolete. Informed input on these issues would be appreciated.

Details of Open Planning Meeting at Café Oto, 3.00-5.30ish (no music there that night so might be able to stay a little later), Sunday April 3. (Yes, other meetings will need to be in the evening, in the week, I know.) Address is 18-22 Ashwin St, Dalston, London E8 3DL, tucked in behind at Dalston Junction (where the Balls Pond Road/Dalston Lane crosses the Kingsland Road, immediately on the North-East quadrant). Transport really is easy: regular buses from Liverpool St Station (242 & 149), the West End, Waterloo (76), London Bridge (149). Two Overland stations a step away: Dalston Junction interconnecting with Underground at Whitechapel and Highbury & Islington, Dalston Kingsland at Stratford and Highbury & Islington. Bicycle racks. Good food & drink. Nice place. But apart from enjoying the unrivalled amenities, just to get a sense of what anyone that enthused to attend feels about the site and what is to be done. I really am serious about problems carrying on with sole responsibility for something that ought to be not personal, but collective.

Labels: Cafe Oto, Modernpoetry.org.uk, Modernpoetry.org.uk Collective, plans, poetry websites, public domain, website proposal, www.modernbritish.poetry.org.uk

For Great Works - I am doing a lot of refitting and updating at a technical level. The vessel is in dry dock, as it were. Having installed a search ability, I realise that some of the pages are unreadable by the search engine, as I put in when I first started no-robots statements, for no really good reason I can think of now. These early pages that still remain are also in a rather bad HTML that doesn't always display as I thought it would. So I'm redoing all of these in good XHTML, with consistent use of CSS and full accessibility (as much as the demands of matching poets' layouts allows this!). There is also a major blunder I made on the bulk of my existing XHTML pages that needs urgent correction, out of embarrassment rather than necessity I think, but it could impair access. For all this I am planning to use Dreamweaver, which I need therefore to get to grips with. This should basically partially industrialise actually making some of these corrections, but will require care also as it can give rise to pretty crap code too. So this will all take a while ...

Then to redo The Links (which should be a simpler, more batch process though via Dreamweaver). Modernpoetry.org.uk can at this point be restructured and redesigned.

Finally, to work on the next issue. My anxiety over the "all-male" issue seems to have been unwarranted - not a problem. I'm not sure therefore about the mooted all-female issue I promised to make amends, if amends aren't necessary - but I would love more contributions from female poets.

Amos Weisz's writing will figure in the next issue in any case, and I am also drawing up a volume which Great Works will publish (yes, on paper, print-on-demand) of a selection of his poems and prose. His mother is negotiating publication of his translations, including his Celan translations (which have Celan's son's approval), through a New York small press recommended by Suhrkamp Verlag.

I was expressing interest in various collaborative projects at the end of last year - I think I will have very little time for quite a while on these. I also have increased family responsibilities, which will be ongoing.

I will though write something on my considered response to, yes, the academicisation of poetry and The Journal. Also on micro-publishing - ie stuff turned out in tragically small editions, a trend I also don't feel happy with.

Diverse Deeds will almost certainly rest, possibly permanently. The formula, of an welcoming and inclusive event, combining innovative poetry with a little innovative music to encourage a sense of performance, in a relaxing and flexible venue, trying to build up an audience of both those already plugged into the innovative poetry networks and as many as possible who just thought it looked interesting (and by golly it is!), is a good one, which will prove a sure fire winner at some time. Cafe Oto, having given me crap scheduling, is no longer interested. My doubts about restarting elsewhere relate to, firstly my own sense of relief at not carrying on (and regret too!), and secondly the feeling that it really needs some bunch of cool young dudes/dudettes to get it going, certainly not a redundant granddad from Bishops Stortford.

Labels: Amos Weisz, Cafe Oto, Diverse Deeds, Great Works, Modernpoetry.org.uk, Peter Philpott, plans, update

Wednesday, December 16: Angela Gardner + the voice of Harry Godwin + Mendoza + Nat Raha + Michael Zand
(note slight change of line-up)

Café Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL.
doors open at 7.30; start at 8.00; end by 10.00; entry £6 (£4 concessions).

This event links the visiting Australian poet and artist Angela Gardner with readings and performances from a group of young and innovative London poets.

Angela Gardner is an Australian poet with a prize-winning reputation in her own country: 2006 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for Parts of Speech, (University of Queensland Press, 2007) and 2004 Bauhinia/Idiom 23 Prize). Her new book, Views of the Hudson has been published this year in the UK by Shearsman. She already has an international status as a visual artist. Her poetry is often highly visual, always quick, inventive and engaging. She also edits an online poetry magazine, foam:e, and jointly runs Light-trap Press, publishing artists’ books. This is her last reading in Europe before she returns to Australia.

Harry Godwin, Mendoza, Nat Raha and Michael Zand are all poets in their early 20s now (or until recently) based in London. They are part of the exciting innovative poetry scene based around creative writing courses in London and poetry events like Openned, Crossing the Line and Sundays at the Oto. They have so far only had small pamphlets published, mainly from Harry Godwin’s Arthur Shilling Press, or appeared in small magazines and websites. They are playful, inventive and wonderfully original, with strong elements of performance in how they present their poetry. There some fine photos of all of them (+ other fine folks!) on Marcus Slease's blog, after the recent Crossing the Line event.

More information on:

• www.myspace.com/diversedeeds


• Facebook Group - actually not much use yet as F*c*book is failing to allow me to make links

Labels: Cafe Oto, contemporary British poetry, Diverse Deeds, reading

Finally produced, after innumerable aeons seem to have passed, is the latest Great Works. The new material is from:

Niall Quinn     three texts
Mark Goodwin & Nikki Clayton     Of Died
Andrew Taylor     four poems
Daniel Andersson     two poems
Nick Wayte     two poems
Mark Cobley     seven poems
Simon Howard     two sequences
Aidan Semmens     three poems
Michael Egan     five poems
A A Walker     two Terminations
Richard Parker     QS
Antony John     three poems
Adam Fieled     from Apparition Poems
Mark Cunningham     five poems
James Mc Laughlin     seven poems
Ross Leese     two poems
Christopher Barnes     six poems
Les Wicks     five poems
Alex Houen     two poems
Nicolas Spicer     five poems
Graham Burchell     five poems
Chris Brownsword     two poems
Stuart Kenyon     Silent Return
Iain Britton     five poems
Thomas Mulhall     nine poems
Cliff Yates     five poems
Nathan Thompson     four lipogram sonnets from A Haunting
Jon Clay     five poems from Here
Alasdair Paterson     from On the Governing of Empires
Tony Cullen     two poems
Steven Ruel     nine texts
William Garvin     four poems
James Price     six poems & three drawings
Simon J Charlton     The Distance of Dreams
James Davies     four poems
Gareth Durasow     four poems
Paul A Green     Astral FM & three short texts
Mike Ruddick     BOUNDARIES
Johan de Wit     ten Statements
Mark Hall     Into the Pits (In the Dirt of the Postlyric: A Collaborative Cycle : Part 5)
Connie Beauchamp     THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE GAME (In the Dirt of the Postlyric: A Collaborative Cycle : Part 6)
(+ latest update of Pistol Tree Poems)

"The perceptive reader will soon notice that all the poets with new writing in this issue appear to be male. This is largely, but not wholly, an accidental circumstance" is how my text on the homepage begins. I shall shortly write at a more length here about the issues I feel circulate around my unease (and also my ease) over all this.

Or you can personally upbraid me remorselessly tomorrow at Diverse Deeds, introducing Francesca Lisette, Sophie Robinson & Roshi reading & performing at Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL. Doors open at 7.30; start at 8.00; end by 10.00; entry £6 (£4 concessions).

Labels: Cafe Oto, Diverse Deeds, Great Works, rationale, Roshi, update

First, apologies if you've already picked up this information, but I need to keep pushing out the message:

Change of Line Up for December 1

as a consequence of Eríin Moure's recent illness:

Tuesday, December 1: Francesca Lisette + Sophie Robinson + Roshi

Café Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL.
doors open at 7.30; start at 8.00; end by 10.00; entry £6 (£4 concessions).

This new series of poetry and music performance events continues with three young innovative female artists. They each take up and push the boundaries of lyricism into something rich and strange.

Francesca Lisette is the young poet responsible for the Chlorine readings in Brighton. She is a fierce and powerful poet, full of original, delightful and frightening collocations of language and a melody desperately holding itself together despite the strain. Francesca Lisette is currently studying at the University of Sussex. Her work has appeared in Axolotl and Invisibly Tight Institutional Outer Flanks Dub (Verb) Glorious National High Violence. Her poem Tarorchid is forthcoming from Grasp Press.

Sophie Robinson combines highly original and effective performance techniques with powerful and moving linguistic lyricism cut in with a mastery of media practice. Her work has been included in the important anthologies The Reality Street Book of Sonnets (Reality Street, 2008) and Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century (Bloodaxe, 2009). Her new book a was published by Les Figues Press earlier this year. She has run creative writing workshops for both children and adults in the UK and Italy, and has read and performed in the USA and Ireland as well as frequently in this country.

Roshi is an exponent of “stunningly beautiful Welsh-Iranian torch song electronica“ says Mixmag. Born in Wales to Iranian parents, Roshi Nasehi is a singer-writer who presents her own evocative songs alongside sometimes quite radical interpretations of the Iranian songs she was brought up listening to. Her songs reflect her origins, influences and experiences in a personal and unique way accompanied by unusual piano or keyboard arrangements – they are reflective, melodic and quirky – her voice airy and tender but possessed of an inner power. When she interprets Iranian song it is in a personal style bringing a contemporary twist combined with an authentic understanding of context and language.

Roshi, with her band, or alone at the keyboard is a regular and welcome live performer especially in London, developing a loyal following. She has a new CD coming out in October, The Sky and The Caspian Sea (with Pars Radio, her band), of both original and traditional Iranian songs. She has performed on Radio 3’s The Verb poetry show, and at Diverse Deeds’ predecessor, Sundays at the Oto.

Diverse Deeds MySpace and the Facebook Group will be fully updated over the next couple of days.

Labels: Cafe Oto, Caroline Bergvall, Diverse Deeds, Erin Moure, reading, updates

explore innovative poetry and music in performance

roughly monthly at Café Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL

doors open at 7.30; start at 8.00; end by 10.00; £6 (£4 concessions) entry

The inaugural event for this new series of poetry and music performance events matches Sean Bonney and John James, two of the most exciting and energetic readers/performers of innovative poetry, with the new improvising duo, Grapefruits.

Sean Bonney has acquired a totally justified reputation as a poet and performer. His work is urban, political and therefore angry. The diverse voices of the streets and alleys of London come through in glorious waves of creative language, affirming through its rejection al nice acceptances. “Like getting a telephone call from the barricades, the Paris Commune.” That important! Most recent books: Baudelaire in English (Veer Books, 2008) & Document: Poems, Diagrams, Manifestos July 7th 2005 – June 27th 2007 (Barque Press, 2009). Sean Bonney runs yt communication with Frances Kruk and lives in London.

Grapefruits is the improvisatory duo of Oliver Barrett (Bleeding Heart Narrative) on cello, and Max Bondi (multi-instrumentalist and Tartaruga Records founder) on piano. Occasionally utilising a variety of percussion and electronics alongside the core of cello and piano, Grapefruits create extended improvisations that drag fragments of melody from swirls of sound and texture. building up cities of sound to live within: compelling listening.

John James has been writing poetry since the 1960s. You can get most of his work in his Collected Poems (Salt, 2002). John James is a legendary poetry performer: direct, energetic and totally alive. His writing combines quick witted and ever alert verbal invention with a masterful relaxation and humour, and political and cultural passion. Sometimes urban, sometimes rural – always full of actual, delightful and obstreperous human life. This a rare London reading from the Cambridge-based poet.

“John James is an extremely enjoyable and charismatic poet. His work is like a vigorous breath of fresh air, full of variety, humour and surprise. It has a strong sense of lyricism and energy, a striking mixture of the experimental and the immediate that brings to mind the work of Mayakovsky or the New York poets of the 1950s and 60s.” The Guardian.

for further information:

• MySpace Page for Diverse Deeds


• Facebook Group: Diverse Deeds

Labels: Cafe Oto, Diverse Deeds, reading

I've just posted 6 or 7 photos of the last (February 15) Sunday at the Oto, with images of Sarah Jacobs'and Richard Makin's performances, though regrettably none of the musician Dawn Scarfe & Mel Gough - in the low light, their photos turned out rubbish. + some of audince, and of bar, and of Hamish & Keiko.

On Sundays at the Oto MySpace, and on the Sundays at the Oto Facebook Group.

Labels: Cafe Oto, photos, Richard Makin, Sarah Jacobs, Sundays at the Oto