Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe and More

Family circumstances mean I'm almost absent from Edinburgh this festival season, but I'll be reading at Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe on Thurs 20th. Rob A Mackenzie is reading there tomorrow night.

There are, of course, numerous literary events going on in Edinburgh this month. I hope that I might manage to hear one of Michael Symmons Roberts two readings at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, but we'll have to see how things work out.

Jenny Bornholdt, Bashabi Fraser & Martin MacIntyre are reading at EIBF on Saturday from 4pm., although I won't make it. However, it should be worth checking out, especially for Martin’s very fine Gaelic poetry.

Out of the Salty Blue

Kevin Cadwallender, editor of Red Squirrel Scotland, has organised an Edinburgh benefit reading for Salt. It's at Out of the Blue arts centre, Dalmeny Street on Thursday July 30th at 7 pm. Poets include JL Williams, Rob A Mackenzie, Colin Donati, Kevin Cadwallender, James Oates, Anita Govan, Steve Urwin, Alistair Robinson and others TBC, all giving their time and raising their voices to raise money for Salt Publishing. Entry is free but donations to the cause are welcome and expected.

I can't be there, sadly. If you can be there, go; if you can spread the word, do. It is important that we keep publishers like Salt afloat.

Reviews Bubbling Up

The first print review of The Ambulance Box is in! It's part of a piece in Magma 44, where Rosie Shepperd reviews it alongside Paula Meehan’s Painting Rain (Carcanet) and River Wolton’s The Purpose of Your Visit (Smith/Doorstop Books). The review is thorough and extremely positive. Here's a headline quote:

delights readers with a dance through images and words that express powerful visionary and and spiritual experiences.

The issue also contains reviews of several friends' books: Ben Wilkinson reviews Rob A Mackenzie's The Opposite of Cabbage enthusiastically alongside no lesser names than Mark Doty and John Agard; there's a mixed review of Lorraine Mariner's fresh quirky and moving Furniture that nonetheless includes some high praise indeed; and another fine poet, Claire Crowther, provides a very positive review of Polly Clark's Farewell My Lovely.

Click the cover image above to go to the page for this issue of the magazine, though you can't read the review online. It's a great encouragement to be reviewed so warmly in such a good publication.

The Lemon Monkey Approaches

Less than a week now till Rob A Mackenzie and I hit Stoke Newington! I'm hugely excited about this opportunity for us to read with Katy Evans-Bush and Yang Lian. Katy read a great set at the Jekyll and Hyde a week past Sunday.

I first came across Yang Lian when I did some Chinese lit -- in translation, I hasten to add -- at uni. I was impressed with the movement to which he belongs, the misty poets, though we focused on Bei Dao. I also heard Yang Lian read at Edinburgh international book festival a few years ago with his Scottish translators, the Holton brothers. There were some particularly striking Scots translations of some of his work, which are available as the Kettilonia pamphlet. Whaur the Deep Sea Devauls. He'll be reading from his next book, Lee Valley Poems -- his first based on his life as a Londoner.

If you're in or near London, come and join us at Lemon Monkey between 7 pm and 9 pm on Monday 29 June. (Facebook event here.) Meanwhile, here's a taste of Yang Lian, speaking about his book Concentric Circles, courtesy of Bloodaxe:

Yang Lian from Neil Astley on Vimeo.

thePROJECT2: In the Flesh

I'll be busy on Saturday: besides the Word Power reading (see the post below), I'll be popping up along with Rob A Mackenzie at the thePROJECT2. Twice, in fact: 2 pm at the Lot and 7:30 pm at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar. Booking information here. It's a varied and interesting programme.

thePROJECT is an exploration of the arts from a Christian perspective. Or of faith from an artistic perspective. Or of life, from a third perspective I can't think up. The universe and everything are probably in there too. Anyway, as part of the journey towards a larger festival in 2011, thePROJECT is putting on a series of small, more organic events this year and next, starting with a half-day festival that doesn't seem that small scale on Saturday. More information here.

Powering Up

Come to Word Power, 43-45 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh this Saturday for a feast of fine verse. The reading starts at 12 noon sharp, finishes at 1pm. And it’s free! We'll all have books for sale.

Matt Merritt lives near Leicester. His first collection, Troy Town, was published in March 2008 by Arrowhead Press and his chapbook, Making The Most Of The Light, in 2005 by Happenstance Press.

Rob A Mackenzie’s chapbook, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in 2005. His first collection, The Opposite of Cabbage was published by Salt in March 2009.

Andrew Philip has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press—Tonguefire and Andrew Philip: A Sampler. The Ambulance Box, his first book of poems, was published in March by Salt.

James W Wood’s pamphlet, The Theory of Everything, was published by Happenstance Press in 2006, and Inextinguishable by Knucker Press in 2008.

The Word(s) on Sunday

April, may be the cruelest month, but June is shaping up to be the busiest. This Sunday coming (14th), I'll be doing not one but two readings. First of all, you can join me and a variety of other Linlithgow-based authors in the marquee at the Rugby Club for "Take Tea With an Author", a free event, with all donations going to Donaldson's school for the deaf, which is now based in the town. There will be tea, coffee, home baking and books. The other authors are: Ian Emerson, Harry Knox, Douglas Watt, Jane McKie, Wallace Lockhart and Ewan McVicar.

In the evening, you'll find me sharing the Crypt Bar of the Jekyll & Hyde in Edinburgh with Zorras, my fellow former Shore Poet Allan Crosbie, and fellow Salt poet and blogger exraordinaire, Katy Evans-Bush. You can read my poem "Lullaby" and a biog note at the Poetry at the ... site. In fact, it's been up there since 31 May, but I've been rather tardy in blogging it (sorry, Rob!). Should be a great evening.

More gigs to come this month, including a bundle in Edinburgh on Sat 20th and what promises to be a cracker in London on 29th, where I'll be reading with Rob A Mackenzie, Katy Evans-Bush again and the distinguished Chinese "misty poet" Yang Lian.

A Whale of a Cabbage

While you're waiting for the All New Ambulance Box Tour to begin, why not have a look at Rob A Mackenzie's De-Cabbage Yourself Tour? It kicked off this week at Very Like A Whale, where Rob answers questions about Scottish identity and his writing; cabbages (such a solid vegetable); putting his book together; being classed as an urban writer; and emotional impact versus detached irony. If any of that sounds dry or academic, you obviously don't know Rob.

Another Review!

Another review! It seems to be my collection's weekend for reviews, especially ones with a HappenStance connection: Matt Merritt has just posted a wonderfully thoughtful, warm and generous appreciation of The Ambulance Box (the first link above). I'm indebted to him.

Matt and I will be reading with Rob A Mackenzie and James W Wood at Word Power Bookshop in Edinburgh on Saturday 20th June 2009 12.00 noon - 1.00pm. I'm very much looking forward to it.

StAnza: Repetition, Surrealism and Hestiation

St Andrews was bathed in glorious sunshine this weekend past for StAnza, even if there was a bit of a chill to the wind. It certainly brought to mind Alastair Reid's "Scotland", famously burnt by the man himself two years ago. Reid was there in spirit, as you can hear in the podcast exerpt of Jay Parini's lecture (recommended). However, this year, Rabbie was doing the burning, what with it being the year of homecoming. Now that inevitably brings to mind Bill Herbert's "Rabbie, Rabbie Burning Bright". But I digress.

Anyway, I had a fantastic time at StAnza, despite the stressful lead-up on Friday trying to get my books to arrive at a time and place convenient for Saturday's poets' market. Somebody at the distributors -- not at Salt, I stress -- had cocked up, and the books I'd ordered in ample time had spent the whole week sitting in a warehouse in Eaglesham, I believe. Frantic Facebooking and phoning eventually sorted it out. Suffice to say that my box of The Ambulance Box made it to the Byre Theatre on Saturday morning after a Herculean effort of persuasion and, I imagine, plenty choice words from Tom and Jen at Salt. A huge thank you to them both.

As if that wasn't enough, when I got home from work I had no wallet. I was pushed for time as it was, but I had to phone up and cancel my cards and report it missing to the police. (I discover now that was in my desk at work. Numptie!) Still, without being a danger to myself or other drivers, I managed to check in to my B&B on the extreme southern edge of St Andrews and make it to the Byre with only moments to spare before Eleanor Livingstone walked onstage to introduce Bill Manhire and Simon Armitage.

I'd never heard Manhire before and the last time I'd heard Armitage was way back when I was a student. I particularly liked Manhire's "Hotel Emergencies" and "The Oral Tradition", which seemed to me to go places the other poems he read didn't touch. With Armitage, nothing stood out quite so strongly. The narrative poems he read sounded quite prosy, but I'd like to see how they read on the page. The more formal pieces came over better for me, though his use of repetition in some of them got too much. Sally Evans lampooned it quite sharply in the open mike. Armitage certainly overdid it, and I say that in full consciousness of how often I use repetition as a structural device.

There was quite a crowd in the Byre bar for the open mike, which followed the Manhire/Armitage event. As is often the case at these things, the bulk of the writing was comic verse, but there was plenty more serious stuff too. The standout readers for me were Allan Gillis, Rob A Mackenzie (whose choice of "Scotlands" was perfect on a number of levels), Kevin Cadwallader (whose line about the surrealist coppers I loved, though every time I saw him the rest of the weekend I forgot to tell him) and Judith Taylor. It was also good to hear Sorlil, who read much better than she seems to think, and Ross Wilson in particular. I read "Pedestrian", which went down well.

After the open mike, Rob, Ross and I headed pubward with Roddy Lumsden, Adam O'Riordan and a friend of Roddy's whose name, shamefully, continues to escape me. I fell into discussion with Adam and Ross about the SNP, devolution, independence, the West Lothian question and the lack of brilliant young left-wing politicians. That among other, more literary things, like. There were dark mutterings from StAnza student volunteers about a party of the fun kind, but the less said about that the better. Not that there is anything to say about it, because it didn't happen, due to misunderstandings, miscommunications and somebody deciding to stay in the student union. Just as well, really: it meant I could roll into bed by 2 am and be relatively compus mentus the next day.

Beefing up the Future

I'd been exercised by the second half of this all day, and then I see that not only has Rob Mackenzie blogged about it already, but Roddy Lumsden has replied in the comments section.

Briefly, Roddy is baffled by the sparse number of established Scottish poets in my generation: those born in the 1970s and 1980s. He's not the only person to feel the dearth: Bill Herbert explores it briefly in the endorsement he did for The Ambulance Box (which you can read in full at the link) and Donny O'Rourke alluded to it when he spoke to Rob and me at Mirrorball. Heck, I've felt it over the past decade, when I think about it. And during my time at Edinburgh uni, when Roddy was on the cusp of publishing his first collection, there were precious few other Scots involved in student poetry. I come across none of them now in the poetry world.

Perhaps what we need(ed) is more good poets teaching, not in the academic creative writing courses, but in open access, informal or evening class-style courses. More of what Roddy does in London (please move back here, Mr Lumsden!) and what others have been doing through Mirrorball's mentoring scheme, the like of which doesn't exist elsewhere in the central belt, to my knowledge. More to bust us out of our wee lonesome bubbles.

There's no Poetry School up here. Looks like the furthest north they've got is Newcastle. Try searching their courses on "Scotland" (which is an option) and you get:

No courses match your search criteria. Try searching again with fewer stipulations.

Thanks. Does the existence of the option mean they're thinking of breaking into Scotland? I suppose the georgaphy is less of an issue now with internet courses becoming available, but I guess not everybody will teach or take those. Maybe we just need to get on and do something about it up here ourselves. What and how I'm not sure. Suggestions, anyone?

Into Spender's Canyon

What can I say about Wednesday night's launch of The Ambulance Box and The Opposite of Cabbage at the Scottish Poetry Library that isn't already in the reports by Peggy at the SPL (who does the name dropping for us), Colin Will and Rob himself?

Rob is right to say it couldn't have gone any better. It was a fantastic, really celebratory atmosphere. The library was packed. Apparently, we had 67 bodies through the door. (No wonder there were folk standing on the stairs!) When the library's reader development officer Lilias Fraser said there'd been concerns about the mezzanine floor's ability to take the weight, I didn't think she was being serious but with numbers like that ...

Anyway, the launch was scheduled to begin at 7 pm. From about 6.55, I was stuck at the punters' side of the librarians' desk signing books for about half an hour. I had to make an effort to break off and slip into the lift (there was little hope of getting easily up the stairs) and up to the mezzanine, where Rob and I read.

Rob and I had agreed that whoever kicked off in Glasgow last week would go second this week, so I read first. Here's my set list:

1. "Pedestrian"
2. "Improvisation for the Angel who Announces the End of Time"
3. "The Meisure o a Nation"
4. "The Ambulance Box"
5. "The Invention of Zero"
6. "Lullaby"
7. "Dream Family Holiday"
8. "Notes to Self"

and a picture of me reading said set, taken by my friend and colleague, Diarmid Mogg:

Rob read another great set (you can see his set list at his post). His is a fresh, distinctive, intelligent and sophisticated voice. It's a huge pleasure to read alongside him. I certainly hope people in the poetry world and wider reading public sit up and take notice of it. They should.

Once we'd read, the two of us sat for ages at the table signing more books and chatting to people. Here's another photo -- a cracking shot; the same one as is on the SPL blog -- by Diarmid by way of illustration:

Afterwards, Rob and Katy Evans-Bush, who had come all the way up from London for the event, joined me and members of my family at Empires Turkish Cafe for a meal. The mezze, main courses, Turkish coffee and company were all excellent. Empires is definitely to be recommended. The coffee didn't even keep me awake when I finally stumbled home off the last train back to Linlithgow.

I really must repeat my thanks to the SPL staff for all their hard work and more. They set everything up: book table, wine table, crisps and seating. They poured the wine and dealt with the money. They looked after not only our bags but Katy's. They provided those little sticky strips that make for much less fumbling about the book when you're reading (God bless you, Lilias!). They coralled and herded the guests when needed and Lilias introduced the reading. They cleared up and cashed up. And they did the whole lot with smiles, warmth and enthusiasm.

And that post title? Well, my friends Kenny and Jane who came along gave me a card with this quotation from Spender on the front:

A modern poet launching forth his slim volume today is like a person dropping a feather over the edge of the Grand Canyon and then waiting for the echo.

Inside, it simply says:

XXXXXXXXXBANG! BANG!
XXXXXXXBANG! BANG! BANG!
xxxxxBANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

SPL Launch: A Preliminary Post

Last night's launch at the SPL was a huge success. We ran out of seating and wine glasses though not wine, I'm glad to say. Or books, I'm equally glad to say, despite the goodly number sold.

Really, though, I'm far too tired to give you a proper account tonight. I had an unavoidably a full -- in fact, long -- day at the office today on the back of my suitably latish night yestreen and my wrists wouldn't thank me for it even if my brain could put a proper post together. Normal service will resume after recovery, which will involve a glass of wine and at least one night's sleep. I'll leave you with links to Peggy's post and Colin's comments.

Oh, and a set list:

1. "Pedestrian"
2. "Improvisation for the Angel who Announces the End of Time"
3. "The Meisure o a Nation"
4. "The Ambulance Box"
5. "The Invention of Zero"
6. "Lullaby"
7. "Dream Family Holiday"
8. "Notes to Self"

Oh, and a picture of me reading said set, taken by my friend and colleague, Diarmid Mogg:

Anon, but not anonymous

Several weeks back, Rob A Mackenzie and I struggled through snow to the HQ of Anon magazine, now edited by Colin Fraser and Peggy Hughes, to record for the Anon podcast. You can now hear us discuss our magazine publishing history, the whys and joys of blogging, and the parlous poetry infrastructure of the best small country in the world, interspersed with each of us reading two poems from our books. The first podcast, with the magazine's founding editor Mike Stocks, is also available. Happy listening.

SPLaunching and SPLogging

After the success of Thursday's Mirrorball launch, I'm very much looking forward to the launch for Rob A Mackenzie's book and mine on Wednesday at the Scottish Poetry Library. It'll be a bigger affair than Mirrorball, I suspect. There'll be wine and crisps (oooh, the extravagence!), and both of us will read. I've not yet decided how much overlap there'll be between the poems I read on Thursday and those I'll read on Wednesday, but it won't be an identical set. The books will be on sale as well, of course.

Speaking of the SPL, you might want to check out its new blog, Our sweet old etcetera…. This adds a lighter, more informal side to the Library's burgeoning web presence (which includes not only the main site but the Reading Room) and is a welcome addition to the Scottish poetry blogosphere.

Mirrorball

Thursday's reading at St Mungo's Mirrorball with Rob A Mackenzie and performance poet Robin Cairns was a good night. As usual, Mr Mackenzie has got in ahead of me and blogged about it already. As he says, it was a varied evening but the audience was happy to switch mood and style along with each reader. It was a decent-sized crowd too.

Rob was up first (you can find his set list at his post), reading from The Opposite of Cabbage for the first time. For literary poets like Rob and me, I think there's a greater degree of confidence that comes with holding your book in your hand in front of an audience. Rob and I have seen each other's books in varying states of manuscript, but the authority of the printed and bound article allows us to sit back and enjoy the poems. It gives them a stamp of finality that's obviously lacking in a draft. That effect holds for the live reading, I think. Seeing how well the audience reacted to Rob's work simply served to reinforce its wit, sophistication, intelligence and passion; its mix of irony, cynicism and compassion; it's freshness and quality.

Robin Cairns, as is often the case with performance poets, performed all his work from memory. It's an impressive skill, especially given that we're not talking about short lyrics here. He's a highly confident performer and certainly gets the audience laughing. For me, though, his best piece was a serious one: an accomplished ballad exploring how music breaks down barriers between individuals. Robin was launching his first pamphlet.

I came last, setting a different tone for the end of the evening with The Ambulance Box. Here's what I read:

1. "The Ambulance Box"
   
2. "Cardiac"
3. "To Bake the Bread"
   
4. "The Meisure o a Nation"
5. "The Invention of Zero"
6. "45 Minutes"
   
7. "Waukrife"
8. "Lullaby"
9. "Notes to Self"

Quite a varied bunch, but moving into gradually more direct poems about my son's death in its second half. It was the first time I've opened a set with the title poem, which seemed to work fine in pole position. I very much enjoyed having such an attentive and appreciative audience. Several people were clearly listening carefully. The applause and post-reading comments were warm, and I sold a decent number of books too.

After the gig, Rob and I wound up in the CCA Bar for a pint with one of my oldest mates and his friend the visual/minimalist poet Stephen Nelson, whom I'd met previously at the Mitchell Library. A fine end to a really good night.

Nuclear Submarines

As a further celebration of the Appointed Day for Rob A Mackenzie and me, here's a poem from Rob's collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, originally published in Seam:

Nuclear Submarines

One day they will surely betray me.
For now, they seem content to drowse

resolutely without wit or purpose
like autistic sharks ballooning

through seaweed, rock and sand
of fish cities deep in blackout.

While I’m trying to trust, one breaks
the Gareloch’s surface and fixes

its stunned gaze on the mirrored sky.
Things are as they should be –

the clouds, the flotsam, the stranger
peering from the shore with my face.

The second it drops, I no longer exist.
It has no memory, no plans.

The water rises, the sky falls,
and I am as blue is to the fish.

Rob is also currently poet of the month on the Scottish Poetry Library's website, where you can find his poem "Glory Box". I'll replace him there about half way through the month.

The Ambulance Box

The day has come! Today, 1 March 2009, is the official publication date for The Ambulance Box and Rob A Mackenzie's marvellous book, The Opposite of Cabbage. To celebrate, here's the title poem from my collection:

The Ambulance Box

No one can swear how it fell
into our hands. No one

can fathom its substance or build.
It mystifies all

who think of themselves as whole
but those of us huddled

round our various wounds
are at home with the box

and all it contains.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxHear us,
shoulder to shoulder in the dusk,

celebrate life — sprained and splinted
broken
xxxxxxxxxxxbandaged
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxset to heal

Triple Decker

The Month of Book Launches is nearly upon me! First up is a triple launch: myself, fellow Scottish Salter Rob A Mackenzie and performance poet Robin Cairns. An eclectic mix, hosted by St Mungo's Mirrorball in Glasgow. If you're in the vicinity, come along. The reading is free, and there will be books to buy. Here are the details from the Mirrorball site:

St Mungo’s Mirrorball - Thursday 5^th March 7.00

Poetry Club, Glasgow School of Art – 167 Renfrew Street Free

The next St Mungo’s Mirrorball event will be a triple book launch involving 3 very different voices on the poetry scene today

Rob A. Mackenzie lives in Edinburgh with his wife and daughter. His pamphlet collection, The Clown of Natural Sorrow, was published by HappenStance Press in December 2005. His poems and reviews appear regularly in literary magazines. He blogs at Surroundings (http://robmack.blogspot.com) and organises the Poetry at the Great Grog reading series (http://poetryatthegreatgrog.blogspot.com) in Edinburgh. His first full collection, The Opposite of Cabbage, is published by Salt on 1^st March 2009.

Andrew Philip was born in Aberdeen in 1975 and grew up near Falkirk. He lived in Berlin for a short spell in the 1990s before studying linguistics at Edinburgh University. He has published two poetry pamphlets with HappenStance Press—Tonguefire (2005) and Andrew Philip: A Sampler (2008)—and was chosen as a Scottish Poetry Library “New Voice” in 2006. The Ambulance Box, published this year by Salt, is his first book of poems.

Robin Cairns is a performance poet. www.robincairns.com Having written plays, music and journalism he turned to verse by chance on millenium night in Manchester Airport. He performs across Scotland on a regular basis, at poetry nights, slams, comedy clubs, ceilidhs (lots of ceilidhs) after-dinner engagements, in schools, in libraries, rock festivals, and arts festivals, what have you got? He has had work published in various collections, including "Skein Of Geese" (the book resulting from the gathering at the Stanza poetry festival of 100 poets) and "Glasgow Tales" published by Endpapers. ”Last Man with Sky” is his first collection.

Front Page News

Just spotted that Rob A Mackenzie's The Opposite of Cabbage and my collection The Ambulance Box are both now on the front page of the Salt website. Rob is beneath Keats, and I'm under Vincent De Souza.

Rob also has his first review, at the blog of Tony Williams, whose collection is due out from Salt in the summer.