BETWEEN PROSPECT AND REFUGE This is a series of poems that explore the hinterland of commonplace experience from the vantage point of the ‘other scene’ and across a range of idioms and genres. There are love poems, poems of separation and loss, narrative poems, concrete poems and comic verse, and poems occasioned by the impress of landscapes and seascapes, or particular … [Read more...] about Between Prospect And Refuge
Poetics and Other Arts
On Pseudonyms
This essay briefly surveys the history of the pseudonym, its changing contexts and uses, and draws on Kripke’s theory of baptismal naming to consider some of the implications for understanding the games people play with identity. The paradox of the literary pseudonym, that it takes on a new lease of life once it is revealed, is discussed, and also its function as a … [Read more...] about On Pseudonyms
The Cultural Olympiad: Carrying the Torch for Art?
This text explores the cultural politics and poetics of the London Olympics. It begins by looking at the growth of ‘feel good’ art in the context of the economic recession. It goes on to discuss the contemporary role of poetry in public culture , and the relationship b between the aesthetics of sport and literature. It concluded with a detailed reading of the poetry … [Read more...] about The Cultural Olympiad: Carrying the Torch for Art?
Living in Time
LIVING IN TIME: IN MEMORIAM PHIL SALMON (1942- 2005) I first met Phyllida Salmon when she was a colleague of mine at the London Institute of Education in the 1980’s. I was immediately struck by the precise and considered way she talked, as if she had given the matter a lot of thought and honed her perceptions accordingly. There was nothing pedantic about her approach - she … [Read more...] about Living in Time
The Occasions of Poetry
The Occasions of Poetry (text) This text sets out one possible approach to applying sociological concepts, especially those of Bruno Latour, to understanding trends and traditions in poetry writing. In contrast to the mainstream sociology of literature, which looks to the social content or context of the poem, and/or the social mileu and attitudes of the poet, the … [Read more...] about The Occasions of Poetry
