All 3 entries tagged Gists And Piths

Gists and Piths September Extravaganza

Writing about web page http://gistsandpiths.blogspot.com/

Just to say we've a whole month of poetry and articles lined up over at Gists and Piths.

We've also kickstarted our Midlands Poetry Series, with a lot of poetry by people in the West/East Midlands and Warwickshire, including a few people connected to the University of Warwick, directly or indirectly. We haven't asked everyone we're going to ask yet, so it should stretch through into October.

One of the most exciting things lined up in that lot is a 'Painted in Nest Boxes', a sequence of bird poems by David Morley. We've managed to find audio recordings online for each of the birds he poems about (yes OK, not really a verb, but just run with it) courtesy of the RSPB's birdfinder.

And we've some work by a couple of very exciting Salt poets, Tom Chivers (G&P pieces here) and Chris McCabe.

George Ttoouli : 09 Sep 2009 11:58 |  Tags: Gists And Piths Poetry |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Gregory Winners Series / Re–Review @ G+P

Writing about web page http://gistsandpiths.blogspot.com/

Just flagging up a recent series of Gregory Award winners on Gists and Piths: Emily Berry, James Midgley, Heather Phillipson, Adam O'Riordan. Also Michael McKimm, a winner from last year, has a series of 6 poems called The Lammas Lands preceding them.

I'm interested to hear what people think about them. Despite the internet's feedback loops, people seem very reluctant to comment on poems, except when they really like them. They may just be nice about it all...

But when it comes to reviews, I didn't quite expect Nathan Thompson's re-review of Claire Crowther to kick up such support. Am very pleased with on his behalf. And for Claire Crowther, whose poetry I really really REALLY like. Online sample at Shearsman Magand hereand at Poetcasting(audio too! woot!).

George Ttoouli : 29 Sep 2008 09:00 |  Tags: Creative Writing Eric Gregory Awards Gists And Piths Nathan Thompson |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Aggressive Interview with Rupert Loydell

Writing about web page http://gistsandpiths.blogspot.com/2008/01/aggressive-interview-1-rupert-loydell.html

I've just posted an 'aggressive interview' on Gists and Piths, with Rupert Loydell, editor of Stride. (So called, because I took the opportunity to fire a few dirty questions and throw in some cheap gibes, to liven up the subject.)

Stride is an independent poetry publishing house with an emphasis on experimental writing. Notable recent anthologies include The Gift, ed. David Morley, The Allotment, ed. Andy Brown; as well as a great range of material by the recently departed poet, essayist and artist, Peter Redgrove. The press has a strong international flavour, especially as regards American experimental poetry.

The interview opens up a few interesting channels, to do with how marginalised cultures filter through to the mainstream. This is worth thinking about both in terms of the 'avant garde' experimenters and also marginalised cultures - black british, asian, middle eastern, esp. Palestinian and Afghan, for example - in relation to dominant trends in western cultures.

In poetry, the mainstream vs. avant garde debate has been bandied about too often for some tastes. The media tend to pick on the polarity as a simple, dumbed-down way of presenting certain cultural phenomena (can't believe I just called poetry that) that don't have widespread appeal. It reduces the argument to an understandable abstraction.

I find the debate interesting mainly from an anthropological perspective: it highlights how tribalism can operate in different areas; it's a microplay of the greater theatre of economics and empire. However, it's also a reductive debate, and gets in the way of my ability to engage properly with the actual content and technique of various poetries.

I'm not yet sure whether my interest is healthy, but I do know that I have a tendency towards the more experimental and challenging end of the cultural spectrum. And I'm often overtaken by an urge to spread the word about the things that move me most; but the resistance of more conservative readers and forces to these texts depresses me no end.

Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.

-- William Faulkner

George Ttoouli : 21 Jan 2008 10:00 |  Tags: Gists And Piths Interview Rupert Loydell |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem