The reading advertised above in Southport was to launch Paul's book. I wrote the introduction and I chaired a Q and A about the volume, and also read a short 10 minute set, along with others (including Alan Parry, the book's publisher, who read a long poem on masculinity, and Mary Earnshaw, a local poet, reading her 'conversations' with Leonard Cohen).
I write about my Introduction (and therefore about the book!) here Pages: it's all come down to this by Paul Robert Mullen is out, with an introduction by me. and here: Pages: On a passage of Lutz Seiler and a lift from Billy Mills.
Paul's book may be purchased here: it's all come down to this: a retrospective [selected poems & writings 1999-2024] - Paul Robert Mullen - The Broken Spine.
The venue, Royales, is a little gem in Southport and the vibe felt positive. Paul read well and our Q and A seemed to be coherent. We discussed how he felt about having such a big book out of 25 years' work. I particularly wanted to ask him about something I noticed, and commented upon in my introduction, about the clarity and imagistic acuity of his work and its contrary pull to withdrawal, leaving gaps for the reader, etc., and I quoted this enigmatic passage about poets from his 'Preface': 'Often wrapped up in webs of our own doing, we seek to unravel ourselves with explanations that, often, we're not prepared to deliver with any sort of direct and immediately decipherable intention.' I'm not sure we plumbed the depths of this one, but the importance of travel for his writing, the importance of music (and his knowing the difference between a poem and a song-lyric) followed. I noted that the prose pieces in the book move from being vignettes to short stories, and asked (offhand) whether he is writing a novel. He is! I was surprised to hear. A crazily-processed pic of our talk:
I read a short set, featuring the final poems in British Standards.
As I read I indicated that I had serial problems stopping writing the book (the force of the political madness I was writing about) which is why the poem 'To Laughter' is followed by a section called 'After Laughter' which features the poems 'Afterword', 'After Image', 'Aftershock', and finally finally finally 'After Sheppard After Shelley: England in 2022', which got the book done!
Here's a video (not from last night!) of me reading 'After Image'.
British Standards may be read about here: Pages: British Standards published by Shearsman - out now, and bought here: https://www.shearsman.com/store/Robert-Sheppard-British-Standards-p661920471
The various stages of the 'ending' of the book may be read about; it's quite a journey, and pretty funny as I try to divest my work of Bo(ris Johnson) in a number of posts on this blog. Unlike some of my work, the whole book was revealed as I progressed on these 'Pages'. Here's a few of the 'endings': for to end yet again!
The first is here: I said goodbye to Bo(ris), here, with a poem:
https://robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2022/08/final-extra-last-poem-of-english-strain.html
The second here:
And then, here, finally, finally finally, here here here: Pages: Robert Sheppard: A final final poem for British Standards! But, of course, it wasn't the final final. I think this is:
Pages: The Horrible Thought that Bo mioght be back: only The Bard could save me now! Though I do leave open a fourth book of sonnets if Bo ever returns to frontline politics. Good help us, we've enough with convicted felon Trump at the moment.
I had to leave to catch the train (and bus) to get home and thus missed the music. I think Paul played. He also has an album on the way. Talented lad, that Paul. A good friend, and for the record, a former MA student in Creative Writing at Edge Hill where I taught him. He was part of a cohort where nearly everybody was a Dylan fan and a whole load of us went to see The Man at the (then) Echo Arena. Paul recommends the new film.
Oh, and here's a report on the first Broken Spine reading, in March 2020, days before the lockdown. That seemed a different world, and here's a glimpse of it: Pages: Robert Sheppard: The Broken Spine reading, Southport (set list).
