Diary 19 Tuesday March
Week 12 2024
I did some light proof-reading [breaking news: the book The Necessity of Poetics (which contains my inaugural) will be published by Shearsman] though I was largely keeping my powder dry. Patricia came thru’, en route to ‘town’, a sunny day.
I journeyed to Manchester, battled with the Metro, and
emerged unscathed at MediaCity UK, which gleamed over the Blue Peter Garden.
Inside the lobby of Salford University, a giant Thurston-head announced, with
Ozymandian pretensions, the evening event. A large screen showed the film Scott
had made a while back. I found the model for these exhibits flexing his dancing
muscles in the studio. There was a bit of technical flannel to be negotiated.
Eventually, a large crowd filled the auditorium – some
people I knew, of course – and we commenced, my introduction, and Scott’s
inaugural ‘lecture’. Dividing the piece into 5 ‘rhythms’, he nevertheless
retold his career chronologically, which sounds like a very standard inaugural
strategy – BUT he moved throughout (about 45 minutes, I’m guessing) and spoke a
rehearsed ‘text’, and included improvised passages, of both speech and
movement. Fortunately, it was filmed, by the University and by Joanna.
I chaired the Q and A, I handed Scott a present from the
University of Salford, and a note he’d made of people to thank. Which he did.
Scott said it, and did it, with panache, passion and
conviction.
Patricia watched it online. And here it is again, for anyone who missed it. (It runs for a couple of minutes before the 'show' begins!)
And this is my introduction:
Good evening, everybody, both here at Salford University, and those of you watching online. My name is Professor Robert Sheppard and it is my great pleasure tonight to introduce Scott Thurston on his elevation to the professoriate as Professor of Poetry and Innovative Creative Practice as he presents his inaugural ‘lecture’, ‘Kinepoetics: an embodied journey through poetry, dance and therapy.’
Scott is going to speak and demonstrate that ‘journey’ himself, so I am not going to offer a resume or assessment of that progress. In any case, I can speak for poetry and innovation, but not for dance and therapy. But I do have the perspective of having known Scott – as a good friend, excellent student, supportive colleague, experimental fellow-poet and enthusiastic collaborator – over a long period of time. I know of no other case where somebody has studied both A Level and been supervised for a PhD by the same person. But I do know of the robust processes that are used by universities to elevate professors, and the necessary past successes and achievements that are essential to meet the rigorous criteria adopted. I also know that some of Scott’s achievements are highly visible – what could be more visible than dance? – but some are quite invisible. I’m thinking of the work Scott does day to day as a teacher, lecturer, research supervisor, coordinator and administrator, and his work as an editor of the academic periodical he and I co-founded the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry. To take just one, what might be thought minor, part of that: as a writer of references for students for courses and colleagues for teaching posts, Scott’s work is exemplary. Never have I come across such detailed advocacy on behalf of candidates, written with obvious care and time-consuming attention. And I know that that care and attention is replicated in his marking and supervision of research. As editor of the journal, I also know that he really does get down with the nitty-gritty of responding to articles in preparation for publication. Hardly anyone sees this work, invisible labour at its most important to the visible life of the university and the visible viability of an academic journal, and of academia itself. Somewhere within and between these professional commitments, his scholarly work on poetry and poetics, his pedagogic innovations in the still-evolving subject area of Creative Writing, and most importantly, his own creative practice, which includes poetry and movement, gets done. And now, don’t forget, the extension of this work – working with Joanna and others – into therapeutic practice. How he manages still to be one of the nicest human beings I know is a mystery, perhaps even a miracle. After all, academics as a tribe do have a bit of a reputation!! I’ll move on.
Move on to a compelling concluding anecdote. Many years ago, (as Noel Coward used to say) so-last century, long before all I’ve just mentioned, Scott and I were sitting in the Alexandra pub in Wimbledon, chewing over the poetic fat, perhaps trying to foster literary techniques or strategies for what would suffice. I turned to Scott and asked, ‘What are we going to do about the poetic revolution, then?’ Before he could answer, before he could begin to gather the thoughts to answer, a fellow poet (who shall remain nameless) burst into the pub, bursting the bubble of our concentration, and proceeded to commit ‘conversational nuisance’, as Samuel Beckett once put it, all over us, long enough for the question to die a death. We’ve often wondered what we might have discussed, decided or even plotted that evening if we hadn’t had been interrupted – and whether it would have mattered. One answer to that question – though perhaps we are dealing more with poetic evolution than revolution – lies in what we are about to receive: Scott’s ‘embodied journey through poetry, dance and therapy’: ‘Kinepoetics’.
I write about Scott’s
recent Turning: Selected Poems here: Pages:
Scott Thurston's TURNING ; my endorsement and a link
(robertsheppard.blogspot.com) and there’s an interview I conducted with
Scott in 2019, as part of my guest editing of Stride: Guest
editor Robert Sheppard: 8 | Stride magazine.
My inaugural lecture may be read here: Pages: Robert Sheppard: Inaugural Lecture PART 1: Poetics as Conjecture and Provocation
