I am pleased to say that I have a poem in this compact anthology Ten Poets Do Their Bit for the Secret Service. Unusually for me I saw the call for submissions (on Bluesky) and responded quickly, writing a poem specifically for the project. (I did cannibalize an unpublished short story for it, partly.) For a number of reasons spying is quite important for me. I’ve tackled the subject before, in ‘Ivan Ivanovitch’s Book of Solid Kremlins and Melting Cromlechs’, as a strand running through this ‘history’ of Russia/Soviet Union/Russia in Unfinish. (Also, there are spies in the family, but I can’t talk about that.) And of course, my version of Thomas Wyatt, is a spy (as Wyatt was) in HAP.
Perhaps the greatest pull is that described in the introduction to this book, written by either Jon Stone and/or Kirsten Irving: ‘Contemporary poetry, with its dealings in both the culturally symbolic and the ever-expansive inner life, is well positioned to reflect the degree to which our most intense experiences are like those of the imperilled secret agent… The poem is, as you will see, a kind of spy device in itself.’ Perhaps a poet also feels like a spy, moving in a world that the poet deeply interrogates, but which seems to offer no interest back. (How many times does someone say in the pub, ‘I’d really like to read your poetry!’? Never!) You might as well be in disguise.
And here it is. You’ll have to buy the book to read my poem, though I was pleased to find my lines ‘There will be meetings in places unspecified/ with persons unknown’ quoted on the back cover. I tried to make the poem evasive and discontinuous, as is our perception of real spy stories. How did that MI5 officer end up zipped into a suitcase on the outside and his death registered as suicide? Indeterminacy as realism, one might say.
Ten Poets Do Their Bit for the Secret Service - Sidekick Books
The blurb for the book – the cod spy language is reproduced in author bios and prelims – agrees with what I’ve just said: ‘Poets are spies by nature. Nondescript these days, they’re subtle and ever-watchful. Shifty in their skins, you might say. They are practised at fleeing and giving pursuit, and quick to reach for a pen (which may conceal a poison dart). They keep eyes on one another, crossing paths in out-of-the-way places to exchange vital capsules of encoded information. Most importantly, they are experts at slipping the grip of rival operatives, at least one of whom is their own dark double. For a time, anyway. And when called out of retirement to do their bit – well, take any reticence with a pinch of cyanide salt…’
Contributors are Alison Brackenbury, John Clegg, Michael Conley, Grace Ellis, Jac Harmon, Safa Maryam, Claire Orchard, Jess Richards, Jeremy Wikeley, and me.
Thanks to
the two editors.
Check out the website for other Sidekick books, including others in the Ten Poets… series: Books Archives - Sidekick Books
Unfinish
may be read about
here: Pages:
My REF statement describing my Veer volume UNFINISH, and purchased here: Robert Sheppard -
Unfinish - Veer Books.
