One more roundup of the poetry scene’s grassroots by the irrepressible Mab Jones before the year is out. Suitably, she’s recommending a brace of seasonally-slanted anthologies and a smaller festive volume among some other treats – including one that departs the poetry premise entirely, but with good cause.
Black Bough Poetry Christmas-Winter Anthology Volume III, edited by Matthew M.C. Smith (Black Bough Poetry, price: £9.95)
The third in a series of Christmas anthologies, this one came my way courtesy of poet, and poetry mover and shaker, Matthew M.C. Smith. Creator and director of the hugely popular Top Tweet Tuesday event on Twitter, which sees guest poets offer positive feedback once a week on the short, imagistic poems of anyone who wants to tweet one, his Black Bough Poetry also publishes books, including an annual festive anthology.
As with other Black Bough anthologies I’ve read or reviewed, the breadth and range of voices here is impressive, and the voices and views diverse. Whilst there’s a focus on poems that are short and ‘imagistic’ – focused upon images / imagery – this seems to me a goodly focus, pulling poetry back towards something that’s less vague, abstract, ethereal, and pretentious, and more into something that’s likely to give Netflix a run for its money. Poetry you can ‘see’, and poetry you can get to grips with as a result. The pieces within this volume are plentiful, veering between the profound and the everyday, and back again, as all the best poetry tends to do.
I’ve not received a copy of the fourth volume in this annual series, also edited by Smith, but I’m sure it is also excellent; click that link to investigate and purchase (price: £8.95-£14.50). I’d recommend anything by Black Bough to you; as it says on the back page of Volume III, “Black Bough Poetry thrives on community”. What a wonderful thing, particularly at this dark time of year! A beacon of light, in fact. Let some of that incandescence shine through, then: please read this press’s books, and follow them online, as soon as you can.
Christmas Stories: Twelve Poems To Tell And Share (Candlestick Press, price: £6.95)
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The poet John Freeman very kindly sent me this lovely pamphlet, included as a gift with his own book that was sent for review earlier this year, and whilst it’s true that one of his own excellent poems features within it, it was a generous send with nothing asked in return and no request for a review in any way, shape or form.
However, this month and this volume represent a good opportunity to draw attention to this book’s pertinent Christmas theme, and also to Candlestick Press who produce beautiful, slender pamphlets that are the perfect sending-size, each one coming with an envelope so that you can post it with ease to someone who might appreciate such a thing. You’ve probably seen the books in your local bookshop, and they do a roaring trade, having sold over 800,000 copies worldwide since the press’ inception in 2008; editor Di Slaney is a notable force for good in ‘poetry world’, too, as well as a fine poet herself.
This pamphlet – one in a run of such with a Christmas theme – features 12 poems by 12 poets, and is heart-warming despite dealing in truths that are based upon everyday observation, from a “light up snowman” that’s described as a “cheap plastic thing” to other memories that are sharp, like “a dropped / knife”; still, there is innocence, togetherness, love; still, there are “tidings of comfort and joy”. All of which makes this, like all the other Candlestick Press pamphlets, a true joy to read.
Elemental Emergency (Newport Stanza Poetry, price: £7)
A stanza, in case you were wondering, is both a ‘paragraph’ of poetry (what in school you might have learned as a ‘verse’ – ‘stanza’ is the proper name) and the title given to groups which meet locally but are aligned to national institution The Poetry Society. Newport Stanza is attended by my friend, and most excellent poet, Lesley James, who put this first anthology by the group into my hands – and what a wonder it is, and how glad I am to know so many fine poets, and to be living so close to such brilliant bards, at this time!
This book aims to address the ‘elemental emergency’, dealing with a theme of climate change / climate crisis, whilst also showcasing the work of local poets, some of whom are ‘names’, some of whom are not: but, the point of poetry is not to create hierarchies, but to crumble them, and so I would say, there are many fine poems and poets on display here and, as a collective work, this is a wonderful, winning, weighty volume that’s worth its weight in gold.
“When the time of man is over and the gods look down to earth, / Will they celebrate our legacy or wonder at our worth”? asks one poet and, indeed, this is the ultimate question for our times, and one which, in their varying ways, each poet here seeks to address as they try to make sense of the “Misconceptions [that] fester in whirlpools, / mottled with echoes”, “the freakish rain”, and all “the shit of the world”. Illuminating that darkness, and even attempting to transmute it, is what poetry is for, and what this book does so, so well. Brightening, brilliant, and full of breathtaking new voices, it’s a compendium that entirely captivates.
Invisible Cities: Poetry, Protest And Place With John (Johnny Giles, a walking tour of Cardiff, price: from £15)
Not a book, but a walking tour hosted by social enterprise Invisible Cities, this is a new one in Cardiff and was designed by poet Johnny Giles, who hosts the tours. Having been recently made homeless, this initiative is intended both as a means of support for him and a way of gaining insight into the city itself; his tour takes place most Fridays and Saturdays, and takes you “through different forms of protest”, beginning at the Betty Campbell monument, via Dic Penderyn, and ending up at the Aneurin Bevan statue on Queen Street – where marches or protests in the capital usually start and/or finish.
I’ve not been on this tour yet, but knowing Giles’ poetry, which is an inherent feature of this walk, I know there will be insights and inspiration in equal measure. Already attracting attention from major media including Channel 4 and the BBC, as well as approval from celebrities such as Michael Sheen online, I think it’s safe to say this is a great output to have come about – and, again, it is a form of transmutation, turning terrible life events into a beautiful, engaging outcome that creatively connects, offering a communal experience which bring disparate people together. In the cold and the dark, the winter and the woebegone streets, there is this.
If you would like to submit some new, published poetry for potential review in this column, contact Mab via her website (you can find social media links there) or get in touch via Buzz.
words MAB JONES