<\/p>\n
The following three poems are part of a sequence that explores the connection between natural phenomena and bodily affect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
specimens<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n #1 i will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, i saw two rare beetles & seized one in each hand; then i saw a third & new kind, which i could not bear to lose, so that i popped the one which i held in my right hand into my mouth. alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that i was forced to spit the beetle out\u2026<\/em> knowing what will happen never stops me<\/p>\n when i took you in my mouth a six-legged query\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 poised rooting in the damp your body sprang its sudden leak in the morning\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i am swollen my mouth becomes bank<\/p>\n vast atrocious trees\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 birds breathing<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n #2<\/strong><\/p>\n i fulfil my functions like an unripe fruit & yes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 i have been fragile<\/p>\n have spoken in concentric circles fragile<\/p>\n knows its own extremity\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is generous <\/p>\n <\/p>\n #3<\/strong><\/p>\n & as we were settling this final fathom, i saw a wonderful thing. lying on the bottom just beneath us was some type of flatfish. even as I saw him, his two round eyes on top of his head spied us<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>a monster of steel<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>invading his silent realm. here, in an instant, was the answer that biologists had asked for the decades. could life exist in the greatest depths of the ocean? it could!<\/em> a new old thing breathless\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 clenched by water call it awareness:<\/p>\n the body\u2019s gunky sentience\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 each cavity the outer window cracked\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 beginning to trickle i let you into my skin the dark inside me <\/p>\n ********<\/p>\n Seven Questions with an Eighth<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Where do you write? (do you have a place that you find yourself and your writing?)<\/strong> 2. How do you write? (into a notebook or straight onto a computer?)<\/strong> 3. Roughly how much time do you spend each week on creative writing related activities? (writing, editing, correspondence & submissions)<\/strong> 4. What time of day do you usually write?<\/strong> 5. What does it feel like to write?<\/strong> 6. Are there any stimuli that will usually trigger you into writing?<\/strong> 7. What are you working on now?<\/strong> 8. How has the scholarship affected your writing?<\/strong> <\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u2014 charles dickens<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndivine complexity<\/p>\n
\non the tip of my tongue<\/p>\n
\nsoil of each other\u2019s forms\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 until<\/p>\n
\nthose virulent colours\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 seeping<\/p>\n
\nentirely different
\nopened<\/span><\/p>\n
\nmulchy seed-skinned flotsam of potential
\ntulip machinery clanking
\nunder the dirt<\/p>\n
\nphotodegredation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the light widening
\ndamp wind torquing untold familiar words
\nbounce of water\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gyre<\/p>\n
\njewelled pi\u00f1ata heart treating us all to itself
\nbruiseful rape-yellow pulp
\nuncensored streaming<\/p>\n
\n\u2014 jacques piccard<\/span><\/p>\n
\nslimy & exquisite<\/p>\n
\ni feel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 girl<\/p>\n
\nmy middle ear\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my pink & reaching lungs
\ngap where a womb should be
\nnoisy air in blood<\/p>\n
\nall that expectation<\/p>\n
\nyour flexing bones\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your eyes<\/p>\n
\ntightens<\/p>\n
\nDifferent poems suit the vibes of different places. I\u2019ll write in coffee shops, libraries or at my desk at home beside my trusty angle-poise, whatever the current work calls for.<\/p>\n
\nComputer, always. As a poet it makes experimenting with form and structure so much easier.<\/p>\n
\nI tend to write in short, intense bursts \u2014 by the time I open my laptop, most of the poem has already been written in my head and it\u2019s just a matter of getting the words down \u2014 so the amount of time spent actually writing is small for me. The rest \u2014 editing, corresponding and submitting \u2014 takes forever! It evens out to a couple of hours a day.<\/p>\n
\nAs soon as I wake up, regardless of when that is. I need fully charged batteries!<\/p>\n
\nMy best writing is done when I\u2019m unaware of myself. If at any point I start thinking about who I am, what I\u2019m doing, or (God forbid) why I\u2019m doing it, block sets in. I\u2019m in a very high state of awareness; it\u2019s almost trancelike. I\u2019m aware of the words happening, but not much else.<\/p>\n
\nThe stimulus that triggers non-writing is definitely routine! Emotional, physical and even geographical shake-ups all get my creative juices flowing, so if I\u2019m struggling, the best thing I can do is to go somewhere I\u2019ve never been and write there. Failing that, a flat white generally does the trick.<\/p>\n
\nFor the past month and a half I\u2019ve been working on HYDRA, a collection of poetry that explores our relationship with water. So much of the planet and so much of our bodies are liquid. Each human spends the first nine months of its life as a marine creature, and until around 400 million years ago all life was aquatic. It\u2019s been fascinating to consider what that represents to us and the role that water plays in our twenty-first century lives.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s given me the opportunity of spending time with some fantastic writers, and I think that affects writing more than most people realise. The poets I\u2019ve studied with for the past year on the MA are really talented, and watching them develop poetically in the same way I\u2019ve been developing has been a privilege. In January I was lucky enough to be invited to read at\u00a0Caf\u00e9<\/span> Writers alongside Esther Morgan, whose work I really admire, and it was an amazing experience. Being around poets always makes me want to write poetry.<\/p>\n