I am thinking about enjambment, where one line of poetry runs on into the next line - or is carried over into the next verse. It is not a technique that I use that often. I try on the whole, to make my lines complete, part of a longer sentence maybe but generally I like the lines to have a definite sensible ending place. It feels slightly dangerous to let the lines roam willy nilly over the page. But I am thinking maybe I need to loosen up a bit, maybe I am becoming too constrained. Maybe I should let my words roam free as wild animals on the tundra across the page. What am I scared of?

Narrative Poetry

I like the idea of using a narrative within my poetry. Of maybe using a narrative to link the poems together in some kind of sequence.

The poems that I have written so far this term are in a strongly female voice. They are about loss, fear and regret. About what happens in life - we get older, lose our parents, go in and out of relationships, get stressed out, cope, don't cope...

The charcter in my poems (who may not always be the same character but could be) suffers loss of a parent, she muses on difficult past relationships, she meets up with an old flame and this makes her feel regret about the past (the grass is always greener syndrome)and finally she starts losing the plot until she is driven to consider taking her own life. As the reder we don't know whether she actually did - this is left up to us to imagine. Personally I am torn between wanting an end to her unhappiness and wanting a fairytale happy ever after type ending where she has a sudden epiphany, realises how beautiful the world is and bounces back bigger and better etc. etc.

Autobiographical Art Work

For some artists there is an almost insatiable desire to try and understand and change the self - often through writing and art. Through the mediums of autobiography and autobiographical art work we are holding ourselves up to a mirror for examination. There is a constant striving within us to understand ourselves and to be understood by others. It is as if only we can understand ourselves - our minds, our dreams, desires, wishes, what makes us tick then somehow life would be BETTER, the people around us would have a better empathy and deeper understanding of what we are about.

Women in particular seem attracted to autobiography within their art work. It's as if by getting it out it will make a difference to our lives - almost like a form of counselling or therapy. Maybe it is because women have so many starnds to their lives and that putting elements of these strands into their work ties all the strands together in some way.

Of course it could just be that the artists that produce a lot of autobiograhical work are the more troubled souls. Those of us who have had a difficult childhood, abusive relationships or some other adverity (illness etc). Does a happy well balanced individual have the same need to examine their past or understand why they are the way they are.

Birth

I just came across a trailer for "Birth" directed by Jonathan Glazer on You tube. I had forgotten what a visually stunning film it is. I would definitely rate Jonathan Glazer in my top 5 film and video directors - although the top spot of course goes to Michel Gondry. I was first introduced to Gondry's work several years ago via his surreal music videos - my favourite of which is "Let Forever Be" by the Chemical Brothers (closely followed by Daft Punk's "Around the World"). Gondry has themes that come up time again within his films and videos, he is playful and his work has a surreal and joyous quality that many other directors lack.
Glazer's work on the other hand is much darker but he has made some beautiful videos (most notably "Street Spirit" by Radiohead.

The Clash on Trial

I was watching "Pop on Trial" tonight on BBC4 tonight and was amazed to hear Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks rate The Sex Pistols over the Clash, who he described as a "pub band" and likened to The Rolling Stones. The Clash have little in common with the Rolling Stones aside from the fact that they both acheived massive success. But whereas The Stones have embraced success and the massive wealth and hedonistic lifestyle that went with it - The Clash were never entirely comfortable with it - and ultimately this was what destroyed them. Comparing the Sex Pistols to the Clash is like comparing Robbie Williams to Bob Dylan or The Spice Girls to The Slits or Patti Smith. Although there is no doubting the vision and energy behind the Pistiols, ultimately they had very little to actually say. They have preached anarchy but they never offered us any kind of concrete vision to replace the establishment that they wanted us to destroy. The Clash, however, were an altogether different kind of band. A band with real and wide ranging musical roots/influences and ideas and Joe Strummer's deeply political views of the world. They sang about things that mattered to them, they connected on a real level with fans and they tried to keep prices down on tickets and records.

On a lighter note one of the other presenters of "Pop on Trial" was Gaz Coobes of Supergrass who I was amazed to see is morphing into Neil young - and her is the evidence:

Gaz Coombes

Neil Young

Fun Boy Three, the 1980s and all that....

It's been a while - my blog has been sadly neglected during a very busy term, which is thankfully now over.

Yesterday I found myself in a strangely 1980s musical mood. I started off listening to Arcade Fire but was then overcome with an overwhelming urge to listen to the Fun Boy Three, Madness, The Jam, Iggy Pop, The Style Council and Eurythmics. I'm not ashamed - I enjoyed it and it's not even my favourite 80s music. The Fun Boy Three are great though, they look very dated if you watch their videos but they wrote great lyrics - I think Terry Hall is one of the most underated lyricists of our time.

There is something about 80s music - it must be the influence of the era. I sometimes wonder if the way I am is because I was a teen in the 80s - it has left me slightly cynical and a bit of a pessimist. Friends who were teens in the 70s seem to have a different outlook on life. The 80s was a bleak time especially politically. On the one hand there was a lot of frivolous stuff going on - lightweight music like Duran Duran and Wham, there were some ridicolous fashions (big hair, the bubble skirt!) and some people were getting rich quick. But on the other side of the coin there was the miners strike, race riots, the National Front were getting big, there was The Falklands War, mass privatisation, The Peace Convoy and the way they were hounded and finally beaten by the police in the infamous Battle of the Beanfield. It was a bleak time for young people too - there was massively high unemployment which was why some people went on the road - or like me went to live in a commune.

Out of this however did come some really great music, which wouldn't have existed without the backdrop of those times - UB40, The Specials, Fun Boy Three, Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Beat etc.

I saw a piece of graffitti recently that read "there's no point in voting, if it changed anything it would be illegal." I understood the sentiment, but I disagree - anyone who lived through the 1980s will tell you - things could be a lot worse.

The Surreal Life of Jelly Babies

When I was a child I had a very wierd book called "Peter Puffer's Fun Book" - it was great and I loved it - a bit like taking an acid trip - although of course I didn't know that at the time. One of the strories was about a family of jelly babies whose mum takes them to visit some relatives on an island by the sea. She tells them not to get their feet wet - but of course because their cousins (who I believe were sea anemones!) were and because the island was about a foot across they couldn't resist it and did - and that is why jelly babies have their feet stuck together. I have no idea why I was thinking about that story today except that I have been stuck at home with a sore throat and a cold. Feeling to groggy to even read a novel I had to resort to DVDs (Fleetwood Mac) and thinking about children's literature.