Mark McGuinness, poetry

Which Poets Do You Give the Benefit of the Doubt?

by Mark McGuinness on 30 August, 2010

I’ve just written an article for the Magma Newsletter, titled ‘Which Poets Do You Give the Benefit of the Doubt?’.

The premise is that when we read a poem, our response is mediated by what – if anything – we already know about the poet. So if we encounter a ‘difficult’ poem, then it makes a big difference whether it’s by T.S. Eliot (in which case, we may well give it benefit of the doubt and re-read it to try to penetrate the mystery) or A.N. Other (in which case, we’re much more likely to dismiss it as gibberish).

The article will only appear in the Magma Newsletter, and will come out next week – so if you want to read it, you’ll need to subscribe to the newsletter this week. Which is a smart move anyway, as there’s invariably good stuff in it.

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Elizabeth Bishop – ‘Large Bad Picture’

May 14, 2010

This poem has one of my all-time favourite titles, as well as one of my favourite endings:

In the pink light
the small red sun goes rolling, rolling,
round and round and round at the same height
in perpetual sunset, comprehensive, consoling,
while the ships consider it.
Apparently they have reached their destination.
It would be hard to say what brought [...]

Derek Walcott – ‘A Sea Change’

May 8, 2010

With a change of government the haze of wide rain
which you begin to hear as the ruler hears the crowd
gathering under the balcony, the leader who has promised
the permanent cobalt of a change of government
with the lilac and violet of his cabinet’s change.
I couldn’t resist posting this today. It’s from Walcott’s new collection White Egrets, [...]

Review – Voice Recognition anthology, Sarah Jackson, Andrew Elliott

March 7, 2010

Magma 46 has just been published – it includes my review of Voice Recognition, an excellent anthology of young poets edited by Clare Pollard and James Byrne; Sarah Jackson’s pamphlet Milk; and Lung Soup by Andrew Elliott, which is like nothing you’ve ever read. (I published two of Elliott’s poems in Magma 34, and found [...]

Emily Dickinson on Poetry

February 13, 2010

If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other [...]

Alice Oswald — ‘River’

December 15, 2009

In the black gland of the earth
the tiny inkling of a river
The first impression of these opening lines is of symmetry and contrast: one line for earth, one for water; the silvery tinsel of the river against a black background. And notice how ‘inkling’ is perfect for the hesitant, broken thread of the river, glimpsed [...]

Simon Armitage on Poetry

December 12, 2009

Poetry is about manner as much as it is about matter – the manner in which words behave under certain conditions and in particular surroundings
From the Introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Poem — Okuizome Haiku

December 5, 2009

A little poem for my children’s Okuizome (お食い初め) – a Japanese ceremony performed when children are 100 days old. They are given their first chopsticks and ‘eat’ their first piece of fish. I use inverted commas, as they only pretend to eat!
According to my wife, fish used in Japanese ceremonies must be very fresh, and [...]

James Merrill, ‘Matinees’

December 1, 2009

Das Rheingold condensed to two lines:
Until with pulsing wealth the house is filled,
No-one believing, everybody thrilled.

Haiku of Issa

October 31, 2009

If you’re remotely interested in haiku, you should sign up to receive a daily poem by the haiku master Issa, via e-mail. (You can also pick them up on Twitter, by following @issa_haiku. And there’s an enormous searchable archive of Issa haiku on the site.)
What better way to start the day than by reading something [...]

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