We all know vaguely who the troubadours were: those minstrels with (in Ezra Pound’s words) “trunk-hose and the light guitar” who wandered through the middle-ages, serenading ladies outside their windows and dodging jealous glances (and arrows) from the lord of the castle. They mastered the game of courtly love, or fin amor, and inspired generations […]
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Machi Tawara, Mount Fuji Tanka Calendar
Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting Machi Tawara when she visited the UK to read at the Ledbury Festival. She kindly gave us a copy of her latest book Mount Fuji Tanka Calendar – a collection of tanka for children and adults, with illustrations of Mount Fuji by U.G. Sato. From the publisher’s […]
Charmless and Interesting: Robert Archambeau on Conceptual Poetry
There’s a thought-provoking article article on the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog, by Robert Archambeau: What Conceptual Poetry Lacks And What It’s Got. In case you, like me, were wondering what he means by conceptual poetry, it turns out to be very similar to the more familiar (ahem) concept of conceptual art, i.e. work in which […]
‘The Whitsun Weddings’: In the Midst of Life We Are in Death
‘The Whitsun Weddings’ is usually regarded as one of Philip Larkin’s brighter poems: a beautiful evocation of romantic love, with newlyweds riding the train to London against a backdrop of town and country scenes. The visual detail is gorgeous, like a succession of paintings by Constable, Lowry and Beryl Cook. In the context of Larkin’s […]
Machi Tawara at Ledbury Festival
When I edited Magma 34 I was thrilled to publish the first translations in the UK of tanka by Machi Tawara. Tawara is a superstar in her native Japan – her first book, Salad Anniversary, sold over 2.5 million copies and she’s a familiar face to TV audiences as well as poetry readers. This Sunday […]