The Poetry Marathon

Half the class, the better half, take the unpaved path that leads to the top of the lake. Now shoeless, they flop out satchel stuff for inspection. Pencils, a putty pony, a tarp, a box of matches, an adult comic and six apples. Withheld gifts meant for a bad teacher.

The game commences: Four girls stand hold the comic delicately between their teeth. Then, at the sound of the first wood pigeon, the girls bite down and (more…)

Just out of time

impossible ampersands

slow down to accommodate

brutalist bearskin mugs

tipping the tray to Friday

rolling on

And HEY

rolling up for a soaking

to see the main attraction

for miles around

fall to its knees

and go to ground.

To prepare for the marathon I went to the Poetry Library on the South Bank. While browsing, choosing books randomly, a title caught my eye – Barbaric Vast and Wild: A Gathering of Outside and Subterranean Poetry from Origins to Present – and it fell open on a page that featured Library of Unwritten Books, a past art project of mine to collect possible but unrealised ideas for books. I had completely forgotten our inclusion by the editors and actually not seen the anthology due to it being an American title. After the shock of this chance encounter, came a realisation that this is exactly where I want to be, where I continue to draw inspiration from.

Barbaric Vast and Wild will be my companion on the half-marathon with its wonders and eccentricities such as The Kommunist Manifesto, written in West Riding of Yorkshire Dialect and Ode to the Pubic Hair by Gwerful Mechain, a 15th century Welsh poet.

Other preparations include cutting my fringe and cleaning my keyboard. I am wearing mostly white – not so practical for mudlarking, which may intersperse the writing.

Thanks to Jerome Rothenberg and John Bloomberg-Rissman for the inclusion and the inspiration.