{"id":10450,"date":"2022-01-10T10:55:53","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T10:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/?p=10450"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:50:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T11:50:34","slug":"the-rialto-does-he-still-write-newsletters-newsletter-december-2021-january-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therialto.co.uk\/pages\/2022\/01\/10\/the-rialto-does-he-still-write-newsletters-newsletter-december-2021-january-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rialto Does he still write Newsletters? Newsletter December 2021\/January 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rialto\u00a097<\/em> is printed and subscribers\u2019 copies should have arrived. There\u2019s been a long gap. I suspect that I might have found it difficult to return to the routine of reading submissions, having had a break from doing so while Degna was compiling No. 96. I also suspect that I was startled by the excellence of issue 96<\/a> into thinking its a heck of a hard act to follow.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve written about 96 in the Editorial to the new issue:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a magnificent selection of work that shows poetry turning away from the too frequently quoted, too vengefully misused, half line of WH Auden\u2019s, \u2018poetry makes nothing happen\u2019. In her editorial Degna says: \u2018Covid 19 is only the newest scourge affecting the global community. The pandemic of male violence against women and girls and the pandemic of racism have been with us for a lot longer. That\u2019s before we even get to the human exploitation of the Earth\u2019s resources and inhabitants, social injustice and the unrelenting presence of crushing poverty\u2026\u2019<\/em> She has found poem after poem that invites reflection, thought and action on these urgent matters.\u2019<\/p>\n

I do think Degna\u2019s issue is a poetry magazine above and beyond other poetry magazines. R96<\/em> was the first in our current Arts Council Grant projects (and our thanks go to them for the generous funding). This is an initiative in which some of our assistant editors take charge.\u00a0Rishi Dastidar followed Degna with his project,\u00a0which was to commission and edit a pamphlet for The Rialto.\u00a0Holly Singlehurst\u2019s\u00a0The Sea Turned the Colour of Honey<\/em> was published in September (more about this later). It will be followed by Edward Doegar\u2019s edition of The Rialto, Number 98, which will be published early in 2022. Edward has written his thoughts about his issue \u2013 they can be found on the website, and in No.97. Issue 99 will be selected by me and then issue 100 will be chosen by Will Harris. The final part of this project, which may or may not be published as R101, is to be an anthology to celebrate an hundred issues of the magazine.<\/p>\n

The gap between issues has not been helpful to poets waiting to hear about their submissions. My apologies. There are currently a substantial number of submissions dating from August which remain unread. I will be reading these and choosing poems from them for R99. We are trying to manage Submittable so that we don\u2019t build up a back log.\u2026<\/p>\n

Holly\u2019s pamphlet was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award. Exciting news. It\u2019s one of two Rialto pamphlets shortlisted this year, the other is Selima Hill\u2019s Fridge<\/em>. The Michael Marks Awards have been particularly good, for us, highlighting debut works by new poets, What I Saw<\/em> by Laura Scott (Winner 2014), Wound<\/em> by Richard Scott (Winner 2016), Dodo Provocateur<\/em> by Anita Pati (Shortlisted 2019) and now The Sea Turned the Colour of Honey<\/em> by Holly Singlehurst (Shortlisted 2021).<\/p>\n

And Holly\u2019s pamphlet is very good. Here\u2019s a snapshot poem.<\/p>\n

A WOMAN IS CRYING AT THE TIP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throwing chandeliers into a skip
\nfrom the top of a flight of stairs.<\/p>\n

She thinks of ballet, how bodies
\nland on the stage without breaking.
\nIt is the audience that shatters.<\/p>\n

Holly Singlehurst<\/em><\/p>\n

I think this is wholly marvellous, full of surprises, unexpected juxtapositions, and all managed in six lines (including the title). The poem\/poet leaves acres of space for the imagination of the reader \u2013 the title\/first line introduces drama (character, action, location) but leaves the story (who?what for? why?) up to you. And of course the \u2018tip\u2019 is where you go when you are grieving (house clearance, after a death, a break up, a break down, and so on). I admire the poet who avoids the \u2018poetical\u2019 alliteration and goes for \u2018crying\u2019 instead of \u2018weeping\u2019.\u00a0 And I also like the way that \u2018crying\u2019, by being placed in the middle of the line, becomes an interesting word, a choice that suggests you think about it. Then what? \u2018Throwing chandeliers into a skip.\u2019 This, with the succeeding line, becomes, for me, antique Hollywood, 1950s, black and white, full orchestra. Whereas it is in fact purely demotic. We have such stairs at our local tip, green, cousins of the airport ones with a bit of a wobble. (Note the \u2018tip\u2019\/\u2018skip\u2019 rhyme slipped in).And in the second half of the poem we are in a theatre. I like the anonymity of \u2018She\u2019 (also the fact that it heads the triplet): is \u2018she\u2019 the woman of the title? the poet? or the reader\/audience? And there\u2019s Holly\u2019s gift for placing words again, three strong words before the caesuras, \u2018ballet\u2019, \u2018stage\u2019, \u2018audience\u2019 and three strong words as line endings, \u2018bodies\u2019, \u2018breaking\u2019, \u2018shatters\u2019. I was thinking about \u2018shatters\u2019 and its meaning (as well as the way it binds in with the thrown chandeliers). It\u2019s not often that Aristotle drifts into my mind these days, but here he is with his notion of Tragedy and Catharsis, which I\u2019m equating with the shattered audience. And I\u2019m willing to bet that if the lost episode of The Poetics dealing with Comedy ever turns up he\u2019ll be proposing an equally socially useful notion for the effect of comedy.<\/p>\n

The truly neat thing about Holly\u2019s poem is that, stranded as it is at the still point of its creation, it doesn\u2019t choose between tragedy or comedy. Those of you who already have the pamphlet will know that this poem is on page 12 and that facing it on page 13 is a poem whose fifth and sixth lines are,<\/p>\n

When a man makes miracles happen he is God,
\nand when a woman walks on water she is burnt\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m hoping I\u2019ve said enough to convince you that you have to have this pamphlet. Here\u2019s another poem<\/p>\n

BLUE WATER<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw you by the water,
\nby the blue water.
\nYou were washing
\nyour bones.<\/p>\n

You dipped them
\nbeneath the surface,
\ntwisted them, placed
\nthem into my hands.<\/p>\n

They were light as birds\u2019 bones.
\nThey made my palms wet.<\/p>\n

But these are your bones<\/em>
\nI said<\/p>\n

You said,
\nI do not need them,<\/em>
\nwhere I am going.<\/em><\/p>\n

Holly Singlehurst<\/em><\/p>\n

I like the confident simplicity of the writing; most of the words are monosyllabic, there are none with more than two syllables, the sentences have very uncomplicated syntax. The opening sentence has the resonance of a lullaby or a traditional ballad: the abrupt shock of the second sentence, throws me into a gothic world (Keats\u2019 \u2018La belle Dame Sans Merci\u2019, comes into my head, or the recollection of those, maybe forgotten, heroes, The Incredible String Band). The hinge of the poem is the ninth and tenth lines \u2013 \u2018They were\/They made\u2019 and again it\u2019s the simple directness that I notice. I know this writer has responded, for example, to the amazing lightness of an owl in your arms. It\u2019s probably fantastical of me to note that \u2018palms\u2019 is an anagram of \u2018psalm\u2019. Again the story (\u2018What\u2019s it about?\u2019) is up to the reader, but look at the way the writing leads you on with the skillfully placed \u2018I said\/ \u2026\u2026 You said\u2019.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve chosen to write about two quite small, thin poems. Holly showcases all shapes and sizes of poems, including several, \u2018Purple Rain\u2019, \u2018All Shook Up\u2019, \u2018The Girl\u2019s Monologue\u2019 and the Greenland Shark poem, which occupy full pages. And there are plenty in between in size and shape. I think, and have always thought, that, when it\u2019s not a meditation on a single theme (there were 19 poems in Blake\u2019s Songs of Innocence, 26 in the follow up Songs of Experience), a pamphlet is a Sampler, an excellent opportunity for a poet to demonstrate their skills and interests. The Sea Turned the Colour of Honey goes a bit further than this: it announces the presence of an accomplished poet.<\/p>\n

You can read more or buy Holly’s pamphlet here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

R97<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what is in R97? There are 53 poets and 70 poems. There\u2019s also Daljit Nagra\u2019s Judge\u2019s report on the last Nature and Place Competition and Edward Doegar writing about the poetry he\u2019s looking for for issue 98. Here\u2019s a list of the poets: Jill Abram, Chrissy Banks, Heidi Beck, Connie Bensley, Jo Bratten, Jane Burn, Rachel Burns, Kayleigh Campbell, Ben Carr, Regi Claire, Harry Clough, Poppy Cockburn, Simon Costello, Tim Craven, Mark Czanik, Sarah Davies, Sarah L Dixon, Carrie Etter, Georgie Evans, Helen Evans, Jeff Gallagher, Charlotte Gann, Miranda Green, Lydia Harris, Matt Haw, Nicola Healey, Stuart Henson, Georgia Hilton, Matt Howard, NJ Hynes, Julie Irigaray, Anthony Lawrence, Jane Lovell, Hugh McMillan, James Midgley, Rosie Miles, Graham Mort, JLM Morton, Jennie E Owen, Anita Pati, Ilse Pedler, Kathy Pimlott, Elvire Roberts, Peter Ramm, Dipanjali Roy, Mark Russell, Alicia Stubbersfield, Paul Tanner, Jay Whittaker, Alex Willard, Roddy Williams, Anthony Wilson.<\/p>\n

Two names completely new to me, Ben Carr and Paul Tanner. Lots of great poems (he would say that wouldn\u2019t he) and I\u2019m going to give one sample poem \u2013 not because it\u2019s a great poem, which it is, but because it turned up on a dour day and made me joyful.<\/p>\n

TO THE BATCAVE!<\/strong><\/p>\n

A train to Brighton fast, via Gatwick
\na cab to The Batcave on Buller Road.
\nBatman met me at the junction. It seems
\na suspicious package was reported.
\nFolded armed police were stood on corners.
\nIt\u2019s sorted, Batman said, ambiguous,
\ninterrupted by a woman with a dog.
\nThe man from number ninety-five, he tried
\nto kill me, so she said, but far too calmly.
\nThings on stove, said Batman. We have to go!<\/p>\n

The man from number ninety-five was left
\nto be dealt with on another evening.
\nBat-things needed to be done in darkness
\nwhile crimewaves raged along the marina.<\/p>\n

Roddy Williams<\/em><\/p>\n

The Magazine is available to buy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IN OTHER NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nature and Place:\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m hoping that festivities and Omicron haven\u2019t prevented you from getting out and spending time in Nature (as I\u2019ve noticed people say these days). And that the discoveries of your adventures will turn into poems for our\u00a0Nature and Place Poetry\u00a0Competition<\/a>. I find it interesting, looking back at the poems Daljit chose as winners (see R97 pp 12 – 16) to wonder what kinds of poems this year\u2019s judge Gillian Clarke will select. It\u2019s important for the health of the competition (and of poetry in general) to have such a rich diversity of judges. Closing date is March 1st.<\/p>\n

Anita Pati\u2019s first full collection, Hiding To Nothing<\/em>, is being published in April 2022 by Pavilion Poetry, Liverpool University Press. A brilliant addition to their excellent poetry list. We still have copies of Anita\u2019s Michael Marks shortlisted pamphlet Dodo Provocateur.<\/p>\n

Matt Howard has started his two year appointment at Leeds University as the Douglas Caster Poetry Fellow. Lucky Leeds \u2013 Matt\u2019s commitment to poetry is as intense and thoroughly grounded as his commitment to environmental causes. And we still have a few copies of Matt\u2019s Award Winning first collection Gall<\/a> (or if you live in Norwich you\u2019ll find it at The Book Hive).<\/p>\n

Submittable \u2013 our Submittable portal is currently only open for entries to the Nature and Place Poetry Competition<\/a>. We anticipate that it will re-open for submissions to The Rialto 98 at some point this month.<\/p>\n

Best hopes and best wishes for 2022<\/p>\n

Michael Mackmin\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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