Welcome to UK Poetry - November 2008

New Talent
 

 

Choosing just three young, interesting poets for this issue of PIW United Kingdom was more difficult than it sounds. There are many people in their teens, twenties and early thirties writing so well — with such vigour and confidence — and they deserve recognition and critical appraisal. Good writing’s not easy. It involves risk, trial and error, courage. It involves a serious degree of engagement with one’s chosen art form, and younger poets risk being dismissed or denigrated for their lack of ‘life experience’ — an unfair charge, as we’re all alive, we all have something to say, and age doesn’t necessarily confer wisdom, compassion, clarity, artistic merit or anything else. And some people, let’s face it, live, make mistakes, get angry, love and observe more intensely than others.

I didn’t want to choose three younger poets who wrote about the same things in the same ways. I wanted to feel that each of them was being authentic, writing in a way they felt reflected themselves and their experiences, without worrying too much if they’d be pigeonholed into particular boxes. If everyone of a similar age wrote in the same way, there would be a risk of uniformity, consensus and compliance — and where’s the fun in that?

I really like the way each of the three poets I’ve chosen is influenced by, and admires, very different poets and poems. Some thematic overlapping occurs, of course, because some phenomena are very much part of this generation’s experience. Science, and scientific developments, influence and intrigue each of these writers; so too popular culture, music, film, consumerism, alcohol, urban experiences, most directly in John McCullough and Chris McCabe’s poems and sometimes more obliquely in Helen Mort’s — although she takes us to a tattoo parlour and makes us watch and listen to the needle.

They’ve absorbed and celebrated the creative possibilities of surreal perspectives and each of these poets has a distinctive, refreshing and resonant voice. I hope they carry on staking their claim to be among our most interesting poets, whatever their age – slipping out at night, taking risks, leading us to places we haven’t been before.

About Catherine Smith

Catherine Smith’s latest book of poetry, Lip (Smith/Doorstop) was shortlisted for the Forward prize for best collection 2008. She was previously shortlisted for best first collection in 2001, for her pamphlet The New Bride (Smith/Doorstop) and has won numerous other accolades for her writing, including selection for the Next Generation poets of 2004 and a commendation in the Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition 2006.

She has long been a champion of new and emerging writers, as a vocal supporter and in her role as a teacher of creative writing at the University of Sussex and in various capacities for secondary schools, including through the Poetry Society's Poets in Schools service. We hope you enjoy reading her excellent selection of emerging UK poets in this issue.

Links

Lip at Smith/Doorstop
Catherine's latest book

The National Poetry Competition 2006
Catherine’s commended poem with audio recording

Poets in Schools
The Poetry Society’s liaison service for schools and community groups wishing to bring in education poets to teach workshops on poetry

© Catherine Smith  
 
 

 
• Links (United Kingdom)
• Editor (United Kingdom)
• poems with audio • articles with audio


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