Poems by Sam Riviere

Sam Riviere co-edits the anthology series Stop Sharpening Your Knives, and was a recipient of a 2009 Eric Gregory Award. Faber & Faber published his pamphlet in 2010 as part of their New Poets scheme. These poems are taken from  '81 Austerities', a series currently being published in instalments with supporting material at this place.

CRISIS POEM

In 3 years I have been 'awarded'

£48,000 by various funding bodies

councils and publishing houses

for my contributions to the art

and I would like to acknowledge

the initiatives put in place

by the government and the rigorous

assessment criteria under which

my work has thrived since 2008

I have written 20 or 21 poems

developed a taste for sushi

decent wine bought my acquaintances

many beers many of whom have

never worked a day in their lives

how would you like to touch my palm

and divine how long my working

week has been mostly I watch films

and stare and try to decide what

to wear speaking as a poet I would

rather blow my brains out than run

out of credit as the biographer

of the famously unresolved

50's poet-suicide has commented

capital is the index of meaning

anything is better than stealing

from the Co-Op with a clotted heart

without it you don't survive

CUTS

I can see that things have gotten pretty bad

our way of life threatened by financiers

assortments of phoneys and opportunists

and very soon the things we cherish most

will likely be taken from us the wine

from our cellars our silk gowns and opium

but tell me what do you expect Chung Ling Soo

much ridiculed conjurer of the court and last

of the dynasty of brooms to do about it?

ADVERSITY IN THE ARTS

personally i can’t remember         hearing of a time there was so much     

well-written work being produced        all of it extremely well-written     

S’s first novel is excellent        H's new collection is also excellent

i’m told how nice it is to see that I                 T and E finally have their

books out i'm sure they'll receive        excellent reviews in the broadsheets it's no exaggeration to say that         there are not enough minutes

in the day to give each the attention       they undoubtedly deserve

ONE NOTE SOLO

it depends if he is genuine or not

if he is it is wonderfully expressive

sensitive overt yet subtle brave art

if he is not it is an arrogance and

conceit a concept daring to see

how stupid people can be how much

they can be conned by confidence

it's a confidence trick that if he gets

pleasure from makes him in my eyes

an arsehole to do something like that

although it could be argued if the

audience are aware of his exhibitionism

and enjoy the twist to a normal stage

performance it is of no matter what his

psychology is and he would not be an

arsehole or a twat only he himself

knows how much of his planned act

however planned is motivated by

honesty and how much is disingenuous

absurdism if that distinction can be made

ACTUAL EVIL

naked french girls smoking weed

naked ecuadorian girls drinking cherryade

naked dutch girls watching a philip seymour hoffman dvd

no naked french girls smoking weed

FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN

much against everyone's advice

I have decided to live the life

I want to read about and write it

not by visiting the graves of authors

or moving to london to hear

in my sleep its gothic lullaby

not by going for coastal walks

or being from the north and lathing

every line as an approach it's

way outmoded I run a bath turn

off the lights I think only of

lathering the pale arms of my wife

for now a girl who dreads weekends

then I guess I might as well teach

squandering so as not to squander

this marvellous opportunity right?

poems by Sam Riviere; reprinted with permission of the poet