Featured Poet: Kim Moore

Eyewear is very glad to welcome British poet Kim Moore (pictured) this sunny London day. Moore is 29 and works as a peripatetic brass teacher for Cumbria Music Service. She is in the final year of a part-time MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has been published in The TLS, Poetry Review, The North, The Rialto and Ambit - all excellent places. She has read alongside Carol Ann Duffy in the Carol Ann Duffy and Friends readings at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and is the Reviews Editor for The Cadaverine. In 2010 she won the Geoffrey Dearmer prize and in 2011 won an Eric Gregory Award. Keep an eye out for her debut collection, she's one to watch!

The Lighthouse

Every night I go up and down,

tend the lamp. My life is metal.

The light does not behave

as it should, turns on itself

while rocks chew the water.

I set off in a boat at sunrise,

row for hours, but when I close

my eyes, I’m here again,

kneeling at your feet

and still you search the dunes

the light pushing through

the scrub like a wet-nosed dog,

leaving marks on windows

that could be breath, or rain.

Will I know your shape next time,

the trees like twists of grey,

the rocks chewing the water?

Remember how I followed

your light like a child, without

question, without answer?

poem by Kim Moore; published online with permission of the author

Comments

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

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Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...

THIS YEAR'S BAFTAS

Last year, Eva Green won the Rising Star award at the Orange BAFTAs - and this year the ceremonies promise to be even more glamorous. The striking film writers in America silenced the Golden Globes, and look set to do the same for the Oscars, which means London may get a world-class awards night. Eyewear , like all UK citizens, has yet to see some of the films nominated (members get sent copies to watch at home in some instances before general release), but can make some predictions - want to bet? Atonement will likely win Best Film. The Bourne Ultimatum should win Best British Film, though Control may do. The Bourne trilogy was astonishingly good genre work, and has rejuvenated The Bond series in the process, so deserves the kudos. Film Not In The English Language should go to The Lives of Others . Lead Actor will be Daniel Day-Lewis . Lead Actress will be the brilliant Julie Christie , whose work in the superb Canadian film Away From Her was so brave, and moving. Ja...

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