Salmon In London October 17!

Eyewear recommends: First reading at The Troubdour this season!

Mon 17 oct: celebrating thirty years of galway’s salmon poetry

with julian stannard, lorna shaughnessy, todd swift, nessa o’mahony, alan jude moore, noel monahan, anne le marquand hartigan, (ed.) jessie lendennie and guitarist henry fajemirokun

Inspired by the Salmon of Knowledge in Celtic mythology, Salmon Press was established in Galway in 1981 as an alternative voice in Irish literature, and has published 300 volumes of poetry over the past 30 years.

v Julian Stannard taught English & American Lit. at University of Genoa for many years—The Parrots of Villa Gruber Discover Lapis Lazuli (2011) completes his Genoese trilogy;

v Lorna Shaughnessy has published translations of contemporary Mexican poetry—most recent poetry collection, Witness Trees (2011);

v Todd Swift lectures in creative writing at Kingston University and is Oxfam poet-in-residence, collections include Seaway: New & Selected Poems (2008);

v Nessa O'Mahony won the National Women's Poetry Competition—her verse-novel In Sight of Home was published in 2009;

v Alan Jude Moore has been short-listed twice for the Hennessy Prize; his third collection is Strasbourg (2011);

v Noel Monahan’s fifth Salmon collection is Curve of the Moon (2010)—his poetry is now prescribed text for Leaving Certificate English;

v Anne Le Marquand Hartigan's seventh collection will be Unsweet Dreams: Poems of Laughter, Wit and Sex (Oct, 2011)—her prose includes Clearing The Space, the Why of Writing (1996);

v Salmon Poetry co-founder/ed. Jessie Lendennie has edited anthologies, and a book of essays, Poetry: Reading It, Writing It, Publishing It (2009)—latest poetry collection, Walking Here (2011);

¯ with music from singer/guitarist Henry Fajemirokun.

readings MONDAYS from 8 to 10 pm, tickets £7 concessions £6,
season tickets 30% off…
cheques payable to Coffee-House Poetry at PO Box address below, no credit cards

events at: 263-267 Old Brompton Road LONDON SW5
(no mail to this address, see correspondence address below)
nr. junct. Earls Court Rd & Old Brompton Rd
nearest Tube station: Earls Court (District & Piccadilly Lines)

for information, advance booking, season ticket & mailing list enquiries,
write to Anne-Marie Fyfe
at Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON, W4 1ZP
or e-mail: CoffPoetry@aol.com

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. What do I mean by smart?

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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