Magma Poetry

cracking poems – cracking performances – cracking night

Tim Wells

Carole Bromley

Michael Foley

Maureen Duffy

Dorothea Smartt

Matthew Sweeney

Denrele Ogunwa

Roisin Tierney

Barbara Marsh

Jo Shapcott

Photographs by Rebecca Root.

We’re thrilled to be heading to the friendly and poetry-packed Ledbury Festival this weekend as sponsors of a reading by Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales and Philip Gross, the 2009 year’s winner of the TS Eliot prize.

We’re proud to have published work from both poets in Magma Poetry; Gillian Clarke’s delicate sonnet, ‘Old Libraries’ appeared in a recent issue, and Philip Gross was our Presiding Spirits featured poet a few issues ago, where he wrote a specially commissioned poem and an article about his connection to Basho.

For a devilishly exciting way to spend midsummer eve, we would love for you to join us for the launch reading of Magma 47. The reading takes place on Monday 21 June in the Coffee-House Poetry series at the Troubadour Coffee House, 265 Old Brompton Road, London SW5 . It’s a prompt start at 8 p.m., and you’ll need to come early to bag a seat near the front. Or come even earlier and mingle with poets and the Magma team beforehand over a mushroom omelette and chips in the restaurant upstairs.

Annie Freud will be introducing the evening and co-hosting. A goodly number of poets have each agreed to read a poem, and we are delighted that the Magma showcase poet Dorothea Smartt will be sharing some of her work, plus we are thrilled to confirm that the guest readers are Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney.

“As one who once considered himself in the vanguard of writing as writing, it is difficult for me to describe my feelings when confronted by a new generation of writers who are dedicated not to an exploration of any particular literary dimension I can identify beyond a snotty tone of voice. I know this isn’t something I ever had in mind.

Beyond that, there are a number of other identifiable trends, which I would characterize briefly as: 1) Poems that prove how smart I am; 2) Poems that prove what a master of rhetoric I am; 3) Poems that prove I am a dope addict; and 4) Poems that just generally prove how hard I am to understand in any way…”

Adventurous forms of poetry barely made a showing in the contributions submitted for consideration for Magma 47 – by “adventurous forms” I mean unfamiliar forms, whether old or new, including experimental and invented forms. Even scarcer were poems where these unfamiliar forms were relevant to the poem’s content. Adventurous forms of theatre such as immersive or site-specific are trending at the moment, as a complement to traditional or familiar forms, as writers and performers explore meaning to be found in new spaces. In my view, how theatre uses chosen physical space, and how a poet uses the chosen space of form, have common ground. So why are poets reluctant to take up the challenges of exploring how adventurous forms can add meaning to poetic text?

I have been working as Assistant Editor to Guest Editor Annie Freud who painstakingly read every contribution sent, before making her choices. This gave me the chance to read everything sent in, which was a joyous, humbling and – yes at times – slow process. Most poems submitted are in free form and gloriously cover the whole range of subjects and ideas. And a few are in traditional, familiar forms such as the sonnet and villanelle. But I was surprised how little poetry used adventurously unfamiliar or newer forms – such as the pantoum (an old form but seldom used), concrete or found poetry, the specular or sevenling – when such forms are ripe for exploration. Some did and were extraordinary; and a few were brave enough to try different forms but more as an exercise than as a communication tool. Writing any formal poetry can be challenging, and I know how very hard it is to create a strong poem when experimenting with unknown forms. But is “it’s difficult to do” an excuse for poets not to explore the relationship between different forms and content?