issue 12 by Rebecca Sheppard

Freshers’ issue, 2010

www.dur.ac.uk/grove

STUDENT POETRY • UNIVERSITY CLUBS & SOCIETIES • UPCOMING EVENTS

XII

THE TEAM’S PAGE Hello and welcome to the special freshers’ issue of The Grove, Durham’s student poetry and literary journal. This issue we are proud to feature the work of the esteemed Durham Poetry Society; there’s an eclectic mix of style and subject that demonstrates the society’s penchant for a melting pot of members. We also have a section that acts as a guide to various “cultural” societies at the university, so hopefully this will give you a further idea of the range of groups out there to join. Each society has also provided contact details, so if you’re interested in getting involved just drop them a line. At the end of the magazine we’ve also featured some listings, so that you can see what’s going on around Durham in the next few weeks. The Grove itself is published twice a term (but only once in the summer term), and we’re always looking out for new submissions whether it is short prose, poetry or essays for our “centrefold” section. Our normal format has five sections: student writing, English writing, translations, centrefold and events. If you are interested in publishing in Issue 12, feel free to send your work to us at: grove@dur.ac.uk. Similarly, if you’d like to get involved with the editing/organisational side of the journal, we’d love to hear from you, as we will be setting up next year’s exec. throughout the year. We’ll also be holding an open mic night at Fish Tank in conjunction with Durham Book Festival on Tuesday 19th October - come along and find out more about The Grove and listen to a remarkable range of poets reading their work aloud. It’s a free event, so there’s no excuse not to be there! Enjoy the issue and being a fresher… - The Grove Team

THE GROVE IS FUNDED BY

CONTENTS Student POETRY page 4 “Against Snakes (Old Babylonian Tablet)” by John Clegg 5 “Double Agent” by John Clegg 5 “Lure” by John Clegg 6 “The Mysteries” by John Clegg 6 “Untitled” by Anna Moss 7 “Love Machine” by Anna Moss 7 “Every rose has to die” by Sam Raybone 7 “A lesson in love” by Sam Raybone 8 “Words for Meryl” by Sam Raybone 8 “Her memory fades” by Sam Raybone 8 “Constellations” by Reetta Humalajoki 9 “Loppiainen (January 6th)” by Reetta Humalajoki 9 “Watching” by Reetta Humalajoki 10 “Seasonal Adultery” by Reetta Humalajoki 10 “Constellations” by Reetta Humalajoki “Almost Home” by Reetta Humalajoki 11 13 “An Apparition” by Reetta Humalajoki 14 “The Owlet” by Sohinee Sen 15 “The sum of our losses” by Sohinee Sen “Absence makes the furniture stronger” 15 by Sohinee Sen 16 “January” by Sohinee Sen 16 “Summer swarm” by Jan Felix “Rhododendron” by Jan Felix 17 18 “A Holding” by Jan Felix 19 “The night kaleidoscope” by Jan Felix 19 “How do” by Jan Felix 20 “Sang the moon to the willow” by Jan Felix 21 “Claustrophilia” by Matthew Griffiths 22 “The Widow MacKay” by Matthew Griffiths 22 “Fantasia for Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” by Matthew Griffiths

“Elegy in blues minor” by Matthew Griffiths “Out of Phase” by Matthew Griffiths “October Illness” by Jamie Baxter “Afterwards” by Jamie Baxter “A Fantastic Poem” by Jamie Baxter “Close” by Jamie Baxter “Paradise” by Thom Addinall-Biddulph “Surreal Dawn #1” by Thom Addinall-Biddulph “Love” by Thom Addinall-Biddulph “Temple” by Thom Addinall-Biddulph “Theremin” by Thom Addinall-Biddulph “The Sphere” by Priya Church “3 Haiku’s For The Lonesome” by Kier Swaffield

24 24 25 25 25 26 26 28

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

EVENTS LISTINGS

THE GROVE TEAM ARE Editor-in-Chief: Emily Chester; Deputy Editor: Lyndsey Fineran; Acting Editor: Alex Mason; Deputy Acting Editors: Ettie Holland, Sasha Magill; Section Editors: John Clegg, Becca Sheppard, Kate Hutchings, Alexis Grigorieff Sub-Editors: Lyndsey Fineran, Ella Colquhoun-Cole, Will Hanson, Astha SharmaPokharel, Lee-Mey Goh, Louis Campbell-Stievenard, Jamie Baxter, Laura Mosley, Emma Charles, Lorna Urwin

29 30 32 32 33

STUDENT POETRY The poems printed here are all by members of Poetry Society (for details of which see elsewhere in the magazine). Several have also been developed following discussion of them at our fortnightly critique sessions. They display the range of themes and styles that our student poets use, as well as the influences. Some poems here are humorous and sensual; others are elegiac and savage. There’s a set of haikus, and an ode to an American singer. The range of backgrounds is equally impressive, whether Finland, India, Trinidad, Germany, or Birmingham. The range of experience is also a vital component of the selection: many of these poems are, while not confessional, very much personal, reflecting on the poet’s own travails whilst providing the reader with a number of- often unexpected- thoughts. Several of our poets, including some represented here, have already been published outside of Durham. The poems have been selected to show the best of Poetry Society’s collective output, and hopefully this year will see even more poets and an even greater range of poems! john clegg

Against Snakes (Old Babylonian tablet) Scales coloured palmwood mulch, the snake waits coiled in the rafters, coiled in the rushes. He strikes with two heads, seven forked tongues, seven venom-sacs. I captured one of every snake: Sammanu, forest serpent, Subadu, who resists all incantations, Sanapsahuru, snake with speckled eyes, the eel-snake, the hisser at my window. The hisser at my window entered through a hole then scarpered past the threshold when he saw me. Fleeing, he bowled over a gazelle, he wound himself among the withered oak.

STUDENT POETRY

Double Agent I took a slip-road off sleep’s autobahn and wound up on the disputed border. They pressed record on the tape-recorder, lit a cigarette and offered me one. I asked if this was an interrogation. Speechlessly the patrolman underscored a sentence: Travel permit not in order. Over the fog a chopper swum or a swan. I lied hard to them. Whatever they made of my story, the barrier lifted, the soldier leaning on it stepped aside, and I woke up here afraid that the balance had stirred or shifted between the promise and the swelling debt.

Lure Between two mirrors, a woodlouse married a flea. This was my peepshow. The village menfolk would bundle in to bitch over kvass or woodchip liquor until their wives came to haul them out, which saved the expense of a doorman. I kept it all to bribe the inspector. In my first week, somebody told me how to catch reindeer: their eyesight so blurry a herder with arms raised might be mistaken for a mate’s antlers. Your buddy crept up behind to net it. I never saw a successful attempt. In the meantime, government quotas were leaving the herders out of pocket and putting my peepshow out of business. I befriended the village’s inner circle 5

John Clegg

STUDENT POETRY

who’d built a religion out of gossip. On New Year we ate rancid butter and dribbled hot wax over ice to see the future, which held up its arms to mimic antlers, willing the beckon.

The Mysteries In Rome’s long autumn I stole a jewelled phallus from Cybele’s temple. History happened. I drank from the Tiber, throat slit by my fence: a sleeper agent, priestess in the Mysteries. In tenement doorways hushed conversations pick round me carefully. My corpse is crabmeat. Wind peers through keyholes, rain turns leaves blood-coloured. Luca my murderess chiselled this tablet.

Anna Moss

Untitled I was scaling this wall, bound for a Fall But anyway I shimmied, stroked myself up it, pushed my hands into grooves like a child and held on pretending to just be looking at the stars when really really I just wanted your knots against my chest ready and willing to forget jealous brambles that bit and seamy worms that rubbed and rubbed. The moss was (is) dormant 6

STUDENT POETRY So rocks were to rend and split my dewy skin Grazed knees are fine though. Not painful. Not like you.

Love Machine “Let’s take you home” you say with warm soft (metal) hands My skinny new born legs in step with your jeans tapered to the ankles, Headed towards your junk yard factory Where I can hide beneath your (metal) skin. Eyes blue as electric lights twist upon mine, wanting to Hammer away. I’ll plug you in, alright. Tight like a bolt. Tell me baby, was I any good? Sam Raybone

Every rose has to die Every rose has to die; Its beauty marred by fate. All that is red will turn To black & all that is Good will go.

A lesson in love Glass red shards Crunch Underfoot. A truck of Stolen memories Sulks in your car. You try to escape. I shall not Chase that fallen star. 7

Anna Moss

Sam Raybone

STUDENT POETRY

Like fine art, You leave your Handprint; In Acid Upon my heart.

Words for Meryl Words are fraught with danger, an Imperfect Medium for complex emotions such as these. Love is bigger than four, ignorant letters. When one soul finds another Compatible, Combustible, It sparks meaning: illuminates this cave, where for so long I struggled blind.

Her memory fades Nature abides Humanity alive But when we fade She takes no pause They unsheathe her claws And rub Away Each trace of human toil With rain and weeds And moss and soil.

STUDENT POETRY Reetta Humalajoki

Loppiainen ( January 6th) As the time seeps nearer for me to leave, the days stop getting lighter, instead growing heavy. We find omitted words with the last needles, clinging to the branches of the Christmas tree and I breathe deeply only in the heaving air of the damp cellar room. Some afternoons it is unclear whether the snow is falling or the air has become endless static.

Watching I wish one day to see you undetected, To see if there are traces of me when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re unaware. Perhaps my morning scent can leave a translucent trail. Or maybe I become an extra beat of your eyelids, the last image you took in the night before.

Reetta Humalajoki

STUDENT POETRY

I wish one day to see you undetected. I’d like to know if I surround you when I’m not there.

Seasonal Adultery I am still with winter. It’s brisk, penetrating with a chill. But spring air gets inside, an inhalation into the sinews of my toes and winds through the knuckles like a ribbon, or a leash. It gasps excitement in my ear, a touch when my lover’s not at home. The wind blows a branch into my window. Green leaves neat as teeth A seductive smile that lingers when I’m on my own.

Constellations I am not an expert of astronomy, but I like to look at stars. Name and create my own patterns, askew like a dropped loop in my knitting. Over there is the Jumping Lady, that big brilliant dot is her knee 10

STUDENT POETRY bent in mid-leap over the starry stream. And there behind her, the Golden Rake, with the light of those four prongs, Lemminkäinen’s mum found his limbs in the swamp. Next are the Slender Parallels, Slanted slightly, one towards the other. Last night as we lay on your duvet I searched for constellations on your ceiling. All I found was a little spider, a negative of the North Star retreating into the corner of your room.

Almost Home When you said summer, I wasn’t thinking Pimms or riverside picnics to the shout of rowers speeding past. Because rowing isn’t strength or endurance in a long plastic boat, It’s tottering round in circles in a wide, clumsy dinghy with wooden oars that give you blisters Just by looking at them. And it’s heading across a lake Like adventurers to discover An island you’ve been to several times before. I wonder if that monstrous fish head will still be there, nailed to that tree? And if we’ll scare ourselves making stories About where it came from Or how big it was alive. 11

Reetta Humalajoki

STUDENT POETRY

My friend, my mirror image, and I, We’ll afterwards close ourselves Into the steam of our memories, Fuel them with heat, throwing water at stones Til our skin is so tender we can draw smiley faces in it With our fingers. We’ll duck from the harshest blows of the stove Into our knees, and gasp as it stings our backs. Stings so we have to run out in just our skin and leap Over roots and cool sand to jump off the dock into water still freezing in July. Forced to laugh and shriek at the contrast, Start climbing out but C’mon, I dare you, once more! Because this isn’t England, this isn’t England! This is a place where you are The Other And I am your only hope of glimpsing in. At an understanding of the beauty Of staying up talking til it gets dark, Which is never Of going out bicycle riding At 2 AM in the glow of the sun’s embers and blowing laughter Til they catch a full blaze And it’s daylight. And then we sleep. At home I’ll feed dandelions to my little canine brother, To praise him for running me over While I was asleep on the lawn. He’ll provide me with kisses, While I’m away from you They’re only slightly wetter than yours. I’ll walk him in the shelter Of the coniferous trees Listening to the rustling breeze And nothing else. 12

STUDENT POETRY In the evenings I sit watching the sun Wink on the lake’s surface, Like little swimming stars, Feet stretched out into the mixture of sand and orange pineneedles From the year before. My ciders all lined up by my side, Gooseberry, rhubarb, strawberry-vanilla, And hope the breeze will ebb Long enough to remove my cardigan. And that’s just in the city. Sometimes mother and I will climb in the car, Drive past rapeseed fields and industrial forests in turn Gold, green, gold, brown green Drive to listen to elderly laughter and eat potatoes and meat And freshly baked pastries You don’t even have a word for. On the way back sit sharing Our versions of those times, me at 3, Got carsick in the car, but we couldn’t stop. So I’ll sleep in the basement again, With the knowledge everyone is over head, Hear paws clattering and my dad, Sometimes singing songs, Songs by that Finnish peasant rock band. I’ll be curled up with my teddy bears, Because You’ll be more than a minute away. But it will be okay. Because it has to be. Because there I am most me.

An Apparition By the end she could not say when it had begun. Perhaps she’d felt that nightly image 13

Reetta Humalajoki

STUDENT POETRY

ever since she had left home. Gradually it lapped into day-time, a split-second outline in every blink. A porous sketch on the inside of her eyelids. The longer she stayed away, the deeper it carved into her vision. She began to see the world always through a veil of upward lines and curved tops. As the faces of friends, acquaintances, turned translucent and dull, the images became more vivid, meshed tints of yellow-green and the browns of dirt and bark. Until she could no longer see through it, and tripped on familiar stairs, poured wine on the table and not in the glass. Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all she can see. A wooden blindness, an obscuring forest. Trees upon trees, behind trees, surrounded by trees. The woods from home, come to live within.

Sohinee Sen

The Owlet The snow was sticky. A thick cotton blanket that my feet were enchanted by. Your family four steps ahead paced the wood with homestead familiarity 14

STUDENT POETRY these trees, these brooks this county all stood attached to your name. We lingered, fell back and whispered in our own tongues of trees and woods of our place. A place I have come to think of home. The riotous North’s small carolling a tuneless melody through me. I pictured you there in the place we’d known here whilst walking the wood’s bright from early winter whitefall, wanting only space, and more.

The sum of all our losses oak-soaked large wooden planks line windows of the disused. that was, years back, a hardware shop Daddy took me to, buying first Wellingtons. the crisp bottle green sign matched Christmas that year as October rain slid off my tiny feet and I waited patiently for puddles. Now walking by, boarded up, brown peeling paintwork except for the small patch of conifer and a vague sense of polka dots on PVC.

Absence makes the furniture stronger When you are not here the warm oak cabinet shivers its weight into snow drenched ground and declines to open. 15

Sohinee Sen

STUDENT POETRY

January Birthday seasons, As if the skies sweetened And your staid smile turned rosy. The woods were snowy, the light meandering frost still wandering pathways searching for dew to steal. Metamorphose, the benedictions of the medieval brought to mind and upturned, the Modern now the future The future now days and days Afterwards.

Jan Felix

Summer swarm The forest fire smells delicious: all those many hives blackening, blackening. And the bees are trapped; a whole world-cage of heat eats and eats up the angry buzzing. Now the fire will become the swarm; a storm! No eye, just one terrible mind and hunger. A conflagration! Such a celebration, the air glows with consumption; all the many pollens are a million brief embers that dance like sinners at red generous tongues, 16

STUDENT POETRY float out upon the hot, black air-streams, and finally down. Made dust. But such a life dust this is yet, and though once all is doused a great death plain and sky greet the eye, there remains a hope in the turn of seasons, a simple act of kindness, one seed, and the land is not yet lost. And whether by the breath of God, the wind of fate, or some erratic, nameless turbulence of algebra: kindness remains kindness, the life drive is endless.

Rhododendron Such vile rhododendron acids, scorched earth sky, the blithe children that yet roam find a strange significance at the red budsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; night scent haemorrhage; hypnotistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; watch while under the paved earth the poisonous roots spread like greedy fingers. 17

Jan Felix

STUDENT POETRY

A holding Folding the shadows away like paper, A brightness growing: All depth, time Dissolving And days thickening to water A tangible flow, Seconds Silver flecked, As strange fish darting. Hither and whence: A brightening dusk, A darkening dawn, And shadows folding away like paper Days: thin whiteness, Days folding away like memories, Shadows â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A light is rising. There is a heat, Strange heat And moments Losing Borders Are becoming Endless. But for the one true Terminus A blueing light: A blueing light, Always. 18

STUDENT POETRY The folded days a dead breath shadowpaper.

The night kaleidoscope The night kaleidoscope Turns Turns Repatterns those thoughts, will not cease that crescendo of sullen complexities, Bolder

and

Aggravated symmetry bolder

Relayering and layering At some wild uncaged logic and spinning the grey silk night to an infinite Fractic-almost-absurdity That seems and at the seams, almost familiar.

How do You do and yet donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really respond, 19

Jan Felix

STUDENT POETRY

just beckon and get and take or give two sugars or three? with your leaves stewed and boiled and the entrails not read but bagged and tossed back at randomness. and the morning walk doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave me wanting the destination or outset point, but the walk is nice, when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cold and the frost has made chaos of boundaries.

Sang the moon to the willow I have had to make you less beautiful sang the moon to the willow, that, with the same great arms that wrest the oceans has taken up the wind at night, in secret, and slowly crooked her boughs, changed her stature that was once mighty; now stooped, lowly.

STUDENT POETRY And though for perception’s sake the moon may now glimpse the unobtainable without such torment as before the barbs of love sunk deeper: the moon has scars to show for it. Matthew Griffiths

Claustrophilia I have found my niche in booths, enshrined my place in life behind partitions, chairbacks, shelves. Let me explain – my childhood was a box too big to hold me, so I chrysallised inside my duvet, where change happened. When I emerged, I sought support from brick facades for my new bones and at parties, I always fought my corner. My first vote saw me add the pleasure of a third dimension to my walled world. The cross I spilled onto the ballot paper was a black, excited thing. Then came the guilt. I had to find religion, all its wooden doors, to take me in. Soon, I would not stand for a urinal, loving to slide home the lavatory’s bolt, feel the shower screen’s rubber edge meet its mate. Now, I eat in cafés, savouring high backs and low lights more than meals. 21

Jan Felix

Matthew Griffiths

STUDENT POETRY

And, O, the precious moment between fire doors! All that I have left to long for is the day they measure all my sides to make the perfect box in which to sleep.

The Widow MacKay

“the hey-day in the blood” – Hamlet Here I am, thinks the widow MacKay – her gloved fingertips about to brush time that settles unseemly on her lieutenant’s lapel, but held to reflect – here I am in strange clothes, she thinks. They rest on my skin between him and us, and are new though I wore them two decades ago. I am old-fashioned, suddenly younger than then; where my skin meets the world the world buzzes. Somewhere at the end of my arm, his fingers collect my fingers. His watch-tick echoes. His wry patience wants an untimed, orderly life. He has asked me to dance from, she thinks, myself – from inside my costume, so it stands there in the past. But I shan’t feel him hold me. Without moving, the widow MacKay traces her skin, her nerves, her blood.

Fantasia for Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy also, for Andrew Pidoux

Spare as notes the lo-fi stars pick themselves out on night. 22

STUDENT POETRY On the desert’s low instrument crickets tune up strings of grass. Bonnie Billy sits in the bole of a telegraph tree that gathers wires from the air. A straw hat mutes his mouth’s saxophone, filters his maudlin melody of voice into words. Fireflies light on Billy’s song as the cold unwraps his breaths. Tears run down night’s face, remind the desert’s dry lips of salt’s taste. Carnivores start to gnaw the horizon and sunlight seeps from the wound, while Billy watches with squidlike eyes, a sucker to his guitar. ‘This is how I start another day in my kingdom.’ His smile waltzes through the whorls of his beard, a white phantom to a phantom chord. 23

Matthew Griffiths

STUDENT POETRY

Elegy in blues minor The high-toned player lies in state with whiskey bottle and saxophone. The late arrivals lament the late man’s last record being his final one. Their boys in ties and shorts run round his empty house – they’re hunting for his dressing-up box of sound. They cannot know the final score composed in liverspots by age from the treble clef of one ear across his forehead’s screwed-up stave. Stars shimmer in a final tear. Those boys are in the old man’s loft – it had played back his final notes, and in the late light’s shafts of soft dust, new melodies rumble in their throats.

Out of Phase Mist and wet eyesight fatten the moon. In their old places, my walking bones Transmit remembered flesh onto themselves Humming you into my lips. Swift, shifting air interferes with the nape Of my neck: it will be your breath Until I can bring myself to turn and look.

Jamie Baxter

October Illness I arrive in awkward reverence to something so soft and ill. 24

STUDENT POETRY

Jamie Baxter

We know the place, it is the events which are foreign. The days twist and cut themselves into twos or threes. Memories prop our minds up into normality – that distant reality. Nothing I bring will help (I’m not some kind of saint, I just really love you.)

Afterwards Afterwards, he went downstairs and read many poets. The basement still had windows and these told him it was trying to snow, yet was too cold. Too cold as he sat in the basement afterwards, reading. He was beginning to dwell on her again. There was no point in keeping lists of them. He’d forgotten all he’d learnt this morning and, as always, all he’d felt last night. The many poets weren’t really telling him much – but he read them anyway. He can’t properly read anything with… the snow, yes! the snow, with worrying about the snow; So many poets to read, so many decisions to not make, so many hours to fill without anyone in that basement, reading.

A Fantastic Poem after Dostoyevsky Although I seem to myself the Ridiculous Man (before his dream I should add) I do still find myself purposeful with moments, sometimes dreadfully so, and I wish you might stop me, but you don’t. I come crashing in with every day I have imagined, then 25

Jamie Baxter

STUDENT POETRY

bound to not happen and of course things go wrong: I arrive too late, she leaves too soon always it is time. I should never like to have that dream where I am in a painfully circular way the corrupted and the corruptor. This is enough, this moral burden I have weighed upon myself: not to be holy but an accepted level of good. I’m going to have to apologise for all this, not like me at all. I’m normally much more censored, if you give me enough time I’ll clear all this up.

Close So when we lay in my car together was this special or was she just cold, alone and lying through her skin? Her phone shivered and she stroked it kindly and so close she thought I couldn’t hear the little noises she made, her snake-like soliloquy. The night had to hold me and set my mind so dark I couldn’t think of how once I had held her that close. Thom Addinall-Biddulph

Paradise Paradise is The anaesthetising sickening Each time Your deep-forest-eyed Picture Glances past the Sheer cliffs Of my Vision 26

STUDENT POETRY Paradise is Knowing that Knowledge is, Like everything, In the final statement A vanishing Dot in The trilling Ether Paradise is The screaming mania Of a race Doomed before It evolved Not by self or Degeneration But by Having the Audacity Ever to allow Its atoms To coalesce In to The unified At all Paradise is Ten thousand madnesses Scrabbling blinded In the Diseased halls Of your supernova Mind Paradise is Darkness Covering and Giving cover to All Unspeakable Yet snuggling you From the dominion 27

Thom Addinall-Biddulph

STUDENT POETRY

Of the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Razorblade rays Paradise is Death Oblivion yawning out in to The cold ocean-continuum Paradise is Glinting blades in heaven Scything in to North and south Monsooning horror On to Decompressed pavements Paradise is Sunday morning In the halls of ancient blood Drowsing through Hellfire And gazing half-ascended In to Coloured crazy Air Paradise is All that fall All that call All that maul Paradise is Now And Everywhere Stop hoping And Exist

STUDENT POETRY

Surreal Dawn #1 Snake eyes Glaring through Gauze verdant Boring in to my Hut A faint flash Of Energy arcing Through the nothingness Biting savage Poisoning Bon Echo Above my Writhing mind Dawn was watched there Torturing the Lake in to daylight And life An implacable, explosive Tyrant Forcing everything To the domination Of the light

Love I)

The mongoose And the snake Wrestling eternally In the Psychotic sand

II)

H-bomb Blinding all your Cells in to Stupefaction And insanity 29

Thom Addinall-Biddulph

STUDENT POETRY

III)

Ripping you viscerally Screaming your maddened fool joy Irradiating your brain in Cupidic mutilation

IV)

Random symphony Nerve’s electric impulse A keyboard note Fork lightning feeling The singer’s snarl: All, all, all we are, are, are

Temple Procession To the Higher Altar Church leaders Watch with Eyed wisdom The priestess incants (οραω τελον) As the light appears As the congregation Gathered Stretch towards it Godhead revealed The chanting The hollering Begins Reverie floods Over the Nave Rapture sinking into Stained carpet All watch from Scatter pews 30

STUDENT POETRY The deacon Blesses the Child Who descends From the heavens Clutching a firetruck Benediction of the Preterite The believers, Our people Sacristy bell Rings And Jane Answers someone Speaks from another Faith And the mass Half-listens First light retreats Godhead, false idol As the priestess Dismisses him And another Light Lumen de lumine Alchemises everything to Holy, catholic, apostolic Gold The mass is ended The congregation Go in something not quite But better than, peace Laughing into the Garden Knowing the true Divine, Awaiting the archbishop Who is absorbed in vision (Or an armchair) Inside 31

Thom Addinall-Biddulph

STUDENT POETRY

After three hours He will rise again In accordance with our scriptures

Theremin You haunt the Language of my soul That creepy, catchy Spooksong The proof to Music Inherent in Our physical World Expression of The ultimate sinister And brilliant Weirdness Of Life

PRIYA CHURCH

‘all its hopes and fears are vain Long, unmitigated pain’ - Christina Rossetti, ‘Hope in Grief ’, Lines 21-22 The Sphere Trapped in the sphere – she cries out – It is the end of something. All that counting, anticipation All those weeks had

STUDENT POETRY

Finally Come to nothing. Resistance Had always been his forté. Recovery time so quick, he very nearly, Bounced. Yet she was left counting… So willing to accept circumstance, he left Unannounced. Her words had glistened As they slid off of him Evading perception With excruciating and incomprehensible ease. Such a waste of emotion. Such exhausting futility.

Kier Swaffield

Three Haiku’s For the Lonesome Windows cold stare Trains rattle my sore mind Yearning your return Seasons change dripping Black now returns pavements Wind whispers new joy Damp morning’s bird choir Black ledge sting, last cigarette You are close inside 33

Priya Church

CLUBS & SOCIETIES The university has a wealth of societies and organisations. Below we’ve listed just a few of them along with details of how to get in touch. Durham Improvised Comedy Society The society has been established for close to 10 years now, we are open to all members of the society, even if people do not perform in our troupe ShellShock! they can come along to our weekly workshops on Saturday afternoons in Elvet Riverside. Improv is a brilliant relaxation method but also great for building confidence skills useful for interviews etc. As well as Saturday workshops we run workshops on Tuesdays designed to get the keenest people involved with performing in our troupe ShellShock! We have just returned from the fringe for the second time, with our very successful show To Be Continued! We will be performing for the students of university regularly at colleges, so even if you re not directly involved with our society you can still reap the rewards of our skills, where we will make you laugh and unwind from deadlines. Email: dur.improv@durham.ac.uk Website: www.dur.ac.uk/dur.improv The History Of Art Society The society was set up in 2004 to allow those interested in art and experts alike to meet fortnightly on a Monday evening to enjoy an evening of wine and canapés followed by a talk given by an academic in art. The talks have varied from the Romantics to Realism, always interesting, given by enthusiastic speakers. We are fortunate enough to attract eminent lecturers in their field of expertise. The evening is an opportunity for a civilised discussion with like minded students, to socialise with friendly faces and learn something about the wider aspects of art. There is no need for any previous knowledge of art, as the society provides an introduction to a range of fascinating areas of art. The Society’s role is also social, holding an event each term which attracts a wider group of enthusiasts. In the past the Society has organised trips to the Bowes Museum, the Baltic locally and even to Paris. This year we are planning to go to London and possibly Barcelona, as well as organise a White Tie Ball. Email: art-history.society@durham.ac.uk

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

The Grove

The Grove The Grove is Durham Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s student literary journal. We publish five times a year, and the magazine features student writing, English writing, events, translations and essays. We are always scouting for new and diverse contributions, and anyone interested in publishing in the journal should email: grove@dur.ac.uk. We host launch parties for each issue, which usually take place at Fishtank and offer the opportunity for poets/writers/musicians etc to perform. We will be holding an open mic night in conjunction with the Durham Book Festival, which will take place on Tuesday 19th Oct at Fishtank, so come along and find out more about us! Durham University English Society English Society exists as a society for students of, and those interested in, English literature. Membership is not restricted to those studying English Literature. Its purpose is dual: to serve as a way for those with an interest in English literature to meet each other and socialize, and to provide them with events of interest, ranging from theatre trips to talks by authors and careers events. We aim to hold weekly film nights to supplement the English Literature course; to hold several talks by authors, academics, and other noteworthy figures; to hold several socials a term; and to provide other events as and when they are possible, such as book clubs and creative writing fora. We work with, but are not part of, the English department, and aim both to aid those studying the course and satisfy the interest of those not studying it who are nevertheless interested. Email: english.society@durham.ac.uk Poetry Society The society seeks to provide a forum for students to discuss poetry in a friendly, non-academic setting, both discussing poetry by established poets and poetry written by our members. We aim to help members who want advice with their own writing, and give them a chance to see how other people write and work, whilst also offering students not in the English department a place to discuss poetry. We have a diverse membership, and are by no means restricted to English students- some of our regulars study, for example, History, Engineering, Physics and Computer Science! Our sessions are always welcoming and informal, generally in membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; houses, and invariably with an impressive selection of biscuits provided. We also work with such events and organisations as the Durham Book Festival, New Writing North, and the Durham University English Society to provide poetry events for everyone to enjoy. Poetry in every form is our subject! For enquiries please email poetry.society@durham.ac.uk 35

The Catholic Society

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

The Catholic Society (CathSoc) We are part of the wider community of St Cuthbertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Roman Catholic Church, Old Elvet, Durham. The society works closely with Father Tony, the Parish Priest and Durham University Catholic Chaplain, to offer spiritual, pastoral and social activities for Catholic students. A variety of events are organised each term, including Chaplaincy Dinners, Pizza and Film nights, College Masses and a weekend retreat which is a great opportunity for spiritual refreshment. The society is committed to ecumenism and has holds joint events with Durham University Ecumenical Christian Council (DUECC) and the Durham University Methodist Society (MethSoc). During term time there is a student Mass every Sunday evening (6.30pm) at St Cuthbertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church to which everyone is welcome. If we have no other event, this is followed by drinks at the Dun Cow pub on Old Elvet. President: Miriam Hindle, Trevelyan College Email: catholic.society@durham.ac.uk Student Community Action We are one of the largest student-led organisations in the university. With over 30 projects, we offer a wide variety of volunteering opportunities. Our volunteers work with children of all ages, with some projects focusing on children with special needs. Other projects work with the elderly, adults with mental health problems and those with disabilities. Students with a particular interest, such as the environment, swimming, horse riding, music or languages, will find projects to suit this passion. We also have volunteers working in local schools, hospitals and prisons. Our projects take place throughout the week, and require differing levels of commitment. Some, such as litter picking, are casual, whereas others require a regular time slot. If you want to find out more come to our project fair in Fonteyn Ballroom on 12 October or visit us in the SCA office in Dunelm House. Website: www.dur.ac.uk/community.action Amensty International Amnesty International campaigns for internationally recognized rights for all. It is a worldwide organization which targets appeals through protests and letter writing. We have partnerships with local groups and with their support help raise awareness about current violations of human rights. We campaign to put pressure on governments, political bodies and companies and raise their awareness about issues which are occurring in the world. Email: amnesty.international@durham.ac.uk 36

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

ActionAid Society

ACTIONAID SOCIETY ActionAid Society exists to support the work of the international development charity ActionAid, and to raise its profile in Durham. ActionAid is a charity that works in over 50 countries to reduce poverty, by working with impoverished communities to strengthen their own efforts against poverty. They also work at national and international level to promote issues of poverty and to try to find long term solutions to extreme poverty, focusing on areas of aid and debt, emergencies and conflict, trade, corporate accountability, education, HIV and AIDS and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights. The society seeks to put on events in Durham to raise awareness about poverty in the developing world and ActionAidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, and to raise money to donate to ActionAid. Email: action.aid@durham.ac.uk South Asian Society For anyone who enjoys a good curry and the bright lights of Bollywood, there is finally a society for you to join. The society is open to anyone; you may live in South Asia, wish to visit, have visited or generally have an interest in the culture/art/music/food/film/languages. Relaxed meet ups and events every couple of weeks is on offer. No doubt, events will include the likes of curry nights, film nights and theme nights. Collaboration with DUCK charity is a work in progress, but as the society gets to its feet I hope that regular events can be arranged between the two. The main aim is to fill the apparent void within the University and get representing a small but significant portion of Asia. (Despite the ambiguity) Countries in S.Asia include: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives. Email: southasaiansociety@durham.ac.uk/ r.c.adam@durham.ac.uk The Durham University Go Club The club is a forum for the enjoyment, improving and discussions of playing Go. It holds playing and training sessions weekly, in the evenings and at lunchtime, open to members and non-members alike. Go has a history of several thousand years, beginning in Asia and then flourishing in Japan, before travelling all over the world. It takes the simple elements of a board and different stones, mixes them with simple rules and creates an elegant and challenging game for two players. An introduction to Go, with examples, can be found on Senseis Library at http://senseis.xmp.net . Email: go.club@durham.ac.uk Website: www.dur.ac.uk/go.club 37

Durham Chess Society

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Durham Chess Society We play chess. As a new/reborn society, we’re not yet sure at the time of writing when and where we will be meeting, but it will probably be twice a week. E-mail will@webwhizz.com, ring/text 07799570769 or join our Facebook group to find out. All levels, from complete beginner to grandmaster welcome. Special events, such as lectures, simultaneous exhibition matches and bar crawls expected throughout the year. Chamber Society Chamber Choir is a small, close-knit group of around 20 singers that perform a wide range of repertoire from the early renaissance to the 20th Century. We sing at numerous events and venues including religious services and concerts, from cathedrals to concert halls. With a high level of commitment from its members, who benefit from the intimate choral environment, DUCC provides high-quality music for the university’s best singers. The choir embarks on foreign tours, with recent venues including Prague, Tuscany, Poland and Dublin. Membership is by annual audition in the first week of the academic year. The Choir is student-organised, and the post of director is openly auditioned each year. The highlight of the Chamber Choir season is the annual ‘Music on the River’ charitable concert in the first week of June, with light-hearted summer music performed from rowing boats along the riverbank by Durham’s Cathedral and Castle. Email: chamber.choir@durham.ac.uk Durham University Concert Band The band is a friendly, non-auditioning group open to all brass, woodwind and percussion players. Our weekly rehearsals are friendly and relaxed, and we always aim to make our music both accessible and musically challenging. The band’s repertoire is vast and varied – last year our music included film scores (My Fair Lady, Spirited Away), Broadway musicals (Les Miserables, Lion King, Miss Saigon), full concert band suites and classical works (Carmen) arranged specifically for the band. We are committed to playing new music and arrangements as much as possible, so you can guarantee that we won’t be playing the same tunes every term! We usually have at least three concerts a year, including at least one outdoors. The band isn’t just about playing music though, as we hold frequent socials throughout the year. As well as meals, bar crawls and post-concert drinks. Last year, we went on tour in Edinburgh and we’re hoping to go abroad next year! Email: concert-band.society@durham.ac.uk 38

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

DU Concert Band

Choral Society Choral Society is one of Durham University’s largest and oldest musical groups, having performed continuously at a high standard for sixty years. Every year, members perform in a variety of concerts at top venues such as Durham Cathedral, with quality accompaniment from the likes of Durham University Orchestral Society and the Palatinate Ensemble. Professional soloists are employed, but experienced singers get many opportunities for solos and smaller ensemble singing, and the society is proud of its range of talent. Musical direction comes from the world-renowned cathedral organist James Lancelot, with repertoire drawn from across the classical spectrum - Bach to Bernstein. New members are recruited with short auditions which test range, sightreading abilities and aural skills. Although commitment to weekly rehearsals on Monday evenings is essential, the society is welcoming and sociable. Few forget the experience of singing with dozens of friends to a capacity audience in the magnificent Durham Cathedral. Email: choral.society@durham.ac.uk Durham University Big Band We exist to promote live Big Band music in Durham. Holding auditions in the October of each academic year, our 20-piece band, comprising trumpets, saxophones, trombones and rhythm section performs across Durham and the North East in general, including our frequent ‘Big Gigs’ held at the end of term time in DSU. Email: bigband.society@durham.ac.uk Website: www.dur.ac.uk/bigband.society The Durham University Folk Society The society exists to promote folk music and traditional dance throughout the University. We hold weekly informal music sessions in the Court Inn on Wednesdays, which are open to musicians of any ability or anyone who just fancies a pint and a good chat. We’re also always looking for new recruits for the Durham University Rapper Team, which practises in the Big Jug Pub on Sunday evenings and regularly crawls round the pubs of Durham and Newcastle, as well as dancing at events all over the country. We hold lively and well attended ceilidhs every term and organise trips to local concerts and festivals throughout the year. Please visit www.dur.ac.uk/folk.soc to find out more. Email: folk.soc@durham.ac.uk Website: www.dur.ac.uk/folk.soc 39

Durham University Voices

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

DUrham University Voices Love singing? Hate auditions? Join Durham University Voices! We are a vibrant and enthusiastic choir with a wide and varied repertoire. We do not hold auditions but still maintain a high quality, professional and fun choir for keen singers. DUV performs at both formal occasions (including our own Christmas concert) and informally (at college events). Last year we were also invited to perform at the Classics’ Society black tie ball. This term, with our new musical director, we plan to perform a lunchtime Christmas concert in the cathedral as well as trying our hand at busking in town. Come and find us at the 2010 freshers’ fair! Email: voices.society@durham.ac.uk or find us on Facebook German SocietY Join us in Germany during our annual trip to Deutschland! And through the year in Durham whether you’re looking for some language and culture or are just interested in Germany (especially the beer and food!), this is the society for you! Our aim is to allow members to practise their language skills in a relaxed atmosphere, meet other people from the course and have a lot of fun! We have a trip to a German Christmas market as well as other smaller socials throughout the year including a fancy dress bar crawl! We also put on a play in German which is a great opportunity to improve your language and meet new people. And last but not least, we have regular film nights with the best of German cinema. Whether or not you study German we’d love to see you! Email: german.society@durham.ac.uk Website: www.dur.ac.uk/german.society Fine Art Society The society encourages students to explore their creativity through painting, sketching, sculpture and similar forms of visual expression, regardless of previous experience. Relaxed sessions encourage members to follow their individual interests. This will provide the opportunity to plan new projects and share ideas and opinions. We provide permanent facilities to enable students to work outside group sessions and to facilitate the exhibition of student artwork around both the university and the city of Durham. There is also the possibility to take part in workshops with visiting artists. Essential large equipment is provided such as easels as well as limited supplies of paper and charcoal for new members. In the long term members are expected to provide their own equipment, this can be purchased through the society. Email: fine-art.society@durham.ac.uk 40

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Full Collapse

Full Collapse Full Collapse is an “Alternative music night” hosted, roughly fortnightly, in HildBede’s Undercroft, a sort of grimy magical cellar that you get to by falling down a hill. Full to the brim of unusual and friendly people and playing a mix of Rock/ Metal/Emo/Punk/Ska/Hardcore/Prog/Other things, Full Collapse is unlike any other night out in Durham. Our goal is simple, to redress the lack of musical diversity offered at our university and in our city. It seems, at first, reassuring to encounter the same songs every night in every club but, after a while, the whole experience seems to condense into a pervasive homogenous sludge. Full Collapse is something entirely different. Admittedly, our music is not to everybody’s taste. If, however, you would like to dress exactly as you like, enjoy a drink at college bar prices, meet some wonderful people and remember the songs that kept you going through those angsty teenage years, request to sign up to our mailing list by mailing full.collapse@dur.ac.uk. Alternatively, visit our website at www.dur.ac.uk/full.collapse or find us at the Hild-Bede or DSU freshers’ fairs. Full Collapse is for those who love and respect great music. If that sounds like you, try it out. History Society The History Society is for anyone interested in the subject, even those with the vaguest or most niche enthusiasm. We run a series of talks on Monday nights throughout the year, as well as regular social events – including an Elizabethan Banquet – and the odd trip to local areas of historical interest. We are also launching a community project this year, working with a local youth centre called ‘The Den’ in Stanley. Come and say hello to us on our stall at the Freshers’ Fair or email us at history.society@durham.ac.uk for more information and to meet the exec. Archaeology Society For over 15 years the Archaeology Society has been bringing archaeology enthusiasts from all parts of the university together to chat, drink, and party. We have another packed year lined up for 2010/11 including a series of guest lecturers, six themed socials, a behind the scenes cathedral tour, day trips to York and Housesteads Roman fort, and, of course, our legendary winter and summer balls! If you want to know more, or join our mailing list, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Email: archaeology.society@durham.ac.uk 41

EVENTS LISTINGS Upcoming Events Tuesday 5th October - 9th December, 7pm till 9pm: Creative Writing for Women Ten Week Course, Alington House. This is an opportunity for women to write in a safe and supportive environment, with experienced writer and tutor Pj Buchanan. Contact pj@poetry-jack.co.uk for more information about this event. Wednesday 6th October, 5.30pm till 7pm: Late Summer Lectures in English Literature. This lecture explores the monsters, mutants and aliens of postwar sciencefiction from B-Movies to bestsellers, inspired by developments in science and commenting on pressing political and cultural fears. Monday 18th-28th October: Durham Book Festival featuring Simon Armitage, Bill Bryson, Peter Snow and many more. for more information see www. durhambookfestival.com Wednesday 20th October - 9th March: Several Stories High - Creative Writing, St Aidanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College. Have you ever wanted to write? Come and have a go in a friendly and supportive environment. 2-hour weekly workshops (registration required). Contact Fadia Faqir (writer@fadiafaqir.com) for more information about this event. More events at www.dur.ac.uk/whatson For regular events and societies, see our website at www.dur.ac.uk/grove

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