WA TE RM A RK
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festival of words and ideas
1st - 10th march 2013
theatre by the lake keswick
WATERMARK // INTERVIEWS
You found out you had been chosen as the inaugural poet on December 12, and the inauguration is on Monday. Was that enough time to write three new poems?
It’s almost a blessing in disguise that you don’t have six months to focus on something that’s so important. As poets, we can linger on a poem forever and ever. You sort of have to draw on everything you have, and draw deep inside. So yes, I wish I would’ve had maybe a couple more weeks, but I would’ve been sitting on this for six months if I’d known six months ago. So have you been working around the clock?
Literally around the clock. I’m a night owl, so that means until 4 a.m., and back up at 9, 9:30, getting back on the computer. It’s been an intense period, but when I’m finishing a manuscript I get in this manic mode as well, so that’s not something that’s totally unfamiliar to me. I think any poet knows that feeling. This poem has to perform so many jobs, and you’ll probably have more critics than you’ve ever had before. You want it to be personal, but it’s political, too. What makes a successful inaugural poem?
T o // t h e // P e o p l e
richard blanco on being chosen as the nation’s fifth inaugural poet.
Have you written occasional poems before?
the poet richard blanco
Are there particular poems you’ve been looking back on for inspiration?
You got it right: that sense of it having to be personal at the same time as speaking to many folks the entire nation, I should say. Because of its intensity, I did learn a lot about where my writing comes from, and about my writing process, things that maybe I had forgotten. My work is intensely narrative and comes from the realm of immediate experience, direct experience, family and whatnot. What I learned through the process is that it’s not the subject matter necessarily that makes my writing my writing. Rather, it’s my writing [laughs]. I learned through this process that if I approach the subject matter the same way I approach my more familiar subject matters, that I could possibly have a poem that I’d be very, very happy with. Something just finally clicked in me. It was like, “OK, I’m not writing about my mother’s exile, but I can use the same language and the same descriptions and imagery and lushness that I love to use.”
I have written one more, and it has to do with my engineering. It was the groundbreaking ceremony of a project, the South Miami Sunset Drive improvement. I wrote an occasional poem, not because I was asked to, but I was very moved to write one because I had seen some historical photographs of the city and that very road. I ended up sharing it with some of the council members, and they were very taken by it and they asked me to read it at the groundbreaking ceremony. It was the first time in my life I read my poetry with my hard hat on. That’s the only sort of poem I can remember that was even close to because it was inspired by something not in my immediate experience. It was about looking into history, looking at the town and that kind of voice that reaches everyone. We think of having to encompass everybody, but one of those rule well, not rules, but adage in poetry is that the universal is in the details. That helps, too, to try to wrap one’s head around the poem. Even though you’re speaking to a large audience, there are also specifics in that large audience that you can draw upon: specific imagery that may help to create that connection that poetry can, rather than speaking in broad strokes only.
A good friend of mine and colleague Nikki Moustaki, wrote a poem called “How to Write a Poem After September 11th” It was one of the first poems I went back to for that kind of moment I wanted to tap into. I of course looked over the previous inaugural poems of Elizabeth Alexander and of Maya Angelou, and tried to see how they worked it out, tried to read between the lines. the comedian arthur smith
my worst heckle? in edinburgh, a bloke poured a pint of urine over me What got you started?
What was your big breakthrough?
Portrait of the artist
A r t h u r // S m i t h When I was eight or nine, I wrote a new version of Peter Pan for the school play. They didn’t use it – I imagine it was unperformable – but as recompense for not doing my script, I was offered any role, and instinctively went for Captain Hook. I came on trying to be terrifying, but everyone laughed at me.
Not long after that, two girls offered me threepence in class to show them my willy. That was certainly my first professional engagement; I didn’t have another one for about 10 years. You’re very attached to your London roots. Do you think it’s important for comedy to be rooted in a sense of place?
I think it’s often extremely helpful. It’s a game you play: a lot of Geordie comics do jokes about being Geordie, and the same for Scousers. To most people, I’m a Cockney, and I’ll play that up a bit: they imagine I speak in Cockney rhyming slang, and if need be, I will. Why has there been such a boom in comedy in the UK recently?
Who or what have you sacrificed for your art? What’s the worst heckle you’ve ever had?
Quite a lot of liver cells. There’s not many places of work where you arrive and everyone’s drinking heavily – but that’s what it’s like in a comedy club.
A bloke poured a pint of urine over me once. It was in a club in Edinburgh, where the whole audience was completely out of their heads. It sounds bad on paper, but I don’t think he really hated me. Is there anything about your career you regret?
Which other artists do you admire?
That I’ve not made myself write more. Performing is easier: you finish, and people clap and want to sleep with you. You finish writing, and no one’s even noticed.
Leonard Cohen: he’s a poet, he has integrity, and I can slightly impersonate him. What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt from your years as a comedian?
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Because comedy is cheap to put on: if you’ve got a play or an opera, there’s a whole load of people and a set, but comedy is just one man or woman. And because TV has learned to love comics – there’s so many more around now than when I started out.
Don’t take it too seriously. We’ll all be dead tomorrow.
WATERMARK // FEATURES
My hunch is that people who value poetry will, by and large, value prose too as those who enjoy and are able to read poetry will also have the ability to enjoy and read prose.
I s // P r o s e // S u p e r i o r // T o // P o e t r y ? Over the years there have been many occasions when I have heard somebody ranting about the superiority of prose, particularly fiction,over poetry. By contrast, rarely have I heard anyone suggesting that poetry is superior to fictional prose. Does this say something about the supporters of one as opposed to those of the other? Is there an underlying difference between fans on prose and fans of poetry, and are fans of poetry, as an audience, more mature and open-minded? I would venture to say there may be a little of this involved, but only a very little. My hunch is this: that people who value poetry will, by and large, value prose too as those who enjoy and are able to read poetry will also have the ability to enjoy and read prose. By contrast there is a distinct possibility that those who enjoy prose will not, by necessity, understand poetry. Poetry and prose are entirely different breeds of art which are like largely only in that they share the same tools.
Poetrys aim is different to that of prose, and in this difference is in no way lesser to the skill of writing prose.
I have heard it said that poetry is for those who cannot write sustained prose, and that the real skill of an author is in writing at length while retaining depth and keeping the reader interested. However, I would immediately like to interject on this point. For whoever holds any such opinion is missing something of dazzling clarity: what kind of prose writer is able to write at length in a manner or style akin to most poetry? Poetrys aim is different to that of prose, and in this difference is in no way lesser to the skill of writing prose. Most poems want to convey with great weight a particular issue in a way which calls for the readers close attention. It is this attention which grants the poem a great emotional force without a huge narrative to underpin it. The answer to the question: is prose superior to poetry? is that prose and poetry are two distinct entities which are relatively incomparable but which both require degrees of astuteness and skill in their authors if they are to be successful. Writers of poetry are just as skilled as writers of prose, and its worth remembering that many poets are also successful authors (such as Leonard Cohen). As such, the view that a prose author is superior to one of poetry says more about the knowledge and capacities of the one holding the view than it does about any real differences between the two literary forms.
open minded max gaucho
Max Gaucho
I // D I D N ’ T // I N T E N D // T O // W R I T E // A // P O E M
long time poet leonard kleeman
I keep a tablet and pencil handy as sometimes I will awaken with some kind of poem on my mind. I have collected my poems in this little booklet and dedicate it to my late and beloved wife, Fran.
I started to write some poetry while I was in college. I was an English and mathematics major at the same time. That was an odd combination but they were the two subjects that I liked the most. Many of the professors thought that the combination was weird but they also found out that I was a musician and had my own band. That really did it. I was almost labeled “an odd fellow” and they didn’t mean the lodge. My English classes were outstanding but my math classes were only average. I was writing all kinds of things then and even wrote and directed the college Varsity show as a senior. The poetry did entice me and my favorite poets were Robert Frost (especially “The RoadNot Taken”), Emily Dickinson (amazingly) and more strangely, Ogden Nash(funny, funny). I really didn’t have much time to write poetry (it does take time to make things rhyme) as I played gigs with my band, worked part time in the college shop (I was the sign painterand even dug ditches) and did some homework and studied. The Korean War had started then and the draft was grabbing guys left and right. I had been in the Marine Corps reserve through High School so I transferred to the Naval reserves and signed up for Officer’s training. It was held for 3 summers at 6 weeks each in Long Beach, California. I had my first experience flying (TWA in a Constellation, prop-driven, four engine plane) and I sweated out the 8 hour flight all the way. Upon graduating from college and the last session at Long Beach, I received my commission as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. I had various tours of duty during the next seven years including two years with the National Security Agency in D.C. and a year at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. During sea duty trips to the Mediterranean I would write home in verse and thus had my practice writing poetry. There was no reason for doing that other than sheer enjoyment for me. I had almost two years extra sea duty living in Villefranche, France (French Riviera) while on the Sixth Fleet Flagship. The poetry flowed like French wine then but I didn’t save any of it (no computers, just pen and ink). My music was also done and I never played again (Clarinet, saxophone, and bass violin) except for my playing around with a harmonica (not much money in that). After I left the Navy, I was too busy earning a living to write poetry (or prose for that matter). I didn’t write again for publication until many years later when I knocked out two books in a row for Prentice-Hall. They were basically textbook types. I retired in 1996 after a full lifetime of work as a general contractor, builder, construction and environmental consultant, inspector, teacher (high school math and a construction/design course for 25 years at Temple University), and just about anything else you can think of.
My wife, Fran, and I bought a home in a 55+ community after living in a nice suburban split-level for 40 years. Fran had also retired (from teaching) at the same time as I and we settled into a nice quiet life-style. Then, tragedy struck and Fran passed away suddenly while we were taking a music course at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. I was devastated. I wrote my first piece (not counting the books) in about 50 years in dedication to my beloved wife (“Ode toFran”). I wanted to deliver it at her funeral but was unable to without breaking up. A ladyfriend of mine from many years ago (65 to be exact) and I renewed an acquaintanceship through a mutual friend. Through emails (she lived in Florida, 1,200 miles away) she helped me rebound from possible depression and she became my muse. I called her my comfort angel. I started to write poetry again (I don’t know why) and resumed writing a book I had been putting off for years. As expressed in the preceding poem (Reading a Poem) and the following poem (To Write a Poem) the words just came and the rhyming followed. Sometimes the poems just come to me as I am trying to go to sleep. I keep a tablet and pencil handy as sometimes I will awaken with some kind of poem on my mind. I have collected my poems in this little booklet and dedicate it to my late and beloved wife, Fran. I really didn’t intend to write them, they just came out and happened to rhyme. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Note that these poems are not memorable, remarkable, rewardable, nor were they meant to be. They are simply snapshots of my random thoughts about things that happened or that I realized and observed during the past 81 years or so of my life. They simply reflect my joy of living and my love of humankind. All the poems here were written after my lovely wife, Fran, passed away. This book also contains a few pages of prose that contain the amazing story of the renewed friendship I have now with my Comfort Angel and my Muse.
Leonard Kleeman
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WATERMARK // INTERVIEWS
01.03.12 Chris Mullin A Very British Coup 17:30 - £9
Arthur Smith Exposed 20:00 - £12
02.03.12 Stuart Prebble Streets & Submarines 11:00 - £9
Tony Hawks Transforming Words 18:00 - £9
03.03.12 Michael Frayn Writing Farce 11:00 - £9
Alexander Mcall Smith Botswana to Edinburgh 19:30 - £9
04.03.12
Gavin Francis Empire Antartica 11:00 - £9
Sindair Mckay The Secret Listeners 13:30 - £9
05.03.12 Kate Summersdale The Private Diary 11:00 - £9
Barry Cunlife Our Origins and Earliest Ancestors 16:30 - £9
06.03.12 Oliver James Making it Work 11:00 - £9
Michael Holroyd On Wheels 16:30 - £9
07.03.12 Howard Goodall The Story of Music 12:45 - £9
Gerrard Lemos The End of the Chinese Dream 14:30 - £9
08.03.12 Francis Spufford The Case For Christianity 11:00 - £9
Posy Simmonds Mrs Webber’s Omnibus 14:00 - £9
09.03.12 John Mullan What Matters in Jane Austin 11:00 - £9
A. C. Grayling The God Argument 14:30 - £9
10.03.12
Blake Morrison The last Weekend 12:45 - £9
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
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Ruth Rendall Mistress of the Plot 18:00 - £9