How to read poetry

An interesting sermon of sorts from the masterful Leonard Cohen on how to treat spoken poetry

Enjoy. And do feel free to discuss, in the comments, whether you have any of your own techniques or influences when you get up and blab!

James Mcloughlin reads new poem

Just a little video for you to sample at your leisure, trying to improve my reading in front of the camera, feedback welcome :)

Adam Gnade: An American Voice

More and more American art is becoming obsessed with identity. We seem to be having a difficult time lately understanding exactly what it is that makes us us, what sets our stars and stripes apart. When I first came across Adam Gnade's work, I felt a major sense of relief (not only as an American, but as a human being as well) because his art brings this struggle with identity to the surface, laying it out unashamedly for all to see. Whether it’s via his writing or his music, he's blazing a trail in sole search of the self, taking a cerebral road trip through the American landscape with reckless, fulfilled abandonment. He chronicles it all—the drugs, the sex and loneliness, the rock and roll—all the while maintaining a genuine, gritty honesty. There is no sugar to make the medicine go down. He kicks his head back and swallows the good, the bad and the ugly, never bothering to stop for air—all the while making me 100% proud to be American (whatever that may mean).




*Adam Gnade's work is released by an independent publisher/record label called Punch Drunk Press, which you can follow here.

National Poetry Month Celebration (Pt. 5): Staples

Five or six years ago, I left the United States to travel. When I left, I took next to nothing with me, packing my bags as if I were fleeing the premises of a burning building. These are the only books that made the melodramatic cut into my tiny carry-on, three poetry anthologies: A Book of Luminous Things, a collection of "short, clear, readable, and...realistic" poems selected by Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz, primarily from Chinese and 20th-century American and European poets; Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, a rich series of mystic poetry translated and selected by Daniel Ladinsky; and The Holy Bible (King James Version)--mainly, of course, the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiasties, and Song of Solomon. They remain the three books that I consider to be absolute staples, as necessary travel (and living) companions as my toothbrush and water bottle.

It is with these recommendations that I conclude this celebration of National Poetry Month, for they capture perfectly the immediate, raw spirit of the art form, showcasing its consistent ability to illuminate both the frailty and strength of the human spirit.

National Poetry Month Celebration (Pt.2): E. E. Cummings

If I could only pick one, I'd pick E. E. Cummings.

Ironically enough, I didn't even have to read his poetry to know. Ever since I simply glossed over that esoteric introduction to New Poems (1938), my heart has been entirely his.

I could try to put my love for Edward Estlin and his daring, naked genius into words, but I won't. Instead, I'll let Mr. Cummings do it for me:

21st Century Boy

I'd just like to take a little time to do some shameless self-promotion here. I've just set up a YouTube account in order to upload some videos of me reading my poetry out. I may look a fop and feel a fool, but it's just part of an attempt to reach that wider audience and broaden my experience of performing, which at the current moment is very minimal.

Here, for your pleasure, is the first and so far only video:

If you have any comments or feedback please let me know. Indeed, requests are even considered! Enjoy.

War of The Platforms

Look at the comments section on any literary website, peek at the writers' forums or listen in on radio discussion shows and you'll be splattered with sticky, dark debris from the diatribes on the rise (or not) of the e-book.

If you're reading this blog, chance is that you're interested in literature, fiction, poetry, reading, writing and all that artsy jazz. Chance is also, then, that you've heard a few rumbles in the blogosphere regarding the progression of e-books from clunky, difficult novelty products into a serious (or not) threat to the future of paper-print books. You may even have your opinions formulated already; I certainly hope so.

I hope so because it's a massive issue, not only for publishers but for writers and readers, too. The implications go way beyond the financial to the environmental and even further. The current debate rages mainly around the decreased enjoyability an impersonal object like the Kindle can offer the reader; many a man and more have complained that e-readers can never match up the the feel and smell of a fresh paper book. Furthermore, detractors of the new-age state, e-readers are no match for the durability of a good book, vulnerable to spillages, malfunctions, dropping, anything. Should a beverage seep its way toward your reader with all the malevolence of Lord Voldemort that is, seemingly, the end of it. Fork out on a new one. Start your collection again. The truth is most likely at variance with this but I'll leave that to you to discuss...

However, there are supporters to the contrary. E-readers offer greater portability than a stack of books, being smaller, lighter and more compact in general. They are just as easily readable as most regular books, with a slight advantage in the ability to zoom and re-size text or have the book read to you in a charmingly jerky, Stephen Hawking-type computerised fashion. They're also much more environmentally friendly and really make very little difference to the reading experience, whatever critics might say. This applies particularly to the Amazon Kindle, which I own and therefore have the most knowledge and experience of. I'm really not sure about other devices. The eBooks available on such devices are inevitably cheaper, too, given the absence of print-costs for publishers, making e-readers a little more enticing to the reader. The drawback comes, of course, with the price-tags for the readers, which at present are rather inflated.

This is far from an in-depth article and could have done with a lot more sourcing and individual interpretation but that, I feel, leaves the topic open for further debate. I invite you here to add your own views on the issue: which side are you on, if any? Do you own an e-reader? Can they ever really replace the good old paper book? Does any of this even matter (for all you Hegelians out there)?

Have fun!

Dust Covers

I love books. I love reading, the total immersion of adventure, fantasy, thriller, firecracker action scenes and literary excellence. However, I also love the acquisition of books and I love hoarding these little treasures of my own. I very rarely go a month without buying a book, meaning my personal collection is quite impressive and wide-ranging.

In spite of this, though, my reading pace has slowed a little as I've grown. Pesky obstacles like jobs, essays and people have severed the white cord of time quite disproportionately, so that when, in the twilight time still reserved for reading, I can barely keep my eyes open past a few pages. I read as much as I can in the days off from this and that but essentially I have dozens of books on my selves, in the garage and at my Mum's that have never been read. A total crime!

So what I wanted to do with this post was to invite a little discussion. Here's a list of the top ten books I already own but still need to read. I encourage you to leave your own examples in the comments section; first of all because you might be inspired to go on and read those books but mainly because I might not feel so lazy if you do!

1. A Clockwork Orange - A. Burgess
2. A Farewell To Arms - E. Hemingway
3. The House Of The Spirits - I. Allende
4. Through The Looking Glass - L. Carroll
5. A Portrait of The Artist... - J. Joyce
6. The Diary Of A Young Girl - A. Frank
7. The Social Contract - J.J. Rousseau
8. The Finkler Question - H. Jacobson
9. Metamorphoses - Ovid
10. The Great Shark Hunt - H. S. Thompson

Just a short one today, then. Hope you enjoyed my list and/or found some little stimulation amongst those titles. I certainly did. I'm going to redouble my reading efforts on Hilary Mantel's Booker-prize winning Wolf Hall and get ploughing through that delightful lot asap!

Happy weekend.