Shakespeare
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More on project 154
I received my copy of the Live Canon Project 154 book a day or so ago. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets, with a response by 154 contemporary poets including friends like Robin Houghton, Antony Mair, Sue Rose and many more. As a rule this kind of intertextuality isn’t my bag. Nor do I need prompts for what…
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Bard at work
Been hard at work this week on my poem for the mysterious sounding Project 154. It involves writing a response to Willie the Shake’s sonnet 19, perhaps not one of his best but nevertheless magnificent about time and love. Directly responding to other poet’s work is not something I’ve done much (other than renga experiments with friends long ago) so good…
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The Shakespeare Heptet – the greatest unknown band in the UK
And great Art beaten down was the phrase suddenly rolling doomily in my head last night. I was drinking a nice pint of bitter in a pub called The World’s End in Brighton while hugely enjoying The Shakespeare Heptet playing in the corner of a pub. As usual, their musicianship was near immaculate. This despite the fact that outside in…
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Left unsaid, negative space and Robin Houghton
My art teacher called the space around the object being painted its countershape. This is a term that seems to have fallen out of favour, but the countershape or negative space around an object can be as beautiful as the object itself, as in the sinuous darkness around the bodies or flowers in a Robert…
Peter Kenny: a writer's notebook 