THE OTHER ROOM
Experimental poetry in ManchesterArchive for Maintenant
Maintenant #74 – Ailbhe Darcy
Already considered one of the finest poets of Ireland’s new generation, Ailbhe Darcy has gained international recognition for her vibrant poetry and rapidly growing body of work. Being at the forefront of a tradition as considerable as Ireland’s has required her to maintain the idiosyncracy of her own taste and voice, and though undoubtedly, the lilt of her work, it’s care for being read and for being rhymtical, resounds with the narrative tradition of Irish poetry, it is also true her idiom can be disjunctive, unpretentious and colloquial. More vitally she creates poems that are conceptually often unresolved, an act of humility that sits apart from neat lyricism. Yet it is too far to say she has made a break from the tradition of her nation, and many would say this is the bigger achievement. For the 74th edition of Maintenant, our first Irish poet, Ailbhe Darcy. thanks to Michael Schmidt
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-74-ailbhe-darcy/
Accompanying the interview are three of Ailbhe’s poems.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/3-poems/
Maintenant #73: Lidija Dimkovska
The poetry scene in Europe seems, from the vantage of the UK, to be far more fluid and less divisive than that of the UK. This may not be true, but there certainly seems, through the regular festivals, readings, residencies and academic exchanges, a sense of physical communication between poets who traverse many nations, languages and traditions. In the case of a poet like Lidija Dimkovska, we seem to have an individual whose experience is truly pan-Balkan, traversing Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania … but whose reception is continent wide. She carries her influences with a fidelity that makes them invisible within her explicitly well considered and captivating poetry. A formidable academic, a poetic folklorist, a respected translator and an innovative and elastic lyric poet, we are pleased to introduce Lidija Dimkovska as the 73rd edition of Maintenant (and furthermore, we are very pleased that she will be reading at the Maintenant IX event on October 15th 2011 thanks to Literature across frontiers and Arc publications.)
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-73-lidija-dimkovska/
Accompanying the interview are four poems by Lidija translated by Ljubica Arsovska and Peggy Reid
Maintenant #72: Johannes Göransson
A Swede who is an American, an American who is a Swede. The irrelevancy of the nationhood of Johannes Göransson is never more obvious than in the multifarious and rapacious nature of his work – it calls on traditions too intertwined, too psychological and introverted to make its genesis of much interest. What is of interest is his industry as a translator. As well as being one of the most interesting and acerbic poets and educators currently at large in the US, he is also a vital conduit to the breadth and brilliance of contemporary Swedish poetry. For Maintenant in it’s 72nd guise, the excellent Johannes Göransson
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-72-johannes-goransson/
Accompanying the interview is a significant selection from Johannes’ most recent publication.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/entrance-to-a-colonial-pageant-in-which-we-all-begin-to-intricate/
CM TJ Maintenant
Chris McCabe and Tom Jenks are collaborating for a project related to the Maintenant series of interviews, readings and publications organised by SJ Fowler. All work is appearing on a WordPress blog. Comments and suggestions are welcome and any input may be woven into the finished piece.
Maintenant #71: Lies Van Gasse
The exceptional nature of the work of Lies Van Gasse, established, formidable and achieved well before her 30th birthday, is clear to all who follow central European poetry and the figures who are now showing themselves as the future of the medium. Emerging from the vivid and remarkable tradition of Flemish poetry, Lies maintains a focus and an exactitude about her work and its direction that well belies her relative youth. Adept and acclaimed at both more traditional lingual poetry and highly original ‘graphic’ poetry, her oeuvre is innovative and confident, straddling the finer points of language and art. Our first Belgian poet to be featured in the Maintenant series, Lies Van Gasse is undoubtedly a figure whose prominence will only increase in the coming decades.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-71-lies-van-gasse/
Accompanying the interview are 7 of Lies’ graphic poems, translated into English by Trees Van Gasse.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/seven-poems-oracle-lies-van-gasse/
Maintenant #70: Ilya Kaminsky
Simply one of the few boundless poets on the world scene, and already a centrifugal presence in American poetry, Ilya Kaminsky carries with him the power of the great Russian tradition and the obvious potential to be recognised, in an age where poetry is a reticent presence in the public’s eye, as one of the finest writers of the oncoming century. An activist as well as a poet, his remarkable energy and intellect permeate his earnest, fulsome poetry and his unforgettable, idiosyncratic readings. In an interview which seems typically representative of his generous spirit, Ilya has offered one of the most ebullient accounts featured in the Maintenant series, and we are especially excited to have him read at the next Maintenant event in London, this coming october. To mark our 70th edition, Ilya Kaminsky
with thanks to Nikola Madzirov за многу нешта
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-70-ilya-kaminsky/
To accompany the interview are two of Ilya’s poems.
Maintenant #69: Márton Koppány
Márton Koppány’s opus of visual poetry stands as a remarkable entry into the ledger of post WWII European poetic innovation and expression. Behind him sits a life’s work, denoted by intellectual rigour and brilliance, as he has quietly, but indelibly, edged his medium forward. Producing work of immense quality, consistently, in the field of visual poetry for over thirty years, he has inspired new generations of poets while working from the inside out of his environs in Budapest and with a capacity for profound inflection and wholly accurate understatement (to a level of humorous / satirical reverence so poorly missing from much experimental poetry) he has tackled the nature of his own family history and it’s entwining with the darker days of modern Hungary. His work is thus indicative of the possibilities, and even the necessities, of visual poetry, his fundamental mode one of honesty in expression, led by a suspicion and engagement with the limits of language. Koppány has always maintained an incisiveness that has attracted the plaudits from poets in his field, and his sophicated, intellectual and urbane corpus has rendered him simply one of Europe’s finest poets and an immense contributor to often the most stimulating field of contemporary poetry.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-69-marton-koppany/
Incorporated into the interview are 13 poems by Marton, selected to display the width and evolution of his work over the last 30 years.
» Maintenant #68: Ulf Stolterfoht
Concepts that may link poets from one nation are as fraught as the idea of nationhood itself. The poet who truly understands the nature of his own beginnings, most often by acquiescing to a conceived misunderstanding, perhaps offers the finest representation of his language and his country. Often only in the trace, the fragments, the shadows and the bunkered leftovers of language and expression can the truly analytical, intellectual and philosophically rigorous poet find safe ground. Thus we come to Ulf Stolterfoht , simply one of the most sophisticated and brilliant poetic minds of our generation, conceivably of any generation. Utterly unique, wise, witty and thoroughly considered, Stolterfoht’s work has been a beacon in European poetry for some time, and his standing has been a lightning rod for many poets he might call his peers. In one of the finest interviews given for the series, we present one of the finest German poets of his generation.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-68-ulf-stolterfoht/
Accompanying the interview are four of Ulf’s poems.
Maintenant #67: Kirmen Uribe
Kirmen Uribe is a basque poet who has become a world poet. A pioneer and a sensation in Spain, a true representative of the new and modern from one of Europe’s most distinct cultures and languages, Kirmen is already one of the most celebrated literary figures in the history of Basque literature. His is the first Basque language collection to be published and translated in full by an American publisher, and he is the winner of numerous awards, reading his work at festivals around the world. His work is unsurprisingly unique – graceful in its vitriol, singular but not solipsistic. He is the standard bearer of a nation as it moves into new realms of poetic expression, for the 67th edition of Maintenant we are proud to bring you Kirmen Uribe.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-67-kirmen-uribe/
Accompanying the interview are two of Kirmen’s poems, translated from the Basque by Elizabeth Macklin.
Maintenant #65: Marco Giovenale
There are figures emerging in European poetry that are defined by their refusal to be limited to one form of poetic, who increasingly maintain their central concerns across sound, visual and linguistic mediums. Then within this group, there are those who are breaking new ground, following in the footsteps of poets as agile as Apollinaire and Mallarmé, whose explicit concerns shed new light on what we might consider poetry. Marco Giovenale is one of the most gifted of Europe’s new breed of poets, and a leading practitioner in the field of asemic writing. The remarkable art of asemic text is one of the most enlivening areas of contemporary poetry – a wordless, semantic, post-lingual poetry that utilises the figuration and trace of handwriting and automatic writing to create superimposed abstract poems and ideograms of visual poetry. Drawing influence from postmodern Chinese calligraphy, the work of Brion Gysin, Roland Barthes, Henri Michaux, Christian Dotremont and others, and the field of undecipherable semiotics, asemic poetry is a beautiful and fascinating practise, and Marco Giovenale is one of the most talented and seminal artists in the field. A prolific journalist, publisher and critic and a respected performer across Europe, we are proud to welcome Marco Giovenale as our first Italian poet into the Maintenant series.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-65-marco-giovenale/
Accompanying the interview are eight of Marco’s poems.
Maintenant #64: Željko Mitić
Whether birthed in collaboration or contradiction with its culture, a nation like Serbia is bound to produce iconoclastic and intractable poets. In Željko Mitić, the new Serbia has found a poet that speaks with a vitality and energy few can match, and in whom a generation has found representation. One of the very most exciting and imperative writers emerging in Europe, Mitić is a critic, a poet, a persona and his work is intense, humourous, satirical and pointed. With Zvonko Karanovic and Ana Božičević, he is amongst the many fantastic poets emerging from the Balkans in the new millenium, who are piece by piece overturning the proprietorial dominance of formal poetry and forcing themselves into recognition. A poet truly representative of the spirit of the Maintenant series, we welcome Željko Mitić as our 64th edition.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-64-zeljko-mitic/
Accompanying the interview are twelve of Željko’s poems.
Maintenant #63: Colin Herd
Inarguably symbolic of the dexterity and erudition of a new generation of Scottish poets, Colin Herd is an instantly memorable presence in the contemporary poetry scene north of the border. Deft, at times demure, urbane and insightful, his poetry is effusive in its grace and ease of motion. Yet Herd is a markedly energetic presence leading a resurgence of poetry in and around the city of Edinburgh. A critic of some note and already demanding a considerable following in both the UK and the United States (lauded by Dennis Cooper, amongst others) we are pleased he is our first Scots Maintenant inductee and another valuable addition to the growing record of contemporary European poetry.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-63-colin-herd/
Accompanying the interview are six of Colin’s poems.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/six-poems-colin-herd/
It should also be mentioned Colin is going to be reading at the next Maintenant event in just under 3 weeks time.
Maintenant #61: Marcus Slease
Though the Maintenant series tries not to overstate the importance of the poet’s origin, practicality alone demands an attempt to show the range of European poetries with a representative range of nations. However in actually seeking out those poets creating exciting, original, genuinely evolutionary work, we find many cannot be tied to one single nation – they are migratory, multi-lingual – pan-European if not pan-global. Marcus Slease fits this archetype more than most. By birth he stands as the first Northern Irish poet to feature in our series. However by experience he is a poet of England, America, Poland, Italy, Turkey. Unsurprisingly he is an adroit and worldly writer, defined by his ability to remain elastic and fluid, and utterly unpretentious in his idiom, and yet fulfilling and resonant in his tone. His poetics are extremely contemporary, and yet they seem to maintain the confidence and solidity of time past. A major feature of the current London scene, we are pleased to introduce Marcus Slease as the 61st edition of Maintenant.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-61-marcus-slease/
Accompanying the interview are six of Marcus’ poems.
Maintenant #59: Gabriele Labanauskaite
It appears self-evident that poetry is remarkably pliant, elastic and apt for innovation. As a sonic artform, poetry, in it‘s truest sense, grows as each individual practitioner allows themselves to explore their own culture, and so from certain artists there arrives unique and memorable experiments within the medium. For the Lithuanian poetry scene, it is Gabriele Labanauskaite who leads the way. Assured, intelligent and engaging, her sonic art is poetry, song & performance. Though a versatile poet, playwright & singer, she is renowned for her fusion of spoken poetry, music and sound, often as part of the collective AVaspo. Her work is explosive as well as satirical, wise as well as energetic and she embraces technological innovation while absorbing a myriad of aesthetics. She is the final poet representing the Maintenant Lithuania events held in London during April 2011 and we are delighted to welcome her as our 59th interviewee and poet.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-59-gabriele-labanauskaite/<
Accompanying the interview are ten of Gabriele’s poems, translated Translated by Ada Valaitis and Kenneth Smallwood.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/ten-poems-gabriele-labanauskaite/
{Maintenant Slovakia in association with Literature across Frontiers & Arc Publications}June Saturday 18th 2011 – 7pm – Entrance Free – The Rich Mix arts centre. LondonSlovak poets Ivan ��trpka and Mila Haugova will be joined by a half dozen London-based poets to celebrate the sixth event in the Maintenant series held at the Rich Mix arts centre in London’s Brick Lane. As ever, the Maintenant series will advocate a diverse selection of poetic methodologies, ages & nationalities – collecting together some of the most interesting poets Europe has to offer. Further details to follow…
Maintenant #58: Nikola Madzirov
The birth of a major European poet is often heralded long after the fact by his or her emergence into the American poetic consciousness. The rapturous reception that has awaited Nikola Madzirov as he has travelled the US has only served to confirm what many already knew – Macedonia has produced a poet whose significance is undeniable, and whose gift is indelible. Nikola Madzirov is a poet who can look eye to eye with the great figures of the 20th century, he is one of our generations luminaries. His poetry is deft, sure and canny, he wields a wry and wise and often elusive aesthetic and while Peter Boyle has rightly traced his line back to Vasko Popa, Milosz, Herbert & Zagajewski, his voice is absolutely his own, absolutely of this generation. It is apt to leave the final words on Madzirov to Adam Zagajewski himself – “Madzirov’s poems are like Expressionist paintings: filled with thick, energetic streaks they seem to emerge from the imagination and to return to it right away, like night animals caught in the headlights of a car. “We are the remnants of another age” — Nikola Madzirov succeeds in convincing us.” For the 58th edition of Maintenant, we are very pleased to welcome our first Macedonian poet.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-58-nikola-madzirov/
Accompanying the interview are five of Nikola’s poems, translated translated by Peggy and Graham W. Reid, Magdalena Horvat and Adam Reed taken from the book
Remnants of Another Age published by BOA Editions
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/five-poems-nikola-madzirov/
Some more of Nikola’s poems have recently appeared in the latest issues of “American Poetry Review” and “The Wolf” poetry magazine, and the poem “After Us” was just announced as a poem of a day in US by the Academy of American Poets – poets.org:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22185?utm_source=poemaday_041811&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=content&utm_term=poemaday_smith_related
Maintenant #57: Tomas S. Butkus
The impression left on the audience attending the Maintenant Lithuania events held over the weekend of April 8th only served to confirm Tomas S. Butkus’ reputation as one of the most complex and creative poets currently at work in the unusually healthy Lithuanian poetry scene. Sometimes seen as an irreverent and idiosyncratic poet, due perhaps his use of many mediums (text, video, sonic art, collage), his membership in an experimental art performance collective or his distinctive use of surrealist imagery – his work in fact continues the revolutionary underground spirit of creativity that underpinned some of the greatest poetry Europe produced while Lithuania was under Soviet occupation. Perhaps rather Butkus’ work stands out from a certain contemporary style (reformed, controlled and meditative) by virtue of its energy and individuality. And without doubt, as the people attending Europe House and the Rich Mix arts centre discovered, the man is equal to his work. Celebrating the Maintenant Lithuania project and our 57th edition, we welcome Tomas S. Butkus,
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-57-%e2%80%93-tomas-s-butkus/
Accompanying the interview are five of Tomas’ poems, translated by Kerry Shawn Keys, Edgaras Platelis, Becka Mara Mckay, Gerrie Fellows & Jake MB Levine
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/five-poems-tomas-s-butkus/
Huge thanks to everyone who attended and performed at Europe House in Westminster and the Rich mix arts centre in Brick Lane for the Maintenant Lithuania events last weekend. Both nights were fantastic, memorable for the quality of the work on display and the atmosphere generated by those who were kind enough to attend. Pictures and sound recordings of both events will be online soon, and the Rich mix event was filmed by the BBC for an upcoming cultural arts feature program. Special thanks to Gabriele Labanauskaite, Tomas Butkus, Donatas Petrosius and Daiva Parulskiene. Our next event looks to be in June, most likely Maintenant Slovakia.
Maintenant #55: Scott Thurston
Just as the radical continental poetic methodologies of the 20th century have left an indelible impact on contemporary British poetry, so, it seems, has the model of the poet as a thinker and teacher. Scott Thurston is a central facet in the recent resurgent brilliance of North Western British poetry in and around Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester. His is an innovative poetic defined by its care, intricacy and sophistication, and his reputation as a seminal and urbane poet over the last few decades has established him as a vital part of the UK’s poetry scene. In a comprehensive and generous interview he discusses his role as a poet, a teacher, his experience of European poetics and his beginnings in innovative poetry.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-55-scott-thurston
Accompanying the interview are four of Scott’s poems from the work, Sustainability.
Maintenant #52: Cia Rinne
A poet whose work is as multifaceted and wide-ranging as her own European character, Cia Rinne is an unforgettable poet, artist and thinker. Born in Sweden, raised in Germany, before living for over a decade in Finland and then Denmark, her aptitude for languages includes writing in French and English, as well as speaking Greek, Romanian, Spanish, Italian… and on the list goes. Her unique and cultivated ability to utilise such a multitude of languages creates an idiosyncratic poetic idiom, one that is truly refined and multifarious at its root. She matches this sensitivity with a remarkably immediate visual poetic style. If we had to choose a representative for the Maintenant series and it’s aims, perhaps the true intricacy of Cia Rinne’s work would make her one of the most viable candidates.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-52-cia-rinne/<
Accompanying the interview are five of Cia's poems.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/five-poems-cia-rinne/
Here too is the sixth of the bi-monthly article series with Nthposition.com focused on unjustly overlooked European poets, this edition, the Sicilian symbolist Lucio Piccolo. http://www.nthposition.com/reilluminations6lucio.php
We have finalised the next Maintenant reading program, as part of the Lithuanian Declassified Arts project. http://www.lithuanianembassy.co.uk/index.php?-157739503
3am magazine & the Maintenant series presents in conjunction with Europe house presents
Nauja Poezija: Young Lithuanian & British poets in collaboration
April Friday 8th – 7pm – Entrance free to all (32 Smith Square, London SW1P)
We welcome three of Lithuania’s finest young poets to London with a reception at Europe House and an exchange of poetry from some of the finest native poets the city has to offer. Alongside Donatas Petrošius, Gabriele Labanauskaite and Tomas S. Butkus, a half dozen resident poets, featuring Agnes Lehoczky, Jeff Hilson, Jon Shaw, Tim Atkins, Kate Kililea and more will read short excerpts from their work.
3am magazine & the Maintenant series presents in conjunction with the Rich Mix presents
Declassified: Lithuanian & British poets in collaboration
April Saturday 9th – 7pm – Entrance free to all
(35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA www.richmix.org.uk)
Tim Atkins & Tomas S. Butkus
Donatas Petrošius & Chris McCabe
Jeremy Reed & Gabriele Labanauskaite
A unique evening of exchange and collaboration between six of the finest poets in Europe communicating the rare command of their poetry, highlighting their shared engagement along with their own distinctive understanding of what is poetic.
http://www.youtube.com/maintenantpoetry
http://soundcloud.com/maintenant
Maintenant #51: Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson
An iconic poet in Scandinavia, Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson, or UKON, as he is often known, has established a remarkable reputation in the literary culture of Sweden at large, despite being a challenging and innovative poetic practitioner. A resident of Gothenburg, and a winner of the prestigious Göteborgs-Posten literary prize, he is a practising psychologist and psychoanalyst as well as a poet, and his prolific poetic output advocates the level of intellectual engagement and complexity that his chosen profession would suggest. It is hardly surprising that he also a deft satirist, lacing his writing with a black humour worthy of the great European tradition he maintains. For the 51st edition of Maintenant, Sweden’s UKON.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/maintenant-51-ulf-karl-olov-nilsson/
Accompanying the interview are five of Ulf Karl’s poems, translated by Fredrik Hertzberg, Karri Kokko, and Leevi Lehto.
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/five-poems-ulf-karl-olov-nilsson/
