surely you know this: poetry by Wendy French

Finally, I have found my ideal writer. Unbelievably, this is somone I love more than Sylvia Plath. More than George Orwell. Maybe even more than J.K. Rowling...

(Please forgive me all the hyperboles. I'm still ridiculously excited at finding this book.)

Annoyingly, I can't remember where I got this book. It was either a Foyle prize or a Poetry Society renewal of membership freebie. Either way I'm more than grateful to them for giving it to me. After several months sitting inconspiculously on my shelf, I picked it up abset mindedly for some light reading and have discovered one of my favourite books of all time.

So this is it: surely you know this, a small book of poetry by Wendy French.

It's published by Tall Lighthouse, a rather lovely poetry publishing firm, and is Wendy French's second Anthology.

In terms of physical qualities, it's just 63 pages long, with most poems only taking up one page. The design of the book is rather beautiful, with a very readable typeface and an endearing sense of simplicity. If I can personify the book, I'd say that's it's a book that wants to be read.

Inside, the poems are divided into three sections:

1. present tense (sappho fragments)

2. she says / he says

3. stone

Each sections has an entirely different character. 'present tense' is full of allegorical language, ambiguous phrasing, experiments with syntax. The poetry has a surreal, dream-like quality. It's hypnotic, and yet also entirely relatable - something I would say of the entire book. French has a marvellous way of drawing the reader into her poems so they seem like a new aspect of something very familiar in your own life, but yet also something new. Even the poems dealing with situations unfamiliar to me, like the 'old woman'/mother in Rocking, Rosendale Road (stone) became real through the lyrical, tangible quality of her words. 'she says / he says', the second section, is written in prose poetry. The poems alternate between taking a female voice or male voice, and share mysterious, dazzling fragments of other people's lives. Both 'present tense' and 'she says / he says' contain fractions of other poems as the starter for each poem, which I'll get to in a minute. The third section of the book is the simply titled 'stone', a section of mixed prose poems and poetry. The voice here is often distinctively the authors, yet there is a tremendous amount of imagination and passion. 'stone' does deal with the more difficult, raw aspects of life, yet it is also a tremendously hopeful section.

French's poetry allows for a great deal of reader interpretation, so reading her poems is a very personal experience. She also has a completely unique tone and a remarkable gift for honesty. Her work stands alone somehow, a new current in 21st century poetry. I honestly believe she is someone who is going to take poetry somewhere, and as a literature student I'm very excited about her writing - after all, the advantage of discovering a new author is that very few critics have written about her yet. Although she deserves lots of critical praise, it's nice to be able to form my own opinions on poetry before it's put into the GCSE syllabus and analysed to death!

French also leaves a lot of questions for her readers, although unlike some poets *coughcoughTonyHarrison* her poetry isn't so litered with classical references you need google open to understand the poetry. However, I've never heard of 'sappho' (althoguh it's a very pretty name!) so I'm now going to google it and find out.

According to google, Sappho was an ancient greek woman poet, whose poetry has only survived in fragments, some of which feature in 'surely you know this' (Which, incidentally, is taken from one of the fragments!). Her poetry was apparently very famous and beautiful, but also shrouded in the mystery of time, which has destroyed much of it. If anyone knows anything more about her, please comment. I'd love to know!

This site has some good information: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/318 

Wendy French's 'surely you know this' is a collection which I'm going to come back to over and over again. It's the anthology I wish I'd written myself. interestingly, much of it reminds me of my own poetry - with a few hundred years more polish - so I am a little envious of this anthology... if ever I become famous (haha) I shall be a French-esque poet xD

I would recommend this collection to absolutely any literature lover, even those who are not big fans of modern poetry, and to anyone looking to discover a new and exciting writer.

For more information, her page on Tall Lighthouse is:

http://www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk/p_wendy-french.html 

Get Reading!

J xx

Who are you when you are No-One?

Tick-Tock. August 2011. Riots, houses burning, youths, violence. Tick. Mr Cameron uses his favourite phrase, 'getting tough on them'. Tock. The papers go wild, not us, not us. Benefit scroungers. White trash. Starkey's infamous race comments. Tick. Tick. Tick. 


I am amazed by the extremity of the responses to the riots. One article criticised this as a 'knee-jerk' reaction, a term I'd like to appropriate; in most circles the knees are up and back to the wall. The level of hatred and fear on both sides, and lack of moderation from our leaders, appals me as a human, a young person and a christian. 


As much as I would love to find an explanation and support the underdog in this, I am unable to condone the rioters. I watched with you all the muggers who robbed an injured boy and breathed a sigh of relief when projected riots failed to appear in my own town. Above all, what horrifies me most is that these people where not fighting for a cause, even if they fought because of one; they were motivated by greed, self-interest and boredom, inspired by the wrong people, morals and ideals, and causing great pain to innocent citizens for a laugh. Their actions bear no justification. This places them on a different platform for than, say, when the protests about higher education fees kicked off into chaos because they had a cause behind them even if their actions were unnecessary and destructive. 


My question is this: Why?


And by 'Why?' I don't mean what drove selfish ruffians to smash shop windows. What I want to know is why do they resort to gang violence? why are we shocked when this happens? why do we let it happen, or why don't we care until they cause trouble? why didn't people see this coming?
Why have adults crossed the street to avoid passing me and my friends?
And why are the generations that brought us up, that control every aspect of society from education to healthcare to government, negate all responsibility to the poorest and most vulnerable people in society, whose only voice is in their fists? 


I am angry at the rioters too. After all, they've just smashed a fragile image of young people into pieces, and made life harder for your law-abiding, hard working younger person like myself. But I blame has been apportioned too quickly and that once again, our 'big society' is attempting to make itself smaller, cutting out those who embarrass it. 


NEWS FLASH: These people are part of our society, like it or not. And that makes it societies responsibility to bring them back to the fold. It's time to let the outsiders in. 


'I will not always be with you.' Jesus told his followers, 'But the poor always will be.' As a follower of the God who drank with tax-collectors (read: politicians/inland revenue officers), travelled with uneducated manual workers, and made died a gruesome death in-between two common thieves (imagine the sunday times front pages...) I see no goodness, no godliness, no hope in the rejection of these people. Society - by which I include all of us, myself as well - has pushed these people to the outside. Labelled as 'chavs' or 'foreigners' or 'white trash' 'sluts' etc in the news, in conversations, in the looks we give them when they pass us in the shops or doctors, they are marginalised and only a very few wonderful people take the time to reach outside of their social spheres to these people. 


I am becoming more aware of this in my own life. Having moved from a poorer area to a more middle class area just before my tenth birthday - and at the same time, our family made the social jump from upper working class to lower middle - I have been lucky in that I escaped not only a rough area and background but also an education system where those who made the grammar schools had a future and those who made the comprehensives...didn't. Having escaped, I have become very proud of my working class heritage, feeling it makes me a commoner, one of the people, but watching the riots detached me all those false impressions. Admittedly, I have a better idea than many, especially our dear government, but now I know how little I understand what it is like to be marginalised, to suffer under a system that offers the rest of us protection, to be suffocated by money and class and stereotypes. I'm on the inside looking out, from the comfortable bubble of 'us' and 'them'... 


Proposed solution A: Let Them In.
Problems: If you listen to the rioters, you will have realised they aren't over keen on coming in. Why should they be? Society has made it rather clear we don't want them. 


Proposed solution B: Go out to them.
This is the solution all the scared, scared letters to the papers don't want to hear. It's so much easier to call for punishment and clean up our homes than go round to theirs and clean up their places, so much easier than questioning ourselves and our responsibility. 
Yet the only way to bridge the gap between 'Us and Them' is to go out ourselves, into the rough areas we like to frown upon from safety, to get dirty in filthy streets and see the world from those places....
I also like to call this solution 'community'. It means no us and them, just the people living and working together, differences celebrated, doors open, problems solved together. 

• Firstly: Who is in these communities asking them why the riots happened? I'm sure they know best: we need to listen to people who know, not just experts but ordinary people, get their knowledge heard and used.
• Secondly: Anger and looting might well be part of a moral degeneration, and kids putting their values in the wrong places. If so, than we need to re-examine the whole of society and what we teach our children. We need public-eye figures to stand up against consumerism, companies to give back more to communities, and ordinary people to show just a little altruism as part of their daily life...A little love goes a long way. 
• Thirdly: Half the kids in Tottenham come from disadvantage backgrounds. People don't necessarily want to give them jobs, they won't have had all the privileges of holidays and trips to museums and castles and all that. At the bottom of the heap the education system is pretty rubbish and teachers don't want to be there (understandably). No-one believes in these kids, police don't trust them automatically, they are the weekly victims of the tabloid press and, to compound it, poor education and financial struggles combined with the introspective, defensive communities necessarily created by the poor and uneducated to tend to produce more problems like teenage pregnancies and gang culture. Instead of solving it, we simply apportion more blame and talk about policies at high levels that never reach these people. So...
• Instead of blaming etc, we need to make a bigger effort than ever to reach out to these people. The government can make a tremendous difference by speaking out for these people, sorting out reasonable and constructive punishments (i.e. community service repairing damage done), improving education, keeping Sure Start centres open etc. Charity support is another major thing the ordinary person can do to make a big difference for these kids. But most of all, it's down to us. Not just asking our MP's this and that but changing our attitudes to people on the outside, and being creative with what we can do i.e. a successful mum's and toddlers group in a well off area might start/support a less successful in a disadvantaged area. Small things can make a huge difference as they accumulate, with everyone putting in a little: Imagine for a moment you are on a train and a 'white trash' family comes on, lots of kids, music, smells of fags, whatever. Usually the whole train sits and prays they chose another compartment. Instead, smile. Let them through, move your bag so the littlest kid can sit down...I know, reading this, you're probably the kind of person who would do it anyway, but it's amazing how many people wouldn't. It's time for a social attitude adjustment.
• Finally - these kids think that their voice is their fists. Do any of them know how to argue, how to get themselves heard safely, how to change their communities positively, or how to get their concerns heard? No. Tick. Tock. It's time to give them voices properly, hear what they have to say and educate them on a better way to say it. Education & Social Attitude changes. 

When these people finally get their voices there will be a lot of people embarrassed or ashamed by what they have to say, but those voices must speak out now, for the sake of the children of tomorrow. Heal the cracks in society and perhaps one day...

...community.

Until then: Stay strong and speak out. 

God Bless,

J. 

Love, Lust and Pixie Dust

Out of all the overused words in the world, Love must surely be top of the list. I tell my friends I love them every day. That's true. I also regularly state that I love bowties, shakespeare, owl city, burning things, and frankly whatever it comes into my head to say at the time. I also use love sarcastically, probably more often than honestly: "This is why I love you" or "I love history essays SO much" being typical statements. Has the word devalued? Maybe, maybe not. But it does seem to me that it has become harder to use it in its original way: just to look someone in the eye and say I love you and mean just that.

Love. Can teenagers know anything about it? Does everyone feel it? And if you don't feel it anymore, can it ever be recovered? There are as many questions about love as people searching for it; my impression is that its life's big undefinable.

Mostly I tend to treat love as a principle. I'm a Christian who follows (as a guideline) the ethical theory Situation Ethics, where all decisions are made, simply, on the basis of love. Is it loving? Then it's morally good. (and vice versa.)  Of course, that's a simplification of the theory, but that's basically it: Love is God-given for us to give to others, go out and share it.
The crucial point in this is that love is not a noun in this description. Love isn't something you can own or put on a card or posess. It's a verb, an action you undertake even when you don't feel it, because to love is to be loving. If you love your friends, you're there for them whenever, you care for them and you look out for them, even if sometimes you don't feel like it and you wish they'd go away. That's my understanding of love, anyhow; something that gives, never taking, receives gracefully when returned. And you know what? Being loving is not easy. I don't think it's meant to be...

I don't have any good advice on 'being in love' or relationships. I'm not a councellor and I can't heal other peoples broken hearts. I'm armed with a few proverbs and a heart, and I'll do what I can do: I will love you as best as I can, because I'm human and I'll never be perfect, but God's love always will.

This is the love that never disappoints or cheats on you, that never lets you down or walks away. This is the love that comes from suffering and the brilliance of creation, not from passion and chemical equations. This is the love of the narrow road. I am loved and you are loved, and when human love fails that is the love that holds us safe, the net beneath the tight-rope walker to break the fall.

The Rollercoaster Continues

Excuse any bad grammar or spelling mistakes in this post. I have my left hand in a support because I've sprained it. I could take it off to type, but I've already removed it once to play the piano (I'm teaching myself; I've got to two handed pieces now!) and now I have to be a good girl, so that it actually heals.

The frustrating thing is that I can't practice my flute or saxophone really. Playing piano and flute is manageable, though it makes my hand ache, but alto flute and sax are just to heavy. So I'm behind on my practice :( At the moment I'm trying to learn this beauty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69P81SAKXpU
I can't play it that well yet. Having an injured hand is a decent excuse for poor playing :')

This being a decent British Blog, I should mention the minor historical event yesterday, the wedding of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I went to a village party (bit dull, boring food, but lots of bunting and people) to watch it on the big screen. It was absolutely stunning, and I felt a reasonable amount of genuine love for our monarchy reading it. Britain's constitutional monarchy keeps us grounded in our past while still being progressive; watching the wedding created this sense that we're a family land, rather than a political state. When push comes to shove, it'll be the monarchy the people rally around, not the celebrity icons or squabbling parties.

The referendum on the Alternative Voting system (as opposed to first past the post) is approaching and I'm not sure that, if I had a vote, I would know where to put it this time. I think that the Proportional Repersentation system would be a good representation of where Britain's votes go, improving the skewed pattern of constituencies, but the AV is not PR. (FYI: we already have AV in one of Britain's legislative houses; the General Synod of the Church of England, which is an equal body to the houses of commons and lords, elects by AV) I can see how AV might and might not work, and that it would in some senses be more democratic...but it also looks like and expensive distraction from the real issue is PR. What are politicians afraid of? When a 'landslide majority' means thirty or fourty percent, it is obvious the system doesn't work. Politics is a mean business.

With all the disasters and wars erupting across the world at the moment, it can be easy to forget the long term crises still needing our attention. Christian Aid have a really good advert  at the moment of a child, with roots stretching down into the soil below her, each attatched to a point about the roots of her poverty. So many charities work tirelessly all year, running emergency response teams (charities like WorldVision are still active in Haiti, for example), campaigning and lobbying, running projects and raising awareness. I did my work experience in WorldVision two years ago and I was stunned by the generosity and passion everyone has for their objectives: they still need your help, money or prayers or campaigning or whatever little thing you can do. Just adding your signature to a petition is great. There are times when I feel sceptical about whether we can truly make a difference in the 'broken world', but then I see these people, 'the visionary company of love' holding firm against everything that's thrown at them. You're one of those people to, so, go ahead. Make a difference!

Sheesh, I've been rambling. I started with an idea of philosophising some nonsense about how we create internet personalities, and the growing importance of linking your social networking to join the hordes of human who exist au-web. Given how rambling, this post has already been, I think I'll leave that rant for today.(Note how I've linked my twitter and blog...eh? :D )

Life is a rollercoaster and I'm heading for a few sharp swoops. But you know what? I'm an adrenaline junkie.

God Bless x
Joanna.

Return of the Blog

I have decided to keep up my blog! ( hums death star theme tune!).

So...
Since I last posted, my life has rather vaguely revolved around school, grades, subjects and french revision. I still believe education has the power to be terrifically exciting, I've just realised it makes every other aspect of your life boring. Being a bit of a geek (ehem...yes.), after a day of school all I can think of to talk about is...school. Conclusion: It's time to change the subject.

The sun has come back! I'm feeling happier already. I'm one of those awkward people who hates whatever season I'm in, but now isn't too bad, if a little windy. I have a feeling this summer will be beautiful. Already the skys of my mind are a vivid blue, the thin clouds embossed far below the level of my thoughts. At last, after my long struggle last year, I'm properly happy again. I've been fine for a month and a half, maybe two, and I feel more like myself than I have in two years.

Last night I washed and plaited my hair (with some help, hairdressing is not my forte!) and now I have rather wonderful wavy hair. The sixthform at my school (drat, I'm doing it again!) had to dress on the theme 'Movies' today, so I came as a rather feeble impression of Hermione Granger, complete with wand. Not overly imaginative, but my wardrobe and purse are rather sparse for exciting constume making. The wand, a remnant of a childhood Harry Potter obsession, has a light up tip and sound effects, which transformed my sober and mature sixthform friends into overexcited wizard-wannabes. Brilliant! Any time you think your friends are getting too serious, a short trip back to their childhood will solve the problem. I grew up with Harry Potter and his friends, from early primary school, and it was noticable how everyone I talked to today took the wand into their stride. It's part of our culture as children of the 90's - we're the Harry Potter generation.

Sadly this beautiful day hasn't been so perfect for everyone. I was woken by my radio-alarm telling me about the earthquake and subsequent Tsunami hitting Japan and spreading out across the pacific. We flow from one horror story to another, war and revolution to natural disaster and on. Has it always been like this? The world precariously balanced, as if any moment we could collapse into terror, the news flashes baying their sadistic sincerity. I wonder if we're living through a moment of particular disaster and - if the earth lasts that long! - one day, we'll tell our children about watching Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, the economies, the EU, all crumble under blood and fire and water. Perhaps one day people will be so used to democracies dividing and people dying in their multitudes, nameless, we'll become numb to it all. Do disasters raise our humanity, or grind it away?
Jesus. In disaster he fell on the cross, under the thumb of a great empire tearing away the liberties of his people. He had nothing and was humbled, dying under the mocking calls of  soldiers whilst his followers hid and denied his name. Is there anything more terrible than the agony of an innocent who dies to save the guilty? Is there anything braver, than to walk to one of the most painful and humiliating forms of death knowing you could escape - Jesus is God, he could have - but choosing to? Our God chose to walk to death that day. But then. Then.
Imagine the might of the flood. The hurricane. The storm and tornado and tsumani and earthquake and avalanche and the radiant poison of the pollutants and fires, their toxic gases spreading over earth. All these things can take away your homes, your familes, your live. They are killers. But that is the end of there power: their dominion ends at death. Look. There is the pause, where we wait, listening. What happens next?

God. Death took an innocent man in Jesus, like thousands today, the people dying as I write this in the tsunami, the people slipping away at the end of their lives, the others, the many. Yet because Jesus died, God himself in human form, something miraculous is happening.

After the boundary of death there is God's kingdom. God rules, death is defeated, the tsunami and the poisons and the aching seeping wound of evil on the earth is nothing. I believe in this Kingdom, the dead are living. Jesus opened the gates of life and he is holding out his hand, reaching out for the sufferers to show them the way.

Basically... Death is an Epic Fail!

Even in the darkest night we have hope, whether your darkness is a bad patch at school or languishing in prison or waiting for the waters to recede so you can search for your loved ones and destroyed homes. If you are out there in one of those traumatised countries, or just suffering in your own lives, I hope things will change for you soon. Thousands of people out there are praying for you & God is with you. It's a little hard to express without sounding insincere, but I really do hope and believe that there is always hope, and God can change lives. And to the people of Japan, the world is with you in your suffering.


...I think I just invented a split personality blog. I really need to improve my writing!...
Peace out & God Bless!
J.