#29 Plan_C - In Defence Of Poetry
#29 Plan_C In defence of poetry
I like poetry. There I said it.
I’m sure that poetry makes you feel like you’re at school and being forced to annotate your anthology for your English Literature GCSE. I’m sure you’ve been traumatised by studying war poetry to a depth where it has lost meaning. Enjambment may be a triggering term for you. I get it.
When I was a teaching assistant for kids with learning difficulties I was horrified to discover they were still teaching Poems from Other Cultures, the collection that I had studied in my own GCSEs years earlier. I wanged on about the meanings of the poems and their literary devices so much that one learner just repeated in an exhausted tone, “Yes, the yam is a metaphor” every lesson for a year. He was correct. Rarely were we talking about that poem but he was technically correct. I understood his boredom and complete lack of interest.
However, I still like poems. The thing with poetry is that they are thought of as stories but they song lyrics simply without music. The words are twisted, broken and presented using image, metaphor and delicious descriptions about the sacred and the mundane.
Poems are required when something needs to be said that conversational language cannot convey alone and music cannot align. The biggest misconception, to me, about poetry is that it is meant to be read aloud not read flat on page. The rhythm of language suddenly makes sense when your hear it.
Or maybe I’m justifying all of this just to boast and remind you all that I was published in a poetry anthology when I was 10 years old? It was a very right on poem about leaving the oceans be. Of course. You think you’re barely a person aged 10 and then you remember something like that and you’re left to conclude that you haven’t changed all that much.
Anyway, here is a small selection of contemporary poems on a range of things to try and convince you that I’m just on the right side of being a massive nerd.
Charly Cox to you.
Charly is terrifying because she is only 24 years old and on the second book of poems.
Rupi Kaur is an “insta-poet” but her short poems are incredibly affecting between all those ‘link in bio’ posts.
Kim Addonizio – To The Woman Crying Uncontrollably In The Next Stall
I love this poem.
Laura Dockrill - Stubborn
Laura Dockrill writes poems that take on a different life when you hear her recite them in her South-London accent. Pals with Kate Nash and Adele you can see their voice in each other’s work.
Charly Cox – Monzo
They can be about literally anything you like. Also, ouch yeah Monzo I know I spent £17.53 in M&S. I was there. Stop hurting my feelings with reminding me.
BJ Novak – If You Love Something.
And they can be funny. And true.
Jenny Joseph – Warning
A classic. A reminder to live your best life.
Fun Fact: I don’t really like the colour purple and own nothing in any shade of it.
Simon Armitage – This Be The Verse.
Isn’t this just the most truthful thing? But have kids if you want it is just a poem.
Maggie Smith Good Bones
Keep inspiring your offspring, please.
Let us take a moment to remember the power of poetry.
My pal from uni wrote beautiful poems that she kept in a leather-bound notebook for when inspiration struck her. Eventually, this notebook was full of her inky words and she was encouraged to do something with them. She diligently typed them up and researched publishers to send her work.
Of the replies she got this one was my favourite and really demonstrates that poetry really can touch a human heart.
“Thank you for submitting your work. We read your poems and were struck at the breadth and depth of human emotion you covered in your writing.
However, we exclusively publish marketing material for public houses and inns and cannot help you.
We wish you the best of luck. “
A poem in of itself.
More words that speak to me.
Grace Dent, a beautiful writer and fellow Libra, on her dislike of birthdays is compelling and funny.
Where did the last year go? How have some of my contemporaries spent it winning Emmys, completing triathlons and lavishly renovating barns in an eco-compliant manner? I’ve still not quite got round to replacing the landing lightbulbs, which fused last October, because that involves a step-ladder. What are you doing for your birthday, Grace? Screaming into a mirror, in the dark.
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This first-person piece about a woman who wrote the copy for horoscopes. I think reading horoscopes for escapism is fine but maybe just live your life as the best person you can be regardless of where Neptune was in the sky when you were born?
Horoscope writing quickly became the highlight of my working week. At first, I tried to do everything by the book and would diligently research each star sign’s personality traits. When I got bored of this approach, I started winging it. I began writing inspirational words of encouragement for the people in my life. I’d write instructions for my boyfriend, sweet well wishes for my parents, and in-jokes for my friends. There was a woman at work I didn’t get along with. I’d write a horoscope for her, too… and it was never a pleasant one. I became hungry with power.
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A glorious article on the fashion in the film Mannequin. I LOVE this film and have watched it about 28 times mostly as a child. I also LOVE the song.
I have similar feelings about Grease 2.
Long before Kim Cattrall appeared on our screens as outspoken, sexually confident, “I’ll try anything once” Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, she played an Egyptian woman under a spell – reincarnated as a shop-window dummy, naturally – in 1987 rom-com, Mannequin. Inspired by Pygmalion, the tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses poem which tells the story of a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved, it’s admittedly the kind of storyline that was only plausible in the 1980s. That said, it did garner an Oscar nomination, for Original Song – Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now – and became the 27th biggest hit of 1987.
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I hate this quote so much. You know your human curiosity and emotional connection you may feel about something? That is viewed merely as engagement.Cynically, I can’t help but think the new online aesthetic for openness and authenticity is just another manipulative ploy for clicks and nonsense by some people.
I am optimistic for a future when we have worked out our relationship with the internet. I can imagine saying to my grandchildren when they are aghast about the crap we posted online (this included probs), “It didn’t seem grossly intrusive and insane at the time.” They will have the same expression on their face that I do when my parents talk about the normality of homophobic abuse, women being paid less and smoking on buses in their own youth.
"Creators on social media originally became successful because the audience found someone they could relate to," she says. "There was a period of time between then and now where creators started to professionalise and improve the quality of their content. In some cases it has gone too far and certain creators have lost their authenticity. We’re now seeing a resurgence of the raw sharing of real life and a higher engagement with this. It’s how you can really get to know someone."
If the internet is a shopfront where we get work, get dates and get famous, then right now it’s authenticity that sells. Demi Lovato’s recent Instagram post about her cellulite got more likes than any of her previous ones. Former Love Island contestant Malin Andersson is building an entire career off revealing her true feelings about her body. And that's great, if it's coming from a real place. However the pivot to openness that's happening on some high profile channels is more like a change in aesthetic than a change in moral integrity. There’s a new wave of up-and-coming influencers who are rejecting the Instagram aesthetic for something that feels more 'raw' because it earns them likes, followers and, therefore, money.
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The New Yorker has chipped in with their own take on aspirational candour and it makes me feel just a bit flat and sad.
Indeed, at their worst, such posts pull the same trick as aspirational content: they leverage insecurity for profit. Instagram is still an ad-driven marketplace, and influencers, after posting a “getting real” moment, will often follow up by thanking fans for their support and commiseration—or announce, like Rida, a new brand partnership.
This week I saw Zadie Smith speak she was wonderful and inspirational. She was asked about her lack of social media presence. This is a luxury for writers who must promote themselves to make up for their meagre marketing budgets from publishing houses. But Smith has her name as big as the title on the cover of her books because she is that excellent.
She replied, “I miss memes but I get time without all this internetting. And I know my own mind.”
I KNOW MY OWN MIND. I may be thinking of that for a long time.
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Stu Heritage, a truly gorgeous writer that I had the good fortune to meet once and he liked one of my (now defunct) Instagram posts (!) published a letter in Marie Claire to his young sons. The right blend of funny and poignant.
As I write this, you’re both incredibly into superheroes. You call them ‘brave heroes’, which is actually quite adorable. But try to remember that superheroes aren’t brave. Batman isn’t brave; he’s a bored billionaire with nothing to live for. The Hulk isn’t brave; he’s just strong and stupid. Superman isn’t brave; he’s literally an invincible godhead from another planet. To truly be brave is to feel sad or scared, but find the strength to carry on anyway. You’re both already so brave: you were brave on your first day of nursery, and on your first day of school, and when you shouted down the bigger boys who pushed you at soft play, and when you saw that dead crab on the beach that time. If you can keep this spirit of bravery alive within you for your entire life then, my god, you’ll turn out to be great men.
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This article from Vice where Annie Lord muses what her life would be like if she hadn't replied to a DM. I read this on the bus, felt her pain enjoyed her writing and felt elated when she mentioned places in Newcastle where she went to university.
I often wonder, if I hadn’t replied to that text, if I’d stayed in bed watching Gossip Girl until it gets to the bit where Serena elopes with her drug dealer, could I have avoided being hurt? Things in life happen and they drag you down paths that otherwise would have turned out so different.
Buying Less.
I am trying to break-up with fast fashion and Amazon for 2020. I love them and the tiny dopamine hit I get from new clothing and instantly buying books etc. I just can’t ignore the economic and environmental impact these decisions are having for my lazy and indefensible reasons. So, much more careful and conscious shopping and books from independents and libraries starting…now.
This week I bought a great used red Arket jumper from an “influencer sale”, some second-hand denim shorts from Depop and a great jacket that was half price from Weekday. I hope to be wearing them all in the next few years to come.
This article is about the strange trend for people to buy clothes wear them once and then either THROW THEM OUT or sell them on because they have been “gridded”. I am repulsed by the practice and I am repulsed with my own complete understanding of it.
Clothes can ease social anxiety, act as a canvas for self-expression and engender a sense of belonging in the wearer. And the type of people who take these benefits from clothes – people who are concerned about their appearance and being 'fashionable' – tend to be more receptive to adverts which emphasise image, and willing to pay more for clothing than others, according to Mair.
We now see more advertisements in one year than people 50 years ago saw in a lifetime, which means we’re faced with constant prompts to buy new clothes. When we give in and buy these new clothes, we get a surge of dopamine, the 'feel-good hormone'.
Clothes to cherish.
Classic check, neutral shades, always a handy vibe. A jacket for more than now but would look good for now.
Can I just say I am absolutely not here for cow print? I am absolutely not here for cow print.
I know it is having a moment but I cannot get excited about it. It doesn’t feel fresh or interesting, subversive or cool. I think I’m ok about missing the point with this vibe. In summary, if it isn’t cord, denim, velvet or vinyl I’m not going to wear it this year.
Barbour make jackets that last years and years. Made mere metres from my home-town they are worthy investments. This one – Beadnell – can be customised for your tastes, colour, linings, colour ofhardware and thrillingly your initials. A jacket for the next decade and for hedging your bets for climate change weather unpredictability of the future.
A jumper in a classic cut that can stand the test of time. It will look great over this seasons wide-leg trousers and is slim cut enough for layering under dresses and pinafores. There is nothing more enduring than a ringer tee shape.
My dungarees have been an excellent buy. Cost per wear is approx 0.05p. These should see you through to the roaring 20’s ahead of us.
This Levis jacket it the first piece of wearable tech that I have seen that looks like clothing I would actually wear. However, I think it is a gimmick and I don’t need my jacket paired to my phone. Although I do get the notion of looking less at your screen. A sign of things to come.
Bon Mot
A simple reminder to know our own minds.
C x
To the sweet baby angels that have bought me a digital coffee, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have used your proceeds to subscribe to a bi-annual anthology of new writers in a circle of encouraging good-will rather than another navy jumper or the very tempting black mary-janes I am definitely not thinking about…