In memory of Christopher Martin-Jenkins, by Adrian Buckner

For CMJ

 

It started for me in '71: rumours

of an Indian with a withered arm

running through England at the Oval -

"Chandra" , the conjuring, chantable

abstract of Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

 

The following June,

my ear to a radio with batteries wearing down -

Boycott taking Lillee's first over after rain delay.

I ran back to school, wondering

about bad light, an early lunch, a seamer's paradise.

 

From that moment, it was all epic to me.

You confirmed it on the page:

 

England Expects you wrote

when Boycott stepped out again

to open at Port of Spain

 

and when he mis-hooked Boyce

with only six on the board

the ball hung in the air for half a page.

 

"The book I refer to in line 13 is Testing Time which CMJ published in 1974 after England's tour of the West Indies. I was 12 at the time and read that book at least a dozen times." AB

'For CMJ' was published in Adrian Buckner's Contains Mild Peril (Five Leaves, 2008)

Nottingham Poetry Society at 70

Traditional poetry societies sometimes get a bad press, compared to the trendy (and often transient) stand and deliver/open mic elements of the poetry scene. But, as Clive Allen says in the foreword to Nottingham Poetry Society's Seventy anthology, "Along with the Arts Council, the universities, poetry magazine editors, small press publishers and organisers of literature festivals, they make up a sort of Poetry Welfare State." He goes on: "The modesty of poetry societies belies their enormous importance. They gather in out-of-the-way arts centres, WEA buildings, church halls.... [existing] on members' subs, minuscule (and rapidly disappearing) council grants. They depend on the generosity of people who willingly and consistently give of their time and energy... I owe much of my poetry life to poetry societies..." In the contributors' notes to this collection Adrian Buckner (a Five Leaves' poet) writes that he "owes his most enduring friendships in poetry to people he encountered at his first meetings" [20 years ago].

Nottingham Poetry Society has had its ups and downs, but its membership includes several fine poets. Adrian Buckner, one of ours, who is also editor of Assent magazine; Cathy Grindrod (one of ours sometimes), who has been the Derbyshire Poet Laureate; CJ Allen himself, who knows how to win poetry competitions as no other; Derrick Buttress, a poet who could have achieved more but loves the small press scene. I could mention others.

The NPS' secretary, in charge of production of Seventy, is Five Leaves' Pippa Hennessy (we obviously don't give her enough work to do here that she has free time interests) and there is a modest influx of new members. Happy birthday, Nottingham Poetry Society.

New Adrian Buckner pamphlet from Five Leaves

Bed Time Reading by Adrian Buckner is our first poetry pamphlet since 2007, though Adrian is no stranger to our list as his full collection, Contains Mild Peril, was published by us the same year. I've long been an admirer of Adrian's slow, thoughtful poems, since being on the appointment panel for when he was Nottinghamshire's one and only local Poet Laureate. He had a very successful year but the project funding could not be continued so he must remain a difficult answer to a question in some local literary quiz of the future. This pamphlet - in true Adrian style - comprises a second look at the books he first read in youth - Anna Karenina, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Auden, Primo Levi and others including, not surprisingly knowing his love of cricket, John Arlott's Test Match Diary 1953. This was a book written some years before Adrian's birth, but Arlott can only have had a reader like Adrian Buckner in mind while writing it. You can order via: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/bed_time_reading_adrian_buckner_i022640.aspx

Pleased with Mr Postman

Great post today, from the further reaches of Five Leaves' tentacles. Firstly there was Assent, the poetry magazine edited by our writer Adrian Buckner (whose new Five Leaves' pamphlet will be mentioned here shortly). Assent used to be Poetry Nottingham and, to show that those bitter football rivalries don't intrude on poetry, it is now published in association with the University of Derby. Links with Nottingham remain, with this issue, 64/3, featuring the winners of the Nottingham Open Poetry Competition. Surprisingly, there is no website for the mag.
The first issue of Mistress Quickly's Bed arrived, the direct successor to Penniless Press, mentioned here before as one of my favourite little mags. With many of the same contributors (Croft, Lykiard, a couple of Dents) and with even the fifth part of a translation from Victor Serge, it is not at all obvious why the mag. changed its name. Penniless, and its review section, The Northern Review of Books, continues on line at http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/.
Hearing Voices, a literary magazine from Crystal Clear Creators has reached its third issue under a rotating editorship, and I think this issue is the best yet, with a good cover. There were only three planned but a fourth is now announced. Many of the contributors are regulars from the burgeoning East Midlands small press scene. More on http://www.crystalclearcreators.org.uk/.
The Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month is now well established, and the National Association of Teachers of Travellers has produced an excellent magazine to go with the month. This is, I think, the first time NATT has produced the annual magazine and it has an orientation towards the classroom. Many aspects of Traveller life are covered, from Romani music to Romani language, from reminiscences of life on the road to Romani art. NATT has also produced a further excellent publication, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Resources Catalogue. Both would be useful in schools with and without Traveller children and are available free from http://www.natt.org.uk/.
The final piece of post was the Catalan Romani magazine O Tchatchipen which includes a late review of our young adult book of Romani short stories, Spokes, bu Janna Elliot. The magazine is in Catalan, with summaries of the major articles in English and Romanes. A Spanish version is also available. See http://www.unionromani.org/.

National Poetry Day - Derby

Without an event of our own to go to, we wandered over to Derby to support our author Adrian Buckner (Contains Mild Peril) in relaunching his magazine Assent under its new arrangement "in partnership with Universtiy of Derby". (Are universities the new Medicis? Discuss.) Assent started life as Poetry Nottingham in 1959, and Nottingham connections are still strong with many of the 60 people in the audience from there. One of the readers, CJ Allen, is also from the 'hood. Allen is an excellent poet and reader, winner of more competitions than you can shake a stick at, and performs with wit and understated humour. The main reader was Bernard O'Donoghue, a Cork man long domiciled in Britain. He is the writer of small masterpieces which I wish he would turn into longer narrative poems, but another great reader.
Assent promises further such readings and launches, which is good, though they must talk with their sponsors about getting a website.
I was also pleased to see an old friend, Les Baynton, has started up a performance poetry night in the same venue - the fancy new Quad - free, every second Thursday of the month.