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Articles /Interviews
Dr. Amitabh Mitra talks to Tim Jarvis
The Poetry in the Moors
 Dr.
Amitabh Mitra asks British Poet Tim Jarvis about various shades of Poetry in
England and the heart of true British Poetry, the poetry in the moors,
cobbled dockyards, Scottish bagpipes and Irish pub poetry
1.
You edited the Write Away Journal which published poetry from all over the
world, what made you start such a journal, Did you achieve satisfaction from
your publishing career?
I didn’t
start Write Away, it was Sue Tordoff. She started it in January 2000.
Initially she published English poets, quiet a number from her immediate
circle, but as is the way with the Internet the readership quickly
spread worldwide.
I took over from Sue and published the magazine for three years with
help from both Sue and Vivien Steels. Initially I found the role
daunting so I instigated a review panel to help me avoid personal bias
in selecting material. The other unexpected side-effect was that
intensive editing stemmed the flow of my own creative writing. I don’t
know why this was, but others have also found that editing can induce
writer’s block. Eventually the block passed and I was able to both to
both edit and create.
You ask if I achieved satisfaction. I think so. I certainly enjoyed it
and learned a lot from doing it.
2.
You are a Radio Engineer, poetry like many of us is a passion we indulge
during our spare hours Did you keep a creative balance with your profession
and even achieve inspiration from the long rugged coast line which has been
your home?
Well writing
poetry certainly doesn’t put the bread on the table. Only a few very
lucky individuals worldwide make a living as poets. I think that luck is
the major part in that too. As editor of Write Away I had to read
hundreds of poems per month and I often read poems as good as the best
professional poets.
Maintaining a creative balance is not an issue for me. Writing poetry
and designing radio transmitters are poles apart so I can easily
compartmentalize the creative skills needed for each. The popular
stereotype of the engineer is of a socially challenged, conservative
dullard but I don’t find this to be the case at all. One of my favorite
contemporary poets, Fred Voss, seats almost all of his creativity in his
profession as an engineering machinist. His poetry is keenly observant
and far from dull. I’m not like Fred though, I never write poems about
the telecommunications industry.
I started writing poetry as an alternative to keeping a diary. That was
because poetry is so evocative for me. A diary can tell you what you did
on a given day and it might possibly help you remember how you felt. But
a poem can bring back tastes, smells and sounds just as fresh as when
they were first experienced. I’ve been living in East Yorkshire now for
nearly twenty-seven years. I have therefore penned a large number of
compositions inspired by the local scenery. Three or four years ago I
wanted to write an anthology of poetry describing a journey from
Scarborough in the north, down the unique Holderness coastline and along
the north bank of the mighty Humber river to my home town of Hull. This
was to be collaboration with a local digital artist who would provide
the images. No pictures ever arrived however and so I have now
resurrected the idea but using my own digital pictures. I’m not a
photographer so I just take lots of pictures and occasionally take a
good one by accident. The journey will also be a journey through the
four seasons.
3.
Poetry Festivals, Poetry readings are an integral part of the British
Contemporary Poetry scene. There has been a major shift from conservative to
a radical surrealistic poetry; poetry of Britain is speckled with foreign
languages, immigrant experiences, tolerance and even far right expressions.
Tell us about your personal endeavor to accept such creativity and change.
I’m not sure
I understand what’s happening with the poetry performance scene here.
The local festival (Humber Mouth) seems pretty impenetrable for me as a
local poet, which is odd. I don’t know why this is. Slams and rapping
poetry styles do nothing for me. Just not my generation I guess. I can’t
get with that urban street talk thing. I treat the urban landscape in
which I live as another landscape, just the same as the wild rural
landscapes of Holderness, both beautiful in their own way. I hope I’m
not terribly conservative in my writing but if I am then so be it. As
for immigrant experiences, I embrace them. Unfortunately I don’t speak
any other languages but having read many Indian and African poets
writings in English I really wish I could read their writings in their
native tongues.
4.
Tell us about good old English poems and ballads that are unique to the
History of England, its counties and even tiny villages. Story telling and
poems have been a tradition that has survived for centuries How does the new
British poet react to it now?
I like some
old English poetry. For me traditional English poetry is like American
country music. I have to pick over both because there’s a lot in there
that doesn’t light my candle. I have to confess that I don’t get
Shakespeare. The comedian Lenny Henry recently did a series on the radio
trying to unlock Shakespeare for the outsider. He came at it as an
outsider himself and presented the programme well. It even seemed that
he was beginning to get a love for the great bard. I listened carefully
and I could feel him getting it, but I never did. I tried and failed.
5.
Tell us about the poetry of the pub, the Irish experience, instant poetry
over beers and the political fallout from Ireland’s poetry.
Can’t help
you with this one Amitabh. I’ve only been to Ireland twice, both times
on business with no time for anything else. The pub scene here in
England is interesting. Pub music venues have increased dramatically
from my early days in the late seventies early eighties. Most of it is
tribute bands and covers but this aside there is still a core of good
original music. Here in Hull from venues such as The Adelphi, Springhead
and various folk clubs out in the country pubs. Sadly there’s a dearth
of corresponding poetry performance venues.
6.
From John Lennon to Katie Melua, she was in South Africa recently belting
out her popular number that she had written “ Nine million Bicycles in
Beijing”, Britain has been blessed with poets and lyricists, your poems have
a flavor of the English sea, the sound of the hooves of the horse driven
carriage to Devon and the music treading on memories, Would you think in
terms of song writing?
Ah yes, I do
quite a bit of song writing and therefore lyric writing. In my younger
days I was semi-pro singer. This is probably why my poetry is mostly all
non-rhyming, non-metrical. If I write something with metre it inevitably
becomes lyrics for some music I’m writing. Therefore to keep my poetry
as the spoken word I separate it from song and lyric writing.
I do listen carefully to song lyrics. I personally believe lyrics have
to stand up in their own right. It isn’t enough for me to hear a good
tune with insipid lyrics. If I hear a good tune I want the lyrics to
work well for me too. Popular music frequently fails to live up to this
ideal and I personally include much of John Lennon’s lyrics in that.
Some artists craft (or crafted) excellent lyrics though: Ian Dury, James
Blunt, The Stereophonics, John Otway, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens, Tim
Rice, Bernie Taupin, etc.
7.
You came to South Africa recently, did this rainbow nation touch you,
brought out poetry that looked at you differently?
Annette and I
loved our visit to South Africa, what a beautiful country. As a mixed
race couple we’re heartened to see how the nation has transition from
Apartheid to integration without violence. Going to South Africa gave my
creative writing a real kick-start. I was just coming out of my writer’s
block period and the assault on my senses really got the creative juices
flowing. We published some great poetry from South African poets in
Write Away and I very much love the country. I’d love to come back and
spend more time in Africa.
April 9, 2006
The Poetry of Tim Jarvis
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