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Postcards


(further to the last piece, it may be worthwhile pointing out that not EVERYTHING I read was ancient*)

I managed a single new poem at last week’s reading, or rather twenty odd very short new poems plucked from one longer work which is currently being tinkered with. In the finest traditions of my magpie poetics, the idea was “inspired by” (read: ripped off wholesale from) the sainted and discussed elsewhere in these pages Georges Perec.
Reading his collected short pieces Species of Spaces (take the exhortation to buy and read as read)

I was struck by a piece called Two Hundred and Forty three postcards in Real Colour (dedicated to his friend and other hero of mine, Italo Calvino). Simply put the text is the standard matter of postcards, weather, food, scenery, but the overall effect is hypnotic in its banality (and in the knowledge that, this being Perec, there’s something else entirely whirring away in the background). This evolved into 99 Postcards for Georges Perec. Me being me I am unable to match Georges’ discipline, and my efforts are altogether more absurd (at times). I’ve constrained myself further by adhering to a strict three lines per “postcard”. The brevity of the form forces you to pack a poem densely and tightly, think about each word. It’s like being back teaching first year poetry again, and getting the students writing haiku.

They seemed to go down well, and I’m pleased with how they’re shaping up. So for once, watch this space.

*why yes, I am getting round my word count constraint by using parentheses and footnotes**, well spotted
**yes, like this one

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