From the first time I
heard Emily read I was hooked, the presentation, the passion and the power made
the audience sit up and take notice. Emily stole the show at the Fire River
Open Mic night.
Emily is a member of
Juncture 25, Taunton’s leading poetry group. She has read at many events and
has the ability to captivate the audience. There is a real energy about her
readings, if you get the chance to catch her at a festival this summer take it.
You will not be disappointed.
Not only is Emily a
first rate poet, [who writes about Magpies] she is also a seasoned traveller and
her account of her journey across Europe in a van is a delight. I am not much
of a reader of travel stories but I found Travelson the Continent to be an excellent travel book. It kept me entertained
from start to finish.
What I like about her
work is its richness; there is much to ponder on in her poetry. I am impressed
by the skilled manner in which she deals with rhythm. There is a lyrical
quality to her work that draws you in and transfixes you.
.
Enough from me, let’s
here from Emily.
Why
poetry?
Because I’m too impatient! Just joking – I like the
way poetry captures an image, a moment or a feeling that is hard to express in
just one page (or less than page). In fact to counter that, I am actually
trying to write a novel (so far about 1/3 of the way!) and it’s a great
experience because you have so much time to look at a situation from all sorts
of different angles. With poetry you’ve got one shot at making an impact.
Plus poetry can be so striking – sometimes you find a
poem that just hits you, perhaps because you’ve had a similar experience or
perhaps a similar feeling. I want to do that. One of my favorite examples that
has stuck with me is Julia Copus’: “we don’t fall in love: it rises through
us…like tea stains as it creeps up…a cube of sugar lying by a cup.”
My poetry is often emotional but I believe you can’t
truly represent something unless you’ve been there in your mind, either in real
or imagined state and I hope that (like how I sometimes have that eurieka
moment with other poems) my poems can affect other people in the same way.
Tell us
about how you work? – tell us about your work…(in advertently changed the
question, might also answer the original question at the end…)
I’ve been writing since I was little and I hope have
now got out of that awkward stage when you write laments over your poor teenage
life…(but probably not).
Possible favorite proud moment: won second place in a
school poetry competition with a little poem I wrote in an English lesson. We
weren’t set for anything except science and maths and so my mind often drifted
in English (particularly as we were studing Of Mice and Men – not one of my
favourite books). I didn’t put a name on the poem, just posted it to the box
then saw it on the school wall a week later. Secretly I thought that if I had
put my name to it I would have come first!
Since moving to the South West I have met the most
wonderful people (Paul included!!) who have supported my writing and
performing. I think I would have continued to write anyway but would not have
the same guidance, I’m still astonished that together Juncture 25 have
published our own book. It’s so exciting and I just want to hand out copies to
everyone I see in the street!
Other things I suppose I could include in ‘your work’:
my dissertation at uni was a collection of poems based on the Cornish myth of
Tristan & Isolde. I printed it on my mums printer and bound it with card
and raffia then sold quite a few copies!
And then I’ve got my blog (shouldn’t really call it
that!) my ‘kindle book’. About my travels around Europe in a red ford transit
van/campervan. It was an amazing experience and I’m so glad I wrote it all
down. The book wasn’t just a diary of my travels though (I have that
handwritten somewhere!) I like to think of it as a window on a journey. I hope
that it could be a good read to others, I certainly like looking back, and I
included little poems, lists, photos – photos were a key part – and stuff like
that. It was fun to do and it’s available on amazon for the kindle – a fair 98
pence!
The
campervan you drove hither and thither across Europe - what was that all about?
After university I didn’t know what to do (a common
feeling I do believe). Applied to various graduate schemes before deciding that
wasn’t what I wanted so instead embarked upon a journey.
The van was incredible. 6 foot long wheel base, giant
steering wheel, wild engine. It took us through 13 countries safely (mostly)
and was the most amazing way to see and experience Europe. I thought that the
trip would be more productive – poetry wise – but I suppose it was mostly spent
absorbing the environment. I did however write a diary every day and a blog
post about each section of the journey. And I’m so glad I did as it forms a
good story and even though things have changed since then, still makes me smile.
One day I might write up the boring version!! (The daily diary!)
Which
would you say is the more important-the poem on the page or the spoken poem?
I think they are equally important. I know I am the
worst person for sitting on the fence but I am strongly perched on this one. I
began writing for myself (cringe) and so they were I suppose silent poems and
now that I have found my ‘voice’ in more ways than one, although I think my
poetic voice does wander around a bit, I have found a new dimension for the poems.
I love the way different people read a poem, again a double meaning, people
read poems differently and they sound different in different peoples mouths.
And the main thing about poetry – and literature – that I love is that it is
all right.
Which would
it be tea or coffee?
Tea. Loose leaf. With a digestive.
What's in
the pipeline?
I hear we are going to be performing at 2000 trees
festival in July! Again, I am grateful to Juncture 25 for pushing me towards
these things. Work has slightly overtaken my life at the moment, and sometimes
means that I don’t do as much writing as I want to, or apply to festivals,
competitions etc etc etc but to have a group of people working towards the same
thing, namely getting ourselves out into the world, is brilliant.
Personally I would like to get my own book out there
at some point, the plan is the magpies… I’ve got a collection of poems from the
Magpie rhyme (1 for sorrow, 2 for joy…) and I’m nearly finished but I’m just
waiting for the words to come. Then I want to do something with the 7 finished
poems, whether a book or a performance or a video, or a piece of art…the
possibilities are endless!! Plus my novel which I hope at some point to finish.
It’s going to be a long one though, I don’t want to make it into a short story.
It is based on two children and their journey through life. I have tried not to
use any ‘internal monologues’ and is entirely founded on the descriptions of
their body language. I hope that some people might like to read it, if not it
is certainly a good exercise
.
Apart from all that, the pipeline includes honing my rather
wayward writings!
What
question would you not like me to ask?
Do you write for yourself or for others…
And how
would you answer it?
I write for myself but I hope that it illuminates
similar things in other people’s lives or imaginations. But I feel guilty
sometimes that I write for myself and in the future (when I become more worldly
wise) perhaps I will be able to be more proactive, but probably not.
If you
were a colour/ a book/ a poem and a song what would you be?
All together?!
Grey. The Magic Faraway Tree. Words, Wide Night –
Carol Ann Duffy. Such Great Heights – The Postal Service.
Tell us
about how you work?
I
do most of my writing in bed, or in the arm chair by my bedroom window, and
quite a bit on trains. I have been known to write something down on the
steering wheel (don’t tell anyone!). Possibly because these are the places
where I am on my own, or where I can gather my thoughts. I especially find
trains very thought-gathering places.
This may be why I struggle with writing in form, my
poems seem to come at strange times, normally when my mind relaxes a little
bit, and when I try really hard to write something in structure, or for example
my ‘gold’ magpie poem – I have the scene, the “whats at stake” (thanks Ginny)
and the characters so it were but just haven’t found the words yet. So I’m just
waiting for that to form itself.
So in a nutshell, my writing is not confined (to a
nutshell) and I hope that with the right nurturing will grow wings and fly.
There we go!