Couplet reviewed

Couplet by James Browning Kepple and Kim Görannson (Pretend Genius Press, 2007)

Couplet is an ingenious object: two poets’ respective collections printed back to back. Each poem is faced, not with a blank page, but with the other poet’s upside-down poem. Hey, it saves paper.
This being Pretend Genius Press, the style is - for want of a more sensible word - experimental. The influence of those dead white men, the Beats, is obvious. A ruddy disregard for traditional forms, syntax and sometimes even spelling makes it challenging but, on the whole, refreshing reading.

James Browning Kepple’s work is open about its angry politics from the start, with pieces about a war veteran seeking forgiveness, the Cuban national baseball team, and the uncomfortably blunt ‘jesus is a walmart’. Another blunt instrument, ‘thunderstorms over virgin galactic’ is frankly judgemental, peering down its nose at the “motley of used money” that can afford to holiday in space. And it’s surprising to find such a modern style turned to conservative nostalgia, as in ‘Gone were the sad daisy’.

But Kepple also achieves moments of serious yum, as in ‘Transient Baltimore Ship Builder’, ‘Jon benet’ or morsels like a "child’s crayon remarks2 ('for a war veteran seeking rose'). Flip the book over and there are further tasty nibbles from Kim Göransson, like the ideas that “hitchcock themselves / under the skin” (‘note found in a notebook on a park bench in a park’).

Göransson’s poetry is more intimate and less punch drunk. Best of anything here is ‘Brigitte Bardot swam in the pool the day my grandmother died’, which juxtaposes the two characters of the title in a truly original way, gorgeously and movingly:

In her last months, she wrote
letters to an American friend, Ethel.
I think it was, Minneapolis.
Nipples darker than dead suns, cutting
through everything. An exchange student,
back in the 40s, those were the days. She
recalls. Slim against a body without shame,
dragging against a bottom of
polished stone.

Kepple credits Dr Polysceni Indya Tzimourtas and Olesya Mishechkina with helping to edit his work. Hm. The book as a whole might have done with a more substantial editor: the torrent of words is overwhelming and it is impossible to get any sense of it as a self-contained unity (or even two self-contained unities). Conversely, if there was never going to be any unifying logic to the collection, it is a shame not to see in Göransson’s roll call ‘the pope is dying and i can’t stop eating’, a poem for which we at Moloch are bound to feel a special fondness, having once been proud to put it into print.

- Ailbhe

London Poetry Meetup

If any of you would-be poet-types are wafting and drooping about London, let me recommend the London Poetry Meetup. We met in the Artillery Arms on Monday to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday and it was quite the food of love.

In advance of each meeting, a great poet (or a handful of 'em) is chosen, and you bring along some of their work to read and some of your own. Along the way, some beer is drunk and some merry tangents are gone on.

The next one is going to feature Browning, Tennyson, Eliot and Pound - who would miss it for the world?

If you're interested, you need to register with the Meetup website:

http://www.meetup.com/t/tf_3741314

Then join the London Poetry Meetup Group.

despite some delay...

Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom
I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch
who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy!
Moloch whom I abandon!

Last summer, sitting in the sun with my useless degree and dwindling funds, I had a mini-crisis. I really did not know what to do with myself - besides write and publish unprofitable things(sorry guys). So I decided to get a little bit of direction and put in a late application for a publishing MA. A few weeks later I packed my bags preparing to bury myself in a sea of books in oxford. Unfortunately they were mainly books of the soul draining kind: business, editorial, marketing...all the things designed to make you forget why you want to get into the business. And oxford publishing types it turned out are very punctual with perfect attendance, most of whom it appeared saw publishing as a business.

And then there was me, always running in fifteen minutes late with unbrushed hair and colourful skirts freshly torn from bike chains. I never thought I would fit in, for the first six weeks i lived in a hostel going back and forth between the career hungry world and a world where australians played bongos, drank beer and danced on a rooftop terrace each night as we huddled around the heater and under large impractical umbrellas that threatened to take us up in a gust of wind. But I had to make a decision and soon relocated close to my college where I now live in a little split level attic room with no carpet, unpainted walls and fairy lights to compensate for the poor lighting. I soon found business types often hide creative goblins under their hats, got stuck into the course but never quite managed to trade my coloured skirts for sombre colours or master the art of punctuality.

As I was battling business demons, my creative partner missy darcy was battling some of her own. Sadly she has never been able to stay still for too long, dreaming of postcodes to exploit and twist to her desires. So she took the plunge and joined me on the relocation trail. But we are now well underway brainstorming, designing, having unsuccessful barbeques and drinking cocktails on foreign waters.

In two weeks time we should see a new design for the Moloch homepage, which thanks to my evil publishing course will be compatible with all web browsers. By July we hope to have the summer issue up and running!

Life has been hectic. Despite our hopes and unrealistic plans Moloch turned Bi-annual, we may produce more of them if we get more submissions and life throws us a few bones. But for now you must submit to moloch, stick your babies in that giant bull god and let us help you to light the flames.

About Moloch.ie

Moloch features art in different media, poetry and short prose. It will also contains collaborations between writers and artists with contributors finding inspiration in each other’s pieces, creating a conjunction between art and writing.

Submissions may be on any subject and in any style. Writers are invited to submit up to six poems and/or up to two short stories. Artists are invited to submit up to six pieces. Anyone interested in taking part in a collaboration - that is, writing a poem/short story inspired by another person’s art, or creating a new piece of art inspired by a poem/short story – should contact editor@moloch.ie.

Moloch provides a much-needed platform for art and writing to co-exist, for different art forms to enhance and inspire each other.

Moloch seeks variety. Many journals state that a person should read their journals to see what styles and topics they prefer. But in doing so a pattern emerges; one or two forms become favoured and are seen as having more literary merit, which results in writers concentrating on these favoured styles. This puts writing at a standstill - in order to be published one must write a certain way, but if we are all writing in the same manner how can we move forward and create new styles? Moloch includes polished gems side by side with more experimental pieces.

Moloch seeks depth and quality. Its title reflects the power of art and fiction. The god Moloch appeared in many forms, taking different names or demonic shapes. People believed that by sacrificing newborn babies to him they would receive better harvests and financial gain. By placing a child in the statue of Moloch and lighting the flames you could win your family a better life. Moloch is a story that altered the world around him, a myth that became reality in peoples’ minds, yielding very real consequences.

Poetry, short stories and art - like Moloch - reside somewhere between myth and reality. They are distorted truths that often appear more real than reality itself, with the power to make or break a society. Oppressive regimes have begun their rule with book burnings, recognizing the power a fictional tale can have to inspire a society or bring it to a point of self reflection. It is this kind of power that Moloch seeks. Submit to Moloch.

Background Notes

This is the second venture of this kind undertaken by Clodagh Moynan and Ailbhe Darcy. In spring 2006 they co-edited an intervarsity journal of art and writing, Watermarks, featuring work by students across Dublin, a sample of which can be found on http://watermarks.moloch.ie. Watermarks is available to buy in Anthology Books on Meetinghouse Square, Temple Bar, Dublin.