|
|
There's a long tradition now of writing which attempts to
deal with the issue of 'information overload', often by 'snap-shotting' and
integrating different forms of language, of subject-material and variety of
discourse. Juxtaposition and collage are features long associated with the
visual media, particularly film - though there are precedents within painting
- and these have a long history of acceptance within popular culture through
a wide media dissemination. Writing, and particularly poetry which adopts
these methods, has had a tougher time finding acceptance, particularly
perhaps, in the British Isles, though there have been regular 'outbreaks' by
surrealistically-influenced poets when things get really dull and mediocre.
Given the fractured nature of current poetry publishing, and one supposes,
its audiences, there still seems little engagement between different groups
and tendencies, though attempts have been made to break down these barriers
or at least stimulate some useful discussion. Perhaps this is just 'the way
things are' and we should all stop worrying about it and just get on with
producing the work. Tom Jenks is a poet very much in the 'experimental camp',
yet his work has an immediate attractiveness which I can't see why anyone
would resist, never mind want to.
Streak Artefacts is a compilation of
100 10-line poems. Each poem is filled with a variety of reference, from 'all
walks of life' and combines a quick-witted connection with the bizarre and
the beautiful - one line will take your breath away and the next will have
you creased up in mirth, at which point you read something which, due to its
play on language will remain puzzling, even when you acknowledge the linguistic
trick that's being played on you. These poems are enjoyable and fun to read
but they come loaded with intent:
20.
I
would have done the whole thing freestyle but Maureen gave me warp potion
shrapnel wound from Hollyoaks friction burn from Ninja Warrior
back
then wearing rollneck sweaters whilst inventing English folk
at
the free concert rain in a moleskin pocket
jazz: how a monkey is when you looked at it
as
when a member of Ginger Baker's Airforce
making a montage of winter trees [ a
gatefold sleeve
a
drawing of a termite mound, a sculpted hive
a
memoir abbreviated [Duckworth Lewis]:
How
I Poached an Egg for Mao Tse Tung
You could, if you felt the need or the stimulation (there's always plenty of
stimulation in a Jenks poem) spend some time on working with these lines and
'reading' a variety of meanings into the disconnections. You can guess at the
origins and use these 'unfinished texts' as a way of generating your own
thoughts and possibly, writings. Or, in less 'reflective' mood, you may
simply choose to push on and read through these scrambled non-narratives at a
pace. Both strategies are valid and neither is discounted. I find these poems
- depending on my mood, perhaps - to be both slowed-down and speeded-up,
which seems an astonishing contradiction until you start to take part in the
game. And I recommend that you do because Jenks is highly intelligent, great
fun, provocative and endlessly stimulating. What more could you ask for? Or,
as Jenks himself puts it (from '18') 'when it is rain it is not rain but a
ripple in the perceptual field'. The cover artwork is appropriate and
splendid.
© Steve Spence
2014
|