ANGEL
EXHAUST 23
PERIMETER
THRALLS
In
issue 23 we run poems by Iain Sinclair, John Hartley Williams, Colin
Simms, Kevin Nolan, Anthony Mellors, Ken Fox, AND Luke Roberts.
As
the eerie carmine light of burning shopping malls revealed a new
subjective landscape, John Hartley Williams was so transfixed by the
uprising of 2011 that he translated the Illuminations
of Rimbaud in a post-modern and thoroughly convulsive manner,
turning the paint splashes into a labyrinthine clarity which we
present here in its entirety. We include the whole of Paintsplashes.
The poet has said this was a response to the riots and disaffections
of summer 2011, which followed the police shooting of a man named
Mark Duggan. “In
London, where I was at the time, a mob was destroying the quartier
a few streets east of where I sat. By chance I had come across a new
'translation' of this very work and contemplated it with scorn.” it
was an illuminated moment:
The
little deaths were taking place behind the rose bushes. Pregnant
mothers had climbed on top of the clowns. The cheated cradles wept
over the sand. A devilish fraternity of voyeurs, growling like brass
bands, had crouched down in an oily field. We buried the elderly
upright in memory of their gloves.
Elsewhere
in an urban scenography corroded by money and metaphors, Iain
Sinclair was moved to recover three unpublished books of his great
work Suicide
Bridge,
of which we present two at their full extent. The original scheme, of
presenting the new adventures of all twelve of the Sons of Albion,
emerges now in its full infamy. Was Blake writing like HP Lovecraft
or was Lovecraft writing like Blake?
We
have a long essay by Simon Jenner on John Goodby, an interview with
Gavin Selerie and some poems to celebrate his selected poems
(‘Music's Duel'). Also reviews of 'Certain Prose of the English
Intelligencer',
of 'Blake in Cambridge' by Out To Lunch, and of forgotten jazz
poet's Pete Brown's memoirs. An editorial on naive poetry & naive
art identifies the strand of primitivism and naive subjectivity in
the 'modern' wing of poetry.
The
reforgotten return in altered form, and the 40-year career of Paul
Green can now emerge into the daylight via James Keery’s
rich synthesis of science, cabbala, and theology, in disengaging the
precious minerals of Communicator.
Is this Peterborough’s
laconic counterpole to Alan Moore’s
glyconic prevalence in Northampton?
Hardly
less heroically, Angel Exhaust hurls itself into the Somerset-like
flood plain of 7 anthologies of young poets, containing at least
literally the call-sign of 194 names. A slow camera picking out basic
features of a new landscape. What is the nature of the new era? Have
another ten years of history surfaced from the silty waters like a
gleaming causeway? Has the old guard met its Dien Bien Phu? Has
anyone under 40 even heard of the Underground? Do we know what’s
going on? Surf’s
up, everybody!
Plus
the usual forays into Gaelic folklore and Egyptology.
200
pages
Price
£6. Orders to 165 Coppice Road, Nottingham, Notts NG5 7GX. cheques payable to Andrew Duncan, please.***
Angel Exhaust 22
The false, heroic head he once lifted above more or less the same crowd as that to which Captain Fuller and the anarchist Aldred proclaimed the new aeon has become cumbersome, monstrous. In the dim stale light it resembles nothing so much as the skull of a horse, but is sealed, lacking all seven apertures.
At length he becomes too irked by my pursuit to ignore it further and makes as if to summon me, but no power resides in him now, and when he swivels to claw at my shirt, the effect is merely comic. So he turns and brushes his fingers against the hedge wall afresh, flustered.
AE is overwhelmed by the wealth of material in this issue. First, we print book V of ‘The Memory of the Drift’ in its entirety. Next, a David Chaloner memorial. By singular good fortune AE has been given access to the archive of his letters. We chose a time of dialogue with John Hall. David's poems take place in a 'permanent present' and these remarkable letters are meant to recover a 'deep present', the Now in which the poems were written. This feature presents a moment of time preserved like a crystal, a formative moment for poetry. It is 1969 and: & just abt to begin Jeremy Prynne's book The White Stones have you seen that at all What have you been doing since our last letter & where are your poems appearing I've not seen any for such a long time Did you see the last copy of collection & the last resuscitator I thought you'd've been there
Then, we open the window on a new generation with an anthology of Ninerrors poems. This field is so new that it can't be described. The concept is ‘Twin Peaks': two moments, one of around 1969 and one of 2010. There is a 'continuity of the unknown' and the course of brilliant innovation which David was embarking on resembles the course of the poets around Freaklung.
as the freedom of information act failed to demand a
supposed ‘transparency of normal speech’, it turns upon
us to decolonize rhetoric & the wider sphere of language,
syllable-by-syllable. we are to start with ‘radical’, ‘fairness’,
‘social’ & it’s derivatives, ‘rhetoric’, ‘free’ & words used in
justifying a notion;
there is now animal fat in the extinguishers; we have begun to
bribe refuse collections;
we have deduced the frequencies of sound that enact violence
on private property, we
are counting heads
Maybe the comparison allows us a sense of deep time, the experience at levels beneath consciousness of a ‘group identity’, always dissolving in time but sustained by the linguistic or symbolic net of shared poems.
The third strand is what magazines are signed up for, a display of new poems and some information.
Poems by: Colin Simms, Rhys Trimble, Paul Holman, John Powell Ward, Graham Hartill, David Barnett, Harry Godwin, Nat Raha, Alan Hay, RTA Parker, SJ Fowler, Linus Slug, Gareth Durasow, Stephen Emmerson, Owain Lee, James Harvey, Michael Zand.
When we subtract the certain and the possible, there is the new poetry. What will they think of the poetry of the recent past?
160 pp., cost £7.00 including postage. cheques payable to Andrew Duncan. at 165 Coppice Road, Nottingham, Notts NG5 7GX.
***
Angel Exhaust 20 ‘You just rang Anne Widecombe?’– out now
material whose polished
surface becomes you
its character and interpretation
an exact technology
of tribal celebration
nut-brown warp thread
gold and indigo weave
you speak a tongue made
fluent by its origin
sensitised to the composition
of tectonic plates
(David Chaloner, from Void Heaven)
Awesome new poetry by John Kinsella, Kelvin Corcoran, Jeff Hilson, DS Marriott, John Goodby, David Chaloner, Jesse Glass, Rita Dahl, Jason Wilkinson, Michael Haslam, Charles Bainbridge, Chris Brownsword, Colin Simms, Out To Lunch, Carrie Etter. 144 pp.
PLUS the results of a survey where contemporary poets explain what’s wrong with the poetry scene. A fearless analytical exposé of the moral gutter where the sleaze flows night and day. We toss those bastards into the big wok of repentance. We rake the muck and rack the mopes. It’s twilight for the deep pigs.
Q So are you going to put an end to all this nonsense in poetry? To abstract ideas, subjectivity, experiment, modernity, complicated technique, radical politics, all those up in the air things which the ordinary housewife doesn’t understand?
A Essentially, no.
In an intense options auction conducted by satellite, Charles Bainbridge and Andrew Duncan won control of the “Charles Bainbridge” and “Andrew Duncan” contracts and so Angel Exhaust is still being run by the original editors applying the same artistic policy based on beauty and tranquillity. The only magazine which has used three five-year silences to improve the structure of the literary field. Buy Angel Exhaust and say goodbye to those sub-prime cultural investments.
Price: £7.00 including postage. Address: 165 Coppice Road, Nottingham, Notts NG5 7GX. Cheques payable to ‘Andrew Duncan’ please.
This issue is being published late as a tribute to Britney Spears. The missing years “are part of the magnitude of what I’ve become.”
***
ANGEL EXHAUST NINETEEN: INVEST IN YOUR ARCH-ENEMY
*pronounce: devastate your Aunt Jeremy
available now
poetry by:
Joseph Macleod Adrian Clarke Alison Croggon
Kevin Nolan Peter Philpott Peter Manson
Chris Brownsword Paul Holman Jesse Glass
Kelvin Corcoran Philip Jenkins Brian Hardie
David Chaloner Wayne Clements John Muckle
Giles Goodland Ralph Hawkins
Colin Simms Harry Gilonis
Andrew Duncan Marianne Morris Elizabeth James
Editors: Charles Bainbridge Andrew Duncan
Methan Beerlight, postmodern viral marketing consultant, talks to Manly Bannister, Angel Exhaust's Head of Ideology, about product conformance issues for AE 19.
Methan: So why is there no blurb?
Manly: We favour calm and serenity. Our contributors look on public image as like having a 13-year old version of yourself following you around talking egocentric nonsense.
Methan: Why did the last issue take 6 years to produce?
Manly: We had trouble finding a cafe to meet in.
Methan: Why is it called Invest in your arch-enemy?
Manly: We believe the unity of the poetry world is more important than quarrels about fine points of verse regulation. If you can't kill your neighbours, you have to intermarry with them.
Methan: Did you call for the government to withdraw grants from magazines which published reviews not totally favourable to the poets you publish?
Manly: No, that was someone else.
Methan: Why is it called Devastate your Aunt Jeremy?
Manly: It was a misunderstanding between the two editors.
Methan: Could we just describe the individual poets?
Manly: Let me go as far as I can. Corcoran is like Corcoran. Glass is like Glass. Holman is like Holman. Holman is more like Holman than like Morris. Poets like Philpott and Nolan are too overwhelming and intricate to be described in a few words.
Methan: I've never heard of them.
Manly: Maybe you should read Angel Exhaust.
ANGEL EXHAUST 19 available for £7 from 165 Coppice Road, Nottingham, NG5 7GX
Cheques payable to "Andrew Duncan", please
***
think these issues were 2005 to 2015 roughly
The magazine started in 1977 and was founded by Adrian Clarke and Steven Pereira. The title refers to a shop near The Angel, Islington, which sold exhaust pipes. The goal of the magazine is an England where there are more poetry bookshops than tattoo parlours.
Perimeter Thralls are the raised shelf around the edge of the cellar of the traditional Nottingham pub, for holding barrels.
think these issues were 2005 to 2015 roughly
The magazine started in 1977 and was founded by Adrian Clarke and Steven Pereira. The title refers to a shop near The Angel, Islington, which sold exhaust pipes. The goal of the magazine is an England where there are more poetry bookshops than tattoo parlours.
Perimeter Thralls are the raised shelf around the edge of the cellar of the traditional Nottingham pub, for holding barrels.
I just bought after belatedly noticing issue 23 (autumn 15). This has many good things in it: poetry by Iain Sinclair, Mellors, Nolan, a discussion of Paul Green's 'Communicator', Selerie interview, and an assessment of new poetry anthologies including 'Identity Parade'. There are numerous sharply thoughtful insights and points to consider, as well as the literary appreciation of this writing. Indeed this might be the most interesting innovative poetry journal I know currently next to 'Tears in the Fence', 'Shearsman', 'Edinburgh Review'. Would be good to see it continue either in print or online at the website.
ReplyDeleteClark Allison
I agree with the above gentleman. Angel Exhaust #23 is a very informative and enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteAE 23 is superb. Many new things and clues to others. Anything about Paul Green welcome - hard to get anything. One day - a collected? I only have Gutter Talk.
ReplyDelete