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How
do you see your work?
I
couldnÂ’t do without it! ItÂ’s like bread or water,
or something absolutely essential to me. I find myself absolutely
fulfilled when IÂ’ve written a poem or when IÂ’m writing
one. Having written one you fall away rapidly from being a
poet to being a poet at rest, which is hardly the same thing
at all. But the actual experience of writing a poem is a magnificent
one.
Thematically,
I donÂ’t dig genres, and I feel a little cautious about
classifying my poems. I guess theyÂ’re pretty dark and
intense, which probably owes a debt to the poetry I enjoy
reading. I think my poems come immediately out of my sensuous
and emotional experiences, and as such are really personal.
As
far as things that are characteristic of my poetry, I like
to use a lot of emotive language and extravagant real and
metaphorical imagery. I guess that something I do quite well
which I admire in other people is simply looking at things
in different ways, for example, in ‘Love Poem no.2’,
nurses as moths, and smiles as hooks.
Do
you prefer clarity or ambiguity in a poem, and why do you
see this as important?
TheyÂ’re
both important I guess, and a poem with elements of only one
would make for difficult reading. It's a question of taste
as to which you preferÂ… Certain poems, ones that are
overtly political or whatever, require a lot of clarity, but
I donÂ’t like hat-throwing, flag-waving poems, and I donÂ’t
like being preached to, so IÂ’d have to say the latter.
I like to wallow a bit. A little ambiguity gives the poem
scope, and I wouldnÂ’t like anyone whoÂ’s reading
the poem to feel like his or her intelligence is being insulted.
What
would you say are a couple of your greatest achievements as
a poet?
I
recently was runner-up in the UCE Poetry Prize with ‘Love
Poem no.2Â’, which was judged by the Poet Laureate, Andrew
Motion, who also presented the awards.
Love
Poem no.2
Stasis
of emptiness. Sterile. Sterile.
The nurses flit across this cold white abyss
Like so many moths. What is that? A smile?
Or the subtle crook that hangs from your lips
To pull me in? I can never decide.
Do you really think youÂ’ll just wash me free
Of my loving persuasions – with some slight
Of hand, some stitches, forever absolve me?
Well I never asked for a priest. Or for
This snickering, Kit-Kat crunching crowd to
Come and paint me the lurid spectrum of a
Victory parade. I just wanted to
Stain the precious ivory with crimson,
Daze, and in my silence be forgiven.
PAUL
HORN 6/11/03
My
another achievement of note was at the last gig The Trauma
played, where after we had played, one young woman told me
that listening to the lyrics of ‘Sofia’ had brought
tears to her eyes. Normally IÂ’m not happy to make girls
cry, but I must admit I was proud to have created that degree
of empathy.
Many
students find poetry meaningless and boring. How would you
respond to this and explain what you think poetry is and why
it is interesting?
Firstly,
I guess that it would be naïve of me to say that poetry
is for everyone, because it isnÂ’t. A feeling that it
is difficult, effeminate, or simply irrelevant puts off some
people. ItÂ’s partly this sort of stigma that stops some
people ‘getting’ poetry I think.
IÂ’ve certainly got some strange looks on the bus, reading
my Sylvia Plath anthology. Really I can only speak about poetry
from my own perspective: as a reader, the poetry I like to
read is an expression of the most intimate and intense feelings,
and therefore a completely compelling insight for a voyeur
like me; as a writer it provides me with an outlet for emotional
experiences I wouldnÂ’t otherwise be able to communicate.
I
suppose another reason some students may find alien is because
of the medium itself. To want to read poetry, let alone write
it is just plain weird to a lot of people. This is partly
why I think music is a suitable medium for verse. ArenÂ’t
the best songs the ones you hear and think, "thatÂ’s
about me"? ItÂ’s often the same with poetry, and
it is this quality that makes some modern songwriters poets
in their own right, and I certainly aspire to use it.
Any
advice to a young poet?
Choose
your heroes wisely, stick to form, and donÂ’t be afraid
to say what you want to say.
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If you have suggestions about any Gloucestershire arty things I can write about, send them to me via e-mail below:
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