Our
open call for poetry and prose pamphlet submissions ends on Sunday 13th December and I've been thinking about what I can do to help people who are still deciding what to send us. I've already written about
what we do when we process submissions, so I thought it might be useful to look at submissions from another angle and explain why I chose to publish all the pamphlets we've put out already.
You can read Part 2
here.
* * *
Oils, by Stephen Sexton (£6.50)
Series: The Emma Press Pamphlets
 |
| Oils, by Stephen Sexton |
Why: These are definitely poems which grew on me each time I read them (we read manuscripts at least twice, if not three times, before even shortlisting them). I found it hard to get a handle on the poems initially, but then literally dozens of Stephen's nervy, melancholic thoughts – like
'I ask what it means when even / in my dream I'm a coward' – stuck in my head and I knew that these were special and I had to publish them.
Favourite lines: 'I can’t hold onto anything, Anne. Because it doesn’t exist,
I’ll meet you in town. Borrow some wine from the woman
next door, reach for glasses. Live, then show me what I got wrong.'
Series: The Emma Press Picks
 |
| Captain Love and the Five Joaquins |
Why: The Pick is the original Emma Press pamphlet format and I always hoped that established poets would use it for their more experimental projects.
Captain Love is a wonderful example of this, as John Clegg tells the frankly unbelievable (and yet true-ish) story of bounty hunter Harry Love, through a mixture of poems and prose. It's short, but by gum is it swashbuckling, packed with swordfights, tequila and... Zorro?!?
Favourite lines: 'Love isn’t safe. The lines across his palm, which Ezmerelda stared at for so long before confessing she could read no future there, have started to converge. One eye popped halfway open overnight and Love was busy with his needle in the morning. Nothing’s ready for the visit. Love must send to Fresno for his epaulettes. '
Series: The Emma Press Pamphlets
 |
| Raspberries for the Ferry |
Why: I do have a soft spot for formal poetry, and Andrew Wynn Owen's way with metre and rhyme is so infectiously playful that he had me at '
These luscious buds should be illegal / Reserved for emperor and eagle.' The language in his poems is rich, textured and colourful, which I love, and – more than that – his worldview in this pamphlet is exuberant and joyous, which makes it a pleasure to read and very easy to want to share with readers.
Favourite lines: 'I précis
this shaky simile because I am
so happy, life-hallowed, the carp that swim
in the Arno know, the leaves by the dam
rustle knowledge of it, and the pilgrim
stops short to wish me well [...]'
Ikhda, by Ikhda, by Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi (£6.50 / £4.25)
Series: The Emma Press Pamphlets
 |
| Ikhda, by Ikhda |
Why: Ikhda is a multi-lingual globetrotter, so she uses the English language in a rollicking way which feels instinctive and fresh. When I was reading her manuscript, I liked how her poems had a surreal quality and could be viciously satirical and angry but also innocent and tender. This pamphlet feels feminist to me on a very personal level, so it felt important to publish it.
Favourite lines: '
I smelled your distinctive
typical smell
from hundreds of kilometres,
branches of trees swaying gently.
I walked along silently
looking for a stud
to marry me once
and feed my ren
for years.'
Series: The Emma Press Picks
 |
| The Held and the Lost |
Why: Escapism is a large part of the appeal of reading for me; it feels like a weight is being lifted when I can immerse myself in someone else's way of seeing the world. I've never been to Australia, but from Kristen Roberts' poems I can imagine the wide gaping spaces, luscious vegetation and oppressive heat. There are so many finely-observed details in Kristen's poems that reading the manuscript felt like stepping out into a variety of distant bedrooms, backyards and beaches.
Favourite lines: 'You cook and we eat, fingers barbeque-blackened,
lips soft with lamb fat. Your smile is eager,
mine a dam defying rivulets of ageing, unpaid crimes.
We ignore the old conversations pressing at closed doors
and instead talk longingly of rain.'
The Emmores, by Richard O'Brien (£5.00)
Series: The Emma Press Picks
 |
| The Emmores, by Richard O'Brien |
Why: Love poems were my point of entry into liking poetry as an adult, but before long I started feeling resentful of the treatment of the muse: either they would barely be present in the poem, sidelined by the poet's interest in the poet, or they would suffer a lot of assumptions being made about their feelings. What I like about
The Emmores is the honesty of these love poems – Richard doesn't pretend that these are anything other than the hopeful declarations of someone whose main pulling power is his way with words.
Favourite lines: 'and if I could I’d call tornadoes down
to wrench up rooves of Collyweston slate,
disintegrate unyielding dry-stone walls
and crazy-pave a path across the fields
to your door.'
Series: The Emma Press Picks
 |
| The Flower and the Plough |
Why: Back in 2012, these poems struck a deeply personal chord with me, and I was astonished that another person could express feelings that I felt intensely but couldn't articulate. It felt like these poems were about
my failing relationship and increasingly conflicted ideas about romance, and I felt all the better for having read them.
Favourite lines: '[...] when you temper
scraps into treasure
I think it’s worth it,
and when you
spit out glass
though you only got sand
I think it’s worth it.'
Thank you for this and also the introductions to new poets and books, all sound excellent.
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