The Poet Reclining

"I always like selected poems from a poet because it gives a good cross section of their psyche. I also like somebody in a nice shiny Bloodaxe book. When I was writing the poetry column for The Times for a couple of years, and I had to plough through reams and reams of books, I had to find two things: first, a poet I liked, and second, a poem I could actually write a little story about. One of the things I like about Ken Smith is that he tackles quite difficult subjects: people’s moods and people changing. There’s one I used for The Times called ‘The Son’, which describes how the presence of a boy has permeated every part of his parent’s lives: their home, their utensils, their memories, even as he has grown up and left home. Of course he comes back and he doesn’t recognise the person that they think he is. He is alien now and no longer belongs. Yet the essence of the child that he once was still lives on in the people who reared him. It’s quite specific and almost brutal. One of the things I like about certain poets is lack of fluff. I don’t like fluff – if you can use three words where ten will do, then why not use three words and avoid diluting the point of the piece? If you want fluff, buy a pillow. It depends on the poem and the poet. Some people are more verbally economical by nature than others. Also everybody has a different voice and a different way of writing. But there are poets I’ve read who appear to have started a sentence and then become bogged down by adding several extraneous and unnecessary elements. And I think well, actually, that unadulterated sentence would have been quite sufficient and rather good. So the poets I have chosen are quite sparse in general terms, but not without humour – although Ken Smith’s poetry has a certain wistfulness about it, yet it’s very very strong. You could argue that it’s very masculine. His observations are specific and to the point; he doesn’t impose emotion on them. Some poets want you to use their own emotions and describe how sad or tragic or happy something is, as if to say, ‘I want you to feel this’. But I think it’s a much better idea to produce the evidence and have the reader find their own emotions for themselves. I would say Ken Smith is a very good poet to do that with. The selection covers 18 years and is hugely varied; I believe there is something in there for everyone."