Magma has gone pear-shaped . . . snail-shaped . . . every which way-shaped. Issue 57 is likely to blow your mind, eyes and sense of balance.
Be ready to twirl your copy round and round as you read Simon Barraclough’s ‘Sun Blurbs‘, marvel at the tersely brilliant ‘Reconstruction‘ by Patience Agbabi (no it’s not a misprint!) and stand on mussel shells, looking across the river at night with Susan Connolley.
Those lucky enough to be at the Troubadour for Magma’s launch last week, were treated to amazing performances by contributors who brought the additional dimension of sound into the ‘shape’ equation. It was not a night for the faint-hearted. Enthusiastic audience participation for Paula Claire’s scorchmark poem ‘Magma‘ involved (among other things) my own copy of Magma being flung across the stage to yells of Ma ma ma ma gggggma!
My poem ‘Mark (X) only once. Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?‘ was shaped like a railway line, with the Saltire trying to form and tipped its hat to Edward Thomas’ Adlestrop.
Contributors to issue 57 include Chris McCabe, Claire Booker, Richard Evans, Penelope Shuttle, Heidi Williamson, Andrew Pidoux, Helen Mort and Vona Groarke.
“You’ll find poems about shape, poems that use shape as a form of logic, poems that use shape as a joke, poems that use shape to shadow or disrupt their rhythm . . .” promise editors Hannah Lowe and Ian McEwen in their foreword. “What we don’t have (we hope) are poems whose shape is mere decoration.”
Rest assured, they got it right.
To buy a copy of Magma (issue 57) The Shape of the Poem, or to submit your own poems for future issues, click: http://www.magmapoetry.com
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