Frankenstein, me and Pip Adam's podcast

Pip Adam, who, if you don't already know, is a really interesting New Zealand writer, all-around lovely and interesting person, and my virtual neighbour (she lives just down the hill from me) has recently started a podcast with the rather perfect title: Better off Read.

I was initially rather alarmed when she asked to talk to me about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because I'm really not expert (or very well-read) in 19th-century literature, and it must surely be at least a decade since I've read Frankenstein. But when she said that I shouldn't  re-read it, and that it was our memories of it we would talk about, I started feeling a little calmer. Also, once I listened to a few of her previous podcasts, and understood that the book is just a place to leap off from to other related subjects, I started to feel that I could perhaps actually manage this.

We recorded the podcast on Friday, and it turned out to be actually very fun. It was just like having a really good conversation with Pip, as I do every time we do have a conversation, except that I was a bit more self-concious about a) not coughing (I am recovering from a cold) and b) not rambling (which I have a tendency to do).

As well as Frankenstein the novel, we also talk about its author, Mary Shelley, about movie versions, about a poem I wrote inspired by Mary Shelley and her novel, about other of my poems, especially in My Iron Spine and Cinema, and some other random stuff I expect.

If you're interested, you'll find it here: https://betterreadnz.wordpress.com/2014/12/13/frankenstein/, and do listen to her other ones too. I haven't previously been a listener of podcasts - I didn't see quite how they could fit into my life - but I've started listening to them while doing dishes. Nice to be learning something while doing housework. Makes it less tedious (the housework - not the learning).

Poetry is like fashion: one day you’re in, the next you’re out

I’m not talking here about poets in the poetry scene, though that may also be the case, I’m talking about individual poems in my collection My Iron Spine, which is finally ready for publication (I think).

Since I first assembled the collection, I’ve slowly been removing poems. Generally I think things can be improved by stripping back, and so, after reflection and feedback, I’ve taken out about six or seven poems.

The last decision was yesterday. After some feedback, I’d come to suspect that the middle section (which contains biographical poems, many of them quite long) might be too long. As you might expect, I want to try to make it the best book I can, so I had a good look at that section, and considered which poems I could bear to cut. After more discussion, I narrowed it down to one five-page poem, and then agonised for a few days.

The poem is called ‘The Happiness of Mary Shelly’, and is in the voices of Mary Shelly, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster from Frankenstein. I see it as a kind of triptych of voices – they take turns to speak, often about similar things, echoing each other. So it’s kind of about the themes from the novel, and interlinking them with themes from Mary’s own life – and kind of seeing the other two as aspect of her. I’m very fond of it, but have always felt slightly unsure about it.

Last week I wavered back and forth about keeping it in, taking it out. I think it’s pretty good, it belongs there, versus it’s long, I could rework it a bit to make it better (especially after Steve read it and suggested something about Victor’s relationship with his father), it’s kind of in the wrong place anyway (I’m trying to keep it away from another, short, poem about Mary Shelly).

Yesterday morning, while checking my proofs against the originals, (yes, it is very late in the process!) I looked at the poem before ‘The Happiness of Mary Shelly’, and the poem after, and realised they work well next to each other – the ‘envious light’ of ‘Marie Curie’, is echoed in the first lines of ‘Elizabeth Siddal’: ‘His light/hits the side of my face’.

And so it was decided; ‘The Happiness of Mary Shelly’ is out. I hope to find another home for her in the future – perhaps in a series of poems about fiction and fictional characters (I already have a couple about Mina Harker from Dracula – she’s so cool!).

And now My Iron Spine is one step closer to publication!