Rupert M. Loydell - Böcker

The largest collection of original writing yet by this talented British poet, painter, editor and publisher. "Loydell is a poet who, in painting a Steinian portrait of himself, tells us he is 'interested in several sounds at once, he is withdrawing into the museum of improvisation'. There appear to be two aspects of these several sounds: tightly drawn lyrics that speak to his most intense experiences, and texts that improvise into predetermined structures, from other texts, whose reading is a different kind of intense experience. In the end, the distinction is a false one. What this book contains is a substantial collection from one of the most interesting writers around. Everything is in his voice, wherever it has come from. Even if it our own voices we hear, strangely othered, something angelic amidst our animal grunts." - Robert Sheppard

Rupert M Loydell's third Shearsman collection shows him continuing his forays into collage and experimental writing, but always with a lyric turn.

From Rupert Loydell's first visit to this small Cornish harbour town - an event recorded in one of the poems included in this book - he, along with many others, has been fascinated by the combination of sea, light, people and painting that constitute St. Ives. These themes, along with tourism & trade, myth and the nature of creativity itself, are the subject of this anthology, which has at its heart the sculptor Barbara Hepworth's garden and studio, now run by the Tate as a small museum. It is a secluded and magical place, however full of visitors, and it is from this small green oasis and its stone and metal inhabitants that this book starts its winding journey. Having explored Hepworth's garden and studied individual works of art, there follow introductions to painters such as Peter Lanyon, Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson, the poet W.S. Graham, and finally a view of 'the whole of the town'.

In these mercurial poems, real and imaginary events combine with overheard, quoted and misquoted voices to produce a slippery and unreliable series of opinionated poems. What appear at first to be heartfelt confessions reveal themselves to be exercises in ventriloquism, argumentative fictions that seek to subvert and surprise the reader. This poetry is a different kind of beast to what you might have expected.

Interviews, essays and conversations with or about Alan Garner, Russell Hoban, John Burnside, Iain Sinclair, David Toop, Nicholas Royle, Andrew Poppy, David Kennedy, Greg Bottoms, Ken Edwards, Robert Sheppard, David Miller, Steve Spence, Paul Sutton and Brian Louis Pearce.

These five sequences of linguistically-driven word patterns, draw on the visual and written work of named photographers to explore ideas of seeing, language and being. Each line sits on an another line, subtly asserting its right to be there as a thing in itself, yet also asking the reader why these phrases are placed where they are and just how they all link together. The relentless rhythmic noise of these poems-perhaps the equivalent of heavy metal-can detract from this process, whilst the coherence of form only emphasises the differences contained in this disturbing and elliptical work; but those who persevere will find a rewarding and original poetry, full of experiental moments as well as diverse music and perceptive thought. These are ballads for the 21st century: tough, fragmented and unsure of themselves, yet given to insight and swagger.

In The Return of the Man Who Has Everything, Rupert Loydell continues to explore post-confessional narrative in his poems, as he has previously done in Wildlife and the Smartarse anthology. The Man Who Has Everything is an unlikely anti-hero, adrift in a world of instant gratification, momentary experiences and instant answers, in contrast to the music, art, books and conversation he prefers. Melancholic, witty and sometimes absurd, these new poems offer stories and observations, asides and assumptions, as they try to clear a way through the chaos that surrounds us and make sense of contemporary life.

In Dear Mary poet and painter Rupert Loydell writes about art and life and how they intersect. Fascinated by both renaissance and contemporary painting, he re-invents moments of annunciation in today's world, and revels in the colours and sunshine of Italy. This is a world of wonder and surprise, where aliens abduct the Virgin Mary, 20th century rock singers find themselves collaged together and singing about her, infinite greys (and grays) blur together between other greys, Francis Bacon paints angels, and even the weather forecast predicts the future. Above all else, this is a book which celebrates language and art, and explores how we navigate the world around us, seen and unseen; how we might wonder, explain, and begin to understand.

In A Confusion of Marys Rupert Loydell and Sarah Cave explore, write back to and re-imagine the story of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary, in terms of sequential writing, re-versioning, accumulation, variation and ekphrasis. Many paintings, photographs, videos and sculptures depicting the annunciation were used as research and inspiration, including works by Fra Angelico, Andy Warhol, Francis Picabia, Paul Delvaux and Rene Magritte. The work is part of an ongoing exploration of this material and associated themes such as colour, contemporary art, spiritual/alien intervention and intrusion into the human realm, symbolism and the nature of belief and submission. Previous publications centred on these topics include Rupert Loydell's Dear Mary (Shearsman, 2017) and the collaborative works Joyful Mysteries #1-5and Impossible Songs (Analogue Flashback, 2017).

In this new book of poems Rupert Loydell writes about the world he now finds himself living in, questioning the damage caused by time, memory, lockdown, aging, politics, lies, neglect and disinformation. Whether grappling with social history, corrupt data, road-building, Grenfell Tower, urban graffiti, faith and fine art, or 'the fickleness of language', these damaged prayers and disbelieving explorations are 'configured for maximum twitch'. And despite the resigned conclusion that 'we are only ever likely to have a clear backwards view', and even though 'it is totally absurd to expect answers that might help explain our world', Loydell clings to the way that 'memory is all about being able to change the past' and notes that 'the future is here right now'.'At times hard-hitting, at times biting, Loydell's poems pull beauty from the broken contexts of a rudderless society. It is poetry of rebellion and of urgency that underscores the need for poetry, art, conversation, and friendship in what is rapidly becoming an alienating, contextless world.' -Andrea Moorhead'Rupert Loydell's world is strangely beautiful, or beautifully strange, but it's also strangely familiar. What I like about Loydell's work is his commitment to a kind of truth, not to experience so much as to language.' -Magma'Loydell explores how we navigate the world around us, seen and unseen; how we might wonder, explain, and start to understand.' -Between'[...] brilliantly surreal, acutely observed and funny.' -Ambit