Poetry NZ is New Zealand’s foremost poetry magazine and it contains a lively mix of resident and international poets. I’m lucky to be amongst them and I urge you to check out the issue. They will gladly post it to you no matter where you live. So, you know, don’t be shy. In this issue I have a poems that address: cancer, David Lynch, suede, One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest, groins, and the ball droping in Times Square. The poems are called ‘Moths’ and ‘Untitled (Lynch)’ and I hope you’ll let them into your home the old-fashioned and courtly way.

Also, there is a nice review of my first collection. And I quote: ‘Tomorrow, We Will Live Here is a rich symbol of contemporary UK poetry.’ So, I guess you want to go buy my book now, don’t you? Go ahead. Just click here!

Two Poems in Poetry Scotland

I’m very proud to have had my work appear in Poetry Scotland. It is a great and pioneering broadsheet poetry magazine and to appear in it is something special for me. I’ve been sending submissions in for some time as well as being a loyal subscriber. I’m in the Autumn and Summer 2011 issues and I hope you will support this independent publication by getting the issues or taking out a subscription. It is worth every penny of the very reasonable £5 a year. Check out Poetry Scotland here. Unfortunatly, you don’t get to read ‘Jobation’ or ‘You Wanted to See the Lighthouse’ or ‘Challenger (1986)’ without buying a copy. These issues also feature new work from Donald S. Murray, Nalini Paul, Elspeth Brown, Sheena Blackhall and Kenneth Steven amongst many fine others. Get a copy!

Turns out, if you write a book of poems, you can keep getting reviews for years. So, while my first collection was published by Salt in November, 2010 — people are still talking about it in 2012. Those people include — Poetry New Zealand who published an encouraging and short review (along with the revelation that my book costs $31.99 in NZ. Pssst, New Zealand, give me a call, I know a dude who can get it to you cheap.) Here’s what the poet and critic Siobhan Harvey said:

‘Poems in the book unite tender evocations of relationships with literary and academic notions of displacement. Always, there’s a ‘searching’ — for love, belonging, understanding — embedded in Van Winkle’s work which challenges the reader’s expectations….Tomorrow, We Will Live Here is a rich symbol of contemporary UK poetry.’

Those of you whom have already bought the book you are probably stroking your goatee, thinking, ‘Indeed, quite right.’ For those of you who haven’t gotten a copy yet. Mail me for a signed copy or visit the Salt shop. They’ll sort you out. Perhaps you need more convincing. Well, in this generous review from Scots Whay Hae my work is compared to Bruce Springsteen, Grant Wood, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Lewis Grassic Gibbons, and Ted Hughes. Here’s my favourite bit of the review, but you can read the whole thing here.

‘this collection is an evocative, sensual, and at times cinematic journey through place and past.’

Then there was a couple of ultra flattering mentions in the latest issue of the Edinburgh Review. First, the respected poet and critic, Miriam Gamble, penned an excellent review which dug fully into the collection as few others have. I was surprised to find the collection held up (in Gamble’s eyes) under the scrutiny and, in fact, she articulated certain truths about the work that I’d never been able to. She does this with a generous eye for detail and a thoughtfulness which I found humbling. I very much want to quote the whole thing, but that would be ridiculous. Here’s some choice blurbs:

This is not a book for the faint-hearted. But neither ought it to be. Heaney has said there are two types of poem: one gives you the rosy glow of recognition, the other disorientates, annuls your set coordinates.Van Winkle’s poetry wears the garb of the former, but belongs in the latter category. He is not formally or stylistically experimental – while the poems are rarely in fixed forms, neither are they ‘avant-garde’ in the sense of being materially fragmented. They are, however, subversive, in that they tread where others fear to, and force the reader to admit complicity. It is not that the work inhabits ‘unfamiliar’ territory. Rather, it wallows in the dark and disregarded areas with which we strive to keep a silent truce.

I liked that this review has a warning, of sorts, in the beginning and Gamble returns to this notion throughout the review. Most forefully in the conclusion which made me feel more brave and courageous than I have any right to feel. In this section Gamble discusses my very short poem ‘The Day He Went to War’ which reads as follows:

The Day He Went to War

was bright, white and clean; an advertisement

for fresh laundry, lady things, or whatever.

 

we watched him from joe’s garage, our music clanging;

hub caps and tin cans thrown against cement.

 

we watched his mother watch the car

that took him, saw her wave at nothing,

 

then, we took it from the top:

one, two, a – one two three four

Here, Gamble breaks down the poem in a way that makes me blush. I’m proud the review examined the poem this way.

‘The Day He Went to War’, which manages,in eight lines, to capture an entire zeitgeist in relation to conflict. It does so,furthermore, with a touch that is dangerously light, resonant beyond mere poignancy, and profoundly, disturbingly accurate in its depiction of the place of war in contemporary society (no village gathering sending the boys offhere; no torrent, but an endless, invisible trickle). This poem – it cannotbe stated enough – is a huge risk: it breaks all the rules of engagement; itwholesale revises what a war poem can and ought to be in cultures where conflict is an industry, not an event. As with the rest of the poems, you may not like what it has to say. But that’s its greatest recommendation: we don’t live in an age when poetry should warm your heart.

Lastly, there was a positive review in the ER by Willy Maley on an anthology I was in — The Year of Open Doors (Cargo). My poem opens the short-fiction collection. I was proud to have it there at the time, as it welcomes readers into an excellent collection of new Scottish writing including many old friends and c0-workers. Here’s what Maley said of my work. I particularly like the Tom Leonard reference:

The opening piece by Ryan Van Winkle is no ripping yarn but a tripping verse. Those who concur with Tom Leonard’s barb about prose limping while poets leap will be pleased to hear that this is one of the strongest entrants: ‘Door, I have knocked, pushed/ licked and, for a year, stroked/your veins smooth as varnish’. This poem, with its wink at John Donne’sbesieged beseeching in Holy Sonnet XIV – ‘Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you/ As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend’ – is theperfect welcome mat for the reader in the wake of Glass’s chatty intro. And the stories – poetic prejudices aside – don’t disappoint.

So, thanks to Maley, Gamble, Scots Whay Hae!, and Harvey for such positive encouragement. They say releasing a collection of poems is like dropping a rose petal into the grand canyon. While this may mostly ring true, it is heartening to know that some people have seen it fall. Thanks to all who took the time to review my work. You can purchase Tomorrow, We Will Live Here from Salt. You can find more reviews and links to the complete articles (where available) on the Reviews Page.

This Is Danseizure LP

Many years ago Dan and I sat down and recorded the poem ‘No Ideas But In Things’ which I’d kind of forgotten about. Luckily, Dan didn’t. He created a beautiful, 7 minute, electronic assault. You can download the whole album for FREE on bandcamp. Or listen to a taste below:

1000 thanks to Invisible Agent for this and for all their ongoing support, please check out their website for a treasure trove of Electronica wonderment from Ireland, Cambodia and beyond.

Ginsberg for the Georgians

Our good friend and Georgian Agent Provocateur – Zaza Koshkadze – translated a my long-ish poem which was part of the “Starry Rhymes” Anthology. If you would like to have a look at what Ryan looks Like in Georgian — go to HERE.

For my work and many others in full, bleeding English:

Starry Rhymes: 85 Years of Allen Ginsberg

My poem, indebted to Allen Ginsberg’s ‘America‘ (when will you send you eggs to India?), appears alongside many fine others in Read This Press’ limited edition chapbook. It is a great pleasure to be among so many international writers and friends celebrating one of my favourite influences. I should name some of the brilliant poets in this collection but then I would have to name them all. So, I’ll just say — buy the book. It looks great and the word on the street is — If you dig Allen, you’ll dig this. Go here and look for Allen’s face. He’ll sort you out.

In August I was pleased to have my poem ‘Last Night I Should Have Driven Straight Home‘ chosen as Poem of the Week in The Scotsman. Of course, that is pretty old news. However, the poem is still there if you haven’t read it. You could make it the poem of your week. Also, isn’t it nice that the Scotsman has a poem of the week and shouldn’t we support and encourage more of that kind of thing? Anyway, here is the link. Enjoy. x

I Chose to Listen – New Translations from Reel Festivals 2011 FREE DOWNLOAD

One of the most spectacular things I’ve had a chance to do recently was to work with a cohort of fantastic poets from Lebanon, Scotland and Syria on new translations of each others work. Some of you, I hope, were able to come to our readings in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Beirut. However, if you weren’t, these new translations should give you a taste of contemporary poetry from the region. You’ll also find brand-new work in both English and Arabic from our  friends Tom Pow, William Letford, and Emily Ballou. I also have a few poems inside there. I encourage you to check out this free book.

This free to download e-book (published in association with Forest Publications) features brand new English and Arabic poetry translations from collaboration and performance with the Reel Festivals poets.

From Syria, Golan Haji and Rasha Omran, from Lebanon, Yehya Jaber  and Mazen Maarouf and from Scotland, Tom Pow, Emily Ballou, William Letford and Ryan Van Winkle, along with beautiful Arabic Calligraphy by Everitte Barbee.

We are immensely thankful to Creative Scotland for making this book and all these outcomes possible through the Vital Sparks funding, to the British Council for their sponsorship and ongoing support and to the Scottish Poetry Library, Literature Across Frontiers and all Reel Festivals supporters. Some of these poems, artwork and an exclusive essay by Tom Pow originally appeared in ANON Magazine 8.

As the poet Andrew Philip said: ‘it fairly makes a difference when you know the poetry makes a difference’. We couldn’t agree more and hope you do too.

DJ Dolphin Boy – Ghazi by Reel Festivals

And new films from Roxana Vilk including this one with the mercurial Yehya Jaber:

The Confession a short film by Roxana Vilk from Roxana Vilk on Vimeo.

There’s lots more on the Reel Festivals website including writing from Bill Drummond, more films, live footage etc — make sure to check it out!

This Guy!

Read Raw is a lovely site which does the good work of promoting new writing in Scotland. I had the pleasure of meeting them in Glasgow at my Poetry @ The Ivory reading. On the site you’ll find a couple poems from ‘Tomorrow, We Will Live Here’ and one uncollected poem you might want to check out. Plus, some other stuff you might be interested in. Or not. Either way – it is there. On the internet. For now. Check it out here.

I was very pleased to be part of the “American Indy All-Stars” edition of the groovy on-line lit-love-in known as Beat the Dust.

You can do directly to reading those poems now, but make sure to poke around the site as well because it has some quality new stuff curated by our pal Jarred McGinnis and The Special Relationship.

From the site:

“The Special Relationship is a monthly literary event in London set up by the American Brothers and two English chaps as part of YARNfest. One of the American Brothers, Jarred McGinnis has curated a special edition of BTD to showcase new work from a talented tribe of US indy writers. We’ve got poetry, short fiction, novel extracts and an essay on the current state of American indy literature.

You can read Beat the Dust cyberspacially or print out the chapbook edition and have a gander at your leeeeeeisure.”

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

Charlotte Square, 8.30-9.30pm, £7/5

It is a real honor to have been invited to read as part of this year’s main programme at the Edinburgh Book Festival. What is even more amazing is that I’ll be reading with our old friend (and nominee for the prestigious Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection) Rachel Boast and Will Eaves the Arts Editor of the Times Literary Supplement. So, thanks to the Book Festival for inviting me to be on such a strong bill and let’s all hope I don’t embarrass myself. I’ll be reading from ‘Tomorrow, We Will Live Here‘ which you can buy from Salt. Just click on that cover.