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| The Darkness Around Us Is Deep |
Dark Mountain: Uncivilised Poetics is out now, including
my essay, ‘What Kingdom Without Common Feasting?’ based on the work of the late
County Durham poet, William Martin. The blurb
at the back of the book poses a simple but (should-be) shocking abstract:
‘We are living through
an age of turmoil: climate change, extinction, failed economics, stagnant
politics. In such testing times, what’s the point of poetry? Uncivilised Poetics brings together a
unique gathering of writers and artists to tackle this question.’
Since its
inception in 2009, The Dark Mountain Project has been a steady stream of water
in a drying world. Bold, confrontational, thought-provoking, the editors have
never shied away from destabilising literature, artworks and commentary
designed to force our eye on a changing world. Six years ago, many of the
issues they raised – across their website, at their events and in their books
and other publications – felt very much on the fringe. Pre-Trump, Pre-Brexit,
pre-alarming climate change projections, these things felt incompatible. Now,
in an ‘alt-right’, ‘post-truth’, ubiquitous-smartphone-use, hello-the-new-normal
world, their work feels, well, compatible, urgent.
The
current volume alone, despite a steep price tag (you’ll appreciate why when you
get your mitts on it: it’s big and it’s beautiful), is worth purchasing just
for poems, essays, artworks and spoken word recordings from contributors like
Vahni Capildeo, John Kinsella, Nancy Campbell, Robert Montgomery, Harriet
Fraser, Mark-bloody-Rylance(!) and many, many others.
I urge
you to invest the money in a copy. Switch off your phone and computer, kill
this blog, make a pot of tea, and be absorbed in this staggering anthology.
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