Andrew Taylor, "European Hymns"

 

Andrew Taylor lives and works in Nottingham. He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. He has published four collections of poetry with Shearsman Books, edited Peter Finch’s Collected Poems, and his critical book about Finch is forthcoming from Seren Books. His website is here. 

About European Hymns, by Andrew Taylor
European Hymns traces the calendar year throughout the seasons. Beginning with the optimism that spring brings, the book offers up the arrival of the nightingales in rural France (an ongoing interest of Taylor’s) then navigates through summer trips to cities, takes in periods of reflection amongst the closing down of a summer house, the sudden shift to Autumn and the inevitable descent into winter.

The book is Taylor’s most wide-ranging collection to-date, in turns observational and detailed. The poems also deal with the changes in the natural world, while others offer snapshots of moments in time, with Taylor often re-employing his minimalist practice to useful effect.

You can read more about European Hymns on the publisher's website here. Below, you can read two sample poems from the collection. 

From European Hymns

Eydís Poem
 
Bean for leaf
a ritual swapped
 
the darkest hour
is nearest dawn
 
arctic drone
remote scents
 
bay & rosemary
subtle draught
 
piano bones
displayed
go conduct clouds

Midwinter Poem
 
Clean the snuffer with a sharp
blade decorate with found materials
Pygmalion’s cello & guitar duvet to
settle the stomach 15 hours in the
saddle is enough for anyone close
the shutters before lighting candles
let’s quieten the draught appropriateness
of light as Bernadette’s ‘Midwinter Day’
50 years to the day Julianna’s voice
from Iceland with the strings finally
fade Mary’s sequencing works well
a heart hand drawn on the envelope
bearing a gift slow burn of aged oak
though birch is the slowest raise the
temperate deliberately it’s about
preservation one jar of honey mustard
per customer the store is quiet the track
is being cleared in advance of works
entrance to the station is barred a world
of separateness within the season
the lane reveals its secrets at dusk
get the picture on watch the screen
like a list of sources Kim sits on the rug
Sydney wants a haircut at 4.00 a.m.
wait for the hit it folds in nicely west coast
standing in for the east mainline gets you
there in time fling the hat from the roof
watch it tumble to the park European
stamps for the passport &
exchange currencies sketches of France
plans made & recorded in the six month
old notebook sweetness of incense as
it gathers on the landing magic of the
espresso bean its symbols of health
& happiness

Andrew Taylor, "Northangerland: Re-versions of the Poetry of Branwell Brontë"

Andrew Taylor is the author of 3 collections of poetry published by Shearsman Books, the latest, Not There-Here, was published in October 2021. His latest collection is Northangerland: Re-versions of the Poetry of Branwell Brontë, published by Leafe Press. He recently edited the Collected Poems of Peter Finch for Seren Books. He is the author of the first monograph on the work of Liverpool poet, Adrian Henri: Adrian Henri: A Critical Reading (London: Greenwich Exchange, 2019). He lives and works in Nottingham where he is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. His website is here. 

About Northangerland, by Andrew Taylor

Out of a conversation in a Nottingham city centre coffee shop in November 2021, discussing poetry and publishing, I sought to develop the idea of engaging with the poetry of Patrick Branwell Brontë. I was aware that the work of writers such as Shakespeare, Keats and Wordsworth had been engaged with in a ‘collaborative’ manner and wondered about the prospect of working with the poetry of Branwell Brontë. Branwell, so often overlooked and overshadowed in literary terms, by his three sisters, needs reappraisal, particularly with regards to his poetry. Even the most authoritative of critics, Juliet Barker noted back in 1994 that Branwell (as well as his father, Patrick) were due a ‘fresh look.’ 

I was determined to only use Branwell’s words and not add mine to the poetry. There was a temptation to update the work with a modern audience in mind. Early drafts of some of the poems did employ my own work, but I soon adjusted and followed John Seed’s methodology. Taking two of John Seed’s collections published by Shearsman Books, Pictures of Mayhew: London 1850 (2005) and That Barrikins: Pictures of Mayhew - London 1850 (2007), as my cue, I noted Seed’s statement that: 'Every word in the pages that follow is drawn from Henry Mayhew’s writings on London published in the Morning Chronicle from 1849 to 1850, then in 63 editions of his own weekly paper, London Labour and the London Poor, between December 1850 and February 1852 and then in the four volume work of the same title.' 

You can read more about Northangerland on the publisher's website here. Below, you can read a poem from the collection. 

From Northangerland

The Emigrant. I

Sink from sight the landmarks 

  of home & the bitterness 

of farewells we yield spirit 

to the ocean & the life before 

the new born shores of Columbia 

& Australia exchange past time 

for time to come

  how melancholy if morning restores

(Less welcome than the night’s gloom)

  Old England’s harsh blue hills 

while we wake to a silenced pain

like a sick man resigned 

to die a well

remembered voice in eternity

 

May 28, 1848 [May 25, 1845 in Neufeldt] - Branwell Brontë

May 12, 2022 – Andrew Taylor

 

Andrew Taylor, "Not There - Here"

Andrew Taylor is a Nottingham based poet, editor and critic. He has published three collections of poetry with Shearsman Books: Radio Mast Horizon (2013), March (2017) and Not There - Here (2021). Pamphlets of work include Silo (Red Ceilings Press, 2021), at first it felt flying, with Charlie Baylis (Indigo Dreams, 2019) and The 140s (Leafe Press, 2018). He has collaborated with musician Nick Power, Lowdeine Chronicles (erbacce-Press, 2019), and is currently working collaboratively with Welsh based artist Julie Jones. He is the author of Adrian Henri: A Critical Reading (Greenwich Exchange, 2019) and is currently editing two volumes of Peter Finch’s Collected Poems (Seren, 2022). He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. His website is here. 

About Not There - Here

Continuing the themes of travel explored in his previous Shearsman collections, Radio Mast Horizon (2013) and March (2017), Andrew Taylor takes the reader from England into pre- and post-Brexit Europe, negotiating the arrival of the nightingale, European breakfasts, fast trains into Paris, and the ‘beautiful drift’ of weaving grasses. The reader is treated to the minimalist notion of moments in time alongside the traversing of travelators in Montparnasse and the intricacies of the 280-character form.

From Not There - Here, by Andrew Taylor

Kidman

lookalike smiles
the first offering of the day

it’s 16.25 in Montparnasse
the travellator is broken

Orange priority tag shifts
waiting room makeover

light catches gold dances on
a pillar like Seahorses on Broadway

it’s 17.21 in Montparnasse
& TGV 8389 departs on time

this second city petite moineau
spires & towers

recognisable routes track curves
& date stamps

(first published in Adjacent Pineapple)