Celebrating Poet’s Day |21 August 2020
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“There are millions of talented poets out there and it’s about time they got some recognition for their work. They shouldn’t be embarrassed about reading their work out aloud. I want people to read poetry on the bus on their way to work, in the street, in school and in the pub.”
- William Sieghart, founder of Poetry Day
Poet’s Day, observed annually on August 21, celebrates the great art of poetry and those who take the time to create these beautiful pieces of writing.
To celebrate, Seychelles NATION spoke to Phil Brown to learn more about his knowledge of poetry and its importance in our society.
Mr Brown is a passionate poet, winner of the Eric Gregory award for poetry, and the creator of a new online collection of poems which was devised in the search for a Covid-19 vaccine. He currently works as an English teacher at the International School of Seychelles.
Seychelles NATION: Tell us about your personal journey to becoming a poet?
Phil Brown: I started writing poetry when I was 16. I had a job which involved a lot of ‘down time’ to sit and think and stay in one place, and so I would start puzzling life and all of its mysteries out on little bits of paper. I think a lot of teenagers feel the need to do that as they move towards the adult world.
I then went onto Warwick to study creative writing under the wonderful poet David Morley. So many of the talented young people I met there have gone on to become successful writers.
I followed in my mum’s footsteps as an English teacher but kept up the writing throughout. In 2010 I was thrilled to win the Eric Gregory award for poetry and then the following year, I released my first book, Il Avilit.
Seychelles NATION: How would you define a poem?
Phil Brown: It’s incredibly hard to pin down what exactly a poem is but I’ve always liked the quote from Jennifer Grotz: “Poetry is philosophy’s sister, the one that wears makeup.”
The main difference I think is that poetry doesn’t respond to asking what it’s ‘about’, but rather we have to ask ‘what am I being presented with, and why?’ In that sense, it is more like photography or paintings than novels.
Seychelles NATION: In your opinion, what is the importance of poetry?
Phil Brown: I think one of the important things about poetry is that it is in no way lucrative or efficient or convenient – but it’s something that every society has decided it needs. Deep down we all feel that need to use language to dig beneath the surface of things and to understand the world on a deeper level.
I think the benefits for both reader and writer is that it forces us to slow down and think. It can be very easy to be careless, especially with language, and poetry invites us to consider every possible meaning of each word we encounter.
The other important thing is that the best poems, like the best people, are really weird. An art form which can only be done properly through finding the weird and unexpected is the best antidote to blind conformity.
Seychelles NATION: What is a current trend in the world of poetry which you feel might interest our readers?
Phil Brown: Like all things, poetry has gone into lockdown and shifted into socially distanced places. Lots of great artists have responded to this in powerful ways. I really like some of the excellent contributions that Carol Ann Duffy has managed to curate at her ‘Write Where We Are Now’ project: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/write/
Seychelles NATION: Can you tell us a bit about some of the world’s greatest poets?
Phil Brown: Like most poets, I am forever in awe of Elizabeth Bishop. More than anyone, she seems to cut through the decades and consistently has her finger on the pulse of what makes us human. One of the few valuable items I brought from UK to Seychelles was a first edition copy of her collection ‘Geography III’. The humidity has not been kind to the pages but I sleep more comfortably knowing I have it close by.
My other poetry hero has to be Frank O’Hara. There was a poet who could make the everyday ephemera of life – music, litter, a stranger on a bus – feel like important philosophical truth.
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Seychelles NATION: You recently released an online collection of poems entitled ‘The First Hundred Antigens’. Tell us more about this.
Phil Brown: So I’ve been living a sort of double-life for 11 years, shifting between teacher and writer. And as I’ve taken on more responsibility as a teacher, as head of department, head of Sixth Form and deputy head teacher, I’ve had to get better and better at using this computer programme called Excel. Especially with our school having to calculate estimated grades for students this year, my Excel skills got pushed to another level.
Now there’s lots of lovely things one could say about Excel, but one has to concede that it is one of the least poetic things ever to exist. In some ways, at least. And the further I got pulled into hours of spreadsheets and data, the more I felt I was betraying the poetic part of my mind.
So I set myself a challenge under lockdown. With a head full of spreadsheet formulae and terrifying news headlines about Covid-19, I challenged myself to create an Excel spreadsheet which could generate a collection of poems.
And that’s what ‘The First Hundred Antigens’ is. If you go on the website for Laudanum Publishing, you can download the spreadsheet for free and generate an infinite number of sonnets by randomly mashing together lines from a sequence I wrote.
I called them ‘antigens’ partly because all anyone was speaking about in March was the search for a vaccine. And in many ways I do see poetry as a type of vaccine. A way of exposing ourselves to a little sickness to help keep us protected later in life.
I think something in me this March needed desperately to write a collection of poems because the following month brought the arrival of a baby daughter. So it may be many years before I next have the luxury of time and quiet to write quite so much poetry. But as any new parents will probably agree – there are few things more poetic and sublime than the arrival of a baby.
Seychelles NATION: How would you encourage people in Seychelles to create and read poetry more?
Phil Brown: For me the best way to experience poetry is hearing it aloud – poetry began as an aural form. For those who have access to YouTube, I’d strongly recommend spending time with some of the great performance poetry on there. Two of my favourites are ‘Kae’, though you will find most of their work listed under their former name ‘Kate Tempest’ and Sarah Kay – whose poem about hands is a longtime favourite.
On another note, I’d just like to add that I can’t wait for the return of Word Up to Mahé. There are so many wonderful, talented Seychellois that perform at those events and it’s always a privilege to see their work. I cannot wait for the microphone to return to Calinoz!
Below is one of Mr Brown’s favourite poems from his own collection ‘The First Hundred Antigens’:
Antigen 11216121253278374
When the world reopens, will this go away?
How much worse will it get from now?
– these innate dystopian prophesies –
Everything that once was here is gone
Will marauders carry my head on a spike?
We know that parts are lesser than the sum
the click - Did you say the click? Yes click. What click?
They insist on sitting out of the sun.
Those with a temperature, please find a truck
They say wine tasters swallow raw yeast
Nobody wanted this to happen
Walk home through the emptiness of the park.
Let us talk frankly now, don't be so chaste
This is life whittled down to existing.
Link to ‘The First Hundred Antigens’: http://www.laudanumpublishing.co.uk/
F.P.