Vik Shirley : part five

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

I mainly write with the Russell Edson method of 'blank page and a blank mind', but to get me in the mood and my mind thinking in the right kind of way, almost as a portal to myself, before I start writing, I often surround myself with books I love and read a poem or two from each. Could be Edson, certainly Tate (so this would probably be the simple answer to your question), maybe Jennifer. L. Knox, Kennard, Waldron, Minnis, Kharms. It's a matter of feeding on poetry to make poetry, as I think many people do. If I just want to meditate and lose myself in poetry, then I go for Ashbery. The pleasure to be gained from each line, the juxtapositions, different feelings and atmospheres he creates. I still find his work incredibly moving and overwhelming, even when it's just funny. Its sheer brilliance, alone, can bring me to tears.

Vik Shirley : part four

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

Definitely. I'm into, what I guess you would call, anti-poetry, now. When I started writing, I thought it was all about displaying techniques, and that you had to have stanzas and rhymes etc, I didn't realise you could subvert the whole damn thing, that a poem could be an absurd parable, a list or a marking scheme (not the first time I've referenced Matthew Welton in an interview.) I'm mainly interested in irony now and subject matters that are considered unworthy of poetry. Although I can appreciate more traditional types of poems, I like ones that don't behave like poems. I find writing poems specifically "about" something tiresome and think of writing as either play, an experiment or a delve into the subconscious. I'm also interested in insouciance, aleatory and irreverence, all of which were celebrated by The New York School of Poets. I find poems that highlight the absurdity of our rituals and mock things we hold dear infinitely more interesting than poems on nature.

Vik Shirley : part three

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

The agonising last throes of finishing. I often 'finish' as I'm submitting to mags. So often, I'm there, already after numerous versions and edits, maybe after workshopping or showing friends, and then, as the deadline nears, and you're forced to really get into the minutia, suddenly the whole damn poem is populated with issues and you have to keep going over and over it. This can go on for days after you thought you were ready to submit. It feels like a kind of madness at that point. The easy, fun part is coming up with the idea and getting started. The creative rush is what I'm in it for, really. Then the work begins and I don't like work, it's just got to be done. Sometimes you don't manage to nail it for the submission. The poem gets rejected and you look at it again and say oh no, I can see now what's wrong and it's easy to fix. Some poems come together and get published with no sweat at all, but others ... I had a poem accepted for British mag, The Rialto, recently, which I'd been working on for about three years!

Vik Shirley : part two

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

Two fairly recent obsessions have been Tom Jenks's A Long and Hard Night Troubled by Visions, published by if p then q and Colin Herd's You Name it, on Dostoyevsky Wannabe. Both these books are incredibly funny and clever, and fill me with delight. Jenks does so much in one short piece. You never know where he's going to lead you. The situations are so absurd and surreal, often containing references from the 1980s, or popular culture. Each word does so much. There's strong use of irony and deadpan humour, but not in a snidey way. There's a faux innocence and sincerity  to it, which I find hilarious and irresistible. Herd also plays with popular culture, and everyday language. His poetry is fun, sexy and deliciously stylish. I bought my friend this book, he was saying how he loved the 'non-endings'. I would add non-titles to that too, or 'anti-titles'. 'And I haven't even thought about a garnish' being a favourite end line and 'Definitely wear trainers!' being a favourite title. Adore.

Vik Shirley : part one

Vik Shirley's chapbook, Corpses, was published by Sublunary Editions in March 2020. Her collection, The Continued Closure of the Blue Door, is forthcoming from HVTN Press and a pamphlet of her visual poetry is due from Hesterglock Press, early 2021. Her work has appeared in such places as Perverse, 3am Magazine and Dostoyevsky Wannabe Cities: Bristol. She is currently studying for a PhD in 'Dark Humour and the Surreal in Poetry' at the University of Birmingham. Follow her @VikShirley.

Photo credit: Lisa Whiting

What are you working on?

I've been working on some short fictions, a poetry review and some grotesque miniatures, similar to those in my Corpses chapbook. I've also been finishing my Disrupted Blue and Other Poems on Polaroid pamphlet, for Hesterglock Press, a book of visual poems combining found family photographs and handwriting. The lead pieces use Joni Mitchell lyrics. Blue was my mother's favourite album. The book is dedicated to her. The Polaroids are ones she took when travelling in Europe and Canada. They were separated from family photos, as they didn't contain people. Some are buildings and structures, others scenery. There are 10 pieces that match the 10 album tracks. The other poems work with text, automatic writing, generated over lockdown. I have some of the poems coming out in the Autumn issue of The Indianapolis Review. The original five, which inspired me to put the book together, were published in 3am Magazine last year. For my PhD studies, I'm about to have a look at the poetry of Egyptian-French surrealist poet Joyce Mansour, in relation to sex, death and humour in her writing.