Matthew M. C. Smith : coda

How important is music to your poetry?

It’s a huge catalyst. I’ve written before about being a Jim Morrison and Doors fan and I started writing under their influence, particularly their very first album. I listen to a wide variety of music ranging from John Taverner to Muse, Nirvana, Duran Duran, OMD and Fleetwood Mac. I don’t write directly from the inspiration of lyrics but music often gets me into that mediative poetic state – not a trance exactly – but in that heightened emotional state, which kickstarts writing. 

Matthew M. C. Smith : part five

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

Where do I start? I have some cracking anthologies. I’ve been reading 100 Poems to Save the Earth by Seren Books. Some beautiful, heartbreaking work in there; also the inaugural issue of The Storms, which is full of excellent work – a glossy publication. Arachne Press have the A470 Road anthology, which is bilingual and is made up of poems on the theme of this Welsh road that crosses South to North.

I often read R.S. Thomas, the Welsh poet, and would recommend No Truce with the Furies, blistering poems at the end of this priest’s life. I’d recommend Rae Howells’ first collection with Parthian, The Language of Bees, and I’ll be reading Mari Ellis Dunning’s 2nd collection soon.

Matthew M. C. Smith : part four

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

Creative tensions abound in writing poetry. When poets start out and are unpublished, there’s often more freedom and risk-taking. I think a lot of writers would agree that once they start to get their poetry published they become more aware of editors and readers and dissect their own work. This has pros and cons because it means the quality control antennae are out but this can also be inhibiting. I’m generalising here – everyone is different - but having spoken to a lot of writers and read accounts of the process, this seems pretty accurate to me. 

It's also easy to rehash and refashion earlier pieces of writing and regurgitate ideas and themes. You can see this as development and playing with ideas but there are times when I see repetition in my own work and have to take out the surgeon’s knife. This is about discipline and trying to be expansive. All too easy to be circular in subjects and themes and play it safe.

Finally, I’d say putting together a collection is difficult. You can be blinded by choice in terms of pieces of writing to choose for a book and also go down a certain route (thematic, non-thematic), then want to park this approach and start again. Taking time and getting second and third opinions helps with coming to a more concrete idea of what you want to create. There’s no such thing as perfect or right so it’s all about choice in the end. Changes can be made in a second edition so being calm about it is best!

Matthew M. C. Smith : part three

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

Yes, since taking poetry seriously in 2018 I realise more and more how many talented writers are out there and how few ever make it – by this, I mean win awards, get a collection published by a press, get circulated, read and reviewed, earn any kind of royalties from their work, etc. 

Some of the most compelling, inventive, fresh writing I have encountered has been by completely unheralded writers who will probably stay that way because they’re not fashionable or good at promotion. The resources are pretty low in poetry – a tiny amount of poets get any sort of meaningful support that gets them any sort of following and readership and it’s a shame about the talent-drain – you can see on social media that a lot of writers get disheartened and turn away. But you have to be tenacious and work hard, then have that bit of luck that people will recognise your talent and push you up above the parapet. The rewards in poetry are pretty vague but, as I say, one of them is to get some appreciative readers, shift some books and get asked to be involved in different projects.

I assumed that the most talented were the ones with the highest accolades but this is exceptionally naïve. Like any industry it relies on talent and persistence but also what you know, who you know and whether your work is a viable product.

Matthew M. C. Smith : part two

How do you know when a poem is finished?

I don’t think poems are ever finished, even if they have a finished, complete feel to them. If you give your poem to different editors, most of them will easily be able to identify things they’d modify and often they have a point! The idea of completing a poem is probably an illusion but a satisfying one in terms of a sense of achievement. For me, it’s important to identify in the first place that genius words don’t just pour forth from an inspired poet but that it takes concentration, focus, a degree of control and patient drafting before a poem has that hard-to-define special, finished quality. Then there’s gauging responses from an audience and getting feedback – if that matters to you as a writer. I find that running poems by honest poetry friends is really useful in tightening up your work and clearing up any confusing, sloppy and non-sensical parts. It’s key to find the right poetry friends who are fantastic writers and constructive readers. It takes this growth mindset and looking at your work over time that ensures progress in poetic development.

Matthew M. C. Smith : part one

Matthew M. C. Smith is a writer from Swansea, Wales. He writes about landscape, the passage of time, spirit of place, memory and cosmos. Matthew’s work can be seen in Poetry Wales, Barren Magazine, Finished Creatures, The Storms, Anti-Heroin Chic, Seventh Quarry Press, Fevers of the Mind, Icefloe Press and The Lonely Crowd. He is also the editor of Black Bough Poetry and poetry fest on Twitter @TopTweetTuesday.

Matthew runs, hikes, attempts to locate caves and burial mounds, collects vintage Star Wars and messes about with his kids. He has published Origin: 21 Poems is close to finishing The Keeper of Aeons, with Broken Spine Arts.

What are you working on?

I’m working on my second collection of poetry, after ‘Origin: 21 Poems’ in 2018. It’s heading for five years since I self-published my first work and I have a publishing house for my second, Broken Spine Arts. The book is called ‘The Keeper of Aeons’ and it deals with deep time and points in history; it delves into landscape and the spirit of place, culminating in journeys outwards to the cosmos. We travel from a shamanistic experience in Ice Age Gower to floating in the Space Station and gazing back at Earth. It might be out this autumn. 

I’m also editing forthcoming anthologies with my poetry press, Black Bough poetry. There are several volumes coming out, guest-edited by Briony Collins and Jen Feroze, respectively, and I oversee the projects, as well as the Dai Fry Award for Mystical Poetry anthology, which is also in the pipeline…and a Christmas edition! I also run TopTweetTuesday, a weekly poetry fest on Twitter where poets from across the world share short, imagist poems, conducted by a guest host. I have a lot of plans for future project and have to remember to pace them out as it’s a hobby.