Tonight I thought I would share the deliciously cynical 'The Sofas, Fogs and Cinemas' by the late Rosemary Tonks.
Rosemary Tonks had an unusual life, and if you wish, you can find plenty of more or less judgmental commentary about it online. Setting aside the details of her life, I've found 'The Sofas, Fogs and Cinemas' absolutely delightful from the very first time I read it. It is evocative of London in the '50s or '60s, but anyone who has lived in London for a decent length of time will still recognise many of the details: "My café-nerves are breaking me/With black, exhausting information" is a little too reminiscent of my own life when I don't sleep enough and drink too much caffeine.
It appears that in this poem, the speaker has an unbearably annoying and rather creepy flatmate or romantic partner: this, too, is London. ("He wants to make me think his thoughts/And they will be enormous, dull...") Tonks also takes aim at, well...annoying people. But in particular, she takes aim at annoying artistic types. I love it when she writes "And their idea of literature!/The idiotic cut of the stanzas". This reminded me irresistibly of a terribly stupid discussion I witnessed online wherein poets (apparently) discussed whether or not the first letters of all lines in a poem should or shouldn't be capitalised. According to a shocking number of them, capitalising the first letters of all lines in a poem was no longer a valid artistic choice (although a large number of remarkably gifted living poets, ranging from Sean O'Brien to Sasha Dugdale, do it on at least a semi-regular basis). Apparently this should have gone out with the first half of the twentieth century and some considered it "distracting". Given that probably 90% of poetry in the history of the world has featured capitalised first letters of all lines (since it's only recently that this has ceased to be a universal convention) it really made me wonder if they'd ever read anything good.
Rosemary Tonks was a brilliant poet with a remarkably distinct voice, and I do recommend her poetry if you're looking for well-crafted, so-spot-on-it-hurts observation of human nature. And I, too, like going alone to the "taciturn, luxurious" cinema.
Photo: End of an era by Nic McPhee. Used under Creative Commons license
When I first read a few Rosemary Tonks poems, years ago, I didn't quite get it with the exclamation marks and self-dramatization. But as soon as it made sense and I thought she might be a sort of poetry soulmate, it's difficult to rate her as anything much less than 'favourite poet' with her intoxicating blend of panache and despair. And she wouldn't have been bothered what I thought.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Neil Astley's book she is buried not too far from where I live and I went three times to try to find her, without success. So I've given up, like she probably would have, but I'll be straight back to Warblimgton if I ever find out exactly where she is.
Keep up the good work.
Hi David, thanks for stopping by (just catching up with some comments now!) I sort of agree with you...in some cases, I might find her style over the top. But it works, because she does it so well, and it's not insincere. I really need to read more of her work.
Delete