Poetry, Pret a Manger, and Luke Kennard
I'm convinced that 100 years from now, academics trying to make sense of Britain's contemporary literary landscape will divide writers into 2 categories:
1) Those who reference Pret a Manger in their work
2) Those who do not
The former will be hailed as having truly understood what it means to be human and living in the early part of the the 21st century. The latter will not.
You can write expansive novels on the interconnectedness of societies, on the fascinating/terrifying impact of emergent technologies. You can riff on the way twitter and social media have toppled despots or served as the catalysts for riots/uprisings but if you're hoping for longevity, you need to capture the heartbreak of buying a tuna baguette, announcing 'it's for here', and turning to find all the tables are taken.
If Nicholson Baker had been British, and born later, Mezzanine would have mentioned Pret a Manger.
Luke Kennard mentions Pret a Manger at least once as far as I can tell and so, according to my basic ranking system, he understands fully what it means to be human. He is currently my favourite poet.
If Dostoevsky had been British, and born later, Crime and Punishment would have mentioned Pret a Manger.
I don't feel as though I know enough about poetry to correctly analyse Kennard's work or to describe precisely why I like it, but I will bullet point a few thoughts and quotations below and hopefully some of it will make sense. I'm also only going to reference his 2012 collection 'A Lost Expression' because it's the only one I have to hand and it's cold and I don't want to get out of bed to find another one. He actually doesn't mention Pret a Manger in this book.
A Few Thoughts on What I Like About Luke Kennard's Poetry with a Few Quotations
- The exploration of the absurd in the everyday (or vice versa.)
- Humour, used as both weapon and exploratory device.
- The battle between self-determination and a world determined to impose it's own sense of chaos upon the individual:
This'll be easier if I try to give you an analogy. A
Parable. Okay. Let's say I'm running a cattery.
No, let's say I'm trying to steal business from an
existing cattery by touting my own domestic
cattery outside the official cattery gates...
Then later:
... I've been inundated
with cats. Scores of them. I can't afford all the food.
I don't remember whose cat was whose. Some
of the cats are dead. The constant yowling and
meowing... No, actually, that isn't what I'm
trying to say at all...
- [Jerimiah] / [Man in his 30s, professional. Shirt and jacket, tie.]
- The sense here that even in imagined situations within imagined situations, the hero has no control over the world or how he would like to describe it. (Later, the character is in charge of a tannoy
system that will only communicate feedback.)
- That his writing plays with language as much as imagery. A similar Russian doll effect is applied to language in the poem Leather-Bound Road:
It's what the singer does between the words
that makes the words the words and not just words.
- Leather-Bound Road
And, flicking back quickly to another poem, I've just remembered a similar effect through repetition:
Today The Sunken Diner is more or less empty,
everything sequestered to its relevant museum:
Museum of Coffee, Museum of Pancakes,
Museum of Ticket Stubs Dropped while Fumbling for Change,
Museum of Cigarette Cartons You Knew Were Empty
but Checked Anyway. Museum of Lowered Gazes.
- The Sunken Diner
There's more to be said about what is happening here than I'm able to say about what is happening here. Note to self: maybe google 'Constructivist Poetry'. It makes me think of Matthew Welton's pamphlet Waffles. This may or may not be a valid connection.
- His ability to craft similes and metaphors that make you feel as though a rug is being pulled from beneath you. Sometimes he makes me think of Simon Armitage. This may or may not be a valid connection.
I'll stop now because I realise I've turned this post into a rambling list and I think I've made my point. What was my point? Oh just to say that I really like Luke Kennard's poetry.
I'm convinced that 100 years from now, academics trying to make sense of Britain's contemporary literary landscape will divide writers into 2 categories:
1) Those who reference Pret a Manger in their work
2) Those who do not
The former will be hailed as having truly understood what it means to be human and living in the early part of the the 21st century. The latter will not.
You can write expansive novels on the interconnectedness of societies, on the fascinating/terrifying impact of emergent technologies. You can riff on the way twitter and social media have toppled despots or served as the catalysts for riots/uprisings but if you're hoping for longevity, you need to capture the heartbreak of buying a tuna baguette, announcing 'it's for here', and turning to find all the tables are taken.
If Nicholson Baker had been British, and born later, Mezzanine would have mentioned Pret a Manger.
Luke Kennard mentions Pret a Manger at least once as far as I can tell and so, according to my basic ranking system, he understands fully what it means to be human. He is currently my favourite poet.
If Dostoevsky had been British, and born later, Crime and Punishment would have mentioned Pret a Manger.
I don't feel as though I know enough about poetry to correctly analyse Kennard's work or to describe precisely why I like it, but I will bullet point a few thoughts and quotations below and hopefully some of it will make sense. I'm also only going to reference his 2012 collection 'A Lost Expression' because it's the only one I have to hand and it's cold and I don't want to get out of bed to find another one. He actually doesn't mention Pret a Manger in this book.
A Few Thoughts on What I Like About Luke Kennard's Poetry with a Few Quotations
- The exploration of the absurd in the everyday (or vice versa.)
- Humour, used as both weapon and exploratory device.
- The battle between self-determination and a world determined to impose it's own sense of chaos upon the individual:
This'll be easier if I try to give you an analogy. A
Parable. Okay. Let's say I'm running a cattery.
No, let's say I'm trying to steal business from an
existing cattery by touting my own domestic
cattery outside the official cattery gates...
Then later:
... I've been inundated
with cats. Scores of them. I can't afford all the food.
I don't remember whose cat was whose. Some
of the cats are dead. The constant yowling and
meowing... No, actually, that isn't what I'm
trying to say at all...
- [Jerimiah] / [Man in his 30s, professional. Shirt and jacket, tie.]
- The sense here that even in imagined situations within imagined situations, the hero has no control over the world or how he would like to describe it. (Later, the character is in charge of a tannoy
system that will only communicate feedback.)
- That his writing plays with language as much as imagery. A similar Russian doll effect is applied to language in the poem Leather-Bound Road:
It's what the singer does between the words
that makes the words the words and not just words.
- Leather-Bound Road
And, flicking back quickly to another poem, I've just remembered a similar effect through repetition:
Today The Sunken Diner is more or less empty,
everything sequestered to its relevant museum:
Museum of Coffee, Museum of Pancakes,
Museum of Ticket Stubs Dropped while Fumbling for Change,
Museum of Cigarette Cartons You Knew Were Empty
but Checked Anyway. Museum of Lowered Gazes.
- The Sunken Diner
There's more to be said about what is happening here than I'm able to say about what is happening here. Note to self: maybe google 'Constructivist Poetry'. It makes me think of Matthew Welton's pamphlet Waffles. This may or may not be a valid connection.
- His ability to craft similes and metaphors that make you feel as though a rug is being pulled from beneath you. Sometimes he makes me think of Simon Armitage. This may or may not be a valid connection.
I'll stop now because I realise I've turned this post into a rambling list and I think I've made my point. What was my point? Oh just to say that I really like Luke Kennard's poetry.
You can, and probably should, buy 'A Lost Expression' from Amazon.
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