sea nerd blog
Rod Mengham

I heard Rod Mengham read last night (I managed to persuade him & Marc Atkins to come to Luxembourg to read). I’ve not heard him before.

He was superb. I heard all kinds of semantic resonances I didn’t see when I read the written poems. It’s a rare and delightful experience, a rhythm of recognised references (a phrase that should get me justifiably barred from ever attending poetry events again, so you’ll have to forgive me for deleting it before you could read it).

He reminded me of what I particularly enjoy about the Cambridge academic school of poetry, if I can call it that. They’re not afraid of using knowledge as poetic effect. It’s not just them, of course, but this effect seems to be concentrated among poets such as Keston Sutherland, Peter Riley, Emily Critchley, Drew Milne, and others.

I want to hear more, again!