Limelight

Roddy Lumsden introduces two poems by Tim Turnbull:

I've seen the hoary phrase 'third way' creep into discussions of poetry recently. Damnit, I've even used it, albeit in inverted commas, not wanting to espouse it. And yet... I surely want British and Irish poetry to operate in other ways than they do at present. It's not enough to champion mavericks and say, at least we're not all the same. Theories of a dual or parallel tradition of 'mainstream' and 'experimental' are simplistic or posturing, avoiding the truth that there is much poetry which doesn't belong to one side, or even at all within such divisive categorisations. These boundaries merge and break so frequently.

Younger American poets seem much more fluid in their approach to influences. I'm keen on those who seem to fall (and not slavishly position themselves) between the traditions of form, narrative and lyric and those of various 'innovative poetries', mostly of European origin and American development. But more of that anon; I'm also intrigued by the work of poets who move between the traditions of literary poetry and performance. A few years back, some performance poets (no one's very happy with that phrase, but let's not dally) started 'sitting down', reading 'off the page', slotting in a sonnet sequence or two: poets such as Jo Asser, Patience Agbabi and Tim Turnbull.

Turnbull, an amicable Yorkshireman with a background in forestry and motorbiking, had been a fixture of London's spoken word venues throughout his 30s. He recently relocated to the Perthshire countryside with his beloved wife and dog and has pretty much cleaned up in the growing slam poetry scene in Scotland. Though many performance poets dislike slam, Turnbull still enjoys the spectacle of it, and his readings comprise of a mix of satirical songs and performance pieces, interspersed with finely-turned sonnets and eclogues. It shouldn't work, but he has such panache. The two poems here are from Turnbull's more formal side, and though you might see why he has been gaining the interest of major poetry publishers, you can still see in each a touch of the performer's approach and pace.

August 2003