Bloodaxe Books present ‘Rake’, by Matthew Caley & ‘Meanwhile Trees’, by Mark Waldron
14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 2DH
Matthew Caley will be reading from his fifth collection entitled ‘Rake’, which throughout, can appear as if we are leafing through the oblique diary of an immortal time-travelling rake, one who is seeking his ‘one true beloved’ through an heroic tally of amorous encounters, desperately trying to get beyond appetite; or possibly a number of parallel immortal time-travelling rakes; or maybe even someone, having drunk too many espressos, imagining themselves to be such a rake.
Traversing the boudoirs of La Belle Époque, 80s Cold War Russia, ancient Egypt and the Wild West, to London 1910 or LA in the 1990s, but more often than not from these locations to the 24 hour neon of the contemporary city and back again in a micro-second, desire feeds lack (and vice versa) yet yearns for escape. What results is a series of beautiful, back-handed love poems.
Mark Waldron will be reading form ‘Trees’, his third collection, following The Brand New Dark (2008) and The Itchy Sea (2011).
These poems may sometimes pretend they’re joking but they never really are. And what is it they’re not joking about? Death for one thing, and the fact that we don’t actually know who we are, and the fact that we don’t truly know who our loved ones are, or what art is, or anything else for that matter.
Sometimes it feels as though someone has run off with meaning. It’s no longer to be found where we could once expect to find it, perhaps in religion or in nature or in art, and these poems set off in search of it. Their aim is to see if there’s a way of looking and a way of using language that can bring some meaning back to the world, because without it, we’re lost.
Admission for this event is £3 and refreshments will be available.
Booking is recommended. To attend this event, please RSVP to fiveleaves.bookshopevents@gmail.com