Other Countries, Contemporary poets Rewiring History. Edited by Claire Trevien& Gareth Prior.
I remember reading the call for submissions for this project a while ago and dismissing it right off the bat, because I associate the word ‘History’ with boring school lessons about 1066 and all that, laboriously learning boring flat data about dates and monarchs.Fast forward to now and the endless stream of documentaries starring Professors ‘what- yer -mcall- em’ strolling down cobbled lanes gesticulating wildly about something or other. So what’s good about this book? Well…*gesticulates wildly*
The jacket of the book is beautifully designed and glossy, a first dip in reveals a very helpful ‘Notes on the poems’ section designed so the reader can get an explanation as to the history of the poem. I quite happily worked my way through the book reading the poems and keeping a thumb in the notes section to reference if it was required. I skipped the foreword and went to the first poem ‘Alabanza:In Praise of Local 100’ by Martin Espada , a piece about immigrant workers who lost their lives at the World Trade Centre on 9/11, which was exceptional and encouraged me to read on through the next 38 poems in one sitting (that’s because I’m a greedy, fast reader).
There are poems about borders, colonisation, immigration, little known about massacres, a Facebook like timeline of Earth ( Earth.Harry Man) a tale of a 17th century trans woman (Moll Cutpurse, The Accused. Hel Gurney), and a plucky poem about Pickles the dog that found the world cup after it had been stolen (A Jar For Pickles. Tim Wells)placed perfectly in the book giving me something to smile about.
I thoroughly agreed with the final piece ‘Its hard to count all the events of history but it is easy to begin’ (Linn Hansen), history taught to me at school was boring because it concentrated on flat data,written by nostalgic victors.It was then that I read the foreword by Hannah Lowe it which she writes:-
‘…history with a capital H needs to be challenged and interrogated- hierarchies like these need dismantling so that hidden histories can be unveiled and unheard voices speak’.
That’s precisely what this book does.Influx Press are promoting this book as a present for the history buff in your life, but its not, its for the kids like me who were bored stiff by history class.
Buy, ‘Other Countries’ here
In prism 