Writing Coercive Control Episode 5: poet Kim Moore

Coercive control is endemic and therefore it must be cultural. If 1 in 2 women experience coercive control, it’s in our homes in childhood. How does this affect us? And how do we talk—and write—about it? This 6-part live-recorded, interactive talk series will inspire writers and readers to explore literature about coercive control in wider contexts, including state control, parent/child relationships, historical control, and control in industry and workplace. Guest authors Sahar Delijani, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Winnie M Li, Chimene Suleyman, Kim Moore, and Carla Jenkins, meet with host, author Abigail Tarttelin, to discuss their experiences writing coercive control.

In this episode, poet Kim Moore discusses writing her own lived experiences of coercive control and domestic violence into poetry and creative non-fiction in her works IF WE COULD SPEAK LIKE WOLVES, THE ART OF FALLING, ALL THE MEN I NEVER MARRIED, and ARE YOU JUDGING ME YET? POETRY AND EVERYDAY SEXISM.

Kim Moore’s pamphlet If We Could Speak Like Wolves was a winner in the 2011 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition. Her first collection The Art of Falling(Seren 2015), which includes a quietly devastating sequence following a woman embroiled in a relationship marked by coercion and violence, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Her second collection All The Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021), in which 48 numbered poems take us through a gallery of exes and significant others where we encounter rage, pain, guilt, and love, won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her first non-fiction book What The Trumpet Taught Me was published by Smith/Doorstop in May 2022. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.A hybrid book of lyric essays and poetry Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism was published by Seren in March 2023. Essays tackle subjects that range from heckling at poetry readings, problems with the male gaze and explorations of what the female gaze might look like in poetry and discussions about complicity, guilt and objectification, the slipperiness of the word sexism and whether poetry can be part of transformational change.

With host Abigail, Kim speaks about the importance of meaning-making, the fragmented nature of poetry paralleling the fragmented nature of traumatic memory, forms including bricolage and multiple choice in ARE YOU JUDGING ME YET?, the writing of her two poetry collections, incidences of sexism in performing her poetry, legal and safety considerations in publishing work based on her own lived experience, the circular nature of memory, writing, and experience, and how it feels to look back on her poems now.

Also, host Abigail reads two poems from her own work-in-progress novel, ORDINARY WOMAN TURNS 30, an autofiction novel about a woman dealing with the aftermath of coercive control in an intimate partner relationship as she approaches her 30th birthday.

Follow Kim on https://Instagram.com/kim_moore_poet 

Follow Kim and friend, poet Clare Shaw, on Substack at http://kimmoore30.substack.com

Kim’s works are available now to purchase or order through all good bookstores.

Follow Abigail as she writes her novel on Substack at http://abigailtarttelin.Substack.com 

Send your questions and comments for the podcast to Abigail’s https://Instagram.com/abigailtarttelin_

Abigail’s novels FLICK, DEAD GIRLS, and GOLDEN BOY are available now to purchase or order through all good bookstores.

This podcast is co-produced by Abigail and Clear Lines Festival. Clear Lines started in 2015 as the UK's first festival addressing sexual assault and consent through the arts and discussion. Since then, their events have continued to promote a survivor-centered dialogue that emphasizes creativity, community, and artistic self-expression. You can check out their website with videos of past events at:

https://clearlines.org.uk/

And sign up to their newsletter to learn about upcoming events through their network:

https://clearlines.org.uk/contact-us/

They also offer a free downloadable creative writing guide for survivors of sexual violence and abuse:

https://clearlines.org.uk/our-free-creative-writing-guide-for-survivors-available-here/

This podcast is supported by Arts Council England.