WEBVTT
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.240
You're listening to Lifejacket, your literary
00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.480
buoyancy aid from Artful Scribe. I am your host,
00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:29.920
Antosh Voychik. What has brought you buoyancy
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:33.960
in recent times? For me, it's anticipation that
00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.979
brings me buoyancy. There's a sense of starker
00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:40.700
colours, the green of the fields, almost bioluminescent.
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:44.259
In the dusk. Have you been remaking your life
00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:47.259
jacket since our last listening? Have you switched
00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:50.320
the commemorative patch or added a pocket or
00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:54.020
a timely snack when you're adrift? Are you clad
00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:58.060
in comfort or bracing storms in armour? Where
00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:01.340
is it you are drifting? Listener, I invite you
00:01:01.340 --> 00:01:03.759
to pause at the perimeter of your drift, feel
00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.299
the ebb of the moment, seize a gap in your day
00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:09.680
and examine what happens inside the lines. Wade
00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.000
in the waters and listen to the voices around
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.659
us. This is Lifejacket. Today's Lifejacket concerns
00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:21.599
the perimeters, the ebbs, the gaps and what happens
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.540
inside the lines. Each of these concepts are
00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:26.879
on my mind because of four poems I've stashed
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.200
in the Lifejacket today. Poets and writers often
00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.260
find themselves navigating the perimeter. You
00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:36.140
face the physical perimeter of a line or paragraph
00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:39.280
end. You skirt the boundary of the idea, trying
00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.359
to find the right way in. The ebb concerns the
00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.099
flow, but more precisely, the edge of the flow.
00:01:45.219 --> 00:01:48.620
How can I write into this idea without re -meandering
00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:52.840
its entire flowing essence? Or do I make the
00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.760
decision to completely reorient the flow and
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.739
the gap? that crucial detail of what is left
00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:03.099
out, unsaid, or the unannounced space between.
00:02:04.219 --> 00:02:07.519
And what happens inside the lines? For the poet,
00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:11.139
the line is that mark of presence, to use Glenn
00:02:11.139 --> 00:02:14.960
Maxwell's terms. It's where we announce our revelations,
00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:18.259
address ourselves. It marks against the perimeter
00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:22.840
in space. The line is where we live. We'll hear
00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:25.500
poems by Solent -based poets and writers Liz
00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.979
Amos, Craig Chalmers and Joe Fisher, who in turn
00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:31.599
navigate these concepts, the spaces between,
00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.659
the periphery, the intersections and the gaps.
00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:40.020
Just reflections on a festival that I went to
00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:42.400
in the summer. The festival's called Greenbelt.
00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:46.719
It's an arts and activism festival. And this,
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.900
yeah, was just some thoughts from that. So it
00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:50.120
doesn't have an interesting title. It's just
00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:55.759
called Greenbelt 2024. Last night we watched
00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.659
a woman juggle fire, her hands ablaze while techno
00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.960
music filled a dance floor and bodies swayed
00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:06.199
self -consciously. We wandered the perimeter,
00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:10.259
tent to stage to canopy, patrolling the festival's
00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:13.819
borders, finding our bearings, finding a mention
00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:16.639
of you fixed to the railings amongst the activist
00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:21.900
artwork. And I read this, that the coupling of
00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:25.969
climate, with refugee, is a media invention,
00:03:26.150 --> 00:03:29.830
is non -existent in international law. And in
00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:35.189
a single year, yours was one of 32 million dislocated
00:03:35.189 --> 00:03:41.889
lives that officially do not count. And I, of
00:03:41.889 --> 00:03:48.629
all things, am camping. I am uncomfortable. The
00:03:48.629 --> 00:03:54.129
weather is not cooperating. We sleep intermittently,
00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:57.770
fitful under the drumming of heavy rain. Wind
00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.490
toys with our temporary dwelling, blows down
00:04:00.490 --> 00:04:04.050
performance venues, delays events, and I am so
00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:09.770
uncomfortable. I cringe at this crude approximation
00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:14.189
of your reality. Our five -day misadventures
00:04:14.189 --> 00:04:18.439
in appropriation. Provisions piled high in sodden
00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.399
trolleys, trundled with effort from cars to field,
00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:26.699
a few essentials to sustain us in England's green
00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:33.399
and pleasant land. Green Belt, Liz Amos. For
00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.680
Amos, the poem is an essential interrogation
00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.899
of the liberal arts festival space where the
00:04:37.899 --> 00:04:40.540
speaker reckons with the crude appropriation
00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:45.100
of dislocated lives. Poem, part critique. Amos's
00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:47.879
satire weaves through the poem, deploying the
00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.139
language often tacked onto refugees and conversations
00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:54.620
around displacement, seeking asylum, borders,
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.860
provisions, temporary dwellings, media invention,
00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:03.060
all forces defined by the perimeter. Amos uses
00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:05.180
these terms and irony in such a way that draws
00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:07.980
us to the heart of the issue, so that we cannot
00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:11.279
continue to ignore those who are erased, that
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.540
do not count in the eyes of international law.
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.759
The line, the weather is not cooperating, fills
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.819
such a choice -loaded phrase for this interrogation
00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:24.819
and is, suitably, English. For this place we
00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:27.759
dwell continuously grapples with who belongs
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.759
and who should be kept at the perimeter. The
00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.600
ending line, England's green and pleasant land,
00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.439
Amos' critique takes us to the boundary of William
00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.180
Blake, this phrase coined and inscribed into
00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:43.899
this nation's margins. And so the poem calls
00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:47.139
on us to examine our position along these lines.
00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.180
Okay, this is called First Watch in the Diamond
00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:57.620
Mine. At my lowest ebb, the universe affords
00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:01.160
me a little luck. My music machine nigh on fixes
00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:03.720
itself and I am allowed again this miracle of
00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:08.220
song to listen to, to sit with me, to sigh with
00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:12.089
me, to cry with me. A friend I have been missing
00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:37.680
who always knows what to say. This is called
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.439
Home Late. It goes like this. I put my shoes
00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.139
down the same in the gap left for them where
00:06:43.139 --> 00:06:46.720
I took them from. Shoe on the other foot, I'd
00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.459
have tidied the gap, tucked it all in with a
00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:51.500
clog and a clump for you to join in the end.
00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:55.680
So thank you for reminding me I have been gone
00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.079
and that I have a place here and that I am home.
00:07:21.919 --> 00:07:26.240
First Watch in the Diamond Mine and Home Late
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:30.560
by Craig Chalmers. The poet's lowest ebb wakes
00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.629
the miracle of resilience of song. Chalmers draws
00:07:34.629 --> 00:07:37.250
us to a tender moment in First Watch in the Diamond
00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:40.430
Mine, of space being made for oneself by external
00:07:40.430 --> 00:07:43.850
forces. A song in a coal mine, a song which ebbs
00:07:43.850 --> 00:07:47.769
us along to the next sob, sigh and cry. It's
00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:49.610
in the ebb we're encouraged to take stock of
00:07:49.610 --> 00:07:52.829
what we have, and what luck we have, even if
00:07:52.829 --> 00:07:56.009
it's in its crumbs. Chalmers' sparse and precise
00:07:56.009 --> 00:07:58.810
verse takes us to the heart of this consoling
00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:02.199
event. Then, in seizing a gap of time, we are
00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:05.139
granted a fleeting reflection in Home Late, the
00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:07.540
poem triggered by the space left by a partner
00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.060
for one's shoes. The poem's deaf simplicity echoes
00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:14.060
William Carlos Williams, spoken almost as a note
00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:17.060
left on the kitchen counter or fridge door, and
00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:20.060
in that it becomes a reminder for oneself that
00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:23.699
I have space here. The poem feels crafted in
00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.360
a gap in time, that the poem's trigger was observed
00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:29.120
and immediately penned, the urgency of the moment
00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:32.190
present. in Chalmers' voice and inside the lines.
00:08:33.009 --> 00:08:36.210
Chalmers' sparse and precise verse takes us to
00:08:36.210 --> 00:08:41.269
this moment of consolation. Inside the lines.
00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:47.450
Fill this space with anything, anywhere, anyone.
00:08:48.450 --> 00:08:52.149
Glide your ideas across this enclosed expanse
00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:54.950
and let them bleed into the corners to their
00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:59.230
world's edge. Release into the ether a wish,
00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:05.210
A face, a life, a breath. Crack yourself open
00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:09.169
and spill endless dreams. Throw yourself against
00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:12.769
the blank canvas. Pour yourself into these confines
00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:17.309
and shapeshift. This frame, this emptiness is
00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.929
yours. Colour inside the lines you've been given
00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:26.669
with your boundless mind. Inside the Lines by
00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:31.230
Joe Fisher Fisher's Inside the Lines is a poem
00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:34.230
of permission, inclusive of corners and worldly
00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:37.809
edges. A meditation, an incantation we could
00:09:37.809 --> 00:09:40.470
say to ourselves at the start of each day. I
00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:43.269
appreciate how Fisher reframes emptiness as inviting,
00:09:43.529 --> 00:09:46.370
as something that encourages us to create, make
00:09:46.370 --> 00:09:49.350
and be. It takes me back to Contramendeth's notion
00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:54.129
of being remade. And Inside the Line is where
00:09:54.129 --> 00:10:02.320
we can remake ourselves. Thank you for listening
00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:32.330
to Lifejacket. a former lawyer she's currently
00:10:32.330 --> 00:10:34.990
studying for an MA in Postcolonial and World
00:10:34.990 --> 00:10:37.789
Literatures at the University of Southampton.
00:10:38.649 --> 00:10:41.350
Craig Chalmers is a performance poet, most notably
00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:44.169
making the grand final of Hammer and Tongue at
00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:48.509
the Royal Albert Hall in 2021, and in 2023 delivered
00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:52.289
a brand new workshop for Artful Scribe and SIAH's
00:10:52.289 --> 00:10:54.730
Creative Writers Against Coastal Waste project.
00:10:55.190 --> 00:10:57.769
Recently he has been involved with Zoe Logic's
00:10:57.769 --> 00:11:00.429
The Big Movement, and the inaugural Sound Winchester
00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:04.269
event. Craig regularly performs at poetry platform
00:11:04.269 --> 00:11:06.970
Winchester and open mics across Hampshire and
00:11:06.970 --> 00:11:10.230
Dorset. Jo Fisher is a writer, editor and artist
00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:13.070
living in Southampton. She curates and hosts
00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.950
poetry shows in Southampton, including Music
00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:18.950
in the City and Poets and Pints at the inaugural
00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:23.730
ESO Fringe Festival in 2024. Her work has appeared
00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:26.929
on BBC Radio Solent and BBC Radio 4's Front Row.
00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.159
And in 2019, she performed at the Royal Albert
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.639
Hall, proudly representing Solent at the Hammer
00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:35.759
and Tongue Slam final. Her writing has also been
00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.639
turned into a neon light installation at God's
00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:47.179
House Tower. Live Jacket is produced by Artful
00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:49.679
Scribe, a not -for -profit writer development
00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.899
agency based in Southampton, supporting emerging
00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:56.379
and continuing writers in Hampshire, Dorset,
00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.879
and the Solent region. Artful Scribe is supported
00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:03.759
by Arts Council England. I am your host, Antosh
00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:07.700
Fuji. This is Lifejacket. Stay buoyant.
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.240
You're listening to Lifejacket, your literary
00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.480
buoyancy aid from Artful Scribe. I am your host,
00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:29.920
Antosh Voychik. What has brought you buoyancy
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:33.960
in recent times? For me, it's anticipation that
00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.979
brings me buoyancy. There's a sense of starker
00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:40.700
colours, the green of the fields, almost bioluminescent.
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:44.259
In the dusk. Have you been remaking your life
00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:47.259
jacket since our last listening? Have you switched
00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:50.320
the commemorative patch or added a pocket or
00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:54.020
a timely snack when you're adrift? Are you clad
00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:58.060
in comfort or bracing storms in armour? Where
00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:01.340
is it you are drifting? Listener, I invite you
00:01:01.340 --> 00:01:03.759
to pause at the perimeter of your drift, feel
00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.299
the ebb of the moment, seize a gap in your day
00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:09.680
and examine what happens inside the lines. Wade
00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.000
in the waters and listen to the voices around
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:18.659
us. This is Lifejacket. Today's Lifejacket concerns
00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:21.599
the perimeters, the ebbs, the gaps and what happens
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.540
inside the lines. Each of these concepts are
00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:26.879
on my mind because of four poems I've stashed
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.200
in the Lifejacket today. Poets and writers often
00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.260
find themselves navigating the perimeter. You
00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:36.140
face the physical perimeter of a line or paragraph
00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:39.280
end. You skirt the boundary of the idea, trying
00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.359
to find the right way in. The ebb concerns the
00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.099
flow, but more precisely, the edge of the flow.
00:01:45.219 --> 00:01:48.620
How can I write into this idea without re -meandering
00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:52.840
its entire flowing essence? Or do I make the
00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.760
decision to completely reorient the flow and
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.739
the gap? that crucial detail of what is left
00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:03.099
out, unsaid, or the unannounced space between.
00:02:04.219 --> 00:02:07.519
And what happens inside the lines? For the poet,
00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:11.139
the line is that mark of presence, to use Glenn
00:02:11.139 --> 00:02:14.960
Maxwell's terms. It's where we announce our revelations,
00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:18.259
address ourselves. It marks against the perimeter
00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:22.840
in space. The line is where we live. We'll hear
00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:25.500
poems by Solent -based poets and writers Liz
00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.979
Amos, Craig Chalmers and Joe Fisher, who in turn
00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:31.599
navigate these concepts, the spaces between,
00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.659
the periphery, the intersections and the gaps.
00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:40.020
Just reflections on a festival that I went to
00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:42.400
in the summer. The festival's called Greenbelt.
00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:46.719
It's an arts and activism festival. And this,
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.900
yeah, was just some thoughts from that. So it
00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:50.120
doesn't have an interesting title. It's just
00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:55.759
called Greenbelt 2024. Last night we watched
00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.659
a woman juggle fire, her hands ablaze while techno
00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.960
music filled a dance floor and bodies swayed
00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:06.199
self -consciously. We wandered the perimeter,
00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:10.259
tent to stage to canopy, patrolling the festival's
00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:13.819
borders, finding our bearings, finding a mention
00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:16.639
of you fixed to the railings amongst the activist
00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:21.900
artwork. And I read this, that the coupling of
00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:25.969
climate, with refugee, is a media invention,
00:03:26.150 --> 00:03:29.830
is non -existent in international law. And in
00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:35.189
a single year, yours was one of 32 million dislocated
00:03:35.189 --> 00:03:41.889
lives that officially do not count. And I, of
00:03:41.889 --> 00:03:48.629
all things, am camping. I am uncomfortable. The
00:03:48.629 --> 00:03:54.129
weather is not cooperating. We sleep intermittently,
00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:57.770
fitful under the drumming of heavy rain. Wind
00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.490
toys with our temporary dwelling, blows down
00:04:00.490 --> 00:04:04.050
performance venues, delays events, and I am so
00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:09.770
uncomfortable. I cringe at this crude approximation
00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:14.189
of your reality. Our five -day misadventures
00:04:14.189 --> 00:04:18.439
in appropriation. Provisions piled high in sodden
00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.399
trolleys, trundled with effort from cars to field,
00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:26.699
a few essentials to sustain us in England's green
00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:33.399
and pleasant land. Green Belt, Liz Amos. For
00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.680
Amos, the poem is an essential interrogation
00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.899
of the liberal arts festival space where the
00:04:37.899 --> 00:04:40.540
speaker reckons with the crude appropriation
00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:45.100
of dislocated lives. Poem, part critique. Amos's
00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:47.879
satire weaves through the poem, deploying the
00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.139
language often tacked onto refugees and conversations
00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:54.620
around displacement, seeking asylum, borders,
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.860
provisions, temporary dwellings, media invention,
00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:03.060
all forces defined by the perimeter. Amos uses
00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:05.180
these terms and irony in such a way that draws
00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:07.980
us to the heart of the issue, so that we cannot
00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:11.279
continue to ignore those who are erased, that
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.540
do not count in the eyes of international law.
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.759
The line, the weather is not cooperating, fills
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.819
such a choice -loaded phrase for this interrogation
00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:24.819
and is, suitably, English. For this place we
00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:27.759
dwell continuously grapples with who belongs
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.759
and who should be kept at the perimeter. The
00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.600
ending line, England's green and pleasant land,
00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.439
Amos' critique takes us to the boundary of William
00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.180
Blake, this phrase coined and inscribed into
00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:43.899
this nation's margins. And so the poem calls
00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:47.139
on us to examine our position along these lines.
00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.180
Okay, this is called First Watch in the Diamond
00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:57.620
Mine. At my lowest ebb, the universe affords
00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:01.160
me a little luck. My music machine nigh on fixes
00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:03.720
itself and I am allowed again this miracle of
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song to listen to, to sit with me, to sigh with
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me, to cry with me. A friend I have been missing
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who always knows what to say. This is called
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.439
Home Late. It goes like this. I put my shoes
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down the same in the gap left for them where
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I took them from. Shoe on the other foot, I'd
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have tidied the gap, tucked it all in with a
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clog and a clump for you to join in the end.
00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:55.680
So thank you for reminding me I have been gone
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and that I have a place here and that I am home.
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First Watch in the Diamond Mine and Home Late
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by Craig Chalmers. The poet's lowest ebb wakes
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the miracle of resilience of song. Chalmers draws
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us to a tender moment in First Watch in the Diamond
00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:40.430
Mine, of space being made for oneself by external
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forces. A song in a coal mine, a song which ebbs
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us along to the next sob, sigh and cry. It's
00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:49.610
in the ebb we're encouraged to take stock of
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what we have, and what luck we have, even if
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it's in its crumbs. Chalmers' sparse and precise
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verse takes us to the heart of this consoling
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event. Then, in seizing a gap of time, we are
00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:05.139
granted a fleeting reflection in Home Late, the
00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:07.540
poem triggered by the space left by a partner
00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.060
for one's shoes. The poem's deaf simplicity echoes
00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:14.060
William Carlos Williams, spoken almost as a note
00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:17.060
left on the kitchen counter or fridge door, and
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in that it becomes a reminder for oneself that
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I have space here. The poem feels crafted in
00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.360
a gap in time, that the poem's trigger was observed
00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:29.120
and immediately penned, the urgency of the moment
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present. in Chalmers' voice and inside the lines.
00:08:33.009 --> 00:08:36.210
Chalmers' sparse and precise verse takes us to
00:08:36.210 --> 00:08:41.269
this moment of consolation. Inside the lines.
00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:47.450
Fill this space with anything, anywhere, anyone.
00:08:48.450 --> 00:08:52.149
Glide your ideas across this enclosed expanse
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and let them bleed into the corners to their
00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:59.230
world's edge. Release into the ether a wish,
00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:05.210
A face, a life, a breath. Crack yourself open
00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:09.169
and spill endless dreams. Throw yourself against
00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:12.769
the blank canvas. Pour yourself into these confines
00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:17.309
and shapeshift. This frame, this emptiness is
00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.929
yours. Colour inside the lines you've been given
00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:26.669
with your boundless mind. Inside the Lines by
00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:31.230
Joe Fisher Fisher's Inside the Lines is a poem
00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:34.230
of permission, inclusive of corners and worldly
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edges. A meditation, an incantation we could
00:09:37.809 --> 00:09:40.470
say to ourselves at the start of each day. I
00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:43.269
appreciate how Fisher reframes emptiness as inviting,
00:09:43.529 --> 00:09:46.370
as something that encourages us to create, make
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and be. It takes me back to Contramendeth's notion
00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:54.129
of being remade. And Inside the Line is where
00:09:54.129 --> 00:10:02.320
we can remake ourselves. Thank you for listening
00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:32.330
to Lifejacket. a former lawyer she's currently
00:10:32.330 --> 00:10:34.990
studying for an MA in Postcolonial and World
00:10:34.990 --> 00:10:37.789
Literatures at the University of Southampton.
00:10:38.649 --> 00:10:41.350
Craig Chalmers is a performance poet, most notably
00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:44.169
making the grand final of Hammer and Tongue at
00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:48.509
the Royal Albert Hall in 2021, and in 2023 delivered
00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:52.289
a brand new workshop for Artful Scribe and SIAH's
00:10:52.289 --> 00:10:54.730
Creative Writers Against Coastal Waste project.
00:10:55.190 --> 00:10:57.769
Recently he has been involved with Zoe Logic's
00:10:57.769 --> 00:11:00.429
The Big Movement, and the inaugural Sound Winchester
00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:04.269
event. Craig regularly performs at poetry platform
00:11:04.269 --> 00:11:06.970
Winchester and open mics across Hampshire and
00:11:06.970 --> 00:11:10.230
Dorset. Jo Fisher is a writer, editor and artist
00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:13.070
living in Southampton. She curates and hosts
00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.950
poetry shows in Southampton, including Music
00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:18.950
in the City and Poets and Pints at the inaugural
00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:23.730
ESO Fringe Festival in 2024. Her work has appeared
00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:26.929
on BBC Radio Solent and BBC Radio 4's Front Row.
00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.159
And in 2019, she performed at the Royal Albert
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.639
Hall, proudly representing Solent at the Hammer
00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:35.759
and Tongue Slam final. Her writing has also been
00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.639
turned into a neon light installation at God's
00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:47.179
House Tower. Live Jacket is produced by Artful
00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:49.679
Scribe, a not -for -profit writer development
00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.899
agency based in Southampton, supporting emerging
00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:56.379
and continuing writers in Hampshire, Dorset,
00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.879
and the Solent region. Artful Scribe is supported
00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:03.759
by Arts Council England. I am your host, Antosh
00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:07.700
Fuji. This is Lifejacket. Stay buoyant.
