A sense of discovery

by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

A poet’s life is full of surprises, as Barbara Hodgson discovers.

YOU often hear novelists describe their characters as taking on a life of their own. Rather than have free rein over their thoughts and actions, their creator finds himself or helself led by them. The same, apparently, can be true of poets – in Colette Bryce’s case, anyway.

The award-winning writer from Derry in Northern Ireland, who launches her third poetry collection this weekend, reckons she is constantly surprised by what comes out on the page.

“I think that element of surprise is critical for a piece of work to be any good,” she says. “You need to be surprised by it. In that sense, I feel I’m being led by the poem.

“I can start writing about one thing, then it takes me off in a surprising direction.

“It’s hard to sit down with a set of ideas and the poems you intended to write. That sense of discovery is at heart of it for me.”

And it’s a technique – whether conscious or not – which has won Colette a National Poetry Competition and the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize with her previous work.

Much has been made of the “music” in her poems, which often explore crisis points through new perspectives. Colette, who moved to Newcastle when she was awarded the North East Literary Fellowship in 2005, has named her new collection, to be launched at Live Theatre in Newcastle on Sunday, Self-Portrait in the Dark. This is a reference to details, often obscured by light, which attuned eyes can pick up in the
dark.

“I think each collection signifies a period in life and my development as a writer,” she tells me.

“I think the first collection was very much more an apprenticeship: I was learning who I was as a writer and finding my own voice through it.

“I feel there’s a movement forward in this book. I feel more settled in my work, like I’ve arrived. And there’s a sense of following; not being sure where it’s going to go next.

“I follow it, rather than controlling it.”

Being asked to explain your work must be a nightmare for anyone who’s creative. And it’s probably harder for poets than artists to pull off the “it’s whatever you want it to be” line.

But, of course, poetry needn’t be about laying bare your soul: presumably, as in a book, a poem can be a work of fiction.

Colette says “you can play around with the voice” of the poem, but there has to be some emotional investment to give it truth. “My poems can be very personal or I can just be writing about things that are of interest to me – and I hope interesting to
others.

“It can be just something like a strange detail which can draw you,” she says and cites as an example a poem she wrote in the wake of the Soham murder trial.

“I’d never have thought of writing about it, but I was reading a report at the time which said the jury was taken by coach to view where the bodies were found, and that got me thinking.”

She wrote about the inner struggles of a group of people who gather at a particular spot. The poem developed into something different so, to the reader, the Soham link might not be apparent. But Colette says: “I’m surprised I wrote about that.”

The wide-ranging subjects in her new collection are about revelation: examining how time is held or space is enclosed.

One tells of a spider trapped under a glass; another, a glimpse of life in a face reflected by a broken mirror.

While Colette is modest about her talent, hers is imaginative and thought-provoking poetry.

She says: “I think of poems being already out there somewhere and I have to pin it down, or catch it, or reveal it.” Psychology interests her and it’s something she might have pursued in an alternative career.

Like a well-penned poem, there’s been a rhythm and smooth progression to reach the point Colette, 38, is now at.

From a family of eight siblings – several of whom became artists – she jokes that she turned to writing as a means of finding some solitude.

She says of growing up in Ireland: “It was quite a politicised environment and I was quite politicised as well. There was a lot of public action.

“I think there was a big desire to escape and that’s exactly what I did.”

Her move to England at the age of 18 was to study for an English degree.

It was only after her course, when reading purely for pleasure, that she discovered the appeal of contemporary literature which spoke to her in a way the classics did not.

She enjoyed her course but “it did leave me at the age of 21 with a sense that poetry was dead”.

Now she was discovering 20th Century poets whose lives she could relate to. “They were a doorway to me into a contemporary life.”

And it marked the start of her own writing career.

She loved her fellowship experience in Newcastle which saw her mixing with local poets and says the area is rich in creativity. “It was an absolutely brilliant experience.” The position came to its close last year and now she faces the challenge of going it alone. Self-taught, she now teaches creative writing to others, including working with a dyslexia group and with university MA students.

She’s looking forward to Sunday – the first of a number of poetry events at Live Theatre – when she’ll get to read alongside fellow Irish poet Michael Longley.

Regarded as one of the finest poets of his generation, the multi-award-winner has explored the First World War, the Holocaust and Ireland’s Troubles in his work as well as lyrical poetry’s traditional love and nature themes.

Colette is a big fan.

Right now, it seems she couldn’t be happier in her work.

“I just love it. It’s been for me a real constant in my life.

“All I ever think about is the next poem.”

Self Portrait in the Dark by Colette Bryce is published on September 5 by Picador Poetry at £8.99.

At Sunday’s Live Poetry event at Live Theatre, literature lovers can discover more about contemporary poetry, with a talk from 6.30pm-7pm. Culture Club members and guests can attend for a special price of £5. Call (0191) 232-1232, quoting Culture Club.