Bookstock: Waterloo Press Poetry Open House, Iambic Arts Theatre, Brighton, June 10 (From The Argus)

Bookstock: Waterloo Press Poetry Open House, Iambic Arts Theatre, Brighton, June 10

10:26am Thursday 16th June 2011 in The Critic By Catherine Meek

Challenging the notion that poetry is irrelevant, this event was a sell-out.

Since 2001, Waterloo Press in Hove has published poetry for the love of it.

With Arts Council funding, an increasing number of collections have been translated – from Spanish and Finnish among other languages – giving new meaning to publishing “marginalised voices” and the universal language of poetry.

This event showcased a handful of local poets with myriad concerns. Everyone attending was probably “into” poetry but the success of the evening was less a result of this proclivity than the quality and diversity of poems read.

David Pollard’s imagination of who fired the shot at Archduke Ferdinand, sparking off the First World War, was as vivid as Naomi Foyle’s contemporary Brighton arsonist.

Judith Kazantziz, Bernadette Cremin and Simon Jenner entertained as well, reviving Odysseus, memorable personal influences and Edward The Confessor.

Robert Dickinson stood out. In particular, his evocative rendering of the lonely and dispossessed in nursing homes was very moving, as he gave identity back to people who are often referenced only in generic terms, or policy and statistics.

Such is the power of poetry.

Waterloo produces beautiful books which shouldn’t be judged only by their covers.