OFFCUMDENS
OFFCUMDENS: Sue Wallace-Shaddad reviews a poem & photograph collaboration by Bob Hamilton & Emma Storr
Offcumdens Bob Hamilton and Emma Storr Fair Acre Press ISBN 978-1-911048-66-4 www.fairacrepress.co.uk 107pp ÂŁ29.99
This is an outstanding collection arising from a collaboration between photographer Bob Hamilton and poet Emma Storr. I am not surprised it has been shortlisted for a Saboteur Award 2022 for best collaborative work (final result still awaited). What particularly struck me was the way in which the poet often shapes the form of her poems in response to the photographs, although sometimes it is the poems which inspire photographs. Sometimes they are just picked to mirror each other.
âMirrorâ, a skilful concrete poem, was inspired by a photograph of trees reflected in water, one of my favourites among the photographs by Hamilton. The poem has text in the shape of an upside-down pyramid meeting text in an upward pyramid. The words âwaterâ and âwhiteâ meet each other at the midpoint, very apt for water meeting the light in the black and white photograph. The first and last lines are repetitions but in inverted order. The first âstanzaâ dives down, whereas the second is more expansive in tone:
twins share a kiss in the black water. White crepuscular rays stream light,
âThe Leeds Libraryâ, a sonnet, faces a photograph of book stacks in this library. The sonnet, of course, has particular literary overtones as a form and is book-shaped. The poet writes in the rather lonely voice of the book:
When footsteps on the spiral stairs approach, the metal walkway quivers and I hope to be retrieved, removed and browsed, chosen.
âWallâ is another example of a sonnet. This form implies the solidity of the wall although it has its tensions:
The wall resists, holds back scree and slipping slopes of gritstone skirts, spread below the scar. The wall remains, pebbles wedged in its heart.
I enjoyed the mention of âCrackpot Hallâ in this poem, such an evocative name (and a real place according to the notes). The collection is very much a celebration of Yorkshire and place names provide a tether to its history. The poem, âThe Naming of Stonesâ, is a good example of this with Ilkley Moorâs âthe Twelve Apostles, the Cow and Calfâ, / the Lanshaw Ladâ and âBadger, Neb / and Pepperpotâ stones. Hamilton and Storr visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park together in September 2020. This resulted in the photograph and a series of haiku, âUpright Motivesâ, where Storr describes Mick Johnson as he âtickles out dirtâ when cleaning Henry Mooreâs âUpright Motivesâ:
We admire his art, his steady stroke of wet brush. The Glenkiln Cross gleams.
The simplicity of the haiku form also works very well in the poem âWorshipâ. Here, with three haiku, Storr conjures a moment of reflection in a serene and peaceful atmosphere, next to the photograph of a ruined stone barn:
Our cathedrals stand in fields. We share our prayers with swallows, martins.
On the other hand, the photograph which inspired âYour Kissing Gateâ has a brooding sense of absence. In this poem, âCurved arms hold / damp airâ and the gate waits to
[âŠ] regain the swinging arc and kiss of metal lips, the tremble of the fence
Another striking photograph features cumulonimbus clouds over the landscape. A collaborative decision was made to place the poem âNephologyâ alongside this. The poet makes full use of the page to add air into the poem; text runs across the page but also hangs in a central section
dragonâs breath in billowed towers the pencilled puff on a white page dissolved by evening
Some of the poems have a welcome humorous touch. In âResignationâ, written in the voice of Santa, the reader is treated to Storrâs response to Hamiltonâs photograph of a Santa Claus figure walking with his dogs, pulling a shopping trolley down a high street. The poet highlights the incongruity of the scene: âTheyâve sent these scruffy mutts, not Rudolph and his matesâ. The poem ends âGoodbye to Ho Ho Ho, the smelly kids, Iâve had enough.â âDog Daysâ, in the voice of the dog, is an affectionate portrayal of owner, âMabelâ, and dog:
We stop, often. She rests, lights up. I know her favourite spots to sit along our route.
In âSwinner Gillâ the poet creates compound words âgrassgrooveâ, ârainrunnelledâ and âslipdrippingâ which add to the impact of the pantoumâs repeated lines. The poet explains in the notes that âthe repetition emphasised the fearâ she felt walking in a steep valley with the âmore sure-footedâ Hamilton. She also uses this technique in the light and airy poem âHawthornâ. In the photograph, a solitary hawthorn tree clings to a rocky slope. Compound words featured are âfootrootedâ, âwindblastâ, âbarkknotâ, âbudburstâ, âsongstretchedâ and âthornsharpâ. They add to the musicality of the poem already established through the use of end rhyme throughout the poem:
I dance with gales, embrace the falling snow while bedrock keeps me anchored deep below.
âEngagementâ, was written as a response to a poetry prompt about forming a relationship with an inanimate object. The accompanying photograph is very evocative of the cotton mills of Yorkshireâs industrial past. In the poem, Storr captures the to and fro of a loom with indented lines:
Your threads hold me, pull me into your worsted weave. I hear your heart in the treadle-beat calling me, wooing me.
She uses indentation again, along with rhyme, in âWhat I Wantâ to create a sense of the galloping horse âdappled in dove-white and greyâ captured in the photograph. The rhythm reminded me of Robert Louis Stevensonâs poem âWindy Nightsâ in âA Childâs Garden of Versesâ:
I know itâs a horse, of course itâs a horse, cantering under the tree,
The Yorkshire term âoffcumdenâ is explained as âsomeone who was not born in that countyâ âboth Hamilton and Storr were born in London but moved north. Throughout the book, the photographs and poems work seamlessly together leaving the reader with a deep impression of the county. Clearly, Hamilton and Storr are attuned to each otherâs perceptions and engagement with their adopted landscape, whether rural or urban. The collection has a very useful set of notes at the back which flesh out the context for the pairings of image and poem and also explain the creative approach taken.
Beautifully produced and printed, this is a collection to treasure. I know I will return to it again and again and use it as inspiration for my own collaborative efforts.
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