The Heaney Interviews

Certainly, it's hard to imagine any poet who was interviewed more than Seamus Heaney. Stepping Stones has 480 pages of exhaustive questions and answers and then lists about 130 others in its 'select interviews' appendix. One couldn't accuse him of being evasive. Many of the answers to Dennis O'Driscoll's questions are half a page long.

One almost feels like one was there throughout the childhood, then through adulthood, from Mossbawn, via Wicklow, to Dublin with international travel in between. The characters, the friends and family, the poets and the poems and the places. It's not obvious how much context poems need for their elucidation and it's not obvious it's this much. Jonathan Bate's biography of Ted Hughes went to 566 pages with 768 pages of the letters to go with it. Larkin has had three biographies and three selections of letters. As if the poems somehow didn't make themselves clear.

I'm not exactly complaining. One's first instinct is to think that academics in search of a project have to keep digging deeper to unearth previously unpublished insights but if the reason for there being so much terrible television and pop music and so many dull, dull films is that there is an audience for them then the explanation for the depth of investigation into the lives of the poets is that the likes of me will read it.

Heaney was always an attractive character with a bit of a twinkle in his eye and so the weight of detail is not hard to take on. It passes one's time enjoyably. What emerges from these conversations is that he didn't opt out of the sectarian strife of his home environment but preferred peace to violence.

His allegiance to Ireland, as a non-believing Catholic, and opposition to English rule of the 'province' are more pronounced here than we might have been led to believe when there were always enough more stridently Republican commentators who regarded him as some sort of cross-bencher. Both when he publicly raised objections to being made the 'godfather' to a generation of British and Irish poets in the Morrison/Motion Penguin anthology of Contemporary British Poetry in 1982 and when he was mentioned as a potential successor to Hughes as Poet Laureate, he readily dissociated himself and explained that his passport was green. The problem with being widely admired is that all sorts of causes, not all of which one wants to be claimed by, will try to claim you.

He would have been a different poet had he not been born where he was and when he was but there is a rare music to his words that make him, for instance, Mozart compared to the very worthy Michael Longley's Salieri, that would have made him a special talent anywhere at any time. It's possible that we might have heard more about technique than the circumstances in which he wrote but Stepping Stones is more biography than critical analysis. In among the anecdotes and life story, there is wisdom to be had, like,

if a poem is any good, you can repeat it to yourself as if it were written by somebody else. The completedness frees you from it and it from you. You can read and re-read it without feeling self-indulgent: whatever it was in you that started the writing has got beyond you.

That's excellent, not only making use of the casual phrase 'any good' but proceeding to define it in terms we can all understand. You might not find that in Donald Davie or William Empson.

One could also use the little game he invented,

You started with the appositional phrase, 'the well-known Irish travel agent, Conor Cruise O'Brien and went on as long as you could with parallerl inventions: the well-known Irish chimney-sweep Conor Flues O'Brien. The well-known Irish poet Conor Muse O'Brien. 

The one time I was lucky enough to see Heaney in the flesh was at the readings arranged by Simon Armitage alongside the 2012 London Olympic Games with him representing Ireland, Rita Dove the USA, Wole Soyinka Nigeria, etc. and Soyinka's mobile phone going off while he was reading seemed to me to be the headline news to mention in my review but not everybody thought so. Thus I'm a little bit reassured that a Nobel Laureate can treat the high-mindedness of art with some gentle irreverence and I'll play along with - the well-known Irish party-planner Conor Do's O'Brien, the well-known Irish cleric Conor Pews O'Brien, the well-known Irish landscape painter Conor Views O'Brien and the well-known Irish sneezer Conor At-choos O'Brien. Then I'll let you do some of your own but I'm glad we don't have to be so immersed in post-modern textuality, the dark arts of poetics or 'theory' that we can't join in with that.

Stepping Stones is an essential book for any Heaney devotee, none of which will be finding out about it here for the first time. It's useful and very worthwhile for me, too, who regarded him as quite possibly the greatest living poet in the language for many years on account of that natural music that occured as his default cruising speed in so much of his work. He understands entirely the choice to be made between 'free' verse, the short line and iambic pentameter and it requires a rare talent to make that decision for the best.

I haven't yet arrived at the chapter on The Spirit Level and my favourite Heaney poem, A Brigid's Girdle, which might not qualfy for in-depth discussion because it's not contentious or even possibly of much further interest beyond its gorgeousness but gorgeousness will do for me.

Heaney - A Brigid's Girdle  

     

Racetrack Wiseguy Attempts the Nap Hand

 There is an episode of Bilko in which the wide boy sergeant can't believe his winning run on the horses and begins to believe he can't go wrong. It is possible to think one has suddenly acquired the 'Midas touch' but one needs also to bear in mind the enormous profits that bookmakers show, not least the lady at Bet365, compared to the miseries of lesser-known failed gamblers as well as the likes of Paul Merson.

It goes wrong when Bilko doesn't realize the race he stakes it all on is in a different time zone and it's no longer his lucky day there.

So, there's no harm in keeping at it while you're winning and bet with what you can safely afford. You don't chase your losses, you don't do it while boozing and it's best if you know something about the sport.

I've had a tremendous week so far, the 4 out of 4 winners only augmenting exactly what the life of leisure at a certain age should be like. They haven't provided enough for me to be mailing out crates of champagne to all regular readers here but they'll do. The money's not the point, it's the game.

But I like a 'flagship' horse, one that one can follow at least until it gets beaten. The heartbreak of Rhinestone Cowboy or The New One not winning the Champion Hurdle still provide a vague ache after all these years but others come along in their turn, with all their promise, and we see how far they can get.

It looks to me a big step up in class for Fantastic Lady to be going straight into the Grade 2 Pendil Novices Chase at Kempton, 2.25, tomorrow in the race named after one of my childhood heroes. Is she really that good, having come however impressively from Novice Handicap company.

But one looks at the weights compared to official ratings and saw how well she jumped and how readily she won two weeks ago and I'm happy to be with the superb, debonair Mr. Henderson and his gorgeous sophomore student, re-invest some of this week's modest profit at 7/2 at Best Price Guaranteed and if she doesn't win I'll still love her.  

The Next Time - Cliff Richard

 What I thought I could do while taking as long as it takes to compile the playlist for A Perfect Day of Pop Radio with its 60's, 70's, maybe 80's shows and overflow programmes of Soul, Reggae, Rock and Singer-Songwriters, was attempt some of the little essays on each. We will see how it goes. It's just that the first such thing, after having done a couple and saved them elsewhere, outlined itself during today's highly productive walkabout.

--

 

I was moved when Danny Baker not only selected The Next Time on his Desert Island Discs appearance but ended with it, as the film Summer Holiday does.

It's been a long time since Roy Plomley's show was really about the music, if it ever was, rather than a choice of eight records to hang an interview on and Danny made no attempt to include such favourites of his as The Beatles, Steely Dan or Earth, Wind & Fire, nor anything from 1976/77 when he was the coming man at the NME. It was a self-consciously 'period' choice of records and notable for how he identified The Next Time as marking the end of an Age of Innocence before the arrival of The Beatles, all arch, knowing and clever.

One might think that Donny Osmond and generations of Non-Threatening Boys, which is the magazine Lisa Simpson reads, for which British viewers can understand 'Jackie', were as innocent and that Cliff was a safe, British version of Elvis in the same way that Tamla Motown was white-friendly soul music, Lover's Rock was 'reggae chic' made for, and often in, London rather than Kingston but it was becoming increasingly contrived as such.

Bob Dylan, quite rightly, identified Smokey Robinson as the 'poet' among pop lyric writers but the authors of,

I'll soon forget your kiss 

and heartaches such as this
Will just be ancient his-  tory.

are poets, too. It is credited to Buddy Kaye and Philip Stringer, Kaye having had a hand in A, You're Adorable and the partnership contributing to the work of Dusty Springfield, Sinatra and Elvis. It is sublime 'hit factory' product, though, with proven talent used in each role. The Shadows had no.1 hits in their own right, being specially selected from the circuit, but were never as good as in the role of Cliff's support band on such records as Dancing Shoes, The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and the Blue Turns to Grey that outdoes the Stones' version. Here, though it is the lilting arrangement and orchestra of Norrie Paramour that augment Cliff, who was by no means just a pretty face, had writing credits on a few of his seminal records and, like his friend Cilla, didn't let anything get in the way of a spectacularly successful career.    

Signed Poetry Books - Dannie Abse

The Oxfam Bookshop on East Street, Chichester, is a fine example of the genre and it's hard to leave it empty-handed. Yesterday it was Dennis O'Driscoll's Stepping Stones, the interviews with Seamus Heaney - about which I'm sure there'll be more in due course - and this latest addition to the ongoing but now very slowly accumulating Signed Poetry Book collection.

Dr. Abse was a proper doctor, the sort that diagnose and treat ailments, rather than one who has written a thesis. I saw him, venerable at the age of 86, when he did the Status Quo job of opening the show for a Benefit for the Haiti Disaster in Westminster in 2010 organized by Ms. Duffy. He was the only poet of the many assembled to be given an audience by Prime Minister Gordon Brown who had made a speech undertaking to send Haiti all our spare corrugated iron before sliding away to contiune trying to shore up his ailing Premiership. Younger readers might think that's all that Prime Ministers ever do. It's all that the recent ones have had as a priority.

Ask the Bloody Horse is notable for its esoteric vocabulary, including animalcules, thoracoplasty, thesmothete, nyctalopia, katabolic and corybantic, some of which might require a medical dictionary rather than the full version of the OED. I doubt if my two volumes of Shorter will have them all. I don't personally find such lexis efficacious in pursuit of ultra-Parnassian expressivity but if those were the words he felt the need to use it's not for me to say he shouldn't have.

An-Ting Chang in Chichester

An-Ting Chang, Chichester Cathedral, Feb 22 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colour was available

but black and white 

can do what one piano can 

without the need of orchestras.

 

These lines from a work-in-very-slow-progress might never see print but are pertinent to piano versions of music that we might be more accustomed to in orchestral arrangements. They are likely to be jettisoned but can be made use of here. I first became aware of it when realizing that I preferred the piano-only side of my Pictures at an Exhibition cassette to Ravel's orchestration. For the most part, the same could be said of An-Ting Chang's performance of The Carnival of the Animals.

Some of the early pieces were almost Modernist in their fractured bursts of musical ideas. Music does character perhaps better than pictures and these pieces are antropomorphic, describing the species in relation to how humaity perceives them. The wild ass might not think itself as wild as the mazy run on the scales and neither do fish nnecessarily regard themselves as flickering in An-Ting's gorgeous account of Aquarium. Some elephants are presumably lighter on their feet than others but to us they all have the solid tread as seen by Saint-Saens.

We might miss the cello in the famous Swan, which lends itself so well to the glide but the piano's left hand draws more attention to the detail of the gentle wake it leaves behind. The busy Finale was trimuphantly delivered with great, almost acrobatic, verve.

More was ro come though in An-ting's own Music Diary during the Pandemic Time. That aberration produced poems from all quarters and musicians weren't to be left out. An-Ting is at least resilient and more like exuberant, though, and her pieces, while describing a difficult time, owe something to C19th Romanticism. 

London Night is the eerie stillness, building some tension before resolving it. Plague Time was gently jazzy and emotional,

Last June was a sadder song but Ping Pong Dance was jauntier and Hoxton Street was waltzy.

Past Tense, we were told, reflected back on a relationship break-up and did so with perhaps some debt to Rachmanninov. Purple Dream was a thoughtful rather than climactic ending, uncertain but still positive.

It was a deeply impressive set and done the right way round with her own music being the more memorable and what we were left thinking of. I've only ever seen Stephen Kovacevich given a standing ovation, by one or two, at Chichester before but some near me stood to applaud An-Ting and so I was glad of the excuse to do so too. I can only previously remember standing for the Hallelujah Chorus.

Completely great.

Racetrack Wiseguy Previews Cheltenham 2022

Cheltenham Previews begin very shortly so I'll get in early with mine.

The Dublin Festival at Leopardstown looked ominously like how the Soviet Union used to roll all their missiles and tanks past the Kremlin in a great show of strength. All the Irish-trained short-priced favourites went in impressively, confirmed their prominent positions in the ante post markets for Cheltenham, while Frodon and Greaneteen shrivelled like salted snails on behalf of the UK, and one couldn’t find much fault with any of them. Maybe it won’t be quite as straightforward as just carrying those winners on to Cheltenham but it’s highly likely that several will maintain their impressive form and so they’ll need to be put into trebles and more to achieve anything like worthwhile winnings. 

The UK have Shishkin. Bravemansgame isn’t a definite for Cheltenham and Edwardstone might be favourite for the Arkle but he’s got a job on, having only looked good against opposition from these shores so far.

Tuesday is my favourite day, partly because it has three top races but also because everything is still possible and no actual results have yet jaded one’s confidence which, after all these years, by now ought to know better.

The Supreme Novices at 1.30 has at least got us off to a good start in the past. The 99/1 ante post accumulator begins with Constitution Hill but 2/1 doesn’t look great value against two Irish contenders and stablemate Jonbon whose win at Haydock was probably better than it looked. However, the selection has looked entirely the business so far and might put the UK 1-0 up early doors against Dysart Dynamo who came home 19 lengths clear of we don’t know quite what at Punchestown and Sir Gerhard who beat more proven types at Leopardstown without being 100% impressive. One or two might go in other races in which they think they can be sure of better than coming fourth. 

Honeysuckle would appear to have to only turn up to win the Champion Hurdle, having demonstrated she has the measure of all in that division and Appreciate It only making his seasonal debut which is not ideal for here but might be for Punchestown at the end of April. However, the 4/6 in the accumulator might be all I have because she’s been nowhere near as good value as that for some time now. Gordon Elliott’s Teahupoo was belatedly thrown into the equation this weekend but with Adagio beaten at Wincanton and still a 16/1 chance, the bookmakers aren’t too frightened to be laying 10/1.

The Ballymore Novices at 1.30 on Wednesday is for any of the favourites who prefer not to take on the Supreme. I was grateful to Sir Gerhard at Leopardstown and have been similarly glad of Stage Star more than once but it will depend on what lines up for this more demanding test of stamina. 

Shishkin in the Champion Chase should be better off against Energumene round Cheltenham than when he beat him at Ascot although not looking like he would until the last. He’s welcome to keep the accumulator going if it still is. Energumene  is surely a good enough horse to win a championship race one day but will be second fav wherever he goes this year, which one would imagine would be here rather than over longer in the Ryanair. 

Facile Vega in the bumper can’t be opposed on all the deep impression made last time and can be added into whatever further combinations of red-hot prospects one takes into the meeting. He’s more than a ‘talking horse’ because the pundits were all in raptures about last time out. My only reservation is that I’ve had confident selections and fine-sounding tips about the Cheltenham Bumper plenty of times but can’t remember ever backing the winner. But how many progeny of the great Quevega will there be, compared to those of Galileo or Frankl. Not many. She might have got it right first time.

The Turners Novices, 1.30 on Thurs, is full of horses one could find reasons to oppose if one was being really picky and is another that could be used for small stakes if one’s ahead but might not provide a suggestion in bold type

But Allaho in the Ryanair (2.50) has long been the nap of the week, only sadly at Evens in a single, some trebles and in the 5-timer because the 7/4 had gone once it became non-runner, no bet. No more improvement is needed. The first four of the 5-timer probably only need to produce what they’ve done already to win whereas,

In the Gold Cup (3.30) on Friday, Galvin might still be on an upward curve and be good enough to be better than a crop of staying chasers that have shown by now all they are capable of and there’s not an obvious superstar among them. He either lands the 99/1 or will be worth a few quid on his own.

Before that, in the Triumph Hurdle, the ebullient owner, Rich Ricci, is back with Vauban, deeply impressive in Dublin, who will get put in the mix of trebles in which it will be quite possible to land a few doubles and come out unlucky but four winners could make it a bit of a pay week.

For me, there’s the 5-timer of Constitution Hill, Honeysuckle, Shishkin, Allaho and Galvin and then you add in Facile Vega and Vaubon but at the prices you’ll be needing most of them to cover all the combinations, so we stir them about and hope to come up with a few successful concatenations but the best treble looks like Allaho, Shishkin and Honeysuckle, very unadventurous but paying more than 3/1 for the money I got back from Mr. Coral when Bothwell Bridge pulled up at Newbury yesterday.

There’s not much there that’s not favourite for those who like a price but I reckon it’s easier to achieve 8/1 with a few of the above that than finding an 8/1 winner. One could have a speculative yankee for small change on some at longer odds. Maybe I’ll have-

Shan Blue (Tues, 2.50) if he swerves the Ryanair. 

Fury Road (Tues 5.30) is all but top rated and 7/1 if this is the race he runs in. You only have to forgive last time out and he beat Run Wild Fred in December. 

Stage Star (Weds 1.30) is an each way price if the wheels are put back on the Nicholls cart. Of course they will be but the stable doesn’t appear to have much to go to the top races with and Cheltenham in March isn’t his playground these days. But we are only talking about an each way yankee paid for with the money you can find down the back of the settee. 

Alaphilippe (Thurs 2.10) is a chancy guess to make up the fourth based on no more than the sort of trainer who might be capable of picking off such a race on his way to the big time and that it may or may not be named after a cyclist. Such races are pinsticking jobs that only look obvious once they’ve been run but I’ve yet to find a bookie prepared to take a bet based on my claim that, oh, yes, I realize now.

As long as it doesn’t hurt too much, it’ll be fine. Some of mine is paid for already and I don’t intend the balance sheet for 2022 to be showing a minus by tea time on Gold Cup day. I won’t see you in Barbados but we can hope to have enjoyed that feeling when you’re looking good coming to the last and then get up the hill before the others.  I’ll need it to happen three times and so only the third time will count. In The Dolphin public house, Old Portsmouth on Thursday, just before 3 p.m. if not sooner.

The Professor, long-time friend of the Racetrack Wiseguy column, has kindly submitted his view, which is,

Shishkin (nap) . This is definitely the bet of the week.  Looked in trouble at Ascot and still won. Cheltenham should suit even better so confidence is high.

Champ (nb) . A strange race last time where paisley park gave the field a 20 length start and still won. A proper championship pace here should see Champ in a better light.

Constitution Hill.  ( treble) Has looked very impressive this season. Finishing strongly uphill at Sandown suggests the track should really suit. 

Others to mention in dispatches -

Chantry House did this preview a real favour last year so should be looked at in the Gold Cup.

Walking on Air in the Ballymore. Very impressive at Newbury.  Should have lots more to come.

Dusart is a  huge price in the Brown Advisory chase.  The further he went the better last time.

American Mike in the bumper is a real Gordon Elliott talking horse so perhaps can serve it up to the Mullins favourite.

Thanks, Prof.

And Spenno, also of the Three Wise men, is also always welcome and has-

Nap… Sir Gerhard in the Ballymore 

NB… Concertista in the Mares Chase on Friday

Treble… Edwardstone in the Arkle

GoldCup… Al Boum Photo e/w… 10/1 looks too big, can’t see it being out of the frame.

Outsider… Anyharminasking in whichever handicap he runs (only horse to have beaten Constitution Hill). 

--

We must have found a winner in there somewhere. Surely.