Jess Mookherjee’s The Swell – Telltale Poet Sarah Barnsley tells of its creation

I asked Telltale Poet Sarah Barnsley to give me a bit of background to this poetry collective and tell me something about their latest publication, The Swell from Jess Mookherjee which is being launched on October 5th at the Pitcher and Piano in Tunbridge Wells.

“Telltale is a poets’ publishing collective specialising in first, short, high-quality pamphlets. Telltale poets are equal members of the collective and play a part in running the Press. Poets share and learn skills (such as editing, print production, promotion, event organising), take part in regular readings and have a say in the Press’ direction. New pamphlets are published by invitation only. One of the Telltale poets suggested Jess and sent around a link to her work on the Clear Poetry website – and we all loved them! They possess an enticing blend where chattiness meets emotion, images of menace and transcendence meet the ordinary and the commonplace. The resulting pamphlet, The Swell, operates on many different levels, reflective of the multiplicity of meanings in its title – it suggests motion and fluidity, violence, maternity, growth, intensity and, of course, idiomatically, a kind of coolness – you want to hang out with it.

As well as offering a distinctive voice Jess exudes the kinds of qualities essential to a not-for-profit collective: collegiality, enthusiasm, a willingness to network, and a much welcome ‘can-do’ / ‘get-on-with-it’ attitude. She also has the credentials that we especially look for in a Telltale poet. Not only had Jess been shortlisted earlier this year for the Fair Acre pamphlet prize, she had also chalked up a strong publishing record (in Jess’ case, in a very short amount of time). And there’s clearly more to come from Jess, which is exactly what Telltale was set up to do: create stepping-stones to larger projects for exciting new poets. We’re delighted to have Jess on board.”

Sarah Barnsley

 

Dawn Chorus

He saw me in a late night shop
buying Marlbro’ Lights.
I only remember his beard – nothing else,
I didn’t think about how
he looked at me.
He asked me out for dinner –
what went through my mind
was did I look like I needed feeding
or just like someone who’d say yes
to a chicken dinner.
I didn’t know then, that to all men
a seventeen year old girl is beautiful –
even with ample flesh,
spiked purple hair
and art school clothes.
I can’t remember a single thing about him,
just the taste of the chicken fricassee,
the cushions of the limousine
and the dawn chorus, before light
as he drove me home.

First published in Ink, Sweat & Tears 2015
Also in Chronicles of Eve Anthology ( Paper Swans Press 2016)

Jess Mookherjee featured poet

 

 

Tamas
*Temeslos is Celtic name for the River Thames, the Latin is Tameses and in Sanskrit, Tamas meaning Dark Water

Hard water, you curl soft lapping
slaps against your green tide-marked chest.
Roman nose, flared, you turn cheek bones,

your receding hair-line to the sea, out to Tilbury,
you knew what the rush of wind would bring.
your knotted brows saw the tea-clipper off

with sea shanties and rum. Fish swam in your cataract
eyes and your cracked breast.
Boatmen barged stones on your back. You forget

once you were the tideway,
the dark man, the slither – pushing into yourself,
into a land denned by banks, planks, turnpikes and sewers.

Your tide turns to the sound of bells, gulls,
applause and mobile phone ring tones.
You still have a dirty tongue and that strong-man swell.
 

 

The Changing

At night she dives into wet corridors,
seeps from blankets,
slathers across carpet, lost in the heft;
She’s flatfish slapping down stairs
leaving trails of silver moon-strike.
In night that tastes of felt, she gulps air,
chokes on magnolia walls. Her eyes bulge,
sight blurs. Her shrunken foils
fight her skin. She lungfish flaps
to the conservatory, lumbers
past cracked pots, one eyed broken dolls,
thrashes to the garden pond,
aching with stars, and bellyflops
into a dimpled velvet
where she reconstitutes in ripples
and, at last, she is night swimming,
free of her fins
in the swell of stars, arms stretched in a
yearning dance of encore.

 

 

 

Jessica Mookherjee is Bengali by heritage and was brought up in South Wales. after living in London for over twenty years – she now lives in Tunbridge Wells. She has a background in Biological Anthropology and public health research. She was shortlisted for the Fairacre first pamphlet competition in 2016. Jess’s first poem published was by Agenda in 2015. Her work has since been published regularly and widely in publications such as The Interpreter’s House, Brittle Star, Tears in the Fence among many others. Her reviews of poetry can be found in Ink,Sweat and Tears and the High Window. Her pamphlet – The Swell is to be published by Telltale in the Autumn and she is currently working on her first full collection.

Robin Houghton tells tales

I recently caught up with Robin Houghton of Telltale Press and as I was curious about how it worked, I asked her if she’d mind being interviewed. Fortunately she said yes! So here are the questions I asked and her responses. Thanks Robin for spending time on this – really interesting. Robin blogs at poetgal.

Can you tell me a little bit about why you set up the press and chose the name you did?

At the start of 2014 I was desperate to get my first pamphlet out, the poems were hanging around my neck like a noose, stopping me from moving on, I felt creatively stifled – but short of winning a pamphlet competition it clearly wasn’t going to happen unless I was prepared to wait, and even then no guarantee. I realised there were hundreds of new-ish poets like myself, of a similar standard, who must also be frustrated. In fact, I’ve met quite a few poets who’ve become very bitter over the years because they feel their work has been overlooked, and I didn’t want that to happen to me. I could have just self-published, but that seemed like a bit of a dead end (what would I do after that?) – there’s also the thorny issue of whether ‘self publishing’ lacks credibility or editorial rigour. Plus, it’s not just producing the pamphlet you have to think about, it’s the long hard struggle of marketing and selling the damn thing.

A few months before, when I was on a residential course at Ty Newydd, it was a hot topic of discussion and Carol Ann Duffy encouraged us to get together as a collective to publish each other’s pamphlets. I did discuss the idea with a couple of the people on that course, but it was only when I talked it over with Peter Kenny, who I’d met at Brighton Stanza, that it all fell into place. He was really enthusiastic and between us we decided on a vision and constitution. The name was mine – I liked the multiple meanings of ‘telltale’ (including a nautical device for indicating wind direction). I thought originally it was going to be the name of a pamphlet, but it was much better suited as the name of the new press.

How does the press work?

We are a collective. That means we share the responsibility for the success of the press and of our publications – new members pay to join (an amount which by the way is a lot less than the typical cost of an Arvon course), and the money goes towards print and design costs of their short pamphlet (we call them ‘calling cards’). We all play a part in arranging and hosting launches and readings, promoting each other and the press on the social web and whenever the opportunity arises. At the moment, Peter and I are steering it and we do most of the production tasks ourselves, but the aim is to delegate more of that to other members. We’re all learning from each other too – we have complementary skills, backgrounds, contacts and ideas, all of which are key – rather than buying them in, or one person getting paid (or trying to pay themselves) to do the publishing, we believe in bartering. We try to keep our readings free, and our aim is simply to cover our 3rd party costs (which so far we’ve managed to do). Members keep 50% of the pamphlets produced and they are free to either sell them at readings or give them away as they wish. The rest are sold or given away for PR purposes by Telltale and any money generated goes back into the press to assist with the cost of producing further pamphlets, or hiring reading venues or whatever. We now have four members and there’s a wonderful camaraderie and willingness to work for the press. It’s been a brilliant model so far and all of us have benefited from raised profiles and new opportunities.

I note Siegfried Baber has joined as a member. How do you select poets? Is it invitation or submission and what does being a member mean?

Yes, Siegfried’s pamphlet has just launched, at an event in his home town of Bath, but he has also read with us in Lewes and London. We’ve also got a fourth member – Sarah Barnsley – her pamphlet is due out in the summer/early autumn.
Membership is by invitation – we have one or two magazine editor and poetry lecturer friends who recommend people to us, also we keep an eye out ourselves and all members are welcome to recommend others who they think would be a good fit. You have to buy into the ethos – it’s quite different from many poet-publisher relationships. More is expected of the poet because they are buying into a share of the press, in effect. But they also get a huge amount in return. We believe in supporting each other’s professional and creative development. As regards editorial rigour/standards, we’re still very fussy, of course – we all want to be associated only with fine writing and writers. And we take advice from our Associate Editor, Catherine Smith. Siegfried has been widely published in magazines and is clearly a new young talent. Sarah’s pamphlet was runner-up in the Pighog competition last year and could easily have won it. That’s the rub – for every pamphlet competition there may only be one winner but a dozen or more that are equally as good, fresh and interesting. They’re the people we’re interested in. Catherine has been fantastically supportive and continues to guide us in that whole area. Peter and I have our tastes and preferences but we don’t call ourselves ‘editors’ as such.

I love the cover designs, who does them?

Thank you! They’re by Hannah Clare, a young Brighton-based illustrator. Right from the start I really wanted only to use local artists where possible, and although the printers we use are not local they are a bona fide small firm based in the UK.

Can you briefly tell me about the skillshares and training you mention on your site?

That’s still a work in progress! There are many professional development topics we’d like to work up in the group, from social media best practice to how to source (or run) readings, tech skills like how to layout a pamphlet, or skills related to giving public readings, how to put proposals together or how to apply for funding. Some of these are skills we have in house that other members could benefit from, others we need to bring in outside trainers. These are all in the pipeline but not fleshed out yet (whoops, mixed metaphor!)

Finally, how on earth do you have the time for all this – Telltale, poetgal, writing poetry, books on blogging, articles, and a daresay you do some kind of job to pull in the money?

Ooh, good question! I do seem to spend way too much time on the computer and there’s always the danger of Twitter & Facebook lurking. But everyone has to find a way to combat that. I guess the answer is the projects don’t all come at once. If there’s a book on the go or pressing client work then that definitely takes priority. Plus I’m quite disciplined – I like a ‘to do’ list and I don’t miss deadlines (sometimes I need to renegotiate them though!) But as regards Telltale, the beauty of it is that I’m not alone. It’s such a fun thing we’ve got going and the hard work pays off. If I’d have just self-published that pamphlet a year ago, I never would have had anything like the benefits I’m enjoying now. It’s actually surprised me how much satisfaction I get from helping to publish others – what started out as a vehicle for my own interests has morphed into something bigger. I may never be more than moderately successful as a poet myself, but I can project my ambitions onto others and it’s strangely exciting!

Robin Houghton is a social media communications consultant, trainer and writer based in Lewes. Her poetry has appeared in a range of magazines and her pamphlet The Great Vowel Shift was published in 2014. She won the Poetry Society Stanza Poetry Competition 2014, Hamish Canham Prize 2013 and The New Writer Poetry Competition 2012 (single poem category). Her how-to manuals, Blogging for Creatives and Blogging for Writers are published by Ilex.