This past month Psychogeographic Review has been reading:

   ‘Selected Poems’ – Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson’s unique poems continue to reward with each successive reading:                                                                                                       ‘My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—
In Corners—till a Day
The Owner passed—identified—
And carried Me away—’

   ‘Selected Poems’ – William Carlos Williams

Conventional medical practitioner in his everyday life, William Carlos Williams was in fact one of American poetry’s boldest and most creative innovators.  As well as producing his own substantial body of work, Williams acted as mentor to a number of the beat poet generation in his later years.

   ‘The Life and Death of Harriett Frean’ – May Sinclair

A daughter of Rock Ferry and ‘inventor’ of stream of consciousness writing, May Sinclair’s short, achingly sad novel charts one seemingly unremarkable life.  But, in essence, this is a relentless study of self restraint and emotional repression written by one of the key figures in British feminist and modernist writing

   ‘Titus Groan’ – Mervyn Peake

The first volume of Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy starts with the birth of Titus Groan, seventy-seventh Earl of the vast, crumbling castle of Gormenghast.  Peake’s prose is gloriously dark and dense and the world he creates is peopled by a compelling array of grotesque characters.  This volume introduces us to a society weighed down by tradition, hierarchy and ritual

   ‘This is Not a Novel’ – David Markson

Impossible to classify, this experimental work by the late David Markson has no plot, no characters and very little in the way of dramatic tension, yet is a gripping read.  Our guide, Writer, takes us through a series of entries in his notebook listing the ways that hundreds of other writers and well-known individuals met their death, interspersing the list with the odd literary aphorism.  Markson’s dark humour gradually prepares us for his devastating conclusion

Meanwhile, we were listening to:

   ‘Field of Reeds’ – These New Puritans

Yes, there’s been a lot of hype about this album.  But listen to tracks like Spiral and Dream and hopefully you’ll share our conclusion that this is a work of weighty, yet playful, substance

   ‘Myriad’ – Magda Mayas and Christine Abdelnour

German pianist Magda Mayas and French/Lebanese saxophonist Christine Abdelnour push the sonic possibilities of their instruments to the limit and create satisfyingly disturbing sound-scapes

   ‘Jehovahkill’ – Julian Cope

The Cope at his 1990s creative peak with a stripped-down sound, challenging lyrics, great melodies and a superb band of musician buddies. ‘Who’s to blame but the man like any man? Who’s to blame but the man who leads?’

    ‘Recall the Beginning … a Journey from Eden’ –                                                  Steve Miller Band

Enjoy Miller’s guitar, Gerald Johnson’s bass and some killer melodies in a recording completed on the full eclipse of the moon, January 29th 1972

And watching:

   ‘The Returned’ – Fabrice Gobert/Canal+ TV

From France, an ambitious Alpine Gothic drama.  Death, decay, deception, betrayal, regeneration, forgiveness and redemption: what’s not to like?  Add to that mix an intelligent script, an excellent cast and stunning soundtrack by Mogwai and you have the best thing on UK television at the moment

   ‘Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow’ – Sophie Fiennes

Sophie Fiennes’s film examines the work of German artist Anselm Kiefer.  Since 2000 Kiefer has been working at La Ribaute in the South of France, transforming an abandoned silk factory into monumental installations.  Fiennes’s film shows the artist’s process of creation and frames some startling images of his work

   ‘Bronco Bullfrog’ – Barney Platts-Mills

A forgotten gem from the 1960s; made on a miniscule budget with a mainly amateur cast, this recently re-released film was lauded at Cannes and received a Writers’ Guild award.  A pair of young lovers and a charismatic borstal runaway act out their drama on the streets of Stratford.  Almost everyone I know from East London claims to have some connection with the project!

   ‘Jesus of Montreal’ – Denys Arcand

Denys Arcand’s French Canadian film from 1989 looks at the life of Jesus through the eyes of a group of actors staging a passion play in Montreal.  As the film develops, the life of one actor, Daniel (Lothaire Bluteau), begins to take on uneasy parallels with the life of Christ