Harry Man in conversation with Koketso Marishane
1. Why do you do what you do and what drew you into it?
I try to channel what is essentially a kind of condition – to be a writer. If I wanted to quit I couldn't, my brain sings in the dark regardless.
2. How has you work impacted your world?
I work in a little office overlooking a carwash in downtown Middlesbrough. Sometimes I think about my pension and what might have happened to it. When I was very young I wanted to be this wild inventor and to a certain extent that wish came true. I have had some extraordinary experiences through poetry — to visit countries like Macedonia, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany and to be able to meet other writers, artists and poets and to be called a poet, to see your poetry in print – that’s a particularly special kind of privilege… to teach other people whether it’s a group of kids with their jackets over their heads outside in the rain because of the unpredictable British summer, or students in a seminar environment, that’s also so special and those memories stay with you. There’s also the acts of creation, holding ice in your hand and shaping it into a poem in physical space, and nestling each piece gingerly into the grass on a mid-May morning is fairly unique, and not something that I thought that I would ever get the chance to do. Bob Dylan said that he sometimes feels as though he is at the centre of his very own Edgar Allan Poe story – to be as alienated and delightedly alone as Alice in Wonderland was I think the phrase from John Fowles’ The Magus, and I think that about sums it up too.
3. What are your artistic influences and what relationship do you have with them?
I am due to marry my main artistic influence, Jennifer Essex in July. I like to research, read and work largely according to commission rather than write extemporaneously, although that does happen. I usually have a backlog of reading, and right now, today, on my desk in amongst the sellotape, coffee and cables, I just so happen to have Carol Ann Duffy, bpNichol, Ella Chappell, Alice Oswald, May Lan Tan, SJ Fowler, Pessoa and Malika Booker and Tom Raworth who has very sadly passed away. It varies from poem to poem, and I read deliberately very broadly and against my tastes as much as with them, but you can see some of my influences in my selections for The Enchanting Verses Literary Review. I don’t know if these ‘influences’ gives you much of an accurate picture of my writing. So much of what I do is research and technology-led, and somewhat swayed by science fiction too, that my poems tend to grow out of that more so than individual poets.
4. Briefly explain what you do in 100 words, 50 words and lastly, in 1 sentence
Read. Write. Edit. Sleep. Usually in that order, but sometimes I like to mix things up. Long distance travel is in there too, both within the country and beyond. Half of my work is about 200 miles away from where I live, so I travel over night to get there. During a typical day, I will be working on teaching materials, applications and grants – I also code quite a lot for things like my latest project, Finders Keepers as well as helping out other poets and writers. Usually I’m fighting through to the end of the day so that I get to write before I’m too exhausted to stay awake. Conserving your energy is as important as conserving your time.
5. Considering your busy program, what international art destination do you most want to visit before your time expires and why?
Wurdi Youang in Australia. It’s very possibly the oldest astronomical observatory in the world and is widely considered to be 11,000 years old. That would be extremely special. There is also a tenth-century Jain temple in Khajuraho, India that I would like to visit too. I have deep-seated interest in archaeology and sites of anthropological interest; to get to within touching distance of the converging origins of language, mathematics and art.
6. Who are your 5 best artists, dead or alive?
Any list I write, like those that influence me, is going to be far from comprehensive, and tomorrow when I go for a walk in the park, I’ll pass the tulips and Brian Clough’s statue and kick myself, but here goes: Richard Long, Clare Morgan, Laurie Anderson, Piero Manzoni and Cornelia Parker. That’s also to omit a vast swathe of artists that I admire from all over the world and artists that are local here to Teesside, in the North East. I recently came across Katie Paterson’s work and she’s someone I would love to meet and potentially work with at some point. Right now I’m collaborating with the artist Chloe Spicer for the Enemies Project – a programme of international poets in collaboration.
7. What message would you send to our followers, your followers and the reading community at large?
Love.
I try to channel what is essentially a kind of condition – to be a writer. If I wanted to quit I couldn't, my brain sings in the dark regardless.
2. How has you work impacted your world?
I work in a little office overlooking a carwash in downtown Middlesbrough. Sometimes I think about my pension and what might have happened to it. When I was very young I wanted to be this wild inventor and to a certain extent that wish came true. I have had some extraordinary experiences through poetry — to visit countries like Macedonia, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany and to be able to meet other writers, artists and poets and to be called a poet, to see your poetry in print – that’s a particularly special kind of privilege… to teach other people whether it’s a group of kids with their jackets over their heads outside in the rain because of the unpredictable British summer, or students in a seminar environment, that’s also so special and those memories stay with you. There’s also the acts of creation, holding ice in your hand and shaping it into a poem in physical space, and nestling each piece gingerly into the grass on a mid-May morning is fairly unique, and not something that I thought that I would ever get the chance to do. Bob Dylan said that he sometimes feels as though he is at the centre of his very own Edgar Allan Poe story – to be as alienated and delightedly alone as Alice in Wonderland was I think the phrase from John Fowles’ The Magus, and I think that about sums it up too.
3. What are your artistic influences and what relationship do you have with them?
I am due to marry my main artistic influence, Jennifer Essex in July. I like to research, read and work largely according to commission rather than write extemporaneously, although that does happen. I usually have a backlog of reading, and right now, today, on my desk in amongst the sellotape, coffee and cables, I just so happen to have Carol Ann Duffy, bpNichol, Ella Chappell, Alice Oswald, May Lan Tan, SJ Fowler, Pessoa and Malika Booker and Tom Raworth who has very sadly passed away. It varies from poem to poem, and I read deliberately very broadly and against my tastes as much as with them, but you can see some of my influences in my selections for The Enchanting Verses Literary Review. I don’t know if these ‘influences’ gives you much of an accurate picture of my writing. So much of what I do is research and technology-led, and somewhat swayed by science fiction too, that my poems tend to grow out of that more so than individual poets.
4. Briefly explain what you do in 100 words, 50 words and lastly, in 1 sentence
Read. Write. Edit. Sleep. Usually in that order, but sometimes I like to mix things up. Long distance travel is in there too, both within the country and beyond. Half of my work is about 200 miles away from where I live, so I travel over night to get there. During a typical day, I will be working on teaching materials, applications and grants – I also code quite a lot for things like my latest project, Finders Keepers as well as helping out other poets and writers. Usually I’m fighting through to the end of the day so that I get to write before I’m too exhausted to stay awake. Conserving your energy is as important as conserving your time.
5. Considering your busy program, what international art destination do you most want to visit before your time expires and why?
Wurdi Youang in Australia. It’s very possibly the oldest astronomical observatory in the world and is widely considered to be 11,000 years old. That would be extremely special. There is also a tenth-century Jain temple in Khajuraho, India that I would like to visit too. I have deep-seated interest in archaeology and sites of anthropological interest; to get to within touching distance of the converging origins of language, mathematics and art.
6. Who are your 5 best artists, dead or alive?
Any list I write, like those that influence me, is going to be far from comprehensive, and tomorrow when I go for a walk in the park, I’ll pass the tulips and Brian Clough’s statue and kick myself, but here goes: Richard Long, Clare Morgan, Laurie Anderson, Piero Manzoni and Cornelia Parker. That’s also to omit a vast swathe of artists that I admire from all over the world and artists that are local here to Teesside, in the North East. I recently came across Katie Paterson’s work and she’s someone I would love to meet and potentially work with at some point. Right now I’m collaborating with the artist Chloe Spicer for the Enemies Project – a programme of international poets in collaboration.
7. What message would you send to our followers, your followers and the reading community at large?
Love.
