Well here it is, 30th June and tomorrow evening is when I get to read some of my meagre versions of Horace to the esteemed members of the Horatian Society. I look forward to this event with both trepidation and a sense of excitement. Part of me is asking myself ‘how dare I, a non-classicist, offer my versions to such experts’ and yet I try to calm myself by remembering that I was asked and surely before they asked me they must have had some idea of how I treat Horace.

I’m here in London, at what surely must be the hottest time of the year so far - and me a cool-climate fan! Pouring myself into my little black number ready for Horace tomorrow evening will be no mean achievement in these temperatures, but as ever we artists must suffer for our art.

I have kept out of the heat today, let’s hope that my presentation tomorrow night results in guests being hot-under-the-collar for positive and right reasons rather than feeling that I have abused Horace. Actually what I love about Horace is his wit and wisdom, his unique and knowing observations of human interaction. In versioning Horace I look for congruence - congruence between Horace’s worlds and my own. I will be thrilled if the company of Horatians present tomorrow evening is able to recognise that…. more to follow after tomorrow night!

The conference, hosted by University of Glasgow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel went without a hitch. I had a view from my bedroom window right up the Clyde which was magnificent. There are some beautiful buildings in Glasgow not least of which are the City Chambers where the conference delegates were kindly invited for a reception by the Lord Provost. The Jesuit Church of St. Aloysius is another absolutely wonderful building.

Now it might sound from all of this that I was on holiday. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I was privileged to be on a panel,’Social Function in Horace’, with Professor Stephen Harrison from Oxford and Professor John Moles from Newcastle and I delivered a paper called, ‘The Usefulness of Horace (other poets and me!)’ Speaking of which if anyone reading this blog was at my panel and didn’t manage to get one of my handouts, then feel free to email me and I’ll make sure you get one.

This venue is the first I’ve read at where I’ve actually had a copy of my collection ‘Chasing the Ivy’, although I have read work-in-progress at several venues in the last couple of years - nice to have the book itself at long last and thank you to all those people who bought a copy.

The conference was striking in that there was a high percentage of young people presenting papers as well as worthy academics. This made for a very interesting mix and made the conference feel very vibrant. I am always surprised at the breadth and width of knowledge held by many young people - they are impressive!

As always with such events discussions went on until late into the night and there was wine (Horace would certainly have approved!)and I was introduced to a delicious whiskey I’d not tasted before, Laphroaig - it is peaty and best taken with just a hint of water to bring out its full flavour and smoothness. Something else to remember for my Christmas list I think.

Here are some photographs I took during the conference. There are none of me actually working - but I did work - honestly!
(I have blocked out or chopped friends from my photos because I don’t think I should assume everyone wants their face on my blog!)

I’ve just picked up my allocation of my latest poetry collection, ‘Chasing the Ivy’. There’s nothing quite like having the books right there in front of you. Thanks to the editor of Biscuit Publishing, Brian Lister and to everyone involved in the production of the book.

If you’re a classical scholar reading this, particularly if you’re an Horatian scholar, you may be interested in these ‘versions’. If you’re involved in the contemporary poetry scene, you may also be interested. Here’s a little taster from the book:

Ode to Young Poets
(after Horace Ode 1:21 Dianam tenerae)

Girls, don’t be scared to fantasise, sex sells,
you boys as well, erotica is hot.
Use basic instinct: that’s what hits the spot.

Young women watch Madonna light the stage.
She revels in her form, gets in your head
to stir things up that otherwise were dead.

Lads, why not take the pop stars as your models?
Their stubbled sex appeal is ripe for books.
Arouse with rhyme what Robbie does with looks.

Those two could break your block, stuff empty words
with promise, give your editors a ball
and drive the weakling-writers to the wall.

My next collection, ‘Chasing the Ivy’, which is a recontextualisation of ‘Horace: Odes Book 1′ is forthcoming from Biscuit Publishing at the end of June.

If anyone is interested in buying a copy it will be available from Biscuit Publishing Ltd. P.O Box 123, Washington, Tyne & Wear, NE37 2YW or by contacting info@biscuitpublishing.com or through their website which is www.biscuitpublishing.com It will also be available through Amazon.

I will be reading from the collection and giving an address for The Horatian Society in London on 1st July.

For any interested Horatian scholars; once the book is published I will put some poems from the collection up on this website.

On Wednesday, 24th December, Pepe will have been dead three months. Not a day has gone by in that time when I haven’t thought about him. We got him on Christmas Eve 1993, and when I found his Christmas stocking among the decorations a couple of weeks ago we decided to hang it, as usual, on the corner of the mantelpiece. We will all think about him on Christmas Day, especially since this will be the first Christmas without him for a very long time. Marie and James had a lovely photograph of him curled up asleep enlarged and framed for our wedding anniversary and this also now has pride of place above the mantelpiece.

How one little mongrel dog brought a whole family so much happiness is almost beyond belief - but he did and we celebrate his life.

My presentation and reading for the Classics Undergraduates at the University of Durham went well I think last Thursday. It was nice for me to re-visit my own poems and have to think again about what drove them initially.

The students were, lively and asked lots of interesting questions which I always find very helpful because it makes me examine my motives for writing as well as keeping me on my toes. Talking of which, in a very real sense I did not keep on my toes on Thursday - well I did whilst I was with the students, but on the way to the loo, back in the Department after lunch, I didn’t see a step in the corridor and ended up flat on the floor. I’m still hurting, though actually the shock and embarrassment were as bad as the bruises; I was just glad that nobody came along the corridor as I was gathering myself together and getting myself back onto my feet - so yes, I truly did fall for Ovid on Thursday! Would that I could have metamorphosed into water and trickled gently over the unseen step instead of falling down it with a crash.

I’m keeping a long-standing engagement for the Department of Classics at Durham University on 11 December. I have been asked to give my views and my approach on translation which is really ironic since I don’t have a second language. Actually, I’ve come to realise in recent years, particularly since becoming involved with the recontextualisation of ancient texts, that although I have to work from already exisiting translations, my versions are, nevertheless, translations - or at least interpretations. In a sense all translation is interpretation it cannot be anything else.

What has been doubly interesting in preparing for this talk/presentation to the classics undergraduates, is that I have had to re-engage with my own earlier poems from ‘Oyster Baby’, particularly those for which Ovid’s Metamorphoses was the inspiration.

Below I have added a poem from ‘Oyster Baby’, “Eurydice The Second” about which Professor Stephen Harrison in his paper ‘Bimillenary Ovid: Some Recent Versions of the Metamorphoses’ (see http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sjh/documents/OVmilfin.doc) says, “The combination of wry humour and pathos is very effective: quite apart from the transposition of the Underworld to the Underground, Eurydice is ’swept off her feet’ by the crowd and not by her husband, who though he is a ‘charmer’ (a witty allusion to his famous beast-charming activities) will make her die slowly in a bad marriage rather than in the swift demise of the myth.” Carol Ann Duffy also did a fascinating version of this myth in her collection, ‘The World’s Wife’ and Seamus Heaney’s version appears in the ‘After Ovid’ anthology. Each new interpretation of a text hopefully adds an extra dimension to the original, offering new ways of understanding.

In the meantime here is a photograph of the front cover of ‘Oyster Baby’ which was published by Biscuit Publishing in 2002 in case anyone wants to order a copy! www.biscuitpublishing.com

Eurydice the Second

He lost her on the Piccadilly Line,
an easy mistake, but careless,
given they were still on honeymoon.

Swept off her feet in the rush,
she turned to see him bent double,
hands on his godly hips – laughing.

And his cold-echo laugh dragged her back,
bounced off the platform like tears,
until she saw the funny side.

After that she kept in step with him,
walked in his shadow
as the tube snaked off into blackness.
For he was a charmer,
and hers was a slow, slow dying.

At last I have been able to complete your poem Pepé. Sometimes I still cry, but you were such an inspiration, so full of fun. This poem is a celebration of your character - of your life.

Sonnet for Pepé

When I was reduced to tears by your sentence
I wondered whether time meant anything to you;
if you understood years, months, weeks or if a few
days would be as good as a lifetime. Your sense

of things permitted no blackness, no silence
no change of routine, no wallowing. You grew,
as you always did, into each fresh hour. Too
busy chasing leaves, paper, sticks, to be tense

about tomorrow. You let nothing go:
You didn’t waste a moment: for a moment
could be months or years for all we know.
You wouldn’t let me be sad; you were content
and taught me the same trick - status quo.
So this is celebration darling, not lament.

Reading to the Department of Classics Research Seminar group and The Classical Association of Scotland, Glasgow & West Centre on 28th October, 2008 was a real pleasure. It was a very rewarding experience to have my versions of Horace so enthusiastically well received and to have yet another opportunity to test my work-in-progress. I enjoyed the questions from the floor. I find these always make me reconsider what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

The suggestion that perhaps I was doing with Horace what Logue has done with Homer was praise indeed!

Once again we finished the evening by retiring to a rather nice Italian restaurant for a meal and wine, (not quite Falernian), but absolutely the only way to celebrate Horace.

My thanks go to Luke and Costas for inviting me, to Susan and to Alan for his wonderful introduction and to everyone who came to the reading and received my work so warmly.

Maybe some time in the future I will be able to finish the sonnet I started a while ago in your honour Pepé, but right now, it’s just too soon.

Thank’s Peps, for all the joy and fun and love you brought into our lives.

Again, with gratitude to Mary’s friend, Laura, who not only gave me her disposable camera, but took this photograph of Mary (she’s the attractive, blond one!) and myself.

The Wallace Memorial towers above Stirling. These pictures were taken from the grounds of the University.