
Skate
The Wonderful World of Ice Skating in Prose, Poetry and Pictures
Meredith Collins(Editor)
Pighog Press
Published on 22. November 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-1-906309-79-4 (ISBN)
Description
A fascinating collection of poetry, history and images dedicated to the art of ice skating. With an introduction by Jayne Torvill from Britain's most famous skating duo, Torvill and Dean, it's an ideal Christmas gift not just for novice skaters and more experienced dancers on ice but for anyone who loves elegant design and intriguing information. Skate contains articles written by curators at the Museum of London with iconic paintings and charming photographs depicting the history of this joyous pastime. From medieval ice skates made of bone to the Frost Fairs on the Thames in London, this enchanting miscellany explores the art and history of skating. It also highlights the remarkable contribution British skaters have made over the years and the impact they've had on the style of figure skating we recognise today as a graceful Olympic sport. 'Poetry on ice' by historically renowned poets such as Addison, Blunden, Goethe and Wordsworth features alongside work by contemporary poets, to create a fascinating reading experience.
Whether you've never gone near the treacherous surface of the rink or you can do a Mohawk turn with the best of them, you will treasure this stylish and beautifully presented anthology.
Whether you've never gone near the treacherous surface of the rink or you can do a Mohawk turn with the best of them, you will treasure this stylish and beautifully presented anthology.
Reviews / Votes
Reviewed by Jon Stone, Dr Fulminare @ Sidekick Books "Gift poetry volumes are a much-maligned medium, although they sell considerably better than most poetry books. This is not only because they tend to be published by more commercially-focused imprints, but also because their target audience is that vast contingent of readers who like the 'idea' of poetry but have never really read much or felt drawn to explore its full breadth. Having a notion of its cultural importance and its soothing powers but wary of trickery, they feel more secure with famous names like Keats and Shelley - state-sanctioned poetry, 'proper' poetry that rhymes - or the assurance that the poems will tackle traditional fare: love and nature, nature and love. These books are designed to live on the coffee table or the bookshelf, to be occasionally picked up for recourse to a particular Shakespearean sonnet or humorous limerick. They generally do their best to deter their readers from thinking poetry might be dangerous or subversive. But what do we have here? Pighog, a small press and serious publisher of contemporary work, have attempted to revitalise the gift book genre with this pair of winter-themed paperbacks, originally published in the run-up to Christmas but hardly past their sell-by date, given the recent weather. Both volumes mix classic poems (Blake, Dickinson, Wordsworth et al) with sharp contemporary work by a range of poets who are thankfully not Carol Ann Duffy. You can tell from the titles exactly what the predominant motif of each collection is going to be, but the selection and arrangement in each case is judicious, lending just enough variety of tone and voice. That's not to say that any of the poems are particularly outlandish or shocking. Pighog have opted to play it safe with pieces that are fairly mainstream in character, dominated by description and narrative. John McCullough's account of homoerotic desire in 'The Other Side of Winter' is the most transgressive either collection gets. Not for the questing connoisseur then, but why should every book be? In hunting for a different audience, Pighog are facing up to the challenge confronting all small presses and many larger presses, and doing so with panache. If I have one criticism, it's that Skate is by far the better book, presentation-wise. It begins with a short history of ice-skating and a pair of essays, printed on thick gloss with full colour illustrations and a period painting reproduced across a full-page spread. The print quality is excellent throughout, and the poems in the second part of the book are typeset on a rich blue paper. Celebrity skater Jayne Torvill seems to have tossed out a by-the-numbers introduction which doesn't even acknowledge the poetry part of the project, but that's the only low point. By comparison, Ice is a straight-up plunge into the poems with no peripherals. A clear choice, then, if you only have the one tenner to spend, but for an original gift for a friend or relative who perhaps might be persuaded to spend some more time with contemporary poetry if only there were a gateway drug, both volumes do the job adequately. Get them now and save them up until next Christmas, if necessary."More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Brighton
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pighog
Illustrations
Beautifully designed with full colour and black & white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
200 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-906309-79-4 (9781906309794)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Pauline Suett Barbieri is a Liverpool Poet shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize by Sir Andrew Motion and twice for the Exeter Poetry Prize, by Jo Shapcott and Lawrence Sail respectively. An ancestor Richard 'Dicky' Suett (1755-1805) was George III's favourite Shakespearean clown and a star at Drury Lane for 25 years. Two collections out from Waterloo Press, Hove - The Shirley Valentine Syndrome (2002) and Bringing Home the Bacon (2012). The second inspired by the life and work of Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Brendan Cleary is very widely published over the last 25 years. His most recent collection is 'Goin' Down Slow' Selected Poems (Tall Lighthouse, 2010). Meredith Collins is an Assistant Editor at Pighog Press and is currently studying for a Masters in Creative and Critical writing at the University of Sussex. She has been published in a number of poetry anthologies and literary journals in the US and UK. Tracy Davidson lives near Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, and enjoys writing poetry and flash fiction. Her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies including: Mslexia, Roundyhouse, The Right-Eyed Deer, Atlas Poetica, Modern Haiku, Simply Haiku, A Hundred Gourds and Notes from the Gean. Apart from writing, Tracy enjoys reading thrillers and crime novels, photography, travel and walking the dog. John Davies is a poet and writer based in Brighton, England, better known as Shedman www.shedman.net His pamphlet Nutter in the Shrubbery (2002) and his full collection Shedman (2007) were both published by Pighog. Anna Kisby's poems have been placed in competitions and published in magazines including Magma, Mslexia, The Interpreter's House, The Moth, Poetry News, 3AM and the Live Canon 2012 anthology. She was winner of the New Writer single poem prize 2011. She lives in Brighton and works as an archivist. John Liddy was born in Youghal, Co Cork (1954), grew up in Limerick, took a degree in the University of Wales, works as a teacher in Madrid. His poetry books include Boundaries (1974); The Angling Cot (1991); Song of the Empty Cage(1997); Wine and Hope (1999); Cast-A-Net (2003); The Well: New and Selected Poems (2007); Gleanings from the Margins (2010). A new collection, Some Light Reading, due soon from Lapwing Publications, Belfast, Ireland. He is the founding editor along with Jim Burke of The Stony Thursday Book, one of Ireland's longest running literary reviews along with Cyphers and organizes The Well/El Manantial, a weekend festival of poetry in Madrid with Matthew Loughney of The James Joyce Pub and The Embassy of Ireland. John McCullough's first collection of poems The Frost Fairs (Salt, 2011) was a summer read in The Observer and was named a Book of the Year by The Independent and The Poetry School. The Guardian described it as 'sharp yet compassionate, formal yet nimble'. He teaches creative writing at Sussex University and the Open University and lives in Hove. Susan Richardson is a poet, performer and educator based in Wales. Her most recent poetry collection, Where the Air is Rarefied (Cinnamon Press, 2011), is a collaboration with a printmaker on a range of environmental and mythological themes relating to the Far North. Susan regularly performs her work at festivals and other events throughout the UK and has been one of the resident poets of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live. She has also been poet-in-residence for BBC 2's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show and was recently invited to become a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers. For further information, please see www.susanrichardsonwriter.co.uk
Content
Introduction by Jayne Torvill A Brief History of Ice Skating The Coldest Winter on Record Ice skating: the bare bones No Torvill and Dean, Tracy Davidson An Elfin Skate, Eugene Lee-Hamilton Skating, William Wordsworth Scating: A Poem, Joseph Addison T.S. Eliot Goes Dancing on Ice with Ruth Belville, Pauline Suett Barbieri The Midnight Skaters, Edmund Blunden Skating, Robert Snow The Skaiter's March, C. Dibdin Tolstoy on Ice, Anna Kisby Verses Ynne Praise of Scating, Edgar Wood Syers Crescendo, Curtis Tappenden Love on Ice, Brendan Cleary Loughmore, John Liddy The Other Side of Winter, John McCullough Perfect Six, Susan Richardson From 'Winter': A Poem, James Thomson Acknowledgements Profiles