I like to get the first diagram poem of a series finished early on in the process, even before the rest of the words have been collected, sorted and collated.
This collection of diagram poems will be exhibited as an edition of hand bound books in POST artists’ exhibition “Parable Shift” at a church in Whitstable as part of the Whitstable Biennale Satellite Program. As POST artists’ remit is to make art that responds to place, this collection of diagram poems responds to the life of St Alphege to whom the venue is dedicated. This 10th century saint’s life is characterised by generosity, grace, justice, courage and ends in imprisonment and murder. This being the point of departure, I have started the series with a simple Anchorite poem in the form of a piechart.
Completing the first piece helps me to get a taste for the mood of the collection and begins to suggest a trajectory for the rest of the work to grow around.
