He opened Pandora’s keepsake box and recovering “voices from the past” swirling “gently” to become poetry. demons (Sloper) is the 13th book by Ben Clark (Ibiza, 1984) and contains 40 poems. The Loewe Poetry Prize will be presented at the 80 Mundos bookstore in Alicante, among others, on Thursday 23rd at 7:00 pm.
Why demons?
A visit to a series of voices from the past trying to somehow find their place in my present life. The poems were written in the last five or so years and roam the human landscapes of people who are no longer there; there is also a salute to adolescence, there are different voices, some of them from themselves and almost all of them were called in this voice. devil Hellenic.
Why should we save them now?
It was a somewhat ominous coincidence between the pandemic and a vital experience that later went through several friends and colleagues from the book world who died in recent years. The pandemic marks a reflection point, not because there is too much in the book, but about shortages. Also, because there is a moment when one leaves one’s youth, that is, he has the experience of losing friends.
And what are his demons?
In the end, the themes are constant, but a demon is undoubtedly the passage of time, which somehow forces you to think about your place in the world and the meaning of everything. There are also references to dead friends; another demon doubts his own work; There is a meta-poetic question, reflection on the writing itself. The themes do not change much, but there is a more introspective look. I have always thought that poetry goes well with youth because youth is arrogant, because there is a necessary arrogance in poetry and in youth that produce great works of very young poets. As time goes on, far from being more convinced, most of us have more doubt, more fear, and less belief that we have a voice worth sharing. Not in young poetry.
This is her 13th poetry collection, are they superstitious?
I have a few superstitions and hobbies but not 13 years old. There are streets where I walk the same way and in the same place… but I think it’s more of a compulsive disorder.
previous poems, And why don’t we do it on the ground?It came out in 2020. Do you think this was too long or short for the new book?
really and Why don’t we do it on the ground? it had unpublished content, but also my love poems had a comeback, so we almost came back. sky blue, which was from 18. The waiting time between one book and another is good for the book. But poets find it difficult to be patient. Now that I’m in the Isla Elefante edition, I see that waiting makes poets feel bad, and I understand that, but you should give the books some rest. And I’m the first one who didn’t.
This collection of poems is divided into five parts (Demons, None, Construction Works, Concussion And rites of living). What does this section answer?
All chapters of my books are about content, but in this case, Missingpertaining to losses or Construction workCloser to the story, the poems flirt with literary genres. A poem in the form of a story or a story in the form of a poem. Then the theme and the last part are about love poems and a loving experience from different perspectives.
Love is a constant theme in poetry.
Yes, it is true that there is a lot of room for love in poetry, but I think love exists in many forms in our lives and poetry always reflects it. Poetry is the most direct message and also more secret, like love.
The viral poem with the celebrity has long passed. The ultimate end of (bad) literatureand now write shakea documentary poem
Yes, a poem that is based on fact and content that is in some way the work of others: journalism, documentary, researcher and I am trying to present a poetic reading of that information. It is about the triple train accident that occurred near Torre del Bierzo in 1944 and was silenced by the dictatorship at the time. My contribution is to remain a memento from the poem. I collect the pieces, then there are poems and there are testimonies of people who experienced that tragedy and gathered in different documentaries. With all this, I have a poetic rework. It’s not that complicated because most of the time the poems are hidden there.
“The waiting time between one book and the next is fine, but poets have a hard time being patient.”
His #Coronaversos initiative was a poetry window that opened international doors to Spanish poetry during quarantine.
I wasn’t expecting the reaction he would get. Yes, I started with the idea of trying to build a small community through that hashtag, but it was something that worked immediately and channeled a lot of the uncertainty we were all feeling at the time.
You have now written poems about Goope Maps or ChatGPT. His poetry and new technologies seem to make a good pair.
Nets are a very interesting field for poetry, it’s also true that we already have a lot of texts written in this format and they don’t have the same quality requirement as a book text. I believe the book is the ideal space for poetry and the social network is somehow a place of announcement so people know that this poet or this text exists. But the place for fun is in the book. The good thing about poems is that they are in constant dialogue with the world around them. It doesn’t make sense to think that a poem should be outside the world of technology because poetry is constantly analyzing the world we live in. A poem might also reflect how to find an old house on Google Maps.
Overcoming Barriers
Do you get the feeling that you have somehow overcome obstacles to normalize poetry, in the sense that it takes away the fear many people feel when confronted with verse?
Well, I dare not say that I have overcome any obstacles, but I always try to make poetry feel like something closer and more connected to the lives of all of us. The thing that scares me most about poetry is that it feels like it’s far away. The words I hate the most are “I don’t understand poetry” or “Poetry is too heavy for me”. I believe we should all have a close experience with poetry, whether with a book or another artistic experience. The message given in the institutes is very important for students to know that poets and poets live, that they are people who are not different from them. That’s why when I go to high school, what I like most is that they see me.
The funny thing is that we start writing poetry when we are young, but then it is not the most read poetry.
After all, a poem is nothing more than a record of an emotion, so they are short and mysterious. But we get into the bad habit of censoring the desire to record, document that emotion, suppress it and forget to write poetry. I think everyone should write poetry because it’s a way to understand ourselves a little bit better. Publishing and committing to it are different, but essential as a vital experience.
“Everyone should write poetry because it’s a way to understand ourselves a little bit better”
He had previously mentioned Isla Elefante, a publishing company specializing in contemporary poetry. Was he brave or did he live up to expectations?
Well, I don’t think you’re very brave. The more daring is the person who makes any venture where his savings and home are at stake. This is a small bet on something I love, young poetry. What excites me most is that it becomes a space where young people feel they have the option to publish their work. And I’m very happy with the four issues that came out, and there’s an ambitious calendar full of interesting sounds. There are young people and people who have published or own their first book, but the most important thing is to be able to accompany a very exciting process, namely to publish a book and experience it from within, not as a writer, not as a writer. a person who tries to present these sounds to the readers.
Is it a good time for poetry?
It’s a great moment for poetry in Spain because we have a lot of publishers who are a very good fit and we have a healthy book world that remains strong despite all the crises and we should be proud of that.