Midamble is a walking book, not a book of guided walks, and not a book that discusses techniques or training for walking, but a walking book nonetheless.
After Billy Mills’ review (see below) another thorough review, with many more angles covered.
Read more here – http://stridemagazine.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-walking-book.html
Peter Jaeger’s Midamble is a big book in every sense, although constructed from small units, a mosaic of phrases and sentences, each one functioning like the famous first step in the journey of thousand Li
Read more here – https://ellipticalmovements.wordpress.com/2019/02/14/midamble-by-peter-jaeger-a-review/
On June 2nd 2018 make sure you make it down to Guildford, just outside London, for this year’s Surrey University Poetry Festival curated by if p then q editor James Davies.
The event features rare readings by major American poets Tina Darragh and P. Inman, whose collected works was published by if p then q in 2014.
The festival will also inlcude Peter Jaeger performing a durational reading of his recent if p then q publication Midamble, as well as readings by other poets published by if p then q – Tom Jenks, Scott Thurston, Emma Cocker & Philp Terry.
The amazing line-up doesn’t end there. Performances will also take place from Clémentine Bedos & Sharon Kivland, Emma Bennett, Rebecca Cremin, Amy Cutler, Rob Holloway, Lila Matsumoto and students from the University of Surrey.
If you’re not familiar with any of these fine folks set yourself up for a treat. Brief descriptions and links to websites below:
Clémentine Bedos is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent shows include a solo exhibition at the Constance Howard Gallery, London ‘Contagious Hystories’. Currently exploring themes of identity, binaries and the Other. https://www.clementinebedos.com/
Emma Bennett’s recent performances include durational piano pieces, an exploration of pining for soft things, and interpreting the words of birdsong. https://emmabennettperformance.wordpress.com/
Emma Cocker is a writer-artist whose work explores the slippage between writing on page, to performance in time, between still and moving image, between individual and collective action. http://not-yet-there.blogspot.co.uk/
Rebecca Cremin draws on traditions of live art, Fluxus, performance writing and site-specific work using language as an object to expose, to investigate, to locate. http://www.veerbooks.com/Rebecca-Cremin-LAY-D
Amy Cutler is a multi-disciplinary practitioner with a special interest in geohumanities – the engagement between geography and arts/humanities. https://amycutler.net/
Tina Darragh is one of the original members of the Language group of poets. Her work explores class, race and ecology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Darragh
Rob Holloway is currently exploring sonnets and prose poems, and has been a DJ on Resonance FM. https://vimeo.com/9383523
P. Inman is associated with language and minimalist poetry. His work has been described as ‘thick with meanings that never quite complete themselves; full of social ironies and a sly and biting humor’ http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/inman/
Peter Jaeger will perform a durational version of his latest book Midamble, on the lawn at G Live. The book concerns his recently completed walk on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG1EUZusDTY
Sharon Kivland is an artist who has recently been called a poet, five times, to her surprise. Her work considers what is put at stake by art, politics, and psychoanalysis. http://www.sharonkivland.com/
Lila Matsumoto’s poetry explores dailyness through allegory and literalness. http://www.shearsman.com/browse-poetry-books-by-author-Lila-Matsumoto
Tom Jenks is often verbivocovisual and always hilarious. https://www.zshboo.org/
Philip Terry uses Oulipian methods and translation to examine the crimes of bureaucracy and management. http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781847772206
Scott Thurston’s current work responds to ongoing encounters with various dance and movement practices including Five Rhythms, Movement Medicine and Open Floor work. http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Thurston.php
Students from The University of Surrey have been exploring a range of poetic strategies during the workshop series Making Things Happen including the use of diaries, minimalism, Oulipo and collaboration.
Tickets go on sale April 4th – available from G-Live.
Running order TBC
An evening soiree takes place at 6.30, with the Poetry Festival joining The New Writer’s Festival (also taking place at G Live) and features a variety of readers including Tom Jenks.
You can hear Peter talk about some of the processes and motivation behind his stunning new book Midamble at PENN sound here – https://ifpthenq.co.uk/books/jaeger-peter-midamble/
The book has recently been published and is vital reading.
Peter Jaeger’s stunning new book, Midamble, is out today priced at the snip of £12. If, by the end of April 23rd, when purchasing, you use the code SHIPIT2018 you’ll also receive free shipping. Just follow the link ‘BUY NOW’ at the end of this post.
Below is a photo and description of the book, as well as a sample extract.
Published April 2018
420 pp
£12.00
ISBN: 978-1999954703
About the book
Midamble is a long poem that concerns Peter Jaeger’s interest in walking practice; in particular his travels on a variety of pilgrimage routes. A prose poem, it comprises two bands of text: the top level is a list of walking experiences whilst the bottom re-appropriates materials from comparative religion texts. Midamble is a poem that is clearer than crystal, and possesses a musical quality that is comparable to seminal and contemporary minimalist music.
The poem also has a life in durational performance. When read live Midamble demonstrates its consistency as well as its diversity. In such performances listeners are invited into a collective experience in which they can engage with ideas for as little as a moment or as long as several hours. Indeed, perhaps its most enduring feature is its quality of having no fixed entry or exit point.
About the author
Peter Jaeger is a Canadian poet, literary critic and text-based artist now living in the UK. His recent publications include John Cage and Buddhist Ecopoetics (Bloomsbury 2013) and 5404 (University of London Veer Press 2014). He has also published A Field Guide to Lost Things with if p then q. Jaeger is Professor of Poetics at Roehampton University in London.
Sample
Midamble SAMPLE
Will post about this again nearer the time with reader bios but make sure you don’t miss out on six stunning if p then q poets celebrating the run of the press, and fix this date firm. For a little post about those ten years click HERE
A video of Peter Jaeger performing some of his epic Midamble which will be coming out in early 2018 from if p then q.
