Queer hosts Niamh and Maia talk writing practices, and being inspired by unrequited love and toothpaste tubes. Joined by poet Connor Byrne.

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Please note this episode contains explicit language and sexual references. 

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Host bios:

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Niamh Haran (they/them) is a queer non-binary poet/writer from North London. They are a Roundhouse Poetry Collective alumnus with poems in Bath Magg, Perverse, The Interpreter’s House, The Babel Tower Notice Board and Ink Sweat & Tears among others. They are currently doing an English BA at King’s College London. Twitter: @niamhjerrie Instagram: @niamh.haran

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Maia Yolanda Wagener (she/they) is a Dutch/Indian writer and student living in London. An English major, Maia enjoys writing poetry and plays, and hopes to combine academia and playwriting. Twitter: @maiaywagener Instagram: @m.wagener.s

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Guest bio:

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Connor Byrne is a poet from Brighton, living in London. They write a lot about being queer and trans, and their relationship to others and the world around them. They are a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective 2019-21. Twitter: @conrbyrne

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Produced by Arden Fitzroy (they/them) @ArdenFitzroy

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The RISE Collective 

Website: www.therisecollective.org.uk

Twitter: @RiseAmplify 

Instagram: @therisecollectiveuk

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Music: Pembroke

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Links and references:

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Connor Byrne, ‘I am once again going to the big Sainsbury’s just to feel something’ https://www.roundhouse.org.uk/blog/2021/03/we-have-never-seen-something-like-this-poetry-by-the-roundhouse-poetry-collective/

Maia Wagener, ‘Clavicle Hammock’ https://stoneofmadnesspress.com/maia-wagener

Niamh Haran, ‘calcium surplus’ https://www.roundhouse.org.uk/blog/2021/03/we-have-never-seen-something-like-this-poetry-by-the-roundhouse-poetry-collective/

We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, ed. by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel

Gertrude Stein, ‘Susie Asado’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46476/susie-asado

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Transcript:

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Arden: Everybody welcome! You’re listening to the AMPLIFY podcast, brought to you by The RISE Collective. We champion creatives and build collectives at the forefront of social change. I’m Arden Fitzroy, Lead Producer, and this is Queer Joy, the second series of AMPLIFY. This series was created by the next generation of creative leaders and changemakers. These are our own stories, on our own terms.

Niamh: Hello everybody and welcome to Amplify's second episode of the Niamh and Maia show where we Niamh... 

Maia: and Maia...

Niamh: Will be talking about queer stuff.

Maia: We will this episode be talking about some queer poetry, talking about our own influences and processes of writing, as well as interviewing the very, very talented queer poet Connor Byrne. But for now, Niamh, how are you?

Niamh: I’m good. We've just been hanging out with our gay neighbours in the garden.

Maia: Oh we have.

Niamh: And we've got a kitten everybody!

Maia: We do. Jerry.

Niamh: Which we didn't have last episode, when we were recording so yeah Jerry is a little kitten. She is a little monster.

Maia: Before we get on to talking about some poetry. Anyone who's at home, grab yourself a nice coffee, a nice tea a glass of water hydrate yourself.

Niamh: Hydrate yourself!

Maia: If you're on the tube, have a look around you take a moment to observe, look at who's next to you don't look too hard, you know, don't want to offend anyone. But we will be back with you shortly. 

Maia: Welcome back everyone, hopefully you have a nice coffee or tea in hand, we're now going to be talking about some poetry that we've read recently, or that has resurfaced for us. Is there anything that's caught your eye lately, Niamh?

Niamh: Well I recently bought this anthology, which is called, we want it all, an anthology of radical trans poetics and it's edited by Kay Gabriel and Andrea Abi-Karam. I haven't actually dug into it as much as I would have liked to yet but it's because it's quite thick and I'm just waiting until coursework's over I can start reading for pleasure again without the threat of deadlines but it looks really really good, and I've had a lot of people speak about it in a really good way, and it seems quite kind of experimental. So really looking forward to that. I recently read Frannie Choi's collection soft science which is a really really great collection, particularly there was this poem in there called on the election night, which is basically the speaker masturbating on election night, it's just a really great poem. And I also have re read, Sean Hewitt's tongues of fire which is his first collection, he's a queer Irish poet, and that is an amazing collection. It really is really really good and it's just very relaxing for me to read, and I'd love to be able to write like that, you know, especially about nature and I don't even really think of him as a nature poet, but obviously a lot of what he talks about is in the natural world, but yeah. Very interesting. What about you?

Maia: Yeah, I've read a few things for one of my classes actually that I've really enjoyed reading, particularly a poem by Gertrude Stein called Susie Asado, a poem a poem of hers that I hadn't read before, but it's very sensory and there's very little meaning. The meaning is not the most important part of the poem. It's like a soundscape really, you really get into the body of Gertrude Stein, last thing for this answer, and it's very powerful and very assured and I really enjoy reading, And I would like to write like that.

Niamh: Very interesting, sounds nice. Oh yeah and that poem by Franny Choi is called On The Night of the Election. 

Maia: Lovely, be sure to check it out, we'll link it in the show notes.

Niamh: The thing is it's just like it's so easy to kind of get all these collections and get all these books and just not read them, especially at the moment it's like, well I think that kind of lockdown was providing me with kind of all this time to read, and actually I feel I've got so much to get through.

Maia: Yeah, I get what you mean, there's just been books and books and collections that have piled up over the last like yeah, having to read for uni means that there's little time to read for pleasure and while reading is, often pleasurable if you're reading like essays and reports it's not not that fun necessarily.

Niamh: I think it's just because you know you're going to be graded on. 

Maia: Yeah. What about anything that you've written recently, is there anything that you feel encapsulate your voice?

Niamh: There's a poem I wrote a while ago, which is published in the Roundhouse poetry coll...