Tuesday poem #594 : Naomi Foyle : How to Write a Prose Poem

for David Swann

Play a game of disco chess in an overgrown allotment. Send a postcard to a fremeny from a moonstruck nest. Dive into a drowned library wearing nothing but lyrical flippers. Gently wash a hand-unknitted sweater. Mix an orchestral cocktail after a bust up in a holy karaoke parlour. Foster the love child of Ulysses and a silk jacket pocket. Don’t forget to break an open window before you go.

Naomi Foyle was born in London, England, and grew up in Hong Kong, Liverpool and Saskatchewan. She spent the late nineties working in South Korea and travelling in Central America, Asia and Australia, and now lives in Brighton UK, a pebble’s throw from the sea.

Naomi is the author of five novels, ten poetry pamphlets and three full collections: The Night Pavilion, a 2008 Poetry Society Recommendation and The World Cup (2010) both from Waterloo Press; and the transatlantic publication Adamantine (Red Hen/Pighog Press, 2019).  Her tenth pamphlet, Importents, was published by Waterloo Press in 2021. Her poetry readings include appearances at The Cuisle Festival in Limerick, Tacheles Art House in Berlin and the Babylon Festival for International Cultures and Arts in Babil, Iraq. Originally trained in theatre, she has collaborated with artists, musicians and filmmakers on projects including the prize-winning videopoem Good Definition (2004) and several spoken word CDs.  Librettist of the award-winning bouffon opera Hush (Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto 1990), she has also written a short verse drama, ‘The Strange Wife’, produced by the Bush Theatre in 2011 as part of 66 Books: 21st C Writers Speak to the King James Bible, and ASTRA, a Brighton Fringe Award-winning adaptation of her eco-science fiction quartet The Gaia Chronicles.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan