The Machineries of Joy, Peter Finch (88pp, £9.99, Seren)
The Machineries of Joy is a collection of short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury, a studio album by British indie rock band British Sea Power, and a new poetry book by Peter Finch, noted performance poet, boundary pusher and psychogeographer based in Wales. It helped me to evolve as a student and made me realize the beauty of the vocation I chose.
You can buy from Amazon’s Book Store (everyday low prices and free delivery), click and collect from your local Waterstones or read reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. It’s regrouping and consolidating time: in this book you will meet a Hollywood monster-maker and two-tone apparitions shaking maracas to more glacial indie that beautifully belies their reputation as owl-collecting kooks.
To be perfectly honest, we will always have a lingering suspicion that there could be something dark and dreadful going on. Whether the author’s vision turns toward the future or peers into the past, his worlds of characters and their situations skitter all over the place, from the uplifting chorus, cheerful rhythm and bright guitars of the title poem to the gloomy thud of work, work, work, true work! Pain, pain, pain, sweet pain! Mein Muskeln sich verschoenern (My muscles are improving).
Coming to terms with our instinctive yearning for the future is a good recipe for making the most of the only time during which we are alive: speak to Syd at the mission and shop for the 1989 vinyl release. Take a moment to look at the cover, this author is in better condition than most examples of his age. We all know what this game needs, there are no solutions beyond yourself. The whole family is keenly interested.
Round the back, where the past might still congeal, his ingredients come together. Although these texts started off as nothing on a sheet of paper, Finch shows no sign of reining in his eccentricities. The artist spreads his arms as if to embrace them, somewhat becalmed in a very British cocoon of noise with a hearty vocal melody and sparks from elsewhere. Poems arrive in droves.
There is no opposition between restricted and general economies, the seal stands for quality and performance. This is a work of art made by altering darkness and space, used to best advantage by a skilled operator. It is a joy to behold, with all the warmth of a fresh baked cookie, fixing emotions on the altar of tradition.
Please refrain from climbing outside. Endure a sparsely populated week. We care about your safety. Is it the idea or the realisation? No one else wrote, or will ever. This is true.
© Rupert Loydell 2020