I’m delighted to introduce poet, Sue Finch, back to Patricia’s Pen. Sue is here to chat about her new release, Welcome to the Museum of a Life. Without further ado it’s over to Sue.
Welcome to the Museum of a Life
Sue Finch
Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about how my second collection, ‘Welcome to the Museum of a Life’, came into being.
I was eager to have a second collection of poetry almost as soon as the first one was finished. I kept a list of poems that I thought people would enjoy reading, but I was not entirely sure at first what was pulling these poems together.
When my poem, Museum of a Life, was published by Out on the Page in 2021, I recorded a reading of it and realised it was one of my favourite poems. It was written as a result of attending an Arvon online writing week with Caroline Bird and Richard Scott and I can clearly remember that wonderful feeling of being in the flow of writing when I was working on it. This is the original version of that poem which was then adapted for my book when I worked with Black Eyes Publishing UK.
MUSEUM OF A LIFE
Exhibit A: the bath where she was made to wash by her
first lover.
Exhibit B: the shower where she was lime-soaped by
her second.
Exhibit C: an unwritten postcard from Herm where she
floated in the bay laughing with her third.
Exhibit D: dinner plate of sliced tomatoes kaleidoscoped
with red onion rounds, drizzled in olive oil. Photo,
France.
Exhibit E: white bread roll. origin, Las Vegas.
Exhibit F: Barcelona street map displayed here in the
front pocket of the rucksack she wore against her
breasts to minimise the risk from pickpockets.
Exhibit G-I: the green carnation, the dropped pound
coin and the fucking hostile badge from the blind date
with the woman who went on to become her wife.
Exhibit J: the stars she couldn’t believe she saw when
she tipped the bucket chair back so much she fell and
hit her head.
Exhibit K: the missed beat from the intro to the first
dance at her wedding.
Exhibit L: 60-watt lightbulb previously inserted into
her mouth while she pretended to be a lamp on a car
journey back from Whitstable.
Exhibit M: the orgasm she had while watching Wendy
James from the edge of the stage, Hammersmith
Odeon, 1989.
Exhibit N: yellow sailing trousers and blue t-shirt from
the Saturday night disco at Manchester Pride (year
unrecorded).
Exhibit O: the kitchen counter she leant on to tell her
Mum she was gay.
Exhibit P: her mum, who already knew, who had done
for years and wondered why she hadn’t said it herself
sooner.
Exhibit Q: snakebite and black from the bottom of her
boots the night she danced with Chris’s girlfriend.
Exhibit R: two Dolly Parton backstage passes and
associated Meet and Greet photos.
Exhibit S: a jar of Smurfs.
Exhibit T: Ronnie (cuddly toy and photogenic alter ego)
purchased Chester Zoo, 2002.
Exhibit U-V: black velvet smoking jacket and size 10
jeans.
Exhibit W-Z: this space is reserved for future exhibits.
When I was little my brother would let me in to his museum for a small pocket money fee. I liked looking at the shells and fossils and interesting finds he had gathered together there in his attic bedroom. He knew stuff about the exhibits. I liked the way they were laid out and the textures and shapes. I also liked spending time in his company and finding out what was new. Amongst the sharks’ teeth I think there was also a large dinosaur tooth of some kind. I remember the shine of the fool’s gold and of the mercury which we rolled across the lino to one another.
I really like some housework jobs, but I dislike dusting. This means that I choose to put the peculiar things that I collect in jars on my shelves so they are easier to dust. One night in lockdown I had a vivid dream where a large jar was being delivered to the garden so that my wife could exhibit me in it. I wrote the poem ‘Jars’ based on this dream.
So there has definitely always been a part of me that is interested in exhibits. (Mind you I am also very interested in the tea room and the gift shop when I go out and about visiting exhibitions.) The idea of having my own museum of artefacts entertained me and I found I could picture the whole museum. Fortunately when I sent this manuscript to my editor and publisher they liked the idea and we were able to work on it together.
It was good fun to arrange the poems into five galleries and to picture a gift shop at the end where visitors could purchase blue apples, inflatable ladders and wind-up plastic pelicans as souvenirs. Having a clear idea for the overall structure of the book, allowed me to put aside poems that didn’t fit with the theme and focus on a specific order for the work. The gallery of dreams brings together some of my favourite poems that emerged during the nights of lockdown and I like the way they are showcased together. During this time I really enjoyed my writing and I would wake up and go straight to my desk to write something down because I didn’t want the vivid images that had been in my mind to evaporate.
Damien B Donnelly calls this collection Daliesque and says I do peculiar well. I’ll take that.
About Sue Finch
Sue Finch’s first poetry collection, ‘Magnifying Glass’, was published in 2020 with Black Eye Publishing UK, and her second full collection, ‘Welcome to the Museum of a Life’, is due to be published in Spring 2024. Her poems have also appeared in a number of online magazines. She loves the coast, peculiar things and the scent of ice-cream freezers. ‘Vortex Over Wave’ was published in 2023 and features a selection of her #ElasticBandPhotos and poems for the full moon.
Patricia M Osborne 
I loved this post! Why didn’t I think of making my room into a museum when I was young?
But what stuck out to me most was Sue not wanting to let the stuff of dreams evaporate. I understand that so well.
It was a pleasure reading about Sue and her work! Thanks, Tricia!
x Lisette
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A brilliant idea of Sue’s, Lisette, and Sue is a brilliant poet too.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed the feature. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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