Deborah Edgeley has come along today to talk about her writing. Without further ado, let’s go over to Deborah.
My latest poetry collection, Wilkommen Zum Rattenfänger Theater (2019) is about a sister pilgrimage to Germany and follows on from Testing The Delicates, exploring the themes of ancestry, identity, language, mental health, memories, time, truth and spiritual journeys. In 2019, my sister, Syl, and I, went to Germany, to Bielefeld, where our mother was born, and to Bad Oeynhausen, where our parents met, and finally to Hameln, where I went as a child.
The poem ‘Velvet Gelt’ was inspired by our grandmother’s Poesie, a diary entry written on the day the French occupied the Ruhrgebeit, as the country was suffering from hyper-inflation. The poem finds fun things to do with the useless money:
1920s childboy dreams of a giant jade marble
Runs with his patchwork flag that flies with black headed gulls
Scrapes knees scrambling into his bundle hideout
Pow pow paper guns whisper crisp notes
Folded planes glide behind the sideboard
(…)
Velvet gelt, silk banknotes, linen lolly
Stick one to cover that crack in the wall
‘Edelweiss Pirates Against the Destruction of Colour’ is the only flash fiction piece written from a child’s perspective, blending fact and fiction in a sad tale of a missing girl who picked gladioli to make a special, spiced liquid for the soldiers.
‘If our Ancestors and Ludwig II of Bavaria Could See Us Now’ is about a trip to a local hotel in Bad Oeynhausen, nostalgic for the food their mother used to make:
Wagner drifts through fried air
Faded poster eyes of Ludwig
flicking through paper sketches in his mind
as several screens stream sport
(…)
Grating zweibeln with layered tears
Squeezing out brown water with one hand
Egg the magic binder
Puffs of flour like snow
Sizzle of patted potato
I perform with Mark Sheeky as a poetry and piano duo, ‘Fall In Green’. Our latest EP is about to be released, War Is Over (Cornutopia Music). Tracks include ‘Janus Never Blinks’, a timeless piece of the transition between war and peace. ‘Asylum Flowers’ is based on a true story about a trip to the National Gallery to see art by people in asylums. ‘Struck Lucifers’ explores the clean up at the end of WW2 and the Egyptian demonstrations about keeping the English troops. Mark has also written and performed the explosive track ‘Valhalla’, plays piano throughout the EP, uses his own theatrical sound effects, and created all the artwork on the EP. The cover is taken from one of his many oil paintings, Premonition of War.
Thank you for sharing about your poetry collections and performance, Deborah.
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If anyone has any questions for Deborah please ask in the comments section or contact Deborah via one of her social media links below.
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Details of where you can purchase Deborah’s collections and where you can find her on social media will be posted at the end of this blog. But first, let’s find out a little more about her.
About Deborah Edgeley
Deborah Edgeley is a poet, performance artist, and Editor in Chief for Ink Pantry Publishing. Her debut poetry collection, Testing The Delicates (2017), raises awareness of mental health. Her latest collection, Wilkommen Zum Rattenfänger Theater (2019) is about a sister pilgrimage to Germany. Deborah performs with polymath Mark Sheeky as theatrical piano and poetry duo, ‘Fall in Green’. Their debut, experimental album of Testing The Delicates (Cornutopia Music) was released in 2018. ‘Fall In Green’ are about to release an EP, War Is Over, a series of alternative war memorials performed in the Congleton and Knutsford libraries.
Click on the follow links to purchase Deborah Edgeley’s books.
Wilkommen Zum Rattenfänger Theater
Click on the follow links to find Deborah Edgeley on Social Media and Websites.
Patricia M Osborne 