James Brown contributed two poems to A Tingling Catch. His poem ‘The Outfield’ was included in the new cricket poetry anthology Catching the Light in England this year.
Brown has published nine collections of his poetry along with a Selected Poems and has been a prominent poet of my generation in New Zealand. His latest book is a book of prose poems released earlier this year.
His 2024 book Slim Volume is based on the idea of the traditional slim volume that poetry has been produced in over the years. While Brown’s book is a bit bigger than the Faber slim volumes I grew up with, I like the note on the back cover: “A slim volume of verse, like a bicycle, offers us fresh and joyful and sometimes troubling ways of seeing the world.” His own poetry is also not done in the traditional manner of English verse. Brown is one of the more innovative of our contemporary poets and his books are always a rewarding read. The book includes novel pauses in the book instead of section breaks in traditional volumes of verse. A critic once said of Brown’s work: “Poetry, but it doesn’t suck.” Brown’s books are well worth seeking out at bookshops and libraries.
One of his poems in Slim Volume is cricket-related and I will include it in the Tingling Catch archive.
JAMES BROWN
Bad Light
It’s very gloomy.
If this were a cricket match,
the light meter would come out,
the umpires would confer, then both teams
would leave the field due to bad light
because it’s unsafe and unfair
if batsmen and fielders are unable to
pick out the red ball.
It’s an uncertain, contentious time
when people’s rods and cones
dispute colour and intensity
and the boy on the red bicycle disappears
while the driver eager to get home
believes he has nothing before him
but open road.
Poem © James Brown
James Brown’s Slim Volume is available from Te Herenga Waka University Press: Slim Volume – Te Herenga Waka University Press
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