In this episode, I talk to Al McClimens about Simon Armitage’s poem ‘Evening’ and his own poem ‘Grand National’.

We discuss ideas of place and time in Armitage's 'views' of Marsden, the village where he grew up, and how these ideas are represented in his work. We focus on the formal designs of both Simon Armitage's and Al's pieces. I ask Al about the two different versions of his poem that he is weighing up here. We talk about horses and the 'form' and how things can balance so precipitously upon an edge between success and failure. How can poetry articulate these kinds of two-way moments? Al goes on to outline his journey toward writing poetry after a career as a lecturer in Health and Social Sciences.
Evening

You're twelve. Thirteen at most.
You’re leaving the house by the back door.
There's still time. You've promised
not to be long, not to go far.
One day you’ll learn the names of the trees.
You fork left under the ridge,
pick up the bridleway between two streams.
Here is Wool Clough. Here is Royd Edge.
The peak still lit by sun. But
evening. Evening overtakes you up the slope.
Dusk walks its fingers up the knuckles of your spine.
Turn on your heel. Back home
your child sleeps in her bed, too big for a cot.
Your wife makes and mends under the light.
You’re sorry. You thought
it was early. How did it get so late?

This poem is reproduced from Simon Armitage's collection Magnet Field: The Marsden Poems (Faber, 2020).

Grand National (original version)

I backed a horse at five to one
–it came home at ten past.
We had a ball tho, it was fun
but it could never last.
The money flew, the good times rolled,
the future opened wide.
We thought that we were solid gold
and jumped on for the ride.

Wot larx, such thrills, our names in lights
the fizzing, shiny things…

the bubble popped and from what heights
we lost those fragile wings.
And now the screens are up, the vet
is walking down the track.
Is it too late, is there time yet
to get our money back?
Achilles drags the corpse away,
parades it round the walls.
All’s fair in love and war, they say.
Troy crumbles and then falls.

Grand National (published version)

I backed a horse at five to one
–it pulled up at ten past.
We had a ball tho, it was fun
but it could never last.
The money flew, the good times rolled,
the sky cracked open wide.
We thought that we were solid gold
and jumped on for the ride.

Wot larx, such thrills, our names in lights
the fizzing, shiny things…

...the bubble popped and from what heights
we lost those fragile wings.
Now the screens are up, the vet
is walking down the track.
Is it too late, is there time yet
to get our money back?
Achilles drags the corpse away,
parades it round the walls.
All’s fair in love and war, they say.
Troy crumbles and then falls.

Other poems mentioned (and read) in this podcast include Robin Robertson's poem 'About Time', from his collection The Wrecking Light (Picador, 2010). W H Auden's 'The Fall of Rome' is also briefly discussed - a piece you can read here.

Al McClimens was born and brought up in Bellshill some time after Matt Busby and just before Teenage Fanclub. He escaped by studying for his first degree at Edinburgh University where he ‘majored’ in sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. During a lull in his study he signed up for the poetry society. Well, duh. He peaked when he was chosen as the warm-up act for new rising star Liz Lochhead. When asked about her co-performer’s act Ms Lochhead later said, Who…?

He later moved to Sheffield in the same year as the miners’ strike where, after a few years, he attended a WEA evening class run by Liz Cashdan who pointed him at the various open mics available in the city. It was also around this time that his university work meant he was getting papers in journals and the two strands, the published academic and the gradually getting more stuff published poet began to coalesce with his enrolment onto the SHU MA Creative Writing degree. Well, we all know how that one ended.

So there it is, the trajectory to international stardom or how a youth from Bellshill became one of the best poets in his own house. Or make that second best if Denise is visiting. You couldn’t make it up. Except I just did. And some of it was true…

Al Mclimens books include Keats on the Moon which was published by Mews Press in 2017, and The Other Infidelities which came out in 2021, which you can purchase from Pindrop Press here and The Placebo Effect (Dreich, 2024).

You can follow me on Bluesky - @cwjoneschris.bsky.social for more updates on future episodes. You can find out more about my own writing through my website - chris-jones.org.uk - or on my Substack Swift Diaries.