Rodney Relax
THE MUMBLE : Hi Rodney, so you are one of the stalwarts of the Edinburgh poetry scene – are you from the city
RODNEY : I was born in the university town of St.Andrews. Also famous for the old course, of which many opens have been staged on its hallowed turf. I was actually raised for most of my childhood in the Fife town of Dunfermline. When I eventually settled in Edinburgh which would be around 1992, Rebel Inc would already be taking off and the whole poetry scene was really thriving with writers like Paul Reekie, Sandie Craigie and Barry Graham.
EXISTENTIAL NIHILISM
they had to
accept the unbelievable
beyond terror outside
of the massacre
inside of it
in existential nihilism
crept killers stalked
victims in churches
up on the hills and
finally the marshes
***
RODNEY : All the writers I’ve just mentioned and Milan Kundera’s books shift the gears for me one way or the other. Current writers operating in Scotland would be Nick E Melville, J.L Williams, Jim Ferguson to name only a few. These poets truly stand out for me at the moment. I like writing to be brave and push the boundaries; all three have the talent and intelligence to do just that.
THE MUMBLE : When it comes to performance poetry, you seem keen adding musical soundscapes, why is this?
RODNEY : I used to be in punk band called Alternative back in the 70’s & 80’s, so composing music for the poems was just a natural progression for me. Also working with Nick E Melville in Shellsuit Massacre showed us both the potential for putting soundscapes to performance poetry. It doesn’t always work mind, I’ve heard some pretty diabolical so-called musical interpretations of poetry; believe me! I remember reading a quote a while back about Dylan Thomas poems being put to music, it didn’t work out as he had his own inner noing on. Just love that.
***
HYMNS OF FAITH
we note that on
sunday’s televised debate on
religion that the majority
of the participants were
of certain faiths
so in order to
insert some semblance
of balance to the
proceedings a few aetheists
and agnostics were allowed
into the circle none
were especially helpful except
the woman who proposed
cumulative process in
opposition to irreducible complexity
at no point
was there a
general consensus that
when we die
this is the end
instead they offered
up that if
you believe in
(a)god then
you could expect
to walk into
the gates of
heavan
as they arrived
at the station
one of the
woman asked
where are we?
she was shot
when her children
were found
there was no great
rapture that would
take away their
suffering or the
genocidical actions that
took place here
is there
anybody
there?
the answer is
debatable usually rhetorical
with sinister motivations
towards eliminationism:they
thought that they
were going into
red cross ambulances
instead they were
being taken away
from their families
to death in
numbers that would
haunt the world
so it was
in our hymns
of faith that
we heard the
sirens when the
destruction was complete
***
BLACK WILLOW
lovers under the
black willow sweetly
unknowingly of the
war in europe
***
COLOUR OF HARVEST
to their wives
and their daughters
men placed guns
in the fields
of corn and
rape the yellow
colour of harvest
***
RODNEY : Poetical future for Rodney Relax? Just keep writing, keep performing. There’s the small matter of Second Space poetry events, like to do one in Glasgow this year and keep adding more poets on to our YouTube channel. There’s also our FB page which could certainly do with more contributions i.e., poems, videos, audios & adding to our picture gallery. I‘m also recording a spoken word LP this year with various musicians – cut a few tracks all ready – lots of work still to be done though, it’ll be an interesting journey for sure.
Mumble Words 
January 25, 2017 at 3:58 pm
Brilliant stuff Rodney, your an inspiration to us all sir 🙂