My guest today is Rishi Dastidar who is a poet and editor based in London. Rishi discusses his own particular view of Larkin’s portrayal of Englishness in both his letters and his poetry, Larkin’s contemporaries such as TS Eliot and Alan Bennett, and the vibrant role poetry plays in the UK’s cultural landscape.
Rishi Dastidar’s poetry has been published by the Financial Times, The Guardian and BBC and more. He is a fellow of The Complete Works, and a consulting editor at The Rialto magazine. A poem from his debut collection Ticker-tape was included in The Forward Book of Poetry 2018, and his second collection, Saffron Jack, was published in the UK by Nine Arches Press in 2020. He is also editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press), and co-editor of Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen (Corsair). He is the chair of the board of trustees for Wasafari Magazine.
Larkin poems discussed:
Poetry of Departures, Friday Night In the Royal Station Hotel, Afternoons, The Building, The Whitsun Weddings, Toads, Waiting for Breakfast
Other references:
Kingsley Amis, Alan Bennett, Ezra Pound
The Poetry Review, The New Yorker,
The Delinquent https://delinquentmagazine.bigcartel.com/,
Smiths Knoll magazine (https://poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/index190a.html?id=17),
The Faber Academy https://faberacademy.com/
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufock by TS Eliot (1915)
Wild God by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2024 PIAS Recordings)
Sometimes a Wild God by Tom Hirons https://tomhirons.com/poetry/sometimes-a-wild-god (2017)
Neptune's Projects by Rishi Dastidur (2023)
https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/neptune-s-projects
Time by Pink Floyd ‘hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way’ from The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
George Best, footballer https://nostalgiacentral.com/pop-culture/people/george-best/
UK films/radio of the 1950s/60s:Passport to Pimlico, Whiskey Galore, The Goons, Kind Hearts and Coronets
Music:
Lazy River by Sidney Bechet
Time by Pink Floyd
Theme music:
The Horns of the Morning by Wes Finch and the Mechanicals Band
https://themechanicalsband.bandcamp.com/album/the-righteous-jazz
Produced by Lyn Lockwood and Gavin Hogg
Please email Lyn at plsdeputychair@gmail.com with any questions or comments
PLS Membership, events, merchandise and information: philiplarkin.com