Round 5: Art

Soldiers and contour drawing

This was a difficult couple of weeks for me. Music and particular punk are very important to me, they pulled me into art and adulthood. Critical distance is important, but Katrina's poem was a challenge which I wanted to take on. Since Peter Saville designed the Unknown pleasures album cover and Jamie Reid made cut ups Punks means of communication I was never going to look at the world in the same way. Punk and its consequent waves of influence, and our early relationship are forever entwined.

Round 4: Poetry

Jubilee

Punk’s gobby charm largely passed me by,

lost in a chasm between disco and metal.

I’ll admit to a headbanger award at Dreamland,

(a 50’s frock in a sea of denim), split ends thrashing

to Mötorhead’s Overkill; yet, still too shy

to compete as a disco champ, unlike Emin.  

And while I flitted between the pages of Sounds,

you were NME. I shouldn’t sneer; we got together

to Smash It Up, never to be DLT’s kind of couple.

And while I loved the women’s spikes and chains,

who could afford ‘Sex’ on the Kings Road?

And I saw Rotten once with PIL (so much better

than the Pistols) he walked off after 20 minutes.

I disliked him then and now. This is heresy to you,

with your three pairs of bondage trousers,

your home-stencilled Combat shirts –

I knew no one like you in Margate. And now,

Reid’s pins hold a number to a marathon vest,

punters paying to advertise two companies

for 3 hours, 39 minutes. Today, you’ll thread

a safety pin through your lapel. And while I dance

to Sister Sledge, I’ll loosen my hair for the Sabbath.

Katrina Naomi 11 May 2012

Round 3: Art

Round 2: Poetry

Fledgling

A corner of your room’s lined with the stuffing of pillows,

pieces of speckled shell. I’ve seen you perch on the ledge,

half out, half in, not knowing whether you’ll jump or soar.

I think of those men who strapped on heavy plumage,

stood on cliffs and faced the breeze; those scientists

who studied the dinosaur of feathers. You’re still waiting

for your tiny wings to sprout, for your fall to earth

to be spectacular, your legs greeting the ground, travelling

up through your pelvis and into your guts. And I think

of Amelia Earhart, knowing just how much to believe

in herself. You sit in the cold air, a boy and the moon,

calling to your new friends, safe in their branches,

as you test your language, fashioning yourself on a finch.

Your eyes glitter; a dish of worms writhe at your side.

In the morning, I’ll unravel the strings of my kite.

Katrina Naomi 20 April 2012

Round 1: Art

Birdman

The Argument: Art V Poetry

Process

Katrina Naomi and Tim Ridley are collaborating to spar with each other to produce poetry and art. Tim will post a piece of visual art within the next two weeks, which Katrina will respond to with a poem, again within two weeks. They will continue this process until ten pieces of work are produced: five art works, five poems.

About

Tim is a visual artist whose concerns are division and opposition in contemporary society. He graduated from Chelsea in 2011, where he won the Ovalhouse prize. http://www.timridley.co.uk 
Follow @tim_ridley 


Katrina's first full poetry collection The Girl with the Cactus Handshake was shortlisted for the London New Poetry Award. She is a PhD student in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, with a focus on violence in poetry. http://www.katrinanaomi.co.uk

Follow @KatrinaNaomi
 
Tim and Katrina are long-term partners. This is their first artistic collaboration.