Matthew Welton
Lecturer in Writing and Creativity, Faculty of Arts
Current Research
The thing that drives my writing is a desire to explore the formal possibilities of poetic structure. In some of my poems this involves using conventional prosodic elements such as metre and stanza, while other pieces make use of mathematical patterns or borrow their structures from sources such as the fixture list for the world cup finals or the architecture of an airport. I am interested in trying to explore the places where traditional writing meets experimental work. The musicality of language is an important consideration in my writing. Performance is too, and the readings I give are often influenced by work in fields outside of literature, such as art, music or stand-up comedy.
Collaboration is also a major concern. My work with the composer Larry Goves has included the lyrics for several song cycles as well as spoken-vocal contributions with his ensemble, The House of Bedlam. We are currently writing an opera under the Jerwood-Aldeburgh Opera-Writing Fellowship. I have also made a number of pieces with the artist and curator Chris Evans.
I am currently working on a set of twelve poems all of which follow the same formal imperatives. The first three of these are due to come out in a pamphlet from Landfill/Eggbox. A further pamphlet is scheduled for publication with ifpthenq. My long-term aim is to publish the whole twelve together.
Past Research
My first book of poems, The Book of Matthew, was an attempt at making innovative poems using fairly conventional structural considerations. None of the poems is written in the first person, and the title piece is essentially a set of 39 variations on one stencil poem, using the structure of Roget's Thesaurus as a formal imperative. My second book, We needed coffee but... includes lengthier poetic sequences, many of which began in collaborative work with artists or musicians.
Future Research
Once the twelve poems are written I will continue to look for new ways of playing with formalism in poetry. Recently I have been using my notebooks to sketch out something which combines the rhythmic elements of fiction and poetry.
Collaborative work remains important and I think I will be working with larry Goves for a long time to come. Working with artists continues to engage my interest too and I am also roughing out work that combines concrete poetry and textual art.