“The Death Issue” December 2015 1

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“when I say that poetry makes nothing happen that's not true, because in that moment a poem makes something happen. It makes you see something in a larger a way. In a more inclusive way, a more democratic way. But also a more generous way in the end. Everybody experiences first love and the loss of that first love, and you laugh at it when you're older, but you know what it's like then to feel that heartbroken […] poetry always comes back to first love”. - John Burnside Illustration by Eleanor Penny 5
HARKview with John Burnside Berlin, 5th June, the afternoon I met John in suburban Berlin. It was perhaps the hottest day of the year so far, and beneath that heat we sat in a certain tropical isolation on the shaded balcony of his apartment. We were interrupted by a singular, barking dog and - later - a scooter. We talked - among other things - about ecopoetics, Kurosawa, the myth of the “bluesman”, and a red balloon. This is a verbatim transcript of our conversation: sans dog, sans scooter. * OV: It's the fifth of June, in Berlin. Thank you for doing the interview - first of all. I guess one of my first questions would be, because we're in Berlin, what were the reasons that led you to come back to Berlin so many times, and to live here? JB: well, the original reason I came to Berlin a long time ago was to do with books and with selling books here, I suppose, and doing readings. But it always made a big impression on me, the city. So to cut a long story short, I've been coming for several years and three years ago I was doing a residency, and I was there for a few months in summer, and besides from me coming over to do the residency, my family would come over and rent a place, so we could all be here in the summer, and I would have somewhere to work, and then see them when I wanted to. And I worked really well and the kids loved it. And then I came next year for a short trip and again liked it very much, so, luckily we're living here at the auspices of the DAAD which is a fantastic organisation that organises these exchanges, so we've been here for a year now and the kids go to a school they like and I've got things to do, and they've got a more diverse group of friends than they would have in Scotland. So for all kinds of reasons as a family we're liking it, and that's why we've stayed. And for me as a writer – I mean, in terms of just daily life, it's a good place to work OB: yeah JB: and there's a kind of nice thing about being outside the kind of pool of your own 6
Page 2 and 3: A LITERARY MAGAZINE OF POETRY, INTE
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTS Editorial - p. 4 HARKview
Page 8 and 9: language and kind of professional a
Page 10 and 11: OV: and in actually writing your po
Page 12 and 13: they came from, patent shreds of Ba
Page 14 and 15: do you see the role of those, of th
Page 16 and 17: going along a street in Berlin, you
Page 18 and 19: - do you find that's where your pol
Page 20 and 21: If you can get someone like that to
Page 22 and 23: different from that solitary experi
Page 24 and 25: go, and the guy will always say, ra
Page 26 and 27: and something like a fox scouting f
Page 28 and 29: And I don't care what anybody says,
Page 30 and 31: things, pursuing sex, pleasure all
Page 32 and 33: sudoku, can be done in seconds”,
Page 34 and 35: alloon, and it -it's a boy actually
Page 36 and 37: pool, as “a moon affected by the
Page 38 and 39: All Kinds of Old Feeling John Burns
Page 40 and 41: Exile Nels Hanson My farming life i
Page 42 and 43: Island Ryan Van Winkle when the wat
Page 44 and 45: Catcher Hugh McMillan (In his log,
Page 46 and 47: Inherent Vice Constantin Preda When
Page 48 and 49: Mother Roux Katarina Boudreaux Five
Page 50 and 51: Encore Bacchus descends from the st
Page 52 and 53: Minnows’ Ladder James Reidel Minn
Page 54 and 55: Not that I saw Him arrive or leave,
Page 56 and 57:
factory, lights a cigarette. “I'm
Page 58 and 59:
at 1406 today. Northwest gale 8 to
Page 60 and 61:
The Organ Recital Simon Ward They d
Page 62 and 63:
church's décor. Between the organ
Page 64 and 65:
“Michelle,” he whispers, ”did
Page 66 and 67:
Contributors KATARINA BOUDREAUX is
Page 68:
RYAN VAN WINKLE is a poet, live art
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“The Death Issue” December 2015 1

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