Beat the Dust is devoting another issue to the work of one featured writer. Last time, Mark SaFranko, this time Brutalist Adelle Stripe takes the helm and she’s done us proud. By way of background, Adelle’s poetry, prose and music journalism have been published in all the right places, 3:AM, Rising, Scarecrow, Savage Kick and Laura Hird to name a few. She is also the editor of litzine Straight from the Fridge. Her poems appear in the Brutalist anthology 'Nowhere Fast.' Her debut solo collection is 'Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid', published by Blackheath Books. Beat the Dust is very pleased to have the opportunity to showcase so much of Adelle’s new, unpublished work all in one place. Accompanying each piece, illustrations by one of the most talented artists in London right now, Lisa Craddock.
ADELLE STRIPE, FEATURED WRITER - AUGUST 08 ISSUE
Author:
Mike Title, lead singer of Dead Kids asks August's featured writer Adelle Stripe:
It was 1995. He had Superman wallpaper and wore Adidas tops. He had white drainpipe chords and scuffed Gazelles. We used to go dancing to These Animal Men at Ziggy’s nightclub on Micklegate and drink cheap lager as the sun came up. Thing was, he sang really loudly and had the worst voice I’ve ever heard. If X-Factor had been around back then he’d have entered it and everyone would have laughed at the audition. But, he was very sweet and made me laugh a lot. He was my first proper boyfriend.
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Poetry
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
Because You Always Hurt The One You Love
Excerpt:
Running through Shadwell’s industrial lights into the night, away from M...
Do you like rats? And have you found them to be bigger down south than up north?
I hate rats. This stems from reading a book way advanced for my years, called Lair by James Herbert. It was about a plague of super rats that lived in Epping Forest. There was a giant worm that spawned them and they overran the whole of London. This started my obsession with rodents. Also, my Dad is a farmer and during the summer I would go ratting with him in the calf pens. I would stick a pitchfork into the straw and as the rats shot out my Dad would clatter them with a spade. It was like whack-a-croc.
A few years ago I got myself the ultimate ratting tool: a Patterdale Terrier. I used to live out near Hackney Wick, there are hundreds of rats everywhere out there – my dog is from serious ratting stock. In one summer he took out about a hundred rats. After they kill them you give them a drink of milk to wipe their palates. I used to train him by watching ratting films - my favourite is Ratting at the Chicken Farm with Albert Fox. It’s like rat snuff porn; apparently Night & Day with the Yorkshire Ratters is a classic. Albert Fox is my ratting hero. His dogs wiped out 369 rats in one session; Albert has an engine that smokes out the rats, they go flying out of the holes then he sets his terriers on them. It’s a sight to behold.
As far as the North vs South debate goes, I think they are pretty much equal, though London rats are very well fed – all those Fried Chicken boxes have a lot to answer for.
When I moved to Haberdasher Street, one night I found a rat in the toilet. It was hanging on the U-Bend with its tail swishing up and down. I couldn’t see the head, only the tail. I was considering sticking my hand in, pulling it out, and beating it over the head with a bottle of Domestos.
Apparently rats symbolise a fear of becoming a destitute scavenger, although personally I put it down to James Herbert…
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Short story
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
The Worst Days Of Your Life
Excerpt:
By the time I had hit my fifth year at school my hair had grown and was coloured purple.
The school decided to phase out black uniforms and everyone was instructed to wear navy blue. Of course, I had no intention of ever wearing navy but for some reason the head of year let it dr...
Ben Myers, poet, journalist and author of Dreams of Luminous Lines asks Adelle:
If you were to make a choice on a desert island, which would it be – tea or coffee?
I have deliberated on this and it’s a tough choice. On the one hand, coffee – well, without it I can’t get up in the morning and, ahem, it keeps me regular. But, how could I go through life without a cup of Yorkshire Tea? It’s a king of drinks. Yorkshire Tea has this lovely deep orange tannin colour and with limescale, causes a film of dark brown to collect on the top. It punches you in the face after a cup. You can even drink it at night. And what coffee offers a top class token service like Yorkshire Tea does? Even on my desert island, I could still collect the tokens and save them up in the hope that, after a few years, I could send off for an apron, hard water tea caddy and a tea towel. I like the design too; they manage to capture everything that is great about Yorkshire in a nice sensible water colour on the front of the box. Brimham Rocks, Masham, stone walls, sheep, even Bolton Abbey. If I’m feeling flush I’d buy a packet of Yorkshire Gold. The thing I like about the tea is that you only have to mash it for a minute and do the five squeeze teabag tip then bingo, a perfect brew. Apparently Booths have launched a ‘rival’ tea…called ‘Lancashire Tea’ – the bloody nerve of it, eh?
Tim Wells, editor of Rising Poetry & East End bard extraordinaire asks Adelle:
Shag, Marry, Kill – Raymond Chandler, John Cooper Clarke, Thom Jones?
Tim, this is a hard one. As I wouldn’t want to shag, marry or kill any of them. John Clarke, well, he’s bag of bones but an interesting one at that. Maybe I could marry him and he could tell me how I make better tea than Nico ever did and give me a few poetry lessons whilst I’m at it? He could sing Evidently Chickentown to me in the bath. Raymond Chandler, well yes, mystery men are always good for a shag – I think he’s probably the best candidate. There’s something appealing about the idea of a man in an overcoat with a trilby on. I always found the Noir genre very sexy, so he’s probably the best of the bunch. Which leaves Thom Jones who I will have to kill. It’s a hard choice as his stories run on boxing themes and touch on some serious Schopenhauer ideology, which I’m rather partial to along with Kant….
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Flash fiction
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
Why Net Curtains Are Symbolic In The North…
Excerpt:
It took what seemed like a lifetime to scrabble up Wingate Hill’s rocky track to the farmhouse overlooking the Vale of York. Every time I sat in the muddy fields listening to the squeals of stuck pigs, I would think of Nana baking giant Yorkshire Puddings in the old house she called ‘School House’. ...
Matthew Coleman, film maker, poet and author of the Provocative Pages asks Adelle:
What shining relics would you like to be remembered for? What deeds done would you like to leave, like a statue for people to marvel at?
I hope that some of my books will make it into the archive at the Poetry Library in the RFH and maybe some in the British Library. I hope to complete my life as an obscure poet of the northern underground, leaving a few books for people to read in a couple of hundred years’ time. I love rifling through old chapbooks in the Poetry Library by people I’ve never heard of, some from countries all over the world, dating back to the turn of the century. I think that’s one of the best things you can bequeath as a writer, just knowing that a copy of your book is locked away in an archive for people to stumble upon one day. I don’t have any other ambitions and would be mortified if anyone built a statue of me. I would hope that the local kids would deface it and decapitate me.
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Poetry
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
Eiderdown
Excerpt:
Nothing beats waking up with you on a sunday morning b...
Heidi James, head of Social Disease and author of Carbon asks Adelle:
Patti Smith or Siouxsie Sioux?
Well, this is definitely a Siouxsie Sioux answer from me. I love Patti Smith but she is a moaner and does go on a bit. Every time I listen to Horses I get excited for about five minutes then have to turn her off as all that rock roll mythology/invoking the spirit of Jim Morrison bullshit really gets my goat. The thing is Piss Factory was one of the first pieces of music that made me want to write. The thing that puts me off her is that she really takes herself way too seriously. On the outside she’s a poetic goddess of cool, yet I reckon behind closed doors she puts on her tracksuit bottoms just like everyone else and watches Jeremy Kyle with her rollers in. Siouxsie Sioux also takes herself way too seriously but you have to admire a woman who dresses up in bondage gear and takes her boyfriend for a walk round Bromley shopping centre on a dog lead. Happy House is also one of my favourite ever songs. There’s something very creepy about her music but she rocks a great eye make up look, which scores points for Sioux. There are so many other female punks who I probably prefer to Patti and Sioux – Polystyrene, Patti & Judy Snatch, Linder Sterling, Viv Albertine, Gaye Advert, Jordan, Soo Catwoman, Jeanette Lee, Kleenex to name but a few!
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Short story
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
Feed Me With Your Kiss
Excerpt:
It was one of those clammy midsummer days. Damp. Stifling. The sweat ran off my forehead as I set off from the house towards the street where he lived. That afternoon he had emailed me four times:
If there were only 24hrs left in the world, what would you do and who would you do it with?
I would go and sit under the old Oak Tree in the paddock outside of my Dad’s house. I would make sure I had a gingham blanket, English strawberries, a Victoria Sponge and my portable record player. I think I’d play some records, eat cake and make daisy chains. I’d be there with my dog Seth and drink a malt coffee mocha milkshake flown in from Ed’s Diner. I would invite my parents, my sister, Ben and my cousin Emma. If any of us could get a word in edgeways I think we’d probably end up taking the piss out of the whole situation and wondering how the hell we’d ended up covered in cow pats in a field just outside Tadcaster.
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Poetry
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
I Can’t Kick This Feeling When It Hits
Excerpt:
That night, on the hill I dressed as Cleopatra, gold eyes, black kohl...
Tony O’Neill, poet and author of Digging the Vein asks Adelle:
Should art and commerce ever mix?
I think the simple fact is – you need money to live and you might as well earn it from something you are interested in. To get paid for your art is the ultimate goal for most of my friends, who are penniless artists, musicians and writers. It’s no fun when you can’t even afford a loaf of bread, yet you still have to pay out £600 a month in rent for some fleapit room in a shared house in Dalston. If you can sell your art and get by then I think you’ve achieved the perfect balance. I’ve been a student for two years now; by the time I graduate in 2009 I will owe the government £22,000 for my BA. And that’s after bursaries for being a mature student. There’s no wonder people don’t want to go to university!
In an ideal world I would write books, sell enough copies to pay the rent and eat, whilst sticking to my guns in terms of style and content. The hard thing is finding a publisher who will facilitate that without interfering with your writing. One of things I’ve liked the most about working with Geraint at Blackheath Books (for Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid) is that he makes really beautiful books, yet has given me the freedom to choose my own poems and front cover. He has hand made every copy himself, in his own house and I think it really shows. There is so much love within his books, so much effort, that book buyers can smell the authenticity a mile off. If I could work with someone like Geraint for every book I put out then I’d happily set up my own cottage industry of publishing DIY poetry books. It would be great to think that you can sell enough chapbooks to live off but that’s not going to happen in my lifetime. I think you need to sell 300 copies to be the best selling poet in Britain. It sucks! So, my point is, I’m under no illusion that I’ll ever make a penny from my writing but if someone offered me half a million for my obscure collection of northern poems, or even to get my tits out for Playboy, I would, most definitely sell out.
Submission Date:
01 Aug 2008
Category:
Short story
In Podcast and Chap-book
Title:
Champion Of Nothing
Excerpt:
When I was a little girl my Mum had lots of gay friends. Most of them were hairdressers and would come round the house every few months to talk about the National Hairdressers’ Federation, new tubes of peroxide and Lady Diana’s latest look. They sported brightly coloured hair, expensive smelling aft...
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