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In Torso, his third collection, Robert Hamberger continues to explore the boundaries of skin as son, father, lover and poet. Torso has three major new sequences, including a celebrated version of Lorca's dark love sonnets, elegies for a friend and a gay reclaiming of sacred texts.

'In poems of great subtlety and technical finesse, and without unneeded ostentation or concealment, Hamberger gives as clear an insight into love's routines and surprises as I have recently seen in any British poetry.' Gregory Woods, Magma

'This is the debut of a mature, flexible poetic voice ranging from sardonic wit to pathos. Catch celebrates the bodily and spiritual here and now while suggesting there is no certain divide between dream and reality. Many poems read like one act dramas, where just one ambiguity or disarming reference may give us an uncomfortable jolt into surprising perspectives.' Michael Tolkien

Catherine, Katie, Allan and Pam comprised the Inky Fish poets who performed at Northampton Central Library as part of the Wordworks season.

We had a small (11) but appreciative audience, especially in regard to constructive comments about the performance which chimed with some of the things we had set out to do. Someone commented on the cumulative effect of the poems; what might appear difficult to understand fell into place in the second half; the success of the ‘choric reprise’ in helping with this too.

Our theme was ‘Lift-Off’ and we began with a ‘choric introduction’ which gave some pointers to the sequencing of experiences through the groups of poems. We began with the seismic, earthquakes; upheavals; lifted off, stayed in the air, and after the interval began our descent through poems that touched on resurrection; freefall, and landing on earth with a bump, finally, sinking lower into various underworlds.

As Catherine began this final group, thunder cracked and the rain pelted the roof of the library. Thanks to all the helpful library staff especially the kind librarian who went with Catherine in order for her to bring her car a little nearer for the lift home.

We read to an audience of about 30 people, many of them students from the Creative Writing MA. Introduced by Mahendra Solanki, a tutor on the course, the evening was called 'A Voice Dips & Lifts' (from a sonnet of Robert's). The lecture theatre may not have been an ideal environment for a reading, but Inky Fish swam against the current. We weaved the elements through sets of poems that started with air and spanned subjects as far-reaching as Ella Fitzgerald, racism in Leicester, a homeless man and a hunger artist. This led us onto poems playing with the language of fire: an arsonist; John Clare watching candle-lights through a window, bonfire night, curry cooked over a fire in Cornwall and Catherine's love poem ending

Water drew us to a man drowning in the idea of sea and 'too much water in the air', a South Wales waterfall, a parting beside a river, a love-poem for Mark's children and a stroll down the aisles of Asda.

The second half gave us an opportunity to read and discuss the poetry we're currently involved in writing, ending with poems about mothers, which came full circle from Robert's Ella Fitzgerald sonnet, and Pam's 'Newborn' read by Pam, Rob and Mark. This led onto a reprise where the four of us read phrases from that evening's poems. Questions and answers covered Inky Fish's history, poetry composition and ways of exploring performance. Most of the audience enjoyed the evening's differences from a traditional reading, and it helped them consider different ways of presenting their own poetry.

On a damp night in Loughborough we read (appropriately enough) to a good-sized and responsive mainly student audience on the theme of ‘Water’. Aiming to flood the senses with liquid words, we moistened appetites with a quick shower and a bit of light rain before trickling into rivers, lakes and waterfalls and flowing to the ocean.

Nobody’s spirits appeared dampened by our outpourings, and we rounded off the evening with a long cool drink in the local hostelry.

“I liked the variety and the thematic nature (and I don’t always like themed events).”
“I liked the multi-voiced bits best”
“I enjoyed the take on the theme”
“Very well selected material”
“Collaboration of two poems mixed together was very clever & interesting – was my favourite part”
“..great! Enjoyed the experience & chance to listen totally”
“A very good performance, full of ‘moist’ language [water theme] – I love it!”

There were an audience of 25-30 people, with a wide range of ages. The venue served food, which was delivered during the early part of the reading. There were somewhat noisy reactions to some of this, which I think were distracting to other members of the audience. We decided to read through it. Still don't know if that was the right decision or not, but (apart from halting the reading each time another toastie arrived) not sure what else we could have done!

The reading's title was 'What used to be inside', which came from Katie's opening poem 'Gentleman's Bathroom'. The theme of the evening was place and memory. The first cluster of poems started in rooms. The next cluster of poems moved outside, initially locally, then to foreign fields. The first half ended with Katie & I joint-reading my version of a Lorca sonnet about Cuenca.

The second half opened with love-poems set in various locations & using love in its widest term, including for children; first crushes; ones that got away etc. The second half wove back inside, towards memories of significant places, ending with a group of poems about objects and Katie & I joint-reading my poem 'The Gift'.

The most satisfying thing about this reading was that we had a really ‘good’ audience. By ‘good’ I don't mean ‘large’ (it wasn't that but the attendance was reasonable), I mean ‘good’ in the sense of appreciative, interested and attentive. The applause was, I am sure, genuinely hearty, as was the laughter, which was always in the right places. A number of individual compliments (and I don't mean the routine ‘vote of thanks’ kind) were made to each of us after the reading. No problems. A very encouraging session.
Allan

We had a good time last night in Nottingham, and it seems the audience did too. The theme was identity (loosely). Feedback was very positive, with people liking the idea of the group reading together and appreciating the fact that we all seemed to enjoy listening to each other's work (we must be good actors!) It's really gratifying to know we were appreciated, and that the whole idea of the readings seems to be working well. Thanks. And thanks to Mark for his patience beyond the call of duty as we learned every single side street, back street, tram line and cul de sac in Nottingham city centre... And a tip to others - if you get pulled up by the police for some minor misdemeanour, explain that you're a poet and they'll let you off...
Helen

“Upbeat poems read with verve and enjoyment. Poets complement each other well.”
“Nice balance of poets and mood.”
“Definitely a few moments of magic!”
“Brilliant”
“Would’ve liked it to be a bit longer as I was enjoying it so much. Thanks.”
“It kept my attention totally, which is good for me. I actually came because I thought Rob Hamberger would be reading. But I’ve enjoyed it anyway!”
“It’s been very good. It’s really great to see poets collaborating and enjoying each others’ work. There were good contrasts.”
“I thought it was particularly nice how the poets obviously liked being together, and appreciated each others’ work. They looked like they were having fun.”

We arrived to find the Guildhall an enchanting (a word I don’t use often) two-hundred capacity theatre: a wee stage, two tiers of seating, the whole caboodle. Front of desk staff were very helpful, the techies set up our microphones and set the right ambience of yellow-wash lighting: we were ushered backstage to our sparse dressing room where we sat, chatted and waited for our audience to settle themselves. We were given the call, climbed on-stage and – given the Literature Officer in me is always lurking – I sat and counted thirty faces in the auditorium.

We all enjoyed the show, read well, pulling the audience into dark places and then out again. With Cathy Grindrod on hand to coax people to fill in questionnaires and personally discuss the reading with punters, we received some very full and thoughtful feedback. To read on stage in a theatre setting is something we won’t do every day (a smoke-filled pub or café is where we usually end up) so for me the experience was all enjoyment. I was part of the reading – as a performer, of course, but I was also listening to Pam’s, Michael’s and Mark’s poems acutely because I felt relaxed and happy in my surroundings.

We then settled on drinks in the bar, conversation, and – finally – home. Chris

Derby Guildhall is an old, ornate, medium -sized theatre. We had 2 mikes and the stage-lighting was relatively subdued so we could see the audience (of around 30). We read for 40 minutes with about a 15-minute interval and about 25 minutes for the second half. This culminated in a reprise and a brief question and answer session.

Our theme was Outside-In, which was variously interpreted through poems about viewing art; being outside/inside dwelling places; via the numinous/mysterious; reflections on children in an external setting; of ‘outsiders’ seeking ways back inside society ; landscapes; and more light-hearted takes on it via reflections on peeing; on cats and moths; a footballer coming through the TV screen etc.

We linked groups of poems; introduced ourselves briefly and occasionally gave background information to individual poems. We enjoyed the reading; enjoyed listening to each other and received positive feedback from people in the audience. The reprise was very popular.
Pam

Audience feedback:

“Excellent material and performance"
“Very enjoyable event”
“The final ‘medley’ was very effective”
“Great variety. Would like to hear more.”
“Especially liked the reprise – realized how much I remembered about each poem by hearing one line. Also the questions at end, and bits of biog on the performers, also the more ‘light-hearted’ stuff.”

Earlsdon Library, Coventry - 5 October 2006
With Catherine Byron, Katie Daniels, Robert Hamberger and Michael Tolkien

Michael and Katie performed to a bijou audience at Earlsdon Library, reading work around the National Poetry Day theme of 'Identity'. The poets served up an interesting menu that included carbolic soap and dead mouse sandwiches... although they would, perhaps, have liked to tell the man in the corner (in the words of John Cooper Clarke) that "You never see a nipple in the Daily Express".

As it was National Poetry Day, there was a slightly different format from our other tour events by special arrangement with Coventry City Council. Robert and Catherine ran workshops during the day for primary aged children and at teatime for adults. Catherine even managed to obtain cakes by proxy, the clever thing.
Katie

De Montfort University, Leicester - 25 September 2006

Our first tour event at went well, with Robert, Allan, Pam and Helen reading poems on the theme of 'Sailing the curve of the world'.

Valiantly surmounting the whistling air-con, the poets took us on real and metaphorical journeys through concepts of love, home and family. We met a mermaid at a parish meeting, a butchers' boy and Kurt Cobain. The largely student audience gave great feedback and there was time for a Q&A session with the poets at the end.

Great selection of crisps too!
Katie

Audience feedback:
"Very stretching and inspiring"
"The reading tactic of finding a common thread and alternating different poems and readers worked really well .."
"I really enjoyed the programme, the way the poems were linked by theme, and the variety of voices, styles and perspectives."

If you attended any of these events and would like to post your own review, please go to our 'Contact' page to send us your review and we will post it here (we may edit if necessary, but we won't change the gist).