The Mays XIX

THE MAYS is the anthology of new writing and artwork from Cambridge and Oxford.

PAU L SM ITH

RIC HARD MILWARD

THE MAYS XIX

J A RV I S C O C K E R

THE MAYS XIX

The Mays x ix

Varsity Publications Ltd Old Examination Hall Free School Lane Cambridge cb2 3rf First published 2011 by Varsity Publications Ltd Copyright © 2011 Varsity Publications Ltd The right of all persons so listed to be identified as the authors of their work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988

isbn 978-0-902240-41-4 Typeset in Winchester New ITC and Johnston ITC

by Nico Taylor Printed and bound

by Y Lolfa Cyf. in Talybont, Wales Cover image by Nico Taylor Original concept by Peter Ho Davies, Adrian Woolfson, Ron Dimant All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the Publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

Further copies of this book and other titles in the series can be bought through most booksellers or direct from Varsity Publications at the address above or at: www.varsity.co.uk/themays

T HE MAYS XI X

G U E S T E D I T E D BY

R I C H A R D M I LWA R D J A RV I S C O C K E R PAU L S M I T H

va r s i t y pu bl ic at ions

Suburbia I am heading to Staten Island I will bring you flowers And sameness. And melancholy And children And whatever else they breed In the suburbs

P R A J WA L PA R A J U LY

XVII

EDITOR'S PREFACE

XIX

RICHARD MILWARD

XXI

JARVIS COCKER

XXIII

PAUL SMITH

C X LV

CONTRIBUTORS

CLII

(PROSE INTRODUCTION)

(POETRY INTRODUCTION)

(VISUAL ARTS INTRODUCTION)

EDITORIAL TEAM

P RO S E

EMILY ADL AM

THE TR ANSMISSION OF ICEBERGS

YOSOL A OLORUNSHOL A

R ATS AND MART YRS

MARTIN MCGUIGAN

JUST A TASTE

PR AJWAL PAR AJULY

GITA AND I

ROSIE L AVAN

BL ACKPOOL SPRING

JONATHAN MCALOON

AFGHANISTAN WEDDING

SAM SUDAR

AND THE L AND POURED INTO THE SEA

P O E T RY

SOPHIE SEITA

THE MATRYOSHK A DOLL

PATRIC K D’ARCY

TAKING BREAKFAST ON THE ROOF BUT UNDER LINEN

VICTORIA ELLIOTT

FELICIT Y GODDESS, 900 B.C .

ANNA PIC K

T WO THOUSAND DEAD BEES

STEPHANIE DAVIN

AIRPORT

R AC HEL TEUBNER

THE DARNING ROOM

SEÁN HEWITT

THERE WERE NO DRUGS AT HOME, NO BLACKED OUT CARS

C HARLES WHALLEY

MY NAME IS BINA OH RIGHT UM BINA ROTHBL AT T ANYHOW

V I S U A L A RT S

GIULIO MORELLO

HAIRDRESSER

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, HAND IN HAND

GEORGE SHAPTER

01

02

PHYLLIDA BLUEMEL

PAPER AND TRIANGLES

JEREMY SIMMONS

UNTITLED

EDWARD QUEC KETT

RECURSION; 2:43 AM

E D I TO R ' S P R E FA C E

After almost two decades of The Mays, the job of editing the anthology has become a daunting task. The legacy of the last nineteen editions is substantial, and we have dedicated ourselves to preserving everything that worked so well in the past, while finding new ways to improve. From the outset we knew we wanted to showcase the best of Oxford and Cambridge as they exist today, rather than the exclusive domain of drawling dons and triple-barreled socialites they may once have been.

Oxford and Cambridge are small but mighty towns where any coffee shop goer might find themselves sitting beside a Peruvian archaeologist and a Glaswegian medic, each with their own unique stories to tell, and think little of it. Thankfully, our guest editors Jarvis Cocker (poetry), Richard Milward (prose), and Paul Smith (visual arts), have selected work that loudly announces just how fascinating and diverse those who come to study here really are.

This year The Mays staked its claim on the digital world, kicking off with a poetry competition on Twitter, followed

by a short film competition judged on YouTube. However, it is time to turn from the virtual to the tactile, and allow The Mays to finally emerge, yet again, in paper and ink. We are beyond grateful to everyone who has contributed to making everything happen for this the nineteenth time. It is a testament to the enduring power of books.

Philip James Maughan and Catriona Gray Editors

P ROS E I NTRO D U C TI O N

R IC H A R D M I LWA R D

One of the first ‘adult’ short stories I read was James Kelman’s ‘Acid’, whilst flicking through Not Not While the Giro in Middlesbrough’s Waterstone’s in the 1990s. It’s a very short short story, about a young man who falls into a vat of acid, and is put out of his misery by his father, who dunks him under the surface with a ‘big pole’. The tone is like that of a pub anecdote but, compared to the flotsam and jetsam of pissed-up pub chatter that tends to go in one ear and out the other, the power of that story has stuck with me for years. It’s both tender and terrifying, and hardly half a page long.

Just like a pop song, the best short stories can be returned to and relied on to fire up all sorts of good and bad memories and feelings. It’s an artform unto itself – dropping the reader eyeballs-first into a world at once familiar and surprising, then dragging them back out minutes later, leaving them gasping, with a lasting impression. Some stories

pluck softly at your heartstrings like a romantic symphony; others kick you in the knackers like three-chord punk. The best do both.

It’s been an absolute blast, guest-editing the prose for The Mays. I had no idea what to expect. Despite getting decent enough marks in English, I dropped the subject after A Level, fearing an overly analytical degree might strangle my enjoyment of reading and writing. However, the variety of voices on offer in The Mays proves otherwise.

What excites me most about these writers is their love of language, and a diehard willingness to take risks. In the following pages, we’ve got booze-soaked babies, an extramarital affair, hallucinatory kiwis, crab pots, chasms, and a ‘sucker of rabbits’ eyes’. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for the macabre but, more than that, these stories share a sensitivity and authenticity, when it comes to presenting the human condition. Like all the best writers, these seven scribes seem to ravenously ‘Hoover up’ human existence, and blow it back out onto the page, in vivid Technicolor.

It’s been a treat reading these stories, and it’ll be an even bigger treat reading more from their authors, in the future.

You’ll need more than a ‘big pole’ to keep this lot down.

P O E T RY I N T R O D U C T I O N

JA RV I S C OC K E R

You lucky people – you are about to read about a russian doll, breakfast in France, a fertility goddess, an airport, some buttons, an old sock, bees, bailiffs & robots.

Amongst other things.

Poetry is language in its most concentrated form. So you, dear reader, will have to concentrate. It’s worth it, though: bound together within the leaves of this anthology is the work of an assortment of diverse young poets who have snatched particular moments from their lives & preserved them here for your benefit. Take your time. Shut out the endless babble of modern life for a few minutes. & savour. & enjoy.

I did.

Now it’s your turn.

V I S U A L A RT S I N T R O D U C T I O N

PAU L S M I T H

Although I’m not known principally as a visual artist, the bulk of my scholarly activity was concerned with either practicing art or studying its history, culminating in a book of Polaroids that I released last year. All I’ve ever tried to do is document modern life in a lyrical and empathetic manner, whether it be though lyrics in a pop song or via the click of a camera. I think it's very important that the visual arts are being given a showcase in this anthology and, although this section is in its infancy, I have no doubt that ongoing encouragement will foster more original work in due course.

From the entries submitted, I’ve chosen works that appeal specifically to me, which meant that some good work didn't make the cut purely because they were more traditionally acceptable and, therefore, a touch predictable for my taste. Other works seemed like part of a series and were somewhat rudderless without further context.

Instead, I’ve plumped for Jeremy Simmons’ vivid viridian photograph of an empty dry-cleaning shop: an example of my own love of everydady scenes that pop out of the mundane, day-to-day routine. This leads me on to Giulio Morello’s two ‘slice of life’ black and white photographs that give the viewer a peek into the trials and triumphs of childhood (as well as the strain of motherhood and the complicity of adults in a child's rites of passage). One of photography’s chief functions has been to capture ‘the moment’ and both of these images achieve that with the physical tension between mother and child and the subdued excitement betrayed by the glance of a newly-shorn young lad getting what he hopes will be the coolest haircut in his neighbourhood.

The next two selected artists are linked by the mystery of mark-making, their murky monochrome drawings being a kind of visual no-man’s land. George Shapter’s broad, charcoal smears create monolithic triangles that hint at lost or hidden races of people; abstracted enough to be a tile on the floor of a temple or even the temple itself, risen from the earth. The shifting perspectives of Edward Quekett’s image look hand-rendered, but could equally be the product of a photograph endlessly photocopied and degraded; classical beauty that has decayed and become like a prison.

Finally, quite apart from the other artists, is ‘Paper and Triangles’ by Phyllida Bluemel with its careful, fine lines and decorative aspect. It reminded me of an architect’s plan for an exotic garden, from an aerial perspective, without losing the sense that it had evolved from a doodle, which I find very endearing.

So, now that I’ve explained my reasoning, it’s time for you, the viewer, to form your own ideas and opinions on the forthcoming images. They are, I hope, worthy starting points in an ongoing engagement with describing the richly-detailed world around us.

C O N T R I B U TO R S G UEST E D ITO RS

JARVIS COCKER is a musician, actor, radio DJ, documentary film maker and poet. He is also Petey in Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. He has fronted his band, Pulp, for many years, as well as releasing two solo albums, presenting a Channel 4 series on outsider art and having his poetry emblazoned in huge brushed steel letters on the side of a prominent building in his wonderful hometown of Sheffield.

RICHARD MILWARD is the author of two novels, Apples (2007) and Ten Story Love Song (2009), both of which were published by Faber and Faber. He studied Fine Art at Saint Martins and has written columns for the Guardian and Dazed & Confused. He has recently finished his third novel.

PAUL SMITH is best known for his band Maximo Park.

He was once an art teacher and released his first book of photography ‘Thinking in Pictures’ last year, alongside his debut solo album, Margins. His musings on all things visible and aural can be located at www.paulsmithmusic.eu.

P ROSE

EMILY ADLAM originally hails from a small country mainly inhabited by sheep and hobbits, but is now reading Physics and Philosophy at the Queen's College, Oxford. In her spare time she enjoys playing the violin and debating, and she likes to write poetry, short stories and novels, though she generally doesn't admit to other physicists. Her work has been published in collections including Jeunes Auteurs d'Europe, Redraft, and the New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology.

YOSOLA OLORUNSHOLA has spent the last year living in Paris, where simply talking to people and making friends is enough to fulfill the requirements of her degree in History and French at Jesus College, Oxford. You can find her in restaurants – sometimes eating in them, sometimes just serving in them, at church in the Marais or explaining her name to bemused French folk.

MARTIN MCGUIGAN like most people, was born and wakes up every day. Soon after this he gets very angry at the

news, only to be placated by his true love – sandwiches. He enjoys electronic music and consciousness.

PRAJWAL PARAJULY devours three dozen Tibetan dumplings, known as momos, in a sitting to overcome being far from his hometowns of Gangtok and Kalimpong in the Himalayas. He recently finished Land Where I Flee, a collection of short stories based on the lives of Nepali-speaking people, and is now working on a novel.

After studying English at St Anne's College, Oxford, ROSIE LAVAN worked as a journalist in London. She returned to St Anne's for a Master's in 2010 and will begin doctoral study there in October.

JONATHAN MCALOON is from Newcastle and has just finished his English degree at Balliol College, Oxford. When he hears the viola da gamba he dances like Mick Jagger.

SAM SUDAR grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US. At the moment he is reading an M. Phil in neurobiology at Cambridge. He likes beer and bourbon.

P O E T RY

SOPHIE SEITA writes poetry and some short prose, both of which are informed by her love of hyphens and German compounds, her soft spot for collections and Matryoshka dolls. At the moment, she is intrigued by the American poet Marjorie Welish (whom she doesn’t really understand) and she is currently working on a long diamantine-shaped poem about a turtle. She has recently been shortlisted for the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize and the Brewer Hall Prize.

PATRICK D'ARCY has never read ‘Pride & Prejudice.’

VICTORIA ELLIOTT is completing her D. Phil in Education at Exeter College, Oxford. She used to be a Viking in her spare time, knows five or six dead languages and blogs about odds and bobs at http://misselliottsfascinatingenglishblog. blogspot.com.

STEPHANIE DAVIN has just completed a Philosophy degree at Trinity Hall, Cambridge but also enjoys writing poems. She sings and writes songs for a band called Post Louis.

RACHEL TEUBNER read religion and literature at Yale and is now studying Dante in Cambridge. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Jonathan and enjoys Joni Mitchell, windowboxes and pound cakes.

ANNA PICK studies Biochemistry and once described this in a job interview as her ‘greatest mistake’. There would be no point in her becoming a scientist anyway because there's already a Pick1 protein and a Pick’s disease.

CHARLES WHALLEY has very recently finished reading English at Trinity College, Oxford, and is daunted by his new surfeit of free time.

SEÁN HEWITT is currently studying English at Girton College, Cambridge. He is the editor of The Tower, and won the Rima Alamuddin Poetry Prize in 2011. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to folk music, learning useless languages, and reading things completely unrelated to his degree.

V I S U A L A RT S

Not content with doing one thing at a time, GIULIO MORELLO prefers to fail miserably in a variety of fields, amongst which is photography. Lives between Oxford, Italy, China and Zambia because he can’t do without airline food.

PHYLLIDA BLUEMEL studies Philosophy at Trinity Hall Cambridge and really likes to draw.

GEORGE SHAPTER is studying Art History at Trinity College. His recent work has culminated in a solo show in Cambridge, with pieces featured in a series of publications both online and in print.

JEREMY SIMMONS is a third year History of Art student at Homerton College. He tries to point out beauty and strangeness where they might otherwise go unnoticed, making drawings, paintings and photographs that subject often-overlooked objects and places to an unusual degree of scrutiny.

EDWARD QUEKETT is a creator, designer and consumer of pretty, little, and panicky things. Subsisting mainly on photographs, graphic design, theatrical lighting, and set, he is a plucky art historian with big artistic paws.

E D I TO R I A L T E A M E D I TO RS P H I L I P J A M ES M AU G H A N A N D C AT R I O N A G R AY

D ES I G N E RS N I C O TAY LO R A N D J U L I A L I C H N O VA

OX FO R D AS S O C I AT E E D I TO R TO BY L LOY D

M A N A G I N G E D I TO R MICHAEL DERRINGER

E D I TO R I A L C O M M I T T E E FAY LO M AS , ZO E L A RG E , T I M WAT E RS , C L A R I S S A PA B I , N AU S I C A A R E N N E R , A B I PA L M E R , J O E P I T T- R AS H I D, A N N A G E L D E R D A D A M H I N ES - G R E E N

E V E N TS K AT YA K A Z A K E V I C H , PAU L M E R C H A N T, RO S W H I T E , L AV I N I A M A G N I N I , K I RST Y P OT T E R , J ES S H O L L A N D

P RO O F R E A D E RS C A RO L I N E B L E E K E A N D D AV I D W ES C OT T

S P EC I A L T H A N KS TO O L L I E J O H N S O N , E L L I E K E N D R I C K , K I RST Y G R AY

W E A R E I N D E BT E D TO O U R C O L L EG E S P O N S O RS : OX FO R D : A L L S O U LS’ C O L L EG E , C O R P U S C H R I ST I C O L L EG E , N E W C O L L EG E , E X E T E R C O L L EG E , M E RTO N C O L L EG E , T R I N I T Y C O L L EG E , ST J O H N ’ S C O L L EG E , L A DY M A RG A R E T H A L L J C R CAMBRIDGE: T R I N I T Y H A L L , H O M E RTO N C O L L EG E , LU C Y C AV E N D I S H C O L L EG E , N E W N H A M C O L L EG E , Q U E E N S’ C O L L EG E , J ES U S C O L L EG E , S I D N E Y S U S S E X C O L L EG E , T R I N I T Y C O L L EG E , C L A R E H A L L , W O L FS O N C O L L EG E

untitled Every girl I've slept with has used spit to get things started.

You don't read about that in poems.

S A M S U DA R