
GHOSTS BEFORE BREAKFAST
A collection of experimental poems based on the films of Luis Brunel & Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie & Rene Clair, Man Ray, Hans Richter and Andre Arsenyevich Tarkovsky. In the depictions of the four Man Ray films, mainly written in Open Field form, the poems play with words and syntax which are mottled like the films themselves. The poet has experimented with language, invented neologisms and found significance in the shapes and sounds and dissection of words much like the Acmeists in 1910s Russia who wanted poetry to be more like architecture, building and angling words, moving and shifting syntax. Some of the lines use compressed words, reflecting the compressed nature of the film. While conducting research for a radio play about Lawrence Durrell, the poet came across a paragraph describing his visit to watch films when he spent time in Paris with Henry Miller, Anais Nin and company at the Villa Seurat in the 1930s. The first, a four-page open field poem, is on Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s ‘Un Chien Andalou’ (1928), ending with some factual information on the demise of the actors. The second poem depicts Erik Satie and René Clair’s’ Entr’acte’ (1924), and is in itself a collage. other poems follow, some with a contemporary adjunct.

REVIEWS
I have had the privilege of being acquainted with Wendy Holborow's poetry for a number of years. She has never failed to surprise and inspire me with the quantity of work that she produces and its consistent high standard. Wendy's has an alluring poetic style and a strong morale compass which directs her towards interesting subjects. 'Ghosts before Breakfast' is an experimental poetry collection based on the films of Luis Brunel, Salvador Dali (a personal favourite), Jean Cocteau among many others. It has been written in an accessible and stripped narrative. Wendy's experience as a stage writer becomes apparent in this collection. Her depictions are concentrated, profound and compelling. The collection is not simply a poetic recreation of the films, the poetry is laced with Wendy's charismatic perspective and poetic charm that makes her previous work so striking.
I thoroughly recommend this collection. Five stars!
Rhea Seren Phillips
SAMPLE POEMS
LAWRENCE DURRELL VISITS THE CINEMA IN 1930s PARIS
1
LUIS BUÑUEL AND SALVADOR DALI – UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1928)
hallucinating scenarios
easy time shifts
a film with no plot
chronology disjointed
the narrative flow of a dream logic interrupts
realism
Freudian free associations
suppressed human emotions
no rational explanation of any kind would be
acceptable
there is no dog in the film
*
man sharpens razor blade
balcony cloud slices moon
eye-squeezing moment
a woman’s eye-ball is sliced
and vitreous humour
spills out
*
eight years later
a second man
dressed in a nun’s habit
rides his bicycle –
cut to woman
framed in window
the man falls off
hits his head
on the kerb
she rushes to his side
fails to resuscitate
him
takes his clothes
assembles them
in order on her bed as if he is
wearing them
sits demurely contemplating
the clothing
another man appears
at her door
has ants crawling
from a hole
in his palm
the couple watches
an androgynous woman
poking a dismembered
hand
with a stick
bystanders gather to watch
(Dali himself in the crowd)
a policeman questions her
removes the hand
disperses the crowd
she stands in a trance
in the middle
of the road
cars scream past
one flattens her
*
Continued ...