A book of 16 poems and photos (2007-9) exploring the paradoxical nature of inspiration in relation to a Russian Muse. Here is an extract from the speech made at the book launch in Daunt Books, Fulham Road, London: My Lords, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here this evening to the launch of ‘The Muse’ – an experimental collection of poems illustrated with photos created over the past 2 years. I would first like to thank Max from Daunt Books for making this evening possible and also Henry Virgin and his Green Boar Tea team for sponsoring us tonight with such delicious tea. Also to Francesca Gonshaw for help with the design of the book and to Chloe for helping with the T-Shirts. Due to the nature of the poems, I would prefer people to read them in their own time, I did not create them to be performed in public, they are records of private moments, of significant but difficult to digest feelings – when things became or were becoming conscious, when I felt compelled to put it to paper. Some of them are like riddles and I feel are better suited to quiet contemplation. At least one of the poems explores a theme that is taboo in our society so is hidden within metaphors and this represents as close as I’ve wanted to observe. As a collection of work, I hope the poems give an insight into the paradoxical nature of inspiration. There’s immediate, mid-term and long term inspiration; its all about the perspective you take. The exploration of this theme is most obviously present in the poem "Icarus’ Matrioshka", which uses the metaphor of reproduction and human birth for a more macro concept of ‘Creativity’. When I talk of ‘paradoxical’ I mean that initially one may observe that the energies of ‘The Muse’ are dark destructive forces. On the face of it that’s correct and yet even in those conditions light or ‘creativity’ can percolate through. Perhaps we feel more alive in proximity to danger? Perhaps one’s tarnished self feels better in proximity to those even more corroded than oneself? Maybe understanding the anatomy of cruelty has a more practical purpose: Survival, i.e. as research for a time in the future when one’s life or one’s loved ones lives depended on that knowledge? What I can say however, with certainty, is that from these psychological adventures – something was born, some evidence of value remains in tonight and in this book… In the tradition of William Blake and I know like many other artists, I share the belief, even necessity, of going to the limit of one’s experiences or where one will dare to go to in one’s mind and then “publishing” those experiences though one’s creations. How can you offer an insight if you haven’t been there? Naturally it’s a balance: knowledge versus the price of moral decay or spiritual corruption through the process. Even by making apples out of metal created during the big bang, the power of temptation cannot be neutralized so simply! The poems are the processing and converting of Life into the Theatre of Art. I have found that this is the process that gives my life meaning… As for the person who inspired by far the majority of the poems, whose title I have given the book – I will remain silent - the poems themselves give a better insight, like gradually revealing the layers of a Matrioshka doll. I can do that subject no justice here, right now. In conclusion, I will now read just one poem that is in honour of my grandmother who passed away last December and was herself a muse to some of the counter-culture figures living in Los Angeles in the 1960’s, its to her that this book is dedicated, its called "Goodbye". CRITICISM OF "ICARUS' MATRIOSHKA" The beauty of Icarus’s Matrioshka is that the poem itself can be taken apart, layer by layer, through metaphor and riddle but never quite reaching the core. This is quite fitting since the character Icarus seems to be confronted with the same problem with his own Matrioshka doll. A continuous source of inspiration but at the same time a prestidigitator and a minotaur; leading Icarus through a painful labyrinth of intrigue as the poet tries to get close to the true identity of the muse who gives birth to his inspiration. The notion of creation is explored taking the Jungian idea of Libido as the general creative life energy involved not only in human reproduction but as essential for the birth of any form of creative process. Icarus, having escaped death once, seems preoccupied with participating in the creative process now that he is given a second chance or is driven by a primeval instinct to procreate. The fifth stanza is of particular interest here: "Being inside you is not enough, As there is no ‘you’ to have…" At first glance one may think the obvious, that an emotional or intellectual bond cannot be formed through mere copulation, but what is more telling is the idea that Icarus forms another doll inside the ‘mother’ matrioshka doll adding oedipal undertones to the relationship to the muse. The question of ownership and possession is repeated again: "Ownership, Inspected at close quarters; Is little more than slavery". Why do we think that because we have given birth to a child (or an idea?) that it pertains to us? In the same way, inspiration cannot be owned nor contained. A notion reflected in the imagery used throughout the poem of caves, ‘Cavity of soul’, labyrinths, matrioshka dolls and even wombs: all hollow enclaves but also places of entrapment. For inspiration to bear fruit it must break free of these confines. HARRIET MULLER, October 2009 Buy a limited edition copy of 'The Muse'