Kris Spencer is a retired Headteacher. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. The RGS is a historic institution that celebrates explorers. He was born and grew up in a village outside Bolton, a large town in the north of England. He attended the universities of Hull and Cincinnati, and Jesus College, Oxford. For thirty years, or so, he has taught Geography and occupied a number of management and leadership roles in schools. He still teaches, full-time.
He lives with his wife and two children in Chiswick, London.
Kris has work published in journals in the UK, US, Eire, Europe, Australia, India and SE Asia. His debut collection, Life Drawing, was published in 2022 by Kelsay Books. His second collection, Contact Sheets, is due for publication by Kelsay Books in 2024. In addition to poetry, he has written seven textbooks and many articles.
Twitter handle: @KrisSpencerHead
What does your memory smell like?
I recently wrote a poem, Burning a Field. The smell of burnt grass carries with it something of those heightened moments of joy and excitement that come with childhood. I have included the poem here.
Also, the flinty smell that comes just before it rains after a dry spell in summer. That tumbles me down a staircase of memories, hitting every step. It is here somewhere in my poem, We Need to Find a Forest.
What do you want your future to taste like?
I am on a health kick at the moment—so, porridge and mackerel. Beaujolais and dark chocolate. Salt spray whipped up from the waves. Kimchi and Kombucha. Lemons and apples.
Favourite line of a poem right now?
This might be a bit of a cheat, it has four lines and is a complete poem, but William Blake’s Eternity.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise
When I was a Headteacher, I had that up on the wall of the Main Hall.
I like the line from T Rex, Children of the Revolution,
I drive a Rolls Royce
Cause it’s good for my voice
I might give it more depth than it wants for but it always makes me smile, not least given the title of the song.
The poet/the poems that give you life?
There are three poems which I use to help guide what I do. They are my reset poems.
The first is La Sauvecita by Lupe Mendez. Then there is Family Dollar by Hannah Brooks-Motl. And, Hotel Arts, Barcelona by Rachel Long. They all do something different. I like how each poem works itself out. How the poets’ choice of form and the structure are so well married. There are links below where you can hear the poets reading their work.
I used to love reading Where the Wild Things Are to my kids. I still try but they’ve moved on, for the moment. Something of the rhythms and breaks of that poem – its music – has stuck with me.
https://poets.org/poem/la-suavecita
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91981/family-dollar
What is your why?
Writing a poem is a process of exploration. One aim is to come out things knowing more than when I started. For me, it starts with noticing something. And, then, I try to work out what there is in that thing that is worth sharing. And, whether I am up to communicating that thing. I don’t edit very much in the first draft. In the redraft, I think about the shape and form. It’s then that I know if I have something to work with and develop. I don’t want to pin anything down. The best I can do is to try to suggest a space for the reader to think their own thoughts. Take them to a place. It is asking a lot of the reader. This poem—Angel with Cherubs, Tucson—from my new collection, tries for something of that space.
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