We sat down for a quick chat with Anna Jordan. Decade is the debut, autobiographical poetry collection from Bruntwood winning playwright and screenwriter Anna Jordan.
Poetry book available here.
Decade spans ten formative years—how did poetry change the way you shaped such personal material compared to stage and screen?
I’m draw on my own experiences for everything I write, but this collection of poems is a very real distillation of things that have happened in my life and the impact they’ve had on me. So I’ve been honest in a way I’ve not been before. I’ve found my poetry has improved since I’ve started challenging myself to find the most economical way to say what I want to on the page. So I’m always looking to pare back. When I start writing a poem I’ve no idea how long it’s going to be, whereas when writing for stage or screen there are at least some limitations. I love the freedom and surprise of working on poetry. It really keeps me on my toes creatively and has improved my work for screen and stage, I think.
In fact – some of the poems proved to be “seeds” for the play Lost Atoms which I made with Frantic Assembly and which toured over the last nine months. I’m not sure I would have written the play as it is if the poems hadn’t come first. I think being a poet is making me a better artist all round.
Your writing blends dark humour with emotional depth—how did you strike that balance in such an intimate form?
I think that as a writer my key vibe / style is blending dark humour with emotional depth! It’s been said a lot about my work and I don’t think I could be paid a higher compliment (apart from that I absolutely nail structure – and that will never happen!) In all honesty though it’s not something I do consciously. It’s all instinct. It’s the sort of writing, the sort of art, I’m drawn to and I think it reflects real life. Even in the saddest of situations there’s usually some laughter and to be found and the situations that make us laugh the most often have an element of sadness. In fact in very dark, traumatic situations often humour is a safety valve, just relieving a bit of tension.
I think it’s inevitable that this would come out in my poems; the last 10 years has been hellish but also beautiful in many ways and, at times, very very funny.
Did revisiting these autobiographical moments shift how you see them, or yourself as a storyteller?
It was interesting to gather together these fragments of memories – which are essentially what the poems are – and string them together so they followed a narrative. Also it’s a little frustrating as there are gaps! A lot of the poems are about my experience with miscarriage, my longing for a baby. But there are no poems about giving birth or having a new born! I guess I was too bloody exhausted and busy to be writing poems.
Putting them together I wish I could have spoken to the younger version of me, just to let her know that actually things were going to be OK. I guess that’s a very common thing for a writer to want to do. I also feel very sad for her. I read through the poems and think “God what a very shitty and painful time that was” but at the time you’re just there, getting up in the morning, trying to live life day to day even though you’re in the eye of the storm. I also look at the happier poems – the pride I have in my son, the joy of falling in love, and I can remember those feelings in my body because of the words on the page. I’m so glad I recorded them. Life can feel so tough sometimes – it’s good to revisit those good times.
From Yen to Succession and Killing Eve, what has poetry allowed you to express that other mediums haven’t?
Oh god – it’s the brevity I love! The knowledge that I can start writing a poem and maybe it will be finished in an hour – or a day – or a week. A version of it anyway. That’s so satisfying for me. There isn’t quite the need for clarity of story in a poem that there is in a play or TV show I think. More can be left to the imagination or to the readers perception and I like that. There’s so much more freedom! Perhaps I’ll grow bored of it soon but I’m pretty enamoured with writing poetry right now.
Working on shows like Succession and Killing Eve were amazing places to learn and grow as a writer but of course there are limitations. You’re writing within the style of the show, the beats you’re writing have been decided collectively by the writers room or between you and the showrunner. There’s less freedom. Sometimes that’s a joy. Sometimes it’s frustrating. When you write poetry it’s all up to you. Sometimes that’s a joy. Sometimes it’s terrifying.
How has your father’s practice of daily poetry influenced your voice in Decade?
The love that my dad, Peter Gordon, had for my mum was intense and inspiring. He wrote her a poem every day for 25 years and put it under her pillow. And he continued to write for her after she died. It’s a way he keeps their love alive. Me and my sister created a website with the best 300 (out of 8000!) called A Love In Verse – we’re really proud of it, and him. They are beautiful and painful to read, he is a wonderful poet. There was a discipline and commitment to it which I aspire to. And in some ways I’m continuing the tradition as a lot of the poems I’ve written are to my mum (the book is dedicated to her – Allie Rose). There are poems written to my son too. But also to my partner – a lot of them are love poems which explore falling in love and all the heady chaos of that.
Actually I was further inspired by my partner, Henry Widdicombe, who turned an extremely traumatic, life-changing experience into some really amazing art with his comic “How to Survive An Affair – A Practical Guide.” Being close to someone actually using their pain to create something was really galvanising. It’s not only moving and funny but it has been a comfort and support to many who have read it.
Seems mad that I’ve been a writer for so long and it’s taken me this long to pluck up the courage to write directly and truthfully about my experiences of the last ten years. Sometimes you just need to see other people doing it well, I guess. I’m lucky to have such creative people around me.
With similar themes in Decade and Mother Courage and Her Children, what keeps drawing you to stories of motherhood and loss?
I guess motherhood has dominated my life for a long time. I was very close with my mother and she was ill for two years before she died so I spent a long time thinking about our bond and what life would be like without her in this world. At the same time I was constantly trying and failing to become a mother, constantly having to adjust my identity, dealing with multiple losses. I was pregnant four times in all. And now here I am, mother to a crazy brilliant seven year old and – I don’t know – there isn’t a moment I’m not his mum, when I’m not trying to balance being a parent and writer. The opening poem describes the nuclear loss and violent gain of the last ten years. I think these losses and gains I’ve experienced around motherhood will keep me writing about it for a long time yet.