Spake

Dialect and Voices from the West Midlands

Urszula Clark, Jonathan Davidson, Urszula Clark, Jonathan Davidson, Urszula Clark

• Publisher: Nine Arches Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781911027836
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

"Examining regional accents and our attitudes to them are a way of peering into Britain's soul. I can't wait for this book" – Sathnam Sanghera

Spake: Dialect and Voices from the West Midlands with contributions from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), Julie Walters, Liz Berry and many of the regions best known writers.

Spake is a love letter to the West Midlands voice and a challenge to the preconceptions and prejudices that abound about dialect and non-standard English. Much maligned, frequently overlooked or simply left out altogether: the English West Midlands has for decades been diminished in the national conversation - and with it, the rich dialects and voices of the region are often misunderstood, ignored or worse – ridiculed and mocked. But who's to say that the way we 'spake' isn't every bit as vital and precious a part of the landscape as other accents and dialects?

This anthology features contemporary writing that draws upon dialect in ways that explore the potential of the narrative and poetic voice, bringing to life the silent histories and harsh realities of a vanishing working-class way of life in what was once Britain's industrial heartland. From contemporary re-imaginings of the interwar decades in Steven Knight's TV series Peaky Blinders to Liz Berry's prize-winning poetry and up and coming new talent, this book celebrates and gives voice to experiences rooted in the region that have largely lain at the margins.

Roderick Smith

Scenes from A Brummie Iliad

Adapted from Homer’s Iliad

PART TWO

The Struggle for Patroclus’s Corpse

CHORUS	It’s late afternoon at the long black ships
	and Achilles is stood with his hands on his hips
	staring out across the plain
	He can’t make out what’s going on
	through the shimmer and the dust
	Zeus however’s up on Mount Ida –
	He’s got a grandstand view –
	and he can’t help interfering –
	You know the way gods do
	Hector’s still buzzing from Patroclus’s death
	and he’s chasin’ Achilles’s chariot
	Fruitlessly as it turns out
	what with Automedon being the driver
	and the horses being immortal –
	a wedding present to Peleus –
	Achilles’ dad –
	From Poseidon –
	Zeus’s brother –
	When he married grey-eyed Thetis –
	The sea nymph –
	But back on the plain beneath bright Ilium
	Menelaus is stood over Patroclus’s corpse –
	A shaggy, red highland cow
	protecting a first-born calf –
	feet apart, head lowered
	intending to defend it from the Trojan trophy hunters
	who hesitate like desert dogs
	But that kid is lingering out in front –
	that pretty kid Euphorbus –
	and he’s fingering the spear
	he’s just now extracted from Patroclus’s back
EUPHORBUS	My kill, Menelaus
CHORUS	He exaggerates
EUPHORBUS	Back off! I’m having his tackle
CHORUS	Lusting after Achilles’s divine armour
	and the kudos he’d accrue
EUPHORBUS	Unless you want some of this
CHORUS	The spear
EUPHORBUS	You’ve seen my work Atreides
CHORUS	The kid goes on to say
EUPHORBUS	I’ll put a bloody hole in you. Get out the fucking way.
CHORUS	Red hair shivers and re...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Liz Berry
• Lisa Blower
• Rupinder Kaur
• Steven Knight
• Roy McFarlane
• Emma Purshouse
• Paul McDonald
• Benjamin Zephaniah
• John Mills
• Roderick Smith
• R. M. Francis
• Julie Walters
• Meera Syal
• Biographical Notes
• Acknowledgements
• About the author and this book