Daniel Spicer ''Pivot in Pondicherry'', ''A Year and a Day'', ''Haiku in Diamond' Limbo''

Daniel Spicer has a pretty wide spectrum of the areas where he is busy writing reviews for The Wire magazine as well as Jazzwise, Songlines, The Quietus, New Internationalist and WeJazz. I have known him from the books such as my favourite The Turkish Psychedelic Music Explosion: Anadolu Psych (1965–1980) (published by Repeater Books in 2018) and Peter Brötzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution And The Politics Of Improvisation (Repeater, 2024).  He also presents the radio show The Mystery Lesson, which airs on One Jazz and previously on Brighton's 97.2FM Radio Reverb, focusing on avant-garde and experimental music.  As a musician, he has been a member of the ensembles Bolide, West Hill Blast Quartet, and In Threads, and has released solo work such as the Voice Studies 10 album.

When he announced a free give away of his latest book - ''Pivot in Pondicherry'', I have instantly felt that something is on the cards. Dan was kind enough to send me two other books and encouraged to read it it in this order: 1) A Year and A Day, 2) Haiku In Diamond Limbo 3) Pivot in Pondicherry which I did.

A Year and a Day starts with two short poems: ''perdurabo in gnawa'' and ''see you in the hole'' which immediately made me think of something of geometric nature - I read them in a few different sequences and followed the suit with the rest of the poems in this volume. The poems, as being read in the order as you go through the dates they were written, have this specific aura of something elusive and yet quite heavyweight when it comes to the existential aspect that lingers everywhere. Sensations, recollections, all the impossible metaphors that bud up like little flowers here and there. It has both a sensation of an urban psychogeographical drift but fascinating as the poetry should be when it makes you feel grounded in wonder. Those poems are little wreaths of symbolism that you can stumble upon in every day situations. You can read Daniel's writing about a bus trip ''some bullshit bus into the middle of nowhere'' but it makes sense - he draws so much inspiration from disappointment and moves the reader towards some sort of inward looking sense of harmony, an uncanny really with all the pain that you notice at some point. Or in ''just two grandmothers'' an observation of elderly women talking about the state of things today. There's many different elements to this puzzle - definitely Eastern philosophy, psychedelic experiences, references to other artists, cultural cliches and troupes - it's an arabesque kaleidoscope, revolving as a merry-go-round lights in the warm evening, blurred for a second and then gaining focus again as in some hauntological dream.

The second volume is a bit shorter, and smaller in size but it is continuing the intimate streak of recollections and thoughts. A bit different in style but shapes up interesting. It made me think of how the creative process works when the author, keeping his personal experiences in one hand is striving to convey all the essence and the contents in a way that might possibly and successfully bring the reader to the onus of understanding the private ontology - to grasp the nature of reality - the one expressed in an objectively comprehensive manner, yet speaking of something that is not always so objective, easily-understood, highly intimate, not always easy to explain in logically transparent way. I have to say - I was moved, in some strange way hexed and wooed by this volume, which leads to the final (?) point which is ''Pivot in Pondicherry''

''Pivot...'' is a poetic prose journal in which Daniel is describing his trip to India after some sad personal experiences. They bleed through the verses, his heart too. It feels genuine and Dan uses his literary talent to convey it in an elegant, private and subtle way...but he is in India - a whirlwind of a country - bright with colours, sensations, smells, savouring scents, aromas, flavours. 

What is a journey? Does it change us and in what way? In the times of shallow self-help books in  a style of Elizabeth Gilbert which is a trivial and contrived version of books on personal travel - I always come back to Nicolas Bouvier - a deep meditation on motives, the course of the travel itself and the possible outcomes. 

Daniel is a wanderer, a pilgrim of some sort of sanctified (far from sanctimonious as he has way too much intelligence, healthy pragmatism to lead himself into an elevation of self-interest to some absurd levels)  inner order that drifts more and more consciously towards some consolation, balance, admiration of the colourful reality and hope, yes...hope ( what a rare word ) that comes out unassumingly, slowly, even though there are setbacks and at the end of the journey there is another personal tragedy on the threshold. 

How to read ''Pivot in Pondicherry''? It's a journal, soaked in poetry, subtle and deep observations. It teaches you to observe, to read the cultural traits, how to find harmony in an utter chaos of life's obvious and not so obvious paths. It teaches, but the word used here doesn't indicate anything patronising or nothing really what is purposefully educative. The author just sets a very high standard here and sets an example. Probably not intentionally. But even more genuinely. 

Daniel Spicer -  a man who can weigh words and expressions with both hands, his mind and heart. You were reading his reviews and you assumed ...this or that...maybe him being knowledgeable, maybe even cynical to some extent ( but hey, in healthy dosage - it's ...healthy). Read his more personal works - you will be positively surprised and tempted to savour words, sentences and his syntaxes. Like an ever-flowing waves of spices, aromas, flavours, notions...