I’ve tried to unpick the lure of cities – those treasuries of glamour and harm, opportunity and loneliness – but never found the right tools. My key to the city turned out to be film, specifically the noir films I’ve been watching all my life. This gave me the distance and mise-en-scène I needed: the American metropolis where refugee European directors and cinematographers made art from anxiety, where German Expressionism met the American Dream.
- Extract from Robin Robertson's poet piece in the Spring Bulletin.