Advancing Poetry

Up for the Prize

2012-01-16T11:35:00.001Z

Sometimes, although this can be rare, planned outings have a way of working out perfectly and this is what happened with yesterday evening's trip to the TS Eliot reading. Perhaps it is the effect of the South Bank weaving a kind of magic as it did last September when I was there for the reading about Edward Thomas. He managed to tiptoe into last night's event too, with a mention in Carol Ann

Boxing Day Seventy Years on

2011-12-26T17:45:00.004Z

I'm thinking of my Taid today, my grandfather, Jim Honeybill who, seventy years ago, will have spent the day getting ready to leave Malta with MV Ajax, in the company of the Sydney Star, Cty of Calcutta and Clan Ferguson, accompanied by Force K and heading for Egypt. I expect he will have been relieved to get back to sea. They been on Malta since the end of September and had been bombed for most

Stateside - Jehanne Dubrow

2011-12-02T13:02:00.002Z

StatesideThis was one of my finds of 2011. I can’t quite remember how I came across the book, not in a bookshop that’s for sure. It was undoubtedly somewhere on one of my rambles round the internet. I often castigate myself for spending time browsing, hopping from link to link, then realising how much valuable writing time I’ve lost. In this instance it as well worth it.Stateside is by an

I name this ship – book launches

2011-11-20T17:36:00.002Z

November has been a month of book launches for me, mostly friends books. By some miracle of organisation I’ve managed to get to three of them.The first was a Cinnamon Press launch for three North Walian poets, Steve Griffiths, Marianne Jones and Pete Marshall. This was held in a welsh language bookshop, Palas Pendref Print in Bangor. I believe it was their first poetry reading and it was nearly

The original War poetry

2011-10-10T15:46:00.002+01:00

Over the last week I’ve been reading Homer’s Iliad, finding my way into this rather daunting epic poem eased by Robert Fagles excellent readable translation and Alice Oswald’s latest collection Memorial. What Oswald does is to focus entirely on those who died – the boring bits as she refers to them. Of course Memorial is anything but boring.I’m still pondering which structure to use for

An evening with Edward Thomas

2011-09-23T12:38:00.001+01:00

Went down to London yesterday for a day of culture – the Royal Academy in the morning, Poetry library in the afternoon and an evening with Edward Thomas. The evening was not as the delightful Matthew Hollis pointed out at the start with the man himself but with his poems. After one of his previous sessions a couple staying in the same B&B were heard complaining at breakfast that they’d expected

Writing away from Home

2011-09-21T14:57:00.002+01:00

"There is no better air than here for work" John Maynard KeynesI’ve managed to line myself up two writing courses for this autumn. Last weekend was the Tilton House retreat led by Vanessa Gebbie. At the end of October I’m off to North Wales (again) for a whole week of writing with Cinnamon Press and Jan Fortune and Pete Marshall. I wrote so much in the spring during the last course and these were

A little Historical research

2011-09-11T21:58:00.005+01:00

Malta Convoys 1940-43 by Richard Woodman has been my heavyweight summer reading. It is the definitive history of the ships that supplied Malta and I’ve come to regard it as a sort of bible when it comes to finding out all the details.Unlike some of my other Malta reading it offers tantalising glimpses of Taid’s ship M.V. Ajax. She was involved in three of the convoys – Operation Halberd in

The Sugar Mile by Glyn Maxwell

2011-08-22T13:09:00.003+01:00

I came across references to The Sugar Mile in a book about the first day of the Blitz, written by Peter Stansky, an American historian. This was on the shelf in the village library and even though I have plenty still to read about Malta I borrowed it in the interests of widening my reading. Of course the local library like many across the country needs borrowers and supporters. Glyn Maxwell is

Distinction

2011-08-16T12:36:00.008+01:00

Just before going away on holiday I received the result for A363 and to my astonishment discovered I'd been awarded a distinction. I suppose I should have had more confidence in the Malta poems' ability to stand on their own two feet and take on the world but… being on the inside of how tough OU Award Boards can be I wasn't convinced I'd written well enough to get first class honours. For this

Publications and Successes

2011-07-18T10:34:00.002+01:00

It still feels as if I'm in catch-up mode with this blog as I have some publication successes from earlier in the year to report.My poem At Sea received an Honorary Mention in the 2011 Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition and was published on-line in Southword 19A. Two of the poems from the Malta sequence - Convoy Diary and Malta 1942 were published in Envoi in June 2011.Then

Catching up

2011-06-22T11:36:00.001+01:00

Although I haven't been writing on this blog I have been doing plenty of writing since last summer. This includes a treasure filled week in North Wales in March with Jan Fortune and Pete Marshall on one of the Cinnamon Press regular writing weeks- http://www.cinnamonpress.com/writers-services/The project which has been preoccupying me for most of this year is a sequence of poems based on my

Thinner than a Hair Giveaway

2010-07-06T21:09:00.003+01:00

I have one copy of Thinner than a hair to give to a lucky reader of this blog. All you have to do is post a comment telling me why you'd like it. On 21st July I've chose a winner.Meanwhile the blog tour continues on Clare Dudman's blog.

Thinner than a Hair Blog tour

2010-07-05T22:15:00.008+01:00

Today I’d like to give a warm welcome to Adnan Mahmutovic, Bosnian author of the prize winning novel Thinner than a Hair, which is available from Cinnamon Press, together with Refuge(e) a collection of short stories and poems. Thinner than a Hair is told in the first person by Fatima, who is growing up in Bosnia in the 1980s and 1990s. So as well

Winners and Sucesses

2010-06-03T11:21:00.004+01:00

National Poetry Month seems a long time ago now. The winners of the two books I was giving away were Evelyn and Valerie.I'm about to have a poem published in Orbis and another of my poems was awarded highly commended in a recent competition.

Poetry Book Giveaway for National Poetry Month

2010-03-30T14:36:00.003+01:00

National Poetry Month is fast approaching and Kelli Russell Agodon has come up with a great way to celebrate - participating bloggers will give away two books -- the first can be your own and the second a favourite book by another author. If you would like to know more on how to participate click here.The two books I'm giving away are Against the Clock - an anthology written by a group of

Murano by Mark Doty

2010-03-11T13:01:00.002Z

Murano is a little gem of a book. Somehow the accompaniment of pictures makes the poem stand out much more than it it does when you read it amongst all the other poems in Sweet Machine. Venice simmers and glides through the pages as well as all the glass.I've also bought Theories and Apparitions - his latest collection. My favourite poem so far isTheory of Narrative which I heard him read at the

Thaw by Fiona

2010-03-03T12:13:00.006Z

For a change from poetry there is the new novel - Thaw by Fiona Robyn for you to read which started on Monday.

Poetry in the streets

2010-02-22T22:21:00.003Z

There was a wonderful article by Jane Gardam in Saturday's Guardian Review about her and a friend bringing poetry to the streets of Sandwich. Something I've always wanted to do but never been quite brave enough.

Day seventy nine - Mark Doty

2010-02-17T16:15:00.002Z

I’ve gone back to reading Mark Doty’s poetry over the last week. Hs poems have a deceptive simplicity. They look as if they must have been easy to write,, they flow like a conversation with a familiar friend. Doty takes the ordinary – a retriever fetching a ball – and turns it into a meditation on life and being present in the moment. I’ve just ordered a copy of Murano. The poem written in

Slipstream Poets

2010-02-16T23:01:00.003Z

I'm highly commended in the Slipstream Competition

Poetry win

2010-02-15T17:36:00.002Z

One of my poems has just won first prize in the JBWB competition

Day Forty Six

2010-01-15T11:58:00.003Z

An acceptance in the post from Orbis for a poem of mine called Mark Doty's dog. It will be in issue 150 or 151.

Gwyneth Lewis

2010-01-09T21:38:00.006Z

One of my favourite poets. I'm hoping that eventually my Welsh will improve to the level where I'll be able to read her Welsh poems in the original language.She has a new book coming out with Bloodaxe - the Hospital Odyssey She's currently a fellow in arts and humanities at Stanford.

T S Eliot Prize

2010-01-06T19:44:00.003Z

I got one of the short-listed collections Weeds & Wild Flowers by Alice Oswald for Christmas which I'm enjoying but somehow I don't think it will win.Meanwhile the Poetry Book Society has one of Jane Draycott's poems as poem of the monthTechnique A house is a good large object to visualise ‘Seeing With the

Day Thirty Six - Louise Erdrich

2010-01-05T14:35:00.006Z

Up until now I've only known Louise Erdrich as a novelist but got her first collection of poetry JacklightIt includes this poemhttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171830and more information is herehttp://www.harpercollins.com/authors/2905/Louise_Erdrich/index.aspx

Day Twenty - snow

2009-12-20T22:03:00.001Z

The Christmas holidays have begun with snow for us - a rare treat. SnowThe room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window wasSpawning snow and pink roses against itSoundlessly collateral and incompatible:World is suddener than we fancy it.World is crazier and more of it than we think,Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portionA tangerine and spit the pips and feelThe drunkenness of things being

Day Seventeen - Kingfisher

2009-12-17T13:24:00.001Z

Despite the bitter cold here in the East of England (snow is forecast) I made msyelf go out for a walk/escape from the office at lunchtime. Worth braving the cold as down by the river Ouzel I came very close to kingfisher on one of the pollarded willows by the water's edge. You only ever catch a glimpse of these birds but such colours. Here's a poem I wrote earlier about another kingfisher. Catch

Day Fourteen – Time for some Salt

2009-12-14T21:42:00.002Z

If you have not heard yet of Salt Books, based in Cambridge, England then you are in for a treat. They publish some of the best and most original poets writing today. About this time last year I treated myself to a subscription to their poetry bank – the best kind of bank around if you ask me. As a result during 2009 I’ve been receiving regular deliveries of gorgeous hardback poetry books, which

Samantha Wynne Rhydderch

2009-12-09T11:08:00.005Z

I am really enjoying the wit,humour and underlying sadness of the poems in her second collection Not in These shoes - my lucky find on Sunday. My favourite poem is Crayfish Tail Salsa - based I suspect on a real experience of working in a hotel and how exploited you can be as a young person. My copy of the book has the last couple of pages missing but fortunately the Picador blog has the

Day Seven

2009-12-07T12:05:00.003Z

I've been browsing the Blackbird website today - an on-line journal of literature and the arts which has lots of fine poetry to offer. Today's poet is Katie Ford who has published two collections including Colosseum (Graywolf Press, 2008), which won the 2009 Levis Reading Prize. As well as her poems Blackbird includes a conversation in which she mentions Tess Gallagher's comments You don’t have

Day Six

2009-12-06T20:48:00.002Z

While elder son was at his guitar lesson I discovered one of the charity shops in town was open (unusual for a Sunday) and spent a happy half hour browsing their books. Came away with Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s Not in These shoes. Worth buying just for the opening poem Decoupage.

One Hundred Days

2009-12-05T15:45:00.004Z

From 1st December I've committed myself to writing (or if no time to write) reading a poem every day for one hundred days. A day without any poetry in it is rather like a day without smiles. Today is Day five and I've just finished revising over twenty poems to send off for critique. The poet I've discovered this week is Myra Schneider.

Much Progress

2009-10-16T14:33:00.001+01:00

After a hectic summer on the work and domestic front I’ve been managing to find time for poetry this month. Sent the next batch of poems to my mentor in North Wales earlier this week. I’ve have been working through the poems she has read so far polishing them and sending them out.Can’t wait until Monday and Pascale Petit’s workshop at Tate Modern.

Slow Trains Literary Journal

2009-07-27T22:38:00.003+01:00

Two of my poems Reading Mayakovsky and Transient have recently appeared on Slow Trains. They are rather wintry for July.

Small sucesses

2009-03-23T12:02:00.000Z

It was good to have a poem appear last week on Ink, Sweat and Tears. There is nothing like seeing one of your poems 'in print' to give you a lift.According to my paypal account I seem to have won a small scale poetry competition organised by the Write Idea. We had to write a poem a week for six weeks and I really wasn't expecting to get anywhere with it so that was a nice discovery last night.I'm

Lots of poems

2009-03-16T21:41:00.002Z

The lack of blog posts have been because I've been busy writing. What better excuse. It has been good. I've had a couple of acceptances with poems due to appear on Everyday poets and Ink Sweat and tears.

A Handful of Stones

2009-02-07T18:29:00.003Z

One of my pieces has gone up today on ahandfulofstones This is Fiona Robyn's lovely blog of small stones or moments of paying proper attention to everyday things.

Alison Brackenbury

2008-12-03T13:41:00.003Z

One of my favourite poets, Alison Brackenbury was on Radio 3 last night with an essay about John Clare. It included her wonderful poem - The Beanfields' Scent.You have a week to catch it on the BBC player if you missed it.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fs4s2/The_Essay_Under_the_Influence_Episode_2/

Fakenham Poetry Circle Open Competition

2008-09-10T13:26:00.003+01:00

During the summer I received a letter telling me that one of my entries was the amongst the twelve commended poems in the Fakenham Competition. The prizes were won by James Knox Whittet, Caroline Gilfillan and Bob Ward.http://www.carolinegilfillan.co.uk/My poem Remember to live was my least favourite of the three I entered but that's often the way with competitions.

Applehouse Poetry

2008-07-09T13:00:00.001+01:00

I have been writing poems although not as many as I'd like.One from last month has been chosen by Lynne Rees as her prize poem for June.http://applehousepoetryworkshop.blogspot.com/

Peter Doig

2008-02-06T11:44:00.000Z

For one of the exercises on the course we were asked to create poems from paintings in the Walker Museum in Liverpool. These are viewable on-line http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/The painting I chose to write about was Peter Doig's Blotter and now by one of those strange co-incidences in life I discover that there is an exhibition of his work at Tate Britain including Blotter

Elizabeth Bishop

2008-01-09T12:56:00.000Z

SESTINASeptember rain falls on the house.In the failing light, the old grandmothersits in the kitchen with the childbeside the Little Marvel Stove,reading the jokes from the almanac,laughing and talking to hide her tears.She thinks that her equinoctial tearsand the rain that beats on the roof of the housewere both foretold by the almanac,but only known to a grandmother.The iron kettle sings on

Back to the Poetry

2008-01-09T10:25:00.000Z

View from a Bathroom Window IIIce has whitened the corrugated roofsof the garages opposite.The dead starling still hangs,suspended by a threadfrom the top of the hawthorn.Every morning I look out and hopeit will be gone.The crows have tried to pull it away from whatever held it fastuntil it died.Will it still be there?When spring covers the treesin soft green leaves, a dead dangling reminder of

Another Nature Poem

2007-10-10T12:09:00.001+01:00

Wing, BuckinghamshireBlack crows flyingover white mistthrough which loomblurry shapes of treesCold October dawnbathroom window condensation streakedCrows cackle and fighton the rooftopsSun lightens the skythe mist thins.I found I had to make several attempts at writing such a simple poem and was conscious that I kept putting it off until I could find the time to go outside and sit and observe. I

Poems about Nature

2007-10-03T11:23:00.000+01:00

This is week four of the course and another poem by William Carlos Williams - Nantucket to consider. I also have to write another Nature inspired poem. Meanwhile I've just sent off a revised draft of last week's poem to the tutor. Improved, I hope, with the benefit of comments from my friends on the Grail PineconeReturning to the office after Tai chiyou suddenly swoop at my feetPluck a pinecone

Catching up at last

2007-09-28T23:01:00.000+01:00

Now I know why I've not kept a blog before. I don't have the time.This week I've been reading William Carlos Williams - Spring and all - for the course. Wrote a commentary tonight and sent it off. There is more I could say.Since I last updated the blog I've written and re-written a poem inspired by the Bath House at Barmouth. The resulting poem was much improved with the help of comments from my

Quiet

2007-09-14T14:52:00.000+01:00

I've been busy at work the last couple of days so not had any time for writing or poetry. Hopefully catch up this evening.

Poems by Guy Russell

2007-09-12T14:53:00.000+01:00

Here one of Guy's poems that is on the internethttp://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=570

Toddington Poetry

2007-09-12T12:32:00.001+01:00

Went to a poetry reading in Luton last night hosted by the Toddington Poetry Society http://www.toddingtonpoetrysociety.co.uk/ The reading was given by my friend Guy Russell. One of those strange things happened when you know someone at a social level through work but have not discovered the depth of the person that hearing their poetry brings.

Couple of Poems

2007-09-11T16:24:00.001+01:00

I had a go at several poems last night. At the moment I'm not that happy with any of them. I'm not at work tomorrow so will hopefully have the time to polish one enough to send it off.Heaven for LynWe’ve never met in real lifeso I can’t summon her upas a physical presence for youBut she writes and believes in her charactersas if they can come right off the pageand follow you around the house

Pre course exercise

2007-09-10T14:45:00.000+01:00

The course got underway on Friday with a two part exercise. We were given two poems to read and comment on. The second part of the exercise was to write your own poem about a family member or a friend.Spent much of the weekend playing with my children but did find time to read the poems and make notes although didn't get a chance to type them up until today at work. Haven't yet managed to write a

Ten days to go

2007-09-01T22:20:00.000+01:00

On 10th September I start the Poetry 2 course with poetry kit www.poetrykit.org.uk. I'm going to use this blog to keep track of my work and to provide a place to reflect over the ten weeks of the course.I've already been reading lots of poetry in preparation; Seamus Heaney and Robert Minhinnick in particular. I can't wait....