Month: January 2012

Readings/

Olly packs em in at Lewes Poetry

Lewes_arms

Last night I nearly didn’t get a seat at the Lewes Arms for Oliver’s poetry night. Who were all those people? Where did they come from?

I hate to say it, but having a few posters out this time (as opposed to none last year, despite my begging Olly to send me one to copy and put up around town) made a big difference. AND the date was in the paper, together with forthcoming dates – amazing! We don’t need to read the horoscope any more to find out when they’re on. Nice one, Olly.

There was a very mixed bag of readings, thankfully none too long, as there were quite a few of us wanting to read. I really appreciate it when poets don’t grab more than their fair share of stage-time.

The limerick competition threw up some great entries, although for some reason the better ones got binned early on, much to the annoyance of one lady at the front who got more and more vociferous and I thought she was actually going to start a fight. And we had some loud moaning about ‘having to write a limerick’ from one person who didn’t seem to want to enter into the spirit of it. Ho hum. And no, I didn’t win this time!

Angst/

The key to writing better poetry is …

Saw a tweet about the new Arvon course list for 2012 being up. So couldn’t resist taking a look.

I’m going through this thing at the moment where I feel a desperate need for some sort of mentoring, or at least workshopping, with better poets than myself. Better writers, more experienced… I guess I don’t necessarily define ‘better’ in terms of recognition or success, but of course that’s part of it.

But it’s funny, sometimes, when I meet someone in a poetry setting, I get an immediate feeling that they’re ‘good’ – it’s hard to describe really, but I get a little ‘ping’, a lightbulb moment I suppose.

I can think of three people who’ve given me this feeling in the last few years. But I’m too shy to name them right now 🙂 The point is, they’re not all obvious candidates for the ‘lightbulb moment’. And I’ve come across many others who you’d think would qualify, but don’t.

It’s probably nothing to do with poetry wisdom or anything. Just a spark, a perceived (and possible one-sided) rapport.

Anyway, the Arvon courses that jumped out at me were a week on ‘Advanced Poetry’ with Carol Ann Duffy (quality-controlled entry, which I like) – but it’s a) in Scotland and b) overlapping with family holiday (already booked) …. a week in Devon with Mimi Khalvati and Sean O’Brien (I think… if I remember that correctly) – I haven’t yet been able to infiltrate the Lewes Live Lit monthly workshops with Mimi Khalvati, something that frustrates me NO END – and the idea of travelling to darkest Devon JUST to get into a workshop with her, when I can’t do so in my HOME TOWN, seems deliciously perverse.

And then there’s the possibility of a week with Don Paterson, albeit a ‘fiction and poetry’ week, when fiction interests me not one iota…. but Don Paterson? Oh my. Don. Paterson.

So I probably won’t be shelling out my £650 this year to the Arvon Foundation. And anyway, all these courses…. they’re a business, right? Just how many courses have the successful poets actually been on, at least, those who’ve been plying their trade since before the MA Creative Writing boom?

Isn’t writing better poetry down to reading good poetry, attempting to write stuff that’s as good, and practising again and again?

Mags & Blogs/

The ups and downs of poetry submissions

Last week: issue 48 of The North failed to arrive, and when I asked for my ‘contributor’s copy’ I was told…erm… you’re not a contributor.

The poem they’d asked for back in July 2011 had gone astray, and never made it into the issue. Boo! And now the next issue isn’t until October. Boo! But at least they’ve offered to include it then. Yay!

Then yesterday I get an abrupt email telling me my subscription to The North has been cancelled. When I called to ask why, I was told my credit card needed updating. So they cancelled my subs. Did I want to renew? Uh, I don’t think so, as there’s only going to be one issue this year, in October, and for that I’m going to receive a contributor’s copy. I think.

And today: email from new webzine Antiphon saying thanks but no thanks – Boo!

An hour later, email from Mslexia saying my poem’s been selected for issue 53 in the ‘New Writing’ section – Yay!

Books/

T S Eliot prize winner

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We saw him read on Sunday evening, alongside the other shortlisted poets. He was great, my money was on either him or Carol Ann Duffy to win (although I confess the only collection I’d read of the shortlisted ones was this…)