May 2013 – Robin Houghton

Inspiration/ 31/05/2013

Three featured blogs – writing and ‘X’

It’s funny how writing often goes together with a second passion or skill, and the ingenuity of bloggers in combining them in just one blog is often surprising and interesting. This week’s three featured blogs are to do with writing & gardening, writing & swimming, and writing & animals.

OK so I’m not a great gardener. I used to love looking through my mum’s gardening magazines but mainly for the garden plans. Planning (on paper) was my thing. Nurturing living plants and learning their names has never worked for me. I don’t know what that makes me: a virtual gardener? However I’m very happy visiting or sitting in a lovely garden. More a garden reader than a writer.

But that’s not true of the first of this week’s bloggers.

Sarah Salway was the Canterbury Poet Laureate last year and is famous for her photographs of benches, among many other things! Living in Kent, the ‘garden of England’, she has an appropriate love of gardens. So much so that her recent project is Writer in the Garden, which she calls ‘an idiosyncratic literary tour around the gardens of England.’

Sarah’s enthusiasm and energy are wonderful and her adventures in gardens are clearly a strong creative inspiration.

The second ‘Writing and X’ blog is the simply named Writing and Swimming by someone calling herself rather coyly ‘Aquamarina’. Dear Acquamarina, I couldn’t find your real name anywhere on your blog, so if you want to make yourself known to me please leave a note in the comments, thanks!

Aquamarina’s sidebar is a clever compilation of ‘Books featuring swimming’, ‘Films I like with a watery feel’ and even ‘3 swimming poems by Sharon Olds’. Clearly the blog’s author is a poet, and her watery writing-related posts are entertaining. (I was reminded of poet Clare Best‘s recent fundraising swimathon – maybe the swimming-poetry connection isn’t so unusual?)

Sheila Boneham is a prolific author “best known for her writing about dogs and cats for the past fifteen years” as well as an experienced creative writing tutor. Her blog, Write here, write now, features guest posts, writing prompts, author interviews and all manner of musings and articles of interest to writers and/or animal lovers.

write here write now — Write here, write now

A quick search brought up some quirky blog posts, such as an article on photographing dogs and another about New Year writing goals. My only quibble with Sheila’s blog is the navigation – most of the main menu links take you to her main website and away from the blog, and within the blog each time you click on a new post or search result a new window opens, so I ended up with rather a lot of tabs on my browser. But hey! That’s just the website pedant in me I suppose. I was interested enough in the content to keep clicking around, and that’s pretty important. Plus there were all those cute kitties.

if you’re interested in writing the odd guest blog post (great idea if you’re a writer looking to build your reach on the social web) then you may be interested in guesting on Sheila’s blog. Submission guidelines are here.

Poems/ 26/05/2013

Guest post: Dickman & Gray at the Poetry Cafe

Jo Grigg was at the Poetry cafe on Thursday for what sounds like an exciting evening! Many thanks to Jo for this guest post.

London’s Poetry café on a May evening, it feels like February. Then poet Ann Gray describes ‘a pale lake pulling at the throat of May’ and I think ‘yesss’. Reading her poem ‘Joy’ recently, commended in the National Poetry Comp 2010, was enough to bring me to her reading. The first two lines of ‘Joy’ go:

‘When I let the chickens out, I hurl mixed corn

in a golden arc across the frosted ground.’

It’s a ‘mother’ poem, among other things:

‘… A mother is a precious thing. I know that

now I’m sure to lose her……’

She reads a selection including a couple of poems based on her time as a nurse in a children’s’ cancer unit, something she rarely writes about. I liked both ‘her’ as performer and ‘her’ as wordsmith – the images, turns of phrase, along with some heavy subject matter, left me wanting more.

She’d travelled from Cornwall to introduce the (relatively) young American Matthew Dickman, telling us how, after reading his poem describing grief as a purple gorilla (did I hear right?) they began a correspondence five years ago and have only now met. It turns out to be a good combo; he’s funny, rude, perceptive. (He sends three spare pamphlets flying into the audience – did I hear ‘ouch!’ behind me?) Some of his poems felt a bit longwinded but where they hit home – such as a piece about his brother who committed suicide – they were powerful.

Ann writes lists (two poems listing flower names, one of what’s for breakfast at a Broadstairs B&B), Matthew says fxxx and asks how many in the audience are fellow drug users. Both of them throw things. As Ann Gray tells us in her poem of introduction, Matthew has ‘a widescreen cinema’ in his head. I’m not sure I’d go to all his movies but am glad I was at the UK premiere of this one. I’d go hear her any time.

Matthew Dickman, ‘an extraordinary young American from Portland, Oregon, who is fast being recognised as one of the most important and original new American voices. http://www.matthewdickmanpoetry.com

Ann Gray is co-organiser of the Bodmin Moor Poetry Festival, which is on at the moment. You can read her poem ‘Joy’ on the Poetry Society website.

Photo of Matthew Dickman from www.matthewdickmanpoetry.com

Photo of Ann Gray from www.poetrysociety.org.uk

Books/ 24/05/2013

Dear poets: publishing is a business

I’ve been emailing with a poet friend today who drew my attention to this piece in the Guardian, about Salt’s decision to stop publishing individual poetry collections and to concentrate on anthologies. I know it’s been a big topic of debate this week. But something about the way it’s been reported makes me see red.

As a fledgling poet as desperate as anyone to be published by a good quality press (if I’m being honest) I may be shooting myself in the proverbial foot here. But in my mind, publishing is a business, like any other – yes, I realise many small presses do it for love, which is perfectly possible if you have the means to do so, if you have a day job, don’t have staff or premises or bills to pay. Don’t get me wrong – I love the small presses and am eternally grateful that poetry attracts so many selfless individuals.

But if you are in the business of publishing, you need to make a profit, or at the very least, cover your costs. And to make a profit, you have to sell books. The time when poets could hand that over to their publisher to worry about has gone. A publisher does not exist to nurture new talent or to give young upcoming poets their big break. A publisher can only do that if people keep buying the books. Which, considering how many people no longer even read books, let alone buy them, and given how easy it is now to self-publish, is not surprisingly an uphill struggle.

Of course the Guardian gave the piece a particular editorial slant (big clue being in the funereal photo of Carol Ann Duffy). Perhaps I’m just not knowledgeable enough to realise the dreadful consequences of all this. But the marketer in me says that for poets to come across in this light – complaining about how poets are being denied an outlet, and what a tragedy it all is – does nothing whatsoever for the reputation of poetry, or poets, in the eyes of the general public. You know, all those people who do still buy books (except poetry books).

Surely given the economic climate we should all be thankful that Salt hasn’t folded, or even that it hasn’t abandoned poetry publishing altogether.

Rather than worrying about who’s going to publish our slim volumes we should be thinking about the real issues – how can we help regenerate interest in poetry? How do we reach out to all those people who love reading but can’t stomach poetry? How do we embrace changes in how the written or spoken word is consumed? How do we help publishers sell more books?

Come on guys, we’re in this together. If we can just be a bit less passive and a bit more proactive we might win more non-poet friends over. And then who knows what might happen.

Inspiration/ 22/05/2013

Three great blogs – poetry

It’s always nice to get those ‘congratulations, another blogger is following your blog’ emails from WordPress, and even nicer when you check them out and discover a real gem of a blog you’d not come across before. That’s how I found John Field’s excellent blog Poor Rude Lines – “I’m just another reader, rather like you, curled up in bed with a book or two.”

It made me think it would be fun to have a regular feature where I could share interesting blogs with you. I expect you’ll already know at least some of them, but who knows, maybe not. Blogrolls are great, but a proper introduction is even better – I’m hoping you may reciprocate and tell me about other fab blogs that I’m missing. Anyway, three is my favourite number, so I may as well call it ‘Three great blogs…’

Let’s start with poetry, and indeed with Poor Rude Lines. Like Josephine Corcoran I tend to err towards blogs about poetry rather than blogs where an individual posts his or her poetry, although I quite like a mix of the two.

The first thing I love about Poor Rude Lines is that stunning masthead – go on, name all the poets depicted – and John’s use of photos to break up the text and enhance the reading experience. I was immediately drawn into his review of Fiona Moore’s The Only Reason for Time and quickly realised this is a marvellous reviews site, as well as much else. Check out the archives. John also appears to be a high quality Tweeter – worth following.

I’m suitably embarrassed to admit I’ve only recently come across Cliff Yates. What can I say? This poetry world is a big ‘un, and I’m but a lowly ant picking my way across its vast acreage. How Cliff finds the time to blog I don’t know, he’s clearly a busy working poet and tutor and his ‘about’ page is inspirational. There’s a comprehensive blogroll, lots of resources for teaching poetry, useful links, details about Cliff’s books, workshops and other activities and yes, some of his poems too. The site is built on WordPress and has a workman-like visual theme, but for me it oozes generosity, warmth and down-to-earth-ness.

Established Australian poet Graham Nunn’s blog is Another Lost Shark, which is also the title of his publishing imprint. Graham’s blog documents his many collaborative poetry projects, most recently haiku walks and experiments with other Japanese poetic forms. I loved this post about how famous poems are being pasted on the side of garbage trucks during the Sydney Writers’ Festival (going on at the moment). Watch the video short, it’s brilliant. Cue a couple of workers in their hi-vis jackets taking a break from rubbish collection: “What are you reading, Barry?” “I’ve always been partial to a bit of Lord Tennyson…”

Books/ 17/05/2013

‘Wake’ by Alfred Lehtinen

Love this poem … by Alfred Lehtinen, a Finnish poet who stopped by my blog and whose blog I’m now following.

Inspiration/ 13/05/2013

Unexpected bonus

In the post today came a copy of Poetry magazine, volume 202 number 1 – yes, it’s been going for over a hundred years – gawds! The reason it was an unexpected bonus is because I cannot remember where or when I ordered it. But here it is, and with such a heritage the first adjective that comes to mind is ‘august’, although that already seems way too stuffy.

I have to say it’s a thing of beauty – first of all, for a magazine to be even called something as simple as ‘Poetry’ is pretty impressive. Then there’s the lovely size – presumably an American shape – narrower than A5 but bigger than the average paperback, perfect-bound with a proper spine. Then the cool, clean fonts and layout – reminiscent of The Rialto, but the paper stock is creamier, slightly more retro. Am I sounding a bit fetishistic?? I haven’t even mentioned the contents yet.

To be fair, it’s only just arrived so I’ve only skimmed it lightly so far – but I can see there’s a section entitled ‘A few more don’ts’ with the subtitle Ezra Pound set forth his now-famous “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste” in the March 1913 issue of Poetry. In commemoration we’ve asked a few writers to update Pound’s essay for our time.

Hello?? “In the 1913 issue of Poetry ….” Just how cool is that??? Anyway, can’t wait to read it. And I’ve already spotted and enjoyed poems by Eavan Boland and Jamaal May, so I have the feeling the whole magazine is going to be a bedtime treat for some while.

Courses/ 12/05/2013

Social media for writers, ‘Orgasm Management’ etc

This is not the blog post I started writing this morning – but that turned into a cod philosophical/ psychological discourse that I eventually decided wasn’t going anywhere. So I’ve saved it for another day when I might be able to better whip my thoughts into a proper shape.

Instead, more of straightforward diary entry. This week I’ve been a bit restricted by a sore leg – I’ll spare you the details but just to say I managed to strain a calf muscle a couple of weeks ago and as a consequence I’ve been limping about and avoiding walking any sort of distances. It’s definitely getting better though.

On Thursday I made it into Brighton for the last of my ‘Build your social web presence’ sessions for New Writing South (next course starting September). It’s been really interesting to work with a group of writers on this. Clearly, publishers are putting pressure on authors to share the publicity load and demonstrate their social media reach and influence. I’ve wanting for a while to pull together my interests in social media/ communications and writing/publishing and this is one of the strands that seems to be coming to fruition. I’m also talking to a large children’s publisher at the moment about social media training, and am working with a literary agent to help support their authors in building their online presence.

There’s also a strong possibility of a book on this subject, before the end of the year – I’ll keep you posted.

Something else I’m working on is an up to date list of UK poetry magazines, print and online, together with details of their Twitter & Facebook etc. Although there are a number of lists around, including the excellent Poetry LIbrary list, I’ve found that their Twitter or Facebook accounts aren’t listed, or they’re not always kept up to date – magazines tend to come and go, and I’ve often wasted time by seeking out (and sometimes submitting to) magazines that have clearly gone under but not told anyone. Anyway, it’s a bit of a mammoth task – I’ll post the first draft when it’s ready and hope you can help me by telling me of any you know to be ‘dead’ or others that I’ve haven’t heard of that ought to be included. Then if I can keep it up to date it could be a useful reference.

And last but not least, on Friday I went to see my very funny performance post friend Iona Jette perform her new one-woman show The Orgasm Management Monologue in the Brighton Fringe. I filmed it on a DSLR camera, my first attempt at such a thing and great fun to play with all the gadgetry involved. I’ll post a link to it when it’s up!

Books/ 06/05/2013

Frogmore Press 30th birthday readings

It was an intimate affair: in the round at the New Venture Theatre in Brighton yesterday evening, the first Sunday of the Brighton Festival and an unusually sunny (if not balmy) evening, with poet friends and friends of poetry, all to celebrate the 30th birthday of the Frogmore Press.

The evening brought some thrilling reading from Michaela Ridgeway, John McCullough, Maria Jastrzębska and Frogmore founder Jeremy Page. The stage set included a seductive-looking chaise longue although only John and Maria were brave enough to test it out. John, after announcing he was going to read ‘Sleeping Hermaphrodite’ (from his fabulous – and award-winning – collection The Frost Fairs) because it was a favourite of mine, took up a Greek statue pose on the chaise to read it. (BTW This was not the position you see in the photo above – that was the next poem, ‘Small, vertical pleasures”!)

Other highlights for me: Michaela’s valediction for Hugo Chavez, all the more poignant for its plentiful Spanish expletives and the imagining of his fighting talk to the very end, Maria’s many moving poems from her recently-launched collection At The Library of Memories including ‘Grandfather Clock’, and Jeremy’s reading of ‘Nuns’ by Bob Mitchell from the Frogmore Papers’ archive, which possibly got the biggest laugh of the night.

This was one of a series of events to celebrate the Frogmore Press’s birthday – others are happening at the Poetry Cafe in London and in Folkestone, where the press was founded. Details on the Frogmore blog.

Inspiration/ 03/05/2013

Launches, celebrations, lovely poets

Three days into May and I think it’s been sunny all week – that’s about 5 or 6 days on the trot, something we haven’t had in over a year, if not two. It’s not yet warm enough to take off my ‘winter’ boots (which I now wear nine months of the year.) What on earth has happened to the weather in this country? I am starting to feel seriously SAD.

However, a few joyful happenings: I had a lovely outing to Tonbridge on Wednesday with poet friend Jo to hear Abegail Morley read at the launch of her new collection, Eva and George, from Pindrop Press. It was presented alongside a series of evocative slides featuring the artwork of George Grosz and photos from between-the-wars Berlin, and a contextual commentary between poems. There followed the longest signing queue I’ve ever seen (except perhaps at Charleston), so kudos to Abegail. I have her first collection ‘How to pour madness into a teacup’ on order and look forward to reading it. (PS Abe very kindly featured one of my poems on her blog recently The Poetry Shed …)

On Sunday the Brighton Festival will have begun and I’m mooching over to Brighton to a Frogmore Papers anniversary reading where John McCullough and Maria Jastrzębska are two of the readers, really looking forward to that…

Tonight there’s another launch in Brighton, which I can’t get to, sadly – but the super Jess Richards is at Waterstones reading from her new book Cooking with Bones – it sounds like the event’s going to be big party.

Then next Friday 10th, my VERY funny performance poet friend Iona Jette is performing her new piece, ‘The Orgasm Management Monologue‘ at the Friends Meeting House (aren’t the Quakers wonderfully liberal?) and I think I’ll be filming it for her (if the bits of equipment I need arrive in time) so I can’t laugh too hard because of risk of camera shake, or even falling over and knocking down the tripod.

On the poetry writing front, I’ve started a new ‘poem a day’ challenge which I began on May 1st, having written off my attempts in April. So let’s see where that leads – I feel like I haven’t written anything decent in weeks. But at least the sun is shining!

Month: May 2013