Month: July 2013

Inspiration/

A real summer

Funny how a couple of weeks of sunshine makes a difference in so many little ways. For example, walking through my home town in the last few days I’ve noticed in how people dress.

Usually, sunny days are so unexpected and untrustworthy. My feeling is it’s just not worth buying or making summer clothes when you live in the UK. I usually get by with my one summer (ish) dress or only pair of white trousers, a T shirt or top from a bottom drawer that’s not too shrunken or trashed from having been worn on a beach several years ago. As soon as the clouds appear it’s back to the usual.

But when this recent hot weather looked liked lasting and jeans & jumpers were off the agenda I realised I needed (gasp) a very thin cotton dress. And I guess it’s catching, because people seem to be walking around in genuinely summer clothes. Let’s hope we get to wear them again next year, and the next.

Anyway, sorry for the rather lightweight blog post, it’s just an excuse to post some pics of our little sojourn to Somerset the week before last – we stayed part of the time at the Lord Poulett Arms in Hinton St George, where the food and the garden were lovely, the village quiet and picturesque, but the bedroom was sweltering (not helped by being in a rather small double bed!) But of course I’m not complaining about the weather!

But hang on a minute – i knew there was a poetry connection to report – as I was leafing idly through the coffee-table books in the room at The Lord Poulett Arms, I bypassed the one about Dita Von Teese (bit of a burlesque theme at the pub, a tad odd I thought) but enjoyed another featuring photographs of British people who had upped and moved to France. Only when I got to the end did I spot a familiar face – none other than Antony Mair, my poet friend, fellow Brighton Stanza member and blogger of Hastings life! And then I discovered he’d also written the preface. It’s a small world, alright.

Hinton St George
Hinton St George – it doesn’t get more English than this
In the garden at the Lord Poulett Arms
In the garden at the Lord Poulett Arms

Lord Poulett Arms

Moorhill House Hotel, the New Forest
Moorhill House Hotel, in the New Forest
Lytes Cary, a National Trust house
Lytes Cary (National Trust)
At Lytes Cary
I loved this hanging basket in the garden at Lytes Cary!
Angst/

Anatomy of a rejection

Rejection

Rejection

It was a long time coming (4 months) but Under the Radar finally emailed me a standard ‘not this time’ (or possibly ever?) note the other day, which prompted me (of course) to look at the offending poems to see if there’s mileage in sending them out again as is, or whether they merit reviewing.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes look at poems when they’re sent back and think ‘well they were rubbish anyway’, but that might be psychological – especially when it’s hard copies in the post and they look like they’re untouched by human hands and probably went straight into the SAE within mllliseconds (as opposed to read, re-read and ummed and ahhed over) – isn’t it silly the games we play with ourselves?

This time, I’m not yet sure which ones I shall re-submit, so I won’t post the actual poems here, but I thought it would be interesting to do a little ‘hard looking’ at each one and share the process with you.

1) The first was one I was quite pleased with, even after workshopping in a Brendan Cleary session some while back. I did make some changes though, and my possibly ‘too clever’ syllabic scheme (which was supposed to tie in with the theme but perhaps required too much obscure knowledge of South American dance styles) maybe sank in its own merengue. But I think the premise is good, so I will persist with this one, perhaps send straight back out elsewhere.

2) Poem number two has been knocking about for a while and is based on a dream sequence that seemed fun at the time but I know the old ‘dream sequence’ thing is a bit of cliche. There’s a lot here I still like, but perhaps it’s a bit over-egging one decent idea, like an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, until you kind of see what’s coming. I do tend to go for cute endings and must curb the tendency for it to be too pat. This poem was first started about 18 months ago – it’s done the rounds and gone through various iterations. So maybe needs resting.

3) Quite a recent one this, and I think it was the best of the bunch. I don’t think I’ve tried it anywhere else. It’s in my favourite form, couplets, but I wonder if there’s just too much going on and  it needs simplifying. Again, I still like the premise, it’s unusual. So worth looking at the language and eliminating the extra weight, I think. Must not Try Too Hard.

4) Last but (not?) least: this one was always risky – a nursery-rhyme theme in Shakespearean sonnet form – can you say ‘rejection waiting to happen’? Actually though I think it only needs a small amount of close attention to make it decent. There are a couple of dodgy lines where the form shouts out and that’s not good. But a lot of good things. So not worth giving up on yet.

As always, I’ll keep you posted if any of these find a home elsewhere, with or without revisions!

Cartoon credit: http://billanddavescocktailhour.com/

Inspiration/

Three more great poetry blogs

Thought I’d share with you three more notable blogs that I’ve come across recently.

1. Tweetspeak Poetry

Tweetspeak Poetry

Not, as it sounds, a site devoted to Twitter poetry (is that actually a genre now? I think George Szirtes is doing his bit to promote it anyway) but a magazine-style blog with regular features such as ‘This week’s top ten poetic picks’ and series such as ‘How to read a poem’ and ‘Take your poet to work’ (in the run up to ‘Take your poet to work day’ which is apparently on July 17th.) Every month the team behind Tweetspeak Poetry hosts a Twitter party (although it’s at 9pm EST, which makes it more of an early-hours lock-in for us Brits).

I was intrigued to know who was behind Tweetspeak, which is a very professional set-up, and indeed turns out its sister site is Every Day Poems, a subscription site (price seems to vary from between $2.99 and $5.99 a year, depending on what page you’re on). Every Day Poems describes itself like this:

Read a poem every day. Become a better writer. Participate in our writing projects, so we can see your work. If one of your poems is a good fit, we might feature it in this newsletter, with your permission.

The idea of creating community around the reading of poetry in a user-friendly and social (media) way appeals to me a lot.

Twitter: @tspoetry

2. Book of Kells

Book of Kells blog

Kelli Russell Agodon is a poet, writer and editor whose blog is a collection of musings, happenings, book reviews, favourite poets … very much a personal record and written in a relaxed and easy style. I suppose I would compare it to Kim Moore’s blog in that sense. As well as writing about her life and professional experiences, Kelli has interesting things to say and share on related topics including photography, creativity and marketing. This is a blog grounded in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, a part of the world where I lived for a short while so perhaps that adds to its appeal.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agodon
Twitter: @elliagodon

3. Ron Silliman’s blog

Ron Sillimans blog

Those of us who talk too much on our blogs need to take a lesson or two from Ron Silliman. Simply subtitled “A weblog focused on contemporary poetry and poetics” this is a super and ever-growing collections of interviews, reviews, videos, recordings and links both contemporary and historic, with very little added verbosity. This felt like a real find.

Ron has an impeccable pedigree as an educator and writer (over 30 books, with poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages). From his photo there’s also a striking resemblance to Ernest Hemingway.

This site also has a formidably long archive which goes back to 2002 – respect!

Angst/

I mislaid my poetic mojo in a Ghent hostel

Poetry mags and books

Having been away for four days ‘helping’ with a college trip to Belgium (my husband was the tour leader – his A level students) I’m finding it hard to get back to poetry.

I suppose it’s partly because I’m having to catch up with work as well, and not having a proper night’s sleep the whole time we were away (teenagers don’t go to sleep before 2am, so nor can anyone else in a Youth Hostel where there are no carpets and the doors all slam).

Although they were (for the most part) very nice people, I just found the whole being-around-40-teenagers utterly exhausting and a tad depressing. Their energy saps mine, their zest for life deadens my creativity. I’m amazed at how so many writers are able to combine a teaching career with writing – and yet it’s such a common combination, whether it’s by choice or necessity.

OK, I realise I’m probably being over-dramatic here, after all I think a foreign trip is tiring even for the full time teachers, because you’re never off-duty, not for a moment.

Anyway, I think I now have an even higher respect for my husband and his colleagues for everything they bring and give to teaching. I just know I don’t have that kind of generosity in me!

But on a more positive note… lots to look forward to, not least of all some much-needed sunshine!

The answer to a creativity deadzone for me is to read, and read good stuff. I’ve still to explore the new Poetry Review and Magma which arrived a week or so ago, plus I’m reading Abegail Morley’s Snow Child and Ben Parker’s The Escape Artists, so I’ll be talking about those soon on the blog.

Poetry readings coming up: Hilda Sheehan has very kindly invited me to read at the Blue Gate Poets meeting on 8th August in Swindon, and I’m currently talking with the organisers of the Shoreham Wordfest about putting on a poetry night where I hope to be reading alongside some lovely poet friends. Then come October there are exciting plans for a reading with Abegail Morley and Emer Gillespie – will keep you posted.