CIB: the distraction economy, empty living rooms & a toe-dip into poetry and polemic

I’ve shortened ‘Currently Influenced By…’ to CIB in the titles of these posts, because there are ‘rules’ about optimum length of blog posts titles and only a small percentage of people will read past the first couple of words, etc etc. It’s one of the symptoms of the Age of Attention, and what Aldous HuxleyRead more ⟶

Pamphlet launch night

Stephen Bone and I had a blast last Thursday launching our pamphlets in Eastbourne, at the brilliant Printers Playhouse. The audience was a sea of fantastic poet friends, non-poet friends and supportive other-halves… we had excellent guest readings from our good friends Sarah Barnsley and Antony Mair, and what else can I say except massive thankyousRead more ⟶

Busy busy… pamphlet launch, Telltale Anthology latest

It seems to be a busy time of year, both for poetry and for music. I’ve been busy promoting our Lewes Singers concerts this coming weekend in Eastbourne and Ringmer, as well as learning the music of course… it took an hour this morning to sort out the seating plans, making sure tall people weren’tRead more ⟶

Opportunity to have a hand-stitched pamphlet of your poems

I promised Maria Isakova-Bennett I would mention this to you – Maria is the creator of the beautiful Coast to Coast to Coast magazine I’ve featured here recently. Well, she and co-editor Michael Brown are offering a great opportunity to one lucky poet – the chance to have their small collection published as a handmade,Read more ⟶

Currently influenced by…Whitman, the sea & being unproductive

This is the first of a new series of posts inspired by Anthony Wilson’s fascinating ‘notebook’ posts, in which he shares phrases, thoughts, links to things that have struck him as interesting, that have got him thinking and/or writing.  Anthony’s posts are full of brief, throw-em out there lines and ideas, thinking points that jabRead more ⟶

Poetry competitions now open – to enter, or not?

I’ve noticed there are a number of poetry competitions about to close – January seems to be a competition battleground. I’ve talked about the issue of poetry competitions before – and there are some fascinating comments here from both experienced compers and others who absolutely hate the whole poetry competition scene. So who (if anyone) winsRead more ⟶

The new pamphlet is here | launch details

Exciting times. My third pamphlet (counting ‘Foot Wear‘ as one) All the Relevant Gods is here. A box of copies arrived last week, so now I have to go about emptying it! There are reviews to solicit, copies to send out, readings to secure – I already have readings confirmed for Needlewriters Lewes in April, plus ReadingRead more ⟶

TS Eliot readings, Needlewriters, some crazy January stuff

Hardly seems like a week ago that Peter Kenny and I dared travel to London’s Southbank for the annual T S Eliot Prize readings. Eschewing the very unreliable train service, I elected to drive, as I’ve done for the past few years, only to find the M23 (the main road to London from these parts)Read more ⟶

Giveaway winner PLUS 2 tickets for the TS Eliots at bargain price

It seems to be the thing at the moment when it comes to ‘picking a name out of the hat’ to make a wee film of it. I can see this is a nice idea (both to allay any suspicions of fixing, and also to present a friendly face), so I did consider it. ButRead more ⟶

End of year thoughts, links & thank yous

This is my wrap-up post for 2017 – I’ve enjoyed other people’s posts but have been increasingly wondering whether I’ve anything  else to add or anything different to say. But that of course is one of the downsides of blogging/social media and the like – the angst of wondering if is one actually saying anythingRead more ⟶