*UPDATED 8-6-17* to include the Prole Pamphlet Competition, deadline 30th June. Windows It’s been a while since I checked submissions windows. I realise a few have just closed (e.g. The North – you have to be sharp-eyed to get in there!), but here are some that are currently open… Agenda – the website says it’s currently open, andRead more ⟶
Author: Robin Houghton
Recipe for Water
Yes that probably sounds familiar, being the title of the 2009 collection by Gillian Clarke. I’ve been thinking a lot about water lately, and flow – great rivers, the mouths of rivers and the place where they become sea. Just riding the ideas at the moment and not rushing it. As Clarke puts it, ‘The seaRead more ⟶
Standing room only at the Troubadour
To be fair, I did have a seat for the first half, but with the sciatica playing up I was happy to stand for the second. Plus it meant a quick getaway at the end with poet friend Jan, and the last (viable) train home. Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour (run by the indefatigable Anne-Marie Fyfe)Read more ⟶
Currently reading (part 1)
Through the letterbox fell two parcels yesterday, one from Germany and one from Wales, although both in English, luckily. A Bee’s Breakfast is the latest anthology from Beautiful Dragons, a Facebook-based collaboration and the brainchild of Rebecca Bilkau. This is the third ‘Dragons’ anthology I’ve contributed to and I think it has the most beautiful coverRead more ⟶
A new pamphlet & all the angst of getting there
It’s taken a while coming but I’ve found a home for my second pamphlet, ‘All the Relevant Gods’. Those lovely, hardworking folks at Cinnamon Press (Jan Fortune and team) have offered to publish it, due out early next year. What I’m feeling right now is a mix of gratitude and relief, and a wonderful senseRead more ⟶
What’s inspired me recently, and a writing/submissions update
I’m not spending a great deal of time at the computer at the moment – can only blame the marvellous good weather! I’m in admiration of those taking part in NaPoWriMo this month, such as Jayne Stanton. I do sometimes do the ‘start a poem a day’ thing, although I tend to do it alone and during months when there’s nothingRead more ⟶
Eyewear Anthology launch & a scary flashback
This one is dedicated to my good friend Lucy, who often comes with me to London poetry readings. I’ve taken her to standing-room only upstairs rooms in Victorian pubs, damp basements that turn into saunas in the summer, corners of (yet more) pubs where poets compete with the steady traffic to/from the gents, drunk hilarity fromRead more ⟶
National Poetry Competition awards night
This is where I open with a statement about the star-studded atmosphere of the Savile Club ballroom last night, where the UK’s biggest poetry single-poem competition reached its climax…but this is my blog after all, so I know you’re expecting something a bit more – um – prosaic? Something about my exchanging some banter with Patience AgbabiRead more ⟶
‘Poems & Pictures’ blog at the Mary Evans Picture Library
We’re into our fourth week of dust, clutter and washing up in the bath. The joys of home improvements! We still don’t have a fully working kitchen, one cabinet is ten mils too big for the space, one lot of contractors isn’t returning our calls and may have gone out of business (or ‘done a Brexit’ inRead more ⟶
News round-up: the good, the bad & the ugly
Facebook blackout – the verdict It’s now been two months since I stopped checking in with Facebook and I’m enjoying the freedom it’s given me. I’ve been writing, little by little, not an avalanche of new stuff, but a lot of reworking of old material. I’ve also found new possible projects popping into my head, which may orRead more ⟶