Saturday was our monthly workshop with Mimi Khalvati (tips to come in next post!) I had some really useful feedback from everyone on the poem I took along, but still managed to leave feeling defeated. Why? Because the quality of my observations on other people’s work just seemed completely off. There’s no chance to backtrackRead more ⟶
Tips from Don Paterson
The Mimi Khalvati workshop notes I posted here recently went down well, so I thought I’d share with you some gems from Don Paterson. Don came down to Sussex for the Pighog Poetry Festival in 2010, and as a tea-making volunteer I was lucky enough to sit in on his masterclass. (Actually that sounds veryRead more ⟶
How’s your filing? And what’s in a (folder) name?
Here’s a pressing question – what sort of filing system do you favour? I love my lever arch files, with their colour-coded dividers and lovingly decided section names. But if you leave the filing for a while the ‘unclassified’ section at the front becomes unwieldy, and it’s impossible to find anything. But (for me) atRead more ⟶
Robert Hamberger’s ‘Being the Sea’ (video post)
You can read this poem in Agenda Vol 46 number 3, ‘Retrospectives’.
Readings, launches, and the Carmen Rollers
Lots of excitement in the past week. First of all, National Poetry Day and the launch of the Frogmore Press anthology Poems from the Old Hill on Thursday evening. It was standing room only as we’d all brought family and friends to cheer us on. It was fab to see some of my non-poetRead more ⟶
Snail mail
Just when you thought it was safe to post that letter…
Brighton Stanza on top
First the good news: I got a note through a week or so ago from Paul McGrane at the Poetry Society saying my poem had been commended in the 2012 Stanza competition (judged by John Siddique), but the full results weren’t out until today. So what should I find, but that there are 2 otherRead more ⟶
So this is what happens when I sit down to write
A free evening, and it’s a couple of hours until Downton Abbey (I’ll start watching it at 9, pause it at 9.01 so it starts recording, then start watching it at 9.15 and I can fast forward thru all the ad breaks – sorted!) So I think ‘I’ll dig out some old poem and giveRead more ⟶
Pighog night in aid of breast cancer charity
A very good evening yesterday at the Redroaster in Brighton: always lovely to hear Charlotte Gann reading, including some of the goodies familiar to me from her pamphlet ‘The Long Woman’ and some new poems I’d had the privilege of seeing ‘in development’. And she looks so striking under the lights! The photo is takenRead more ⟶
Bad Robot Poetry
Yesterday was the launch of a new ezine, Bad Robot Poetry. Not sure where I read about it but I just think the title is so cool/groovy/excellent* – love the idea of BAD robots. In fact even just robots. Lots of heady, ALT poetry on there already, including some stuff in Javascript or php orRead more ⟶