A few hot days of summer are here, yay! We had a dip in the sea this morning at a secret location, keeping well clear of the little seal colony that was basking on the rocks, bellowing to each other now and then, probably annoyed to see humans on their beach! Then I was justRead more ⟶
Category: audio
Subs, pods and mags
It’s been a busy couple of weeks but I’ve allowed myself time off to decorate the Christmas tree, which is always a joy. Next job: Christmas cards (yes, we still enjoy sending – and receiving – them! One analogue tradition I can’t bring myself to give up…) I did manage to get a pamphlet submissionRead more ⟶
New podcast, plus new updated ‘Guide to getting published in UK poetry mags’
Eeek! I’m trying to fight a sense of overwhelm at the moment even though it’s all good things that are overwhelming me. Keeping my weekly work commitments going and doing all the reading and cogitating required for my course, which this term is a whistle-stop tour of the English Lit canon (week 3: Virgil &Read more ⟶
Current reading and other news
Current reading … and a parrot Camilla’s Bookshop is open again in Eastbourne after an arson attack, and I can report that the parrot is still alive and greeting you as you enter, and the stacks of books are as tightly packed as ever – in fact even more so! Here’s how the poetry sectionRead more ⟶
Discovering poetry podcasts
I’ve come rather late to the podcast party, although my good friend Lucy has often sung their praises. Before my longish train journey north I decided to finally download a free podcast app (Castbox, which works well on my Samsung Galaxy S6) and then went on the search for some interesting things to take withRead more ⟶
Reading of poem ‘Long Haul’
This is from a reading I did in Eastbourne earlier this year and the poem appeared in The Interpreter’s House in June. Apologies for the sound quality and there are a couple of visual glitches – I never have much luck with video! Long Haul from Robin Houghton on Vimeo.
Music and words, what alchemy
I am singing for a funeral next week, in a quartet – and although these are sad occasions, it is wonderful to be able to sing some beautiful music, and of course in such a charged setting. While re-acquainting myself with Byrd’s Ave Verum I found myself listening to the CD our group made in 2013,Read more ⟶
Ronnie-O Oh Oh!
If you’ve been at a reading I’ve given you may have heard the snooker poem… it’s a bit of fun, my homage to snooker genius Ronnie O’Sullivan. I’m not sure what it adds to the ‘after Christopher Smart’ oevre, but I hope there’s entertainment value to it. It helps to know a wee bit about Ronnie,Read more ⟶
Poetry Audio and Video Recordings
The ever-generous Peter Raynard has posted this marvellous resource on Proletarian Poetry… a compendium of Poetry Audio and Video Recordings.
The Road Not Taken & FOMO
Just the other day Don Share posted on Twitter a link to a recording of Robert Frost reading ‘The Road Not Taken’. How wonderful to hear it in the poet’s voice. Here it is on YouTube: Matthew Hollis, in his 2011 biography of Edward Thomas, Now All Roads Lead to France, tells of Thomas’s distress atRead more ⟶