Category: Books

On blogging, writing and giving myself time

Yesterday was the first session of a ‘Build your social web presence’ course I’m teaching at New Writing South, and the common question of how does one find the time to blog came up. Fellow bloggers, how would you answer this? Do you set time aside to blog, or just fit it in when you can? Do you have a schedule, or simply blog when you’ve got something to say?

As we talked about it, I said that actually not only do you find the time, you enjoy finding it – and that blogging and tweeting has helped improve my writing and my writing process. (I suppose it’s not always the case – it depends whether you’re blogging on a topic you feel strongly about. I’ve blogged on behalf of clients in the past and it’s not always easy to find enthusiasm for pallets or lanyards.)

Although it’s not a great idea to stop blogging for months on end – it might look like you left the country, or the world – I don’t think it’s worth stressing about things like how often, or how long a post should be, etc. But we all like rules, even if they’re rules of thumb.

I’m really enjoying writing this current book, a handbook on the theme of ‘blogging for writers’. Already I’ve made contact with many brilliant writer-bloggers and it’s great fun pulling together all the wisdom and ideas out there. I’m two-thirds of the way through and on target to deliver the bulk of it by Easter. After that  … another book! So it’s all about blogging at the moment.

BUT I’m making time for poetry too. I’ve been thinking about how I need to step back a bit from submissions-fever and spend time working on (DUH) writing better poetry. Just chill out a bit. Take my time. Read the greats. Resist reaching for the notebook or getting on the laptop. Enjoy the writing I am doing, even if it’s not poetry. This is a very new feeling for me, and I can only put it down to the joy of having created a pamphlet and a permanent home for my ‘first wave’ poems. All my ideas now are not ‘poem shaped’ but ‘collection shaped’, which feels more substantial and worth taking time over.

So bad they rejected it twice

Just raising my head above the parapet to report that I’m about 20k words into my book and now at the point where I have to start printing pages off and going through everything with post-its, before I lose my many threads. It’s amazing how I can be convinced I’ve already covered something, or filed something, or penciled in a name and a quote, and then suddenly nothing is as it should be. Ack! I’m trying to do this one on my own, having had some research help with the last book. Remembering all the people I’ve contacted, and where I wanted to use a quote from them, is the hardest thing, despite it all being on spreadsheets.

Anyway, poetry is entirely gone from me at the moment. Although I’ve got stuff out, half of it is to competitions which is akin to playing those fixed odds betting machines. Entering one more comp won’t do any harm! Hey, I might even win! And next thing the (metaphorical) bailiff comes knocking. And for the first time in ages I’ve nothing forthcoming in magazines.

Then, having been rejected by The London Magazine, two weeks later they send another email – we’re sorry to tell you… you mean, you haven’t changed your mind? Or were those poems so bad you had to reject them twice? I did try having a little joke with the sender of the email, but (no doubt in the spirit of not engaging with possible nutters) she declined to respond.

A couple of good things though: the Heavenly Bodies anthology which I’m proud to be a part of is out on April 30th, although I won’t make the launch as it’s the other end of the country from me. Can’t wait to see it! Plus, my pamphlet should be arriving this week. I made some amends after seeing the proof, including changing the cover title and name from all caps to sentence case, as all caps seemed A BIT SHOUTY.

Would be nice to now go out for a walk in the sunshine, but … those post-its are calling to me.

Friday update

It’s been a good week in many ways, but the not-so-good things first: a rejection from the London Magazine (not unexpected) and no new poetry writing done at all 🙁

Good things: the first of our Brighton Stanza small group workshopping sessions was on Monday, and although there were only three of showed up in the end (of the others one called in sick, two were delayed on the train, one got the date wrong) I took away one excellent insight (thanks to Tom Cunliffe) which I know will have far-reaching consequences for me. More good things: I sent my pamphlet off to print!! Cover reveal:

The Great Vowel Shift cover

 

I’m very pleased with the cover illustration by Hannah Clare, who I will use again for future pamphlets as I want to establish a brand look. My only reservation is whether I shouldn’t have gone for a dust jacket. I like the traditional feel of one, but if it gets detached from the booklet it does mean the booklet cover has no markings. Anyways, that’s what I’ve opted for at the moment, as I liked the look of the pamphlets by Smith Doorstop.

Next nice thing was an evening at the Redroaster in Brighton last night for Pighog poetry readings – top of the bill and clearly the big draw was fine poet John McCullough, who I always love to hear read, but sadly he had to wait until about 10pm due to open mic-ers being given too long. After the first half I was remarking how I liked the fact that the open mic had seemed relaxed and gave people more time than usual, with just 3 readers. But I didn’t realise there were about 10 more readers to go in the second half, many intent on hogging the limelight for as long as possible. It seems that saying ‘one poem’ is fair enough but you need to add ‘no more than ONE sheet of A4 paper’ too, otherwise you’ll sure as dammit get ‘Paradise Lost’.

Anyway I had a good catchup with poet Marion Tracy and very jolly to see so many familiar peeps from the Stanza group and elsewhere.

Other than that I’ve been nose to the grindstone or rather bum on seat typing, skimming my way through a myriad blogs and websites etc all in the name of this blogging book I’m working on. Around 15k words written so far and a weekend of graft to look forward to, probably on my own in the office taking hundreds of screenshots,  getting Photoshop-itis and trying not to re-use the same cheery phrases too often.

Sorry for the brief post … off to celebrate my husband’s birthday this evening so twill be nice to turn the computer OFF. Have a nice weekend 🙂

On Heavenly Bodies and feeling empowered

Publishling cartoon
Copyright Cartoonstock.com

A few interesting things on the go at the moment. ‘Heavenly Bodies’ which I wrote about last week is gathering momentum, and there’s talk on Facebook of having a launch in Preston, or somewhere points North, which will mean I’ll have to miss it, alas. Anyway, at least I’ve written my ‘constellation’ poem, although I think I’ll look it over a few more times before sending it off to Rebecca Irvine.

Although I’ve been a bit dry lately in terms of producing new work, one thing I’m pushing forward with is a promotional pamphlet. I’ve given this a lot of thought. The purpose is twofold – firstly to have something to send/give to people which showcases some of my (previously published) poems, and perhaps to sell at readings, and secondly to shake off the feeling of passivity that going in for endless pamphlet competitions engenders in me.

Maybe I’m too impatient, but I lost a good poet friend last year, very suddenly. Life is short, to take action is empowering, and what have I got to lose? (Apart from the cost, but at least it’s all under my control!) It’s a very small collection, and doesn’t impact on my newer unpublished work, nor does it overlap with the pamphlet submissions I’ve got out at the moment. Plus I’m really enjoying the process of learning about publishing, print and all the other mysteries!

Meanwhile, with the help of my ‘loose committee’ I’ve been working out plans for the Brighton Stanza this year, which has grown considerably and we now need separate workshopping meetings as the monthly ‘open’ meetings have become so large. There’s a vibrant and wide-ranging poetry scene in Brighton, and although one of our aims is to encourage fine writing through close reading and critiquing, many people prefer to hone their performance skills, or read and share their work without scrutiny, or simply listen, learn and gain confidence.

There’ve also been various work-related things that have taken me away from poetry the last couple of weeks (curses!) as well as music-related things, such as turning pages at recitals, co-ordinating rehearsal dates and availability of singers for choir gigs.

But in between times I’ve been enjoying Michael Symmons Roberts’ Drysalter which just seems to ‘keep giving’ as they say.

Workshop report – the T S Eliot Prize shortlisted collections

Talking about the TS Eliot Prize shortlisted booksTonight it’s that lovely annual poets’ jamboree, the T S Eliot Prize readings at the Royal Festival Hall. This year I thought it would increase my enjoyment of the readings if I had an inkling about all of them beforehand, so yesterday I was at the Poetry School in Lambeth getting educated. Ten poets, ten collections – how on earth do you cover them all in a single day? The answer of course is you can’t, but as I found out yesterday it’s certainly possible to get a feel for them, with the right kind of guidance and through interesting group discussion.

Our guide was poet/teacher/blogger Katy Evans-Bush, she of the famous blog Baroque in Hackney (say it with an american accent to get the pun) and we were about 12 poets/readers from various backgrounds. It certainly helped to have at least one classicist and one native speaker of Welsh, not to mention someone who had experienced the 1980s miners’ strike first hand. Chuck in a big donated box of Thornton’s chocolates, and we were all set.

Katy started by explaining some of her overall impressions: that there were definitely some common themes and ‘over-archingness’, both within individual collections and across the lot.  While some of the books are single-themed or single-storied, such as the Ramayana, others had diverse threads that played out, poems that called to each other within the collection, and there even seemed to be some word-trends across the board.

We plunged in and did close readings of a poem or a couple of poems from each collection.  Katy encouraged us to get the ball rolling on discussions, and it was clear she had chosen the poems carefully. Where relevant, she explained why she had chosen each poem or extract, and how it related to the rest of the collection. What could have been a random collection of poems started to cohere through common themes but very different approaches and styles.

Opinions got stronger throughout the day – which could have been to do with the group feeling more comfortable, or maybe as we went through the books more comparisons were made and our thoughts fell more into place.

I did take notes, but this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive account of the day, more a mosaic of ideas, thoughts and quotes which may or may not make sense. I certainly came away feeling really excited about hearing the poets read this evening. So, who’s going to win??

Hill of Doors by Robin Robertson (Picador)

The poem we read was ‘The Coming God’, which set us straight into the ‘gods’ theme for the morning. This poem is ‘after Nonnus’ who I learned was a Greek poet. It concerns the birth and early life of Dionysus as he grew, his body apparently shifting from animal to human and back again, using his special powers as he

He tamed the wild beasts, just by talking,
and they knelt to be petted, harnessed in

Various things were noted – the free layout with ragged line endings, maybe suggesting the shape-shifting of the god in question, the meanings packed in the first line

Horned child, double-born into risk …

and the many words appearing twice in the poem (doubled): sky, goat, woman’s, kisses, and the name of Dionysus. For me, the poem had lots of technical interest and a mysterious ending. I was glad of the expertise of group members when it came to interpreting and understanding the myth behind the subject matter.

Hill of Doors contains a number of poems after Nonnus, and plenty of blood and guts apparently. A potential winner? ‘Funny about women and addicted to the apocalyptic’ was Katy’s feeling about the book.

Ramayana: A Retelling by Daljit Nagra (Faber)

Big change of register. I only had to see the exclamation mark in the title of the next poem to know it was by Daljit Nagra: ‘Prologue: Get Raaaaaaaaavana!’  (I may have missed out an ‘a’ there, sorry).

There was some talk about how some bookshops had placed this book on the children’s shelf, and the possible reasons. Perhaps because of the tongue-in-cheek chapter headings (eg ‘Sexing Big Bro’)? The seemingly rambling layout and joky language? The sudden bursts of typographic exuberance? The crazy neologisms (eg indestructibilitiness)? The sheer number of exclamation marks?????

Here’s a classic text, or rather a hybrid re-telling of a classic text, in the language of bollywood, anglo-indian, 70s TV sitcom vernacular.  As Katy said, it’s all about excess… but look more closely and you can’t deny the poetic technique involved.

Over the top, yes, but that’s the nature of the story – gods, worlds, the clash of the titans. He’s using language in an entirely appropriate manner for the subject matter.

The Water Stealer by Maurice Riordan (Faber)

A lot of poems here set in Maurice’s back garden, which sounds a bit limiting but of course there’s no need for it to be.

We looked at one, ‘Stars and Jasmine’: on the surface a cute tale in which the five key elements are introduced in the first stanza: the cat, the hedgehog, the tortoise, stars and jasmine. We get down to the view point of the three animals, resolving in the final stanza when we’re told what will happen to the ‘interloper’ tortoise once summer’s over. (Nothing horrid!)

There was much discussion about which of the animals was male and which female, the size of a tortoise and whether it was possible to ‘lower her through (a) letterbox’ (sadly, that was my contribution – I got a little bogged down with the ending as I couldn’t picture it) we enjoyed the sly humour of the title – suggesting one thing, delivering another. The different perspectives of the creatures, the minuteness of detail, it was all beautiful. Katy emphasised the gentle humour and warmth of this book.

I liked ‘Stars and Jasmine’ but I think I need to see more to know if this is a collection I’d reach for often.

Parallax by Sinéad Morrissey (Carcanet)

Interesting, coming after the Riordan poem about the different points of view – as that what the word ‘parallax’ is all about. The poem we read was ‘1801’ – a kind of found poem made up (it felt like anyway) short extracts from Dorothy Wordworth’s journal. Her day is composed of domestic tasks – shelling peas, boiling up pears and cloves, walking out ‘for letters’ and making observations on the landscape –

                      Either moonlight on Grasmere –- like herrings! —
or the new moon holding the old moon in its arms.

William appears just twice, ‘exhausted’ from his work. It’s a seductive viewpoint from a feminist point of view- the irony of Dorothy coming up with such lovely writing whilst still doing all the chores, while William gets some kind of ‘man flu’ from poring over a pesky adjective.

Katy tells us the book contains a number of such poems, giving voices to characters  who are usually sidelined.

Speak, Old Parrot by Dannie Abse (Hutchinson)

There was a big warm hug of a feeling in the room when Dannie Abse came up. We read Dafydd’s Oath, number 4 in a sequence entitled ‘The Summer Frustrations of Dafydd ap Geilym’. Dafydd was apparently a 14th century Welsh bard and notorious womaniser, partly explained by the fact that the love of his life, Morfudd, had gone into a convent. Alongside this we also looked at ‘Perspectives’. (Again, cleverly chosen by Katy and a good follow-on from the last two poems.)

‘Perspectives’ is set in L’Artista, the ‘local italian restaurant’ which features in many of the poems in Speak Old Parrot. Subtitled ‘Five paragraphs for Frank O’Hara’, the poem naturally called up comparisons with O’Hara’s lunchtime poems. With its precise time checks – ‘At 1.50pm I ordere Fusilli all’Ortolana’, ‘At 2.23pm I drink my cappuccino’ – someone pointed out that this was a very quick lunch, as we talked about the perception of time passing both quickly and slowly in old age. At one point, the poem addresses ‘Frank’ directly. Katy reminded us that if Frank O’Hara hadn’t died young, he and Abse would be contemporaries. Interesting!

We talked a lot more about this collection. But I’m already realising how long this blog post is getting and I don’t have much long to get through the next 5 books… aaagh!

At the Time of Partition by Moniza Alvi (Bloodaxe)

This is a very slim volume – Katy admitted she’d read it on the bus between the Geffrye Museum and Clerkenwell. It’s the story of Moniza Alvi’s family and how they had to flee to Pakistan when India was partitioned, one of the principal characters being her grandmother, another the uncle she never knew, lost in the upheaval. It’s in effect one long sequence and we read section 12: Seeking.

We noted the spaciousness of the line layout, the short lines, a sparseness. The figure of Amma (the grandmother) is larger than life, a kind of colossus, and she’s looking for her son, doing everything she can

Her mind’s eye was a torch
to beam through

the intricate darkness of a tailor’s workshop

While the writer is left helpless after the event, unable to look ‘as long and hard’  and certainly not ‘with any muscle of the imagination.’

Katy said she had found the book surprisingly easy to read but nonetheless very moving and  full of the ‘horrible flux of human weight’.

Red Doc> by Anne Carson (Jonathan Cape)

Here’s something different – one long sequence, presented in ‘newspaper’ columns – a few centimetres wide and justified text – broken up occasionally but without obvious breaks or chapter headings. I say ‘chapter’ because it read like a story.

This book sees two characters from Carson’s Autobiography of Red transformed and now known as G and Sad, as they go on what the literature describes as “a bizarre road trip through terrain that one critic has called ‘rural Canada meets Ring of Fire meets the Mediterranean circa 600BC’ …” Tee hee!

I surprised myself by really liking this work. Cinematic, dreamlike, dystopian, deadpan and yet I was touched by it, and the humour of it. Pretty much bonkers. Very hard to describe or quote from. But I want to read the whole thing.

Division Street by Helen Mort (Chatto & Windus)

Ooh! Some divisions here all right … we read the first and final parts of a five-part sequence, ‘Scab’. It’s the miners’ strike, and the scene is set:

A stone is lobbed in ’84,
hangs like a star over Orgreave.
Welcome to Sheffield.

At the end of the sequence, we meet the stone again, as we’re told ‘it crashes through your windowpane’ and ‘you’re left to guess which picket line you crossed’. Powerful? Well, yes, but the feeling in the room was that the sequence lacked authenticity. Unlike Alvi’s tale of her family coping with Partition, Mort’s miners’ strike felt one step removed from her lived experience – if there had been some kind of reference to her family, some kind of particular/specific point of view, rather than the big picture, maybe it would feel more powerful. People weren’t keen on the ‘you’ at the end. Is this the narrator? Or an inclusive ‘you’, implicating the reader?

I sensed a bit of ageism in the discussion – can a young poet who hasn’t done anything but been a poet really tell us anything new about our own lived existence? Well I get the argument, but Keats did OK. Plus, there’s still (for me) an energy, a dynamic, an excitement in the work of many of today’s young ‘professional poets’ such as Sam Riviere, Jack Underwood, Emily Berry etc. Should they stick to their own experience, like young actors not taking on King Lear until they’re mature enough? And the converse – should those of us in middle age and older not write about contemporary themes or things we don’t really know about or haven’t actually experienced?

Bad Machine by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe)

George Szirtes is another one for the popular vote. His amazing output, his seemingly indefatigable work ethic, the stream of pithy tweets, erudite blog posts, big personality – just put it all aside, people! The jury cannot take personal charm into consideration at this time!

We looked at ‘Snapshots from a Riot’ – interesting choice after Mort’s ‘Scab’. These snapshots are indeed images many of us will remember from the TV or news at the time of the London riots a couple of years ago. Some are neat rhyming quatrains, eg

Sheneka Leigh, aged twenty-two,
was simply trying on a shoe,
footwear her besetting sin:
this is the box they threw her in.

Others ironic commentary on the commentary (meta commentary? Oh dear I’m getting a bit tired now) and the ending is enigmatic, unresolved:

A boy holds up a pair of jeans appraisingly.
It goes with the hood and the mask.
It is an aesthetic matter.

Three one-line statements, sparse, even cold. Szirtes somehow manages to judge and yet not judge, which puts the reader in an awkward position. Just the same as watching all this on the TV, I was made to feel a bit of a voyeur. It’s yet another take on perspective – you can’t say for sure where you’re looking at this from, or what to make of it.

Drysalter by Michael Symmons Roberts (Jonathan Cape)

The last book we looked at, and while not the biggest (that must go to the Ramayana) it must be classed as some kind of ‘tour de force’ – 150 poems, each 15 lines long. Drysalter has already won the Forward and the Whitbread Poetry Prizes, so as Katy said ‘whether or not he wins, I think the drinks should be on him!’

We read three poems, ‘Something and Nothing’, ‘Elegy for John Milton’ and ‘On Grace’.

‘Drysalter’ we learn is an old word for a trader in powders, salts, paints, dyes, chemicals and cures.  The collection has a vast sweep; there is a play on the word ‘psalter’, there are a number of poems of the type ‘Portrait of the Psalmist as …’ and invocations start with ‘O …’

The three poems we looked at all contained themes of ripening, over-ripening, decay but also carrying on, not re-birth as such but transformation. In ‘Something and Nothing’ we have the earth as a ‘bruised fruit’ which is then hidden in a bowl of fruit but ‘this orb just ripens, softens, stays’ while the fruit rots.

In the ‘Elegy to John Milton’ there’s a strange list of things he hears ‘in his last hour’, ranging from sellers and beggars to car alarms, bomb scares and marching troops, as if all the world present and future is passing through. This is a transformational world that’s ‘evolving’ and, as ‘On Grace’ ends,

There are worlds out here to long for.
And we are not lost yet.

Drysalter is probably the book I feel most like going out and buying right now. That and Red Doc>.  Of course I might change my mind after tonight’s readings. Who knows!

There ends the whistle-stop tour. It was an informative and inspirational day. The sun shone. And we had some lovely cups of tea. We are not lost yet, indeed.

T S Eliot Prize 2014 shortlisted books

Two exciting discoveries (new to me, anyway!)

There I was, just noodling about on the internet, when what should I find but not only a wonderful blog and poetry resource but also a poet who I’d never heard of but whose work immediately excited me.

Jeffrey Levine
Jeffrey Levine

First of all, thanks to a Facebook update by Antiphon magazine* I followed a link to an excellent and timeless post on putting together a manuscript, on Jeffrey Levine‘s blog. Jeffrey is a poet, author, publisher, critic, mentor – you name it – and his blog is a powerhouse of articles that you just want to read and absorb RIGHT NOW – rather like Neo being injected with knowledge in The Matrix: “I know Kung Fu!” – he he.

Then I started following links to US poetry magazines, submissions policies, prize competitions (there seem to be a shedload of those going on at any one time in the US, or is that an illusion? Many seem to have entry criteria to do with age, residency or publishing history or whatever, but there are plenty open to international poets.)

Fragile ActsNext, I looked at featured poets, prize winners and so forth, and googled their names. I followed several lovely detours before coming upon Allan Peterson. Here’s ‘Implicit’, a new poem by him in The Believer magazine. Love it, love it, love it. And then on to his own website, which sets out his monumental writing achievements under the modest ‘Resume’ tab.  There are a few poems on the site too, such as ‘Confession’. I could hardly buy a copy of his most recent book, Fragile Acts, quickly enough.

If Jeffrey Levine and Allan Peterson are familiar to you, you may be thinking ‘she’s just discovered them? – oh DUH!’ and I probably look like a bit of a noob. Oh well! One man’s thrilling discovery is another’s same-old!

*PS another reason for me to thank Antiphon is for publishing one of my poems in their latest issue (9) alongside many fine poets, do take a look

The year that was, plus a T S Eliot Prize-themed workshop

So many good end-of-year review-type blog posts in the last week or so. A few I particularly enjoyed:

Anthony Wilson’s ‘Most read life-saving poems in 2013’ which gave me a chance to catch up on some I’d missed, in particular U A Fanthorpe’s Atlas and Derek Mahon’s Everything is going to be all right.

Josephine Corocoran’s Skip to the good bits was just the sort of ‘yearly review’ I’d love to have written, an entertaining walk-through of what she’s enjoyed reading in 2013, the many events she’s been to and her own writing – very motivational.

Katy Evans-Bush did something slightly different with a ‘Ten ways to celebrate Christmas with poetry‘ blog post, which included an interesting list of poets born in Christmas week, as well as suggestions such as ‘have a read aloud session after Christmas dinner’ – I can picture that going down well in some households more than others! Having said that, I remember a power cut on Christmas day a few years back in which someone started singing a Christmas carol, someone else joined in, and we ended up entertaining the neighbours with our impression of the Von Trapp Family. So anything’s possible.

TS Eliot Prize collection shortlist 2013
Collections shortlisted for the 2013 TS Eliot Prize

Speaking of Katy E-B, she’s holding a one-day session at the Poetry School this coming Saturday, focusing on the T S Eliot shortlisted collections. I’m looking forward to getting a feel for the them prior to the prize readings the following day. I think there are a couple of places left so if it appeals to you contact Katy directly, and maybe see you there.

End of year thank yous, submissions news, plans

Daisy by the Xmas treeHappy Holidays (or non-denominational winter festival, etc). Wouldn’t it be great to end the year on a ‘good news’ note? You know – I’ve suddenly been snapped up by Faber, or something – but I’ve nothing exciting to report on the submissions front, sadly: yet another no from Ambit, and a very swift no from HappenStance (very generous of Nell Nelson to read and respond so quickly and thoughtfully, even though I sensed she found my poems a tad yawn-worthy. Clearly I must do better if I want to raise myself above the swollen river of poetic same-ness that constantly darkens her door. Oh dear, there’s a lovely mixed metaphor for you – I rest my case…)

Oddly enough I don’t feel knocked back. I’m strangely optimistic about 2014, and determined to make something happen rather than be passive about it all. What that means exactly I’m not sure, it’s just a kernel of a feeling for now … will let you know!

There’s plenty of poetry business to keep me out of mischief in January: a trip to the T S Eliot Award readings on 13th – I have poet friend Julia to thank for introducing me to this annual poets’ gathering. Great fun! Also, I’ve lately got involved with Needlewriters here in Lewes, and am pledged to help publicise it – next event is on 16th, with Kay Syrad, Patricia McCarthy and John Usher. Plus there’s Brighton Stanza to think about – next meeting on 20th and some planning to be done before then.

I’m planning also for the Lewes Singers, our occasional choir – two concerts in 2014 and cathedral visits for 2015 and 2016 – yes, they have to be booked that far ahead! The Church of England may be struggling for attendees these days and plenty of the less glamorous cathedrals are desperately strapped for cash, but there will always be a ton of choirs wanting to sing in them.  Sadly, it’s regular church goers and visitors who are needed, for their donations, whereas visiting choirs contribute nothing except their singing. A bit unfair of us really. The unevenness of this reminds me of the situation in poetry, vis a vis readers / writers.

I was very lucky this Christmas, not only did my lovely other half buy me a copy of A London Year, 365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters by Travis Elborough, which I’ve coveted for a while, but Stepson also came up trumps and presented me with the Centenary Edition of William Blake’s Poetry and Prose. Blake! Just the thing I need to clear my brain after a bit of Christmas excess and trashy reading.

This will probably be my last post for 2013, so I wanted to mention some of my favourite poetry blogs/poet bloggers and generous Poetgal supporters … thank you all so much for the wonderful posts, discussion, comments, shares/retweets, camaraderie and support: Josephine Corcoran at And Other Poems, Abegail Morley at The Poetry Shed, Anthony WilsonMeg CoxIsabel Rogers, Jean Tubridy at Social BridgeJayne StantonElly Nobbs, Hilda Sheehan and Lynne Hjelmgaard. And apologies to anyone I’ve omitted. You are all brilliant and it’s a pleasure to know you (even if virtually).

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, and I wish you a healthy, happy and successful 2014! Robin x

A literary lunch, a rejection and a Robert Frost mystery

Emerging from the fug of the common cold, what should greet me but a ‘no thanks’ notification from Ambit. It seemed like an automated/standard reply this time, so I think I have to give up on it for now. The last rejection I had from them felt more personal and encouraging.  I think three or four rejections in a row (can’t remember how many it’s been with Ambit, actually) from a mag is a fairly strong indicator that my stuff just isn’t their bag. (Unless I’ve had something published by them before, which is quite different.) So Ambit now joins the ‘probably not’ list. (If the list gets too long I may have to revise my strategy but at the moment it works fine!)

On the positive side, I had a very nice time on Tuesday at the Chelsea Arts Club where my lovely agent (for my non-fiction writing) was hosting a Christmas lunch for some of her authors. A great chance to meet other (far more successful) writers and get enthused about everything from space exploration to Norris McWhirter. Imagine my excitement to meet a fellow poet there by the name of Liz Dean. Liz told me she had a fair amount of work published a few years back, but other projects have taken her away from the poetry scene lately. We talked about magazines, submissions, pamphlets, the way forward and so forth. She made a suggestion which I found intriguing and came away thinking “Yes, I will do that in 2014…” We actually shook hands on it, so indeed I must do it! I won’t say any more now, but all will be revealed here in the fullness of time. Ha ha!

The news that Douglas Dunn has won the Queen’s Medal for poetry had me panicking that I’d not read a thing by him. Well, ‘panicking’ is probably too strong a word, but that general feeling of “oh no! here’s another famous poet I haven’t read or even heard of! what the bloody hell do I think I’m doing, noodling about writing poetry or even having the PRESUMPTION to call myself a sortofpoet when my knowledge of The Canon is so completely inadequate” – that kind of thing.

So partly in a knee-jerk reaction and partly because I needed to return Simon Armitage’s Tyrannosaurus Rex versus the Cordoroy Kid (many gems there) I went to the library and spent an hour or so with the one Dunn book they had which was The Year’s Afternoon (brilliant title poem you can read here). I took it away to read properly, and also a copy of Answering Back, an anthology of pairs of poems, one by a contemporary poet in response to one by a more established/dead one. Edited by Carol Ann Duffy. This looks really meaty and I know I’m going to enjoy it, just from looking at who is responding to who, for starters.

Arrived in the post last week was the latest edition of Rattle, from which I get my regular dose of American poetry and Poems With Titles That Are Quite Often Longer Than The Actual Poems Themselves And Every Word In The Title Is Capitalized (sic). Also by my bed is the Winter edition of Poetry Review which I’ve only skimmed through so far but noticed another enjoyable and cheeky nod to Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by woods’ – a poem by Kate Bingham called ‘Midnight’. In the last edition we had ‘Floating on Lake Windermere in a Stolen Boat’ by Sean Hewitt, a similar homage. Maybe it will be a recurring theme? Something to watch for!

Links to useful poetry resources (publishers, magazines, competitions etc)

The Saison Poetry Library

I thought I’d post some links to poetry resources I’ve been bookmarking. I’m sure these are just the tip of the iceberg so if you know of anything similar to add to this list please let me know in a comment – thanks. These are mostly UK but I’ve included one good US resource also.

Write Out Loud Poetry Directory – this is an Aladdin’s Cave of links, to magazines, small presses, courses and regular competitions. Lots of publications I’d never heard of. Recommended.

The Saison Poetry Library on the South Bank in London has a list of UK poetry magazines, although it isn’t up to date (eg it still has old details for Poetry London, Ambit, etc and lists several publications that are defunct) so best to double-check the info you find there. The Poetry Library’s Competitions listings are useful.

The Poetry Can is a site for poetry development in the South West but it features a national list of Poetry and Literature Festivals. This could be useful if you’re looking for gigs to promote your books, or planning to organise an event of your own. The site’s Resources page contains a number of useful poetry links.

The Scottish Poetry Library has an excellent website with resources and opportunities for poets, teachers and families and lots of useful poetry links. I’ve never visited the library but it looks brilliant.

On the Literature Wales site there is information about courses at Ty Newydd, competitions, events and opportunities for writers.

What Editors Want: A Must-Read for Writers Submitting to Literary Magazines by Lynne Barrett in The Review Review. This is a great general resource for writers wanting to research lit mags, although it’s focused on the US there are still many relevant articles here. And if you’re looking to crack the US scene here’s a listing of links to over 600 US print and online literary magazines.

Here’s Carrie Etter’s list of UK Pamphlet publishers currently accepting unsolicited submissions – although it dates from March 2012, so again, not guaranteed to be up to date but a good starting point.

If you’re looking for something a bit more quirky, essential reading is this list of 15th century collective nouns. Excellent tweet-fodder.

*** [added 5-12-13] Thanks to Carrie Etter for pointing me to a list of poetry publishers compiled by Helena Nelson at Happenstance – it’s a downloadable PDF available from this page. Last updated August 13, so pretty much up to date, although as Nell acknowledges, it’s dependent upon people letting her know about changes in circumstances or new publishers.

*** [added 7-1-14] Wonderful piece here on putting together a collection – On Making the Poetry Manuscript, by Jeffrey Levine – check out the rest of his blog while you’re there, it’s a great resource.

Photo: The Saison Poetry Library