Places – Robin Houghton

Blog/ 02/01/2025

New Year, new book and other news

Oof! December was a blur of concerts and all that entailed, then family stuff and various resolutions. Between Christmas and New Year we managed not one but two mini-breaks: the first was a day in London which included an excellent guided walk of Nine Elms & Battersea with Hilaire. The next day we took off to the north Kent coast, staying in Tankerton and doing a whistle-stop tour of Thanet’s seaside towns. I love a bit of dereliction for its photo opportunities, but it is a shame to see how run-down Margate seems to be. Nevertheless it was my favourite of the places we visited, albeit very briefly. There’s a youthful, arty vibe to it.

Back on the computer, by posting a comment on a Substack a while back I seem to have got a bunch of new followers there, even though I’ve never posted an article there as far I know. I can’t spread my online time any thinner. Blog or Substack..?

Then the Blue Sky experiment. I haven’t been posting regularly there, although I still prefer it to Twitter, and have certainly come across many more interesting folks. However I’ve spent a fair bit of time monitoring new followers and blocking those that appear to be either bots or agents. They invariably present as men in their sixties, straight out of a catalogue, smiling, posing with a boat or car or something outdoorsy, usually without a biog or else it’s an AI one-liner such as ‘Enjoying all that life has to offer!’ or ‘Be kind to me I’m new here!’ They are usually following zillions of people and if they’ve posted at all it’s just vapid photos or re-posts that suggest a political agenda. I suppose a lot of people just follow back when someone follows them, which is why these fake accounts exist – to disseminate crap on an industrial scale. It was one of the things that did for Twitter and I’m sorry (but not surprised) to see it happening on Blue Sky. All we need is for all the trolls, eejits and troublemakers to start posting and feeding the bots. So let’s hope they stay away.

The collection is coming along. First round of edits & comments received from publisher. I’ll be going through them very soon. We’re still hoping to hit a March launch. Let’s see! I’ve got a few readings set up now, but need to arrange some more. First of all I’m reading at Red Door Poets on January 21st in Covent Garden, as the guest of Gillie Robic. I don’t know yet who the other readers are but I’m sure it’ll be a good night, with an open mic too, so please come if you’re in London/willing & able.

One thing I plan to do more of in 2025 is writing poems. Sounds simple, eh? I’ve got an idea for a proto-pamphlet in the pipeline, which I’d like to self-publish in hand-made form and have it to sell alongside the ‘big book’ at readings.

I’m still fully committed to Planet Poetry, despite Peter and I missing out on any ACE funding. On the other hand, we’ve got a small number of people supporting us on buymeacoffee.com for which we are inordinately grateful as it helps to relieve the financial burden. And of course my quarterly poetry submissions spreadsheet, which I wonder how long I can continue with to be honest!

Meanwhile the music continues… two one-day workshops coming up, for which I am the admin. And another unrelated project which starts next month. More on that at a later date.

Happy New Year to you, thanks for reading this blog and I hope your 2025 proves to be a goodie.

Blog/ 21/04/2024

Two new poetry collections I’m enjoying

Look what arrived for me while I was away on a yoga-vegan-retreat in Spain (yup! That’s where I took this photo!) – Snow, the new pamphlet by Peter Kenny (poems) and Palo Almond (art) from Hedgehog Press. It’s a little A6-sized gem, with beautiful endpapers. Just four perfect little tankas accompanying Almond’s dreamy watercolours. Snow is number 6 in Hedgehog’s ‘Little Black Book’ series, and it’s official release date is 22nd May. Peter is of course my Planet Poetry podcast co-host so OK I’m a tad biased but hey, he’s not just a podcaster but a poet, whose work deserves to be more widely known.

Another new release is Rory Waterman’s fourth collection, Come Here to This Gate, published by Carcanet. So far I’ve read the first section, ‘All but forgotten’, a sequence which charts the poet’s relationship with his father in his last year of life. It’s left a big impression on me already, and there’s plenty more in the book to savour. Here’s a video of Rory talking about the collection.

I’ve been neck-deep recently in moving my various websites to a different hosting service, a process that is fraught with potential cock-ups. So if you spot anything weird about this site, or my email, or the sign up for my poetry magazines spreadsheet, please let me know. Speaking of which, I’m currently cooking up some extras to offer on my BuyMeACoffee page. More on that coming soon.

Now, why is so cold? Anyone know?

Blog/ 15/09/2023

In the land of RS Thomas

Back from a scorching hot week in North Wales, to which we took waterproofs, heavy duty walking boots and woollies, none of which we needed. Thankfully we also took shorts and sunscreen!

The Llyn peninsula is a long way to go, further than Land’s End (I looked it up!) but it was worth it. What a beautiful, unspoilt part of the British Isles. Here’s the view that greeted us at dawn, taken from the door of the cottage.

It would make an excellent place for a writing retreat. Quiet, surrounded by nature and with a very poor phone signal.

While we were there I started reading Byron Rogers’ compelling life of RS Thomas, The Man who went into the West, which I’ve nearly finished. He was clearly a puzzling and contradictory man. Although I knew the name, I’ve never made an effort to read his work, which I’m a bit ashamed about now. Especially after Gillian Clarke, on a course at Ty Newydd, exhorted all of us to go away and read him. My podcasting poet pal Peter says he met RS when he was a student, and was struck by his presence.

At Aberdaron, in the little church where RS preached for some years, they’ve made a sort of shrine to him, with newspaper articles, copies of poems and other material. Lovely!

While we were there we walked from Aberdaron along the coastal path. It has more ups and downs than the Seven Sisters cliff walk here in Sussex, and very narrow in places. Here’s the view looking back to Aberdaron. You can just see the church graveyard creeping up the hill in the distance.

Angst/ 07/08/2023

In the summertime when the weather is fine…

July seemed to pass in a soggy blur

How’s your summer going? As I recall, I went to several concerts last month, as well as a dress rehearsal at Glyndebourne, doncha know, although we couldn’t stay till the final act as Nick had a rehearsal to play for and we only have the one car. Plus, as there was a train strike that day he had to drive me several miles in the opposite direction so I could pick up a bus to get me home, then motor back to Lewes for his rehearsal. Actually train strikes and go-slows have made for a miserable month, almost as much as the weather. A day out in London ended with a four and a half hour journey back via Blackfriars, South Norwood, Balham, London Bridge, Gatwick, Lewes and Seaford, in that order (train, train, tube, train, train, train and bus). Joyous! And in other news, I finally heard back from a magazine after a 13 month wait. It was a no, in case you’re wondering.

Enough of all this negativity!

On the good news front, I finally sent out another collection submission to a publisher. Well, it might be bad news of course, but good that I sent it at least.

Also, Beth Miller critiqued my book submission letter and synopsis and asked some very difficult questions, which has led to me doing some serious re-writes. But I’m still aiming to start submitting it to agents in September. Meanwhile I’ve started plotting the next book.

Peter and I had our Planet Poetry AGM today, and we’ve lots of ideas for our fourth season which begins in October, plus, while we’re in the close season we’re going to showcase a few of our favourite archive episodes.

Other than that, I’m looking forward to a wee trip to London to see & hear Voces8 in a prom, not to mention a whole week away next month in Wales, plus a family get-together. And although it hasn’t been the best year for gardening, we have a bumper crop of tomatoes and even a few beans. Happy days!

Blog/ 15/05/202315/05/2023

Launches, project updates and two disputed works

The poor weather has meant I’ve not been spending time in the garden as I normally would at this time of year. Still too cold to plant out courgettes and tomatoes! So instead I’ve been keeping myself out of mischief with ‘deskwork’…

A poet friend whose website I created a few years ago has asked for a revamp, so I’m enjoying working on that. I’ve also got two Planet Poetry interview recordings coming up soon, so I’ve been reading and preparing for those.

Meanwhile despite days off and other distractions, I have kept to my ‘average 1,000 words a day’ on my novel and am past the 60k mark already, so the end-of-May (self-imposed) deadline for finishing the first draft is well in sight. Alongside this I’m researching agents and planning my strategy! I have no idea of a title for this book yet, but I’m looking forward to giving it some thought.

There seem to be plenty of launches and other events coming up. I just read today about Josephine Corcoran’s new pamphlet from Live Canon, to be launched on May 21st. Tomorrow Jill Abram’s launch for her debut pamphlet from Broken Sleep is happening in London – I had booked to go along, but then was offered the chance to talk about Planet Poetry to 3rd year students at Brighton University at their end of year publishing course. Peter and I couldn’t resist the idea of being on a panel and talking about the podcast! Thanks to Lou Tondeur for the invitation. On June 2nd I’m delighted to be reading at Frogmore at 40, Frogmore Press’s 40th Anniversary event in Brighton. I’m a tad daunted to be honest, looking at the names of the other readers. So I just hope I’m not reading first. Please come if you’re anywhere near Brighton, it should be a grand night!

The Charleston Festival is coming up (no, I haven’t been invited to read there!) and as usual I’ll be going to a few talks with my good non-poet-but-writer friend Caroline. On May 26th the amazingly talented and lurrvly Inua Ellams is reading. I loved interviewing him on the Planet Poetry podcast and can’t wait to see how he goes down with the Bloomsbury set.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Stratford upon Avon to see a performance of Cymbelline. I’d never seen it before and nobody I’d spoken to about it had seen it either. Turns out it is a disputed play (ie some say it’s not actually by Shakespeare) – it is certainly a bit of a mashup of other Shakespeare plays both in plot and plot devices. Postmodern, eh? A bit like that song that just won the Eurovision Song Contest sounding suspiciously like ‘Winner takes it all’ by ABBA – is it a conspiracy to get the contest back in Sweden next year for the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win? Anyway, whoever wrote it (Cymbelline that is) we enjoyed it! (But personally I preferred the Austrian entry about Edgar Allen Poe…)

Blog/ 23/03/2023

Poetry at the Betsey

Hard to believe it was over ten years ago that I first stumbled on (or rather out of) The Betsey Trotwood pub in London’s Clerkenwell with my long-suffering willing-to-be-taken-to-poetry-readings friend Lucy. It’s certainly a stalwart of the poetry scene.

A week or so ago I was there to hear readings from students on the Poetry School Writing Poetry MA. Friends and fellow Hastings Stanza members Judith and Oenone are both on the course – Judith about to complete her final year, Oenone her first. They both gave fine readings, as did many others, and the whole event was a huge love-in for the tutors Glyn Maxwell and Tammy Yoseloff.

I do love the atmosphere at ‘The Betsey’ – an achetypical Victorian London pub with an upstairs function, these days entirely smoke-free of course, but just a few decades ago it would have been eye-stingingly fuggy. (It was pointed out to me however that the room was not accessible. This is of course a problem with all the old pubs – they just weren’t built with accessibility in mind. I’m not sure what the answer is.)

The pub used to be called The Butcher’s Arms apparently, and perhaps the renaming (taking the name of a character in Dickens’s David Copperfield) was symbolic of its friendliness to the poor poets and writers of Owd Lahndon Tahn. Many a book launch happens there. In fact, the latest edition of Finished Creatures launches there on Tuesday 4th April. Do come if you can.

Art/ 01/11/2022

A holiday and a vintage submissions spreadsheet

On a holiday

Just back from a short trip to the Netherlands where the weather was spectacularly mild and dry for late October. I can’t recall ever being at the seaside in just a T shirt and jeans on my birthday! And what a seaside.

From the pier at Scheveringen, a big popular resort with miles of gorgeous sandy beach

It was my first visit to the Netherlands (I don’t really count the trips to Hilversum and occasional foray into Amsterdam when I worked for Nike) and I loved the vibe where we stayed in The Hague and the small nearby towns of Delft and Leiden.

a community bookswap — A community bookswap

We couldn’t resist climbing the 300-plus steps to the top of the tower in Delft. Fab views.

View from the tower of the New Church at Delft

And in The Hague, the museums we visited were intimate affairs and not too crowded. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the Mauritshuis with its rooms of Rembrandts and Vermeers, but to my surprise I discovered a love of Dutch 17th century portraits, and particularly the still life paintings…

Still Life by Simon Luttichuys — Still Life with Chinese Lidded Jar, Hazelnuts and Orange, Simon Luttichuys (1610 – 1661)

And the Escher museum was fascinating. I only know him for his famous woodcuts and etchings of ‘impossible’ views, but there was so much more to see.

View down into St Peter's in Rome by MC Escher — View down into St Peter’s in Rome by MC Escher

I came home thinking about so many things – the sea (it has a special resonance for the Dutch), unusual viewpoints, shared public spaces (people, trams, bikes… it seems to all work smoothly whereas in this country we have to put up endless barriers, physical and psychological), and how to be still and look closely.

On poetry submissions and record-keeping

A recent sign-up to my mailing list is Shaun Belcher, a plenty-published poet who is just getting back into the subs game – and look what he sent me:

It’s a couple of pages from his poetry submissions record-keeping, back in the early 1990s! He gave me permission to share it with you. Some of the journals listed here are still in existence, some not. Look at the comments, some are pretty funny. Shaun tells me he had an acceptance rate of around 30% – not bad! I think keeping a record of where you send work and what the response is (if any – note the “over a year and no reply – written off”!) is so useful as well as motivational. Thanks, Shaun.

On online workshopping

It’s week 4 of Bill Greenwell’s online workshop and I think I’m just settling in. Everyone there knows one another, and are familiar with the set-up. The first week went well, I jumped in and read everyone’s poems and commented on them all, although there’s no requirement to do so. But I like to be sociable and not appear stand-offish.

But by week 2 I was already feeling overwhelmed – so many poems to read and comment on, and trying to produce a new poem each week was weighing heavy on me. However, I seem to have now set my own pace. I try to read other people’s poems, but not if they’ve already had loads of comments. I sometimes add my comments but I don’t feel bad if I don’t.

Although I could just bring an old unpublished poem for workshopping each week (goodness knows I have a ton) I’ve set myself the task of only bringing new work, as a way of getting myself to write more. Having been away last week, yesterday I allowed myself a bit of leeway and posted an old poem that needs reviving. But overall, the course is proving to be very good for me.

Blog/ 13/09/2021

Happy days

Some lovely poetry stuff recently – firstly the launch of Finished Creatures in Lewes, the first in-person poetry reading I’ve been to for (pretty much) years. Editor Jan Heritage created a warm atmosphere as always and invited contributors to read their own poem plus another one from the magazine. Although Paul Stephenson and Roy Marshall weren’t actually there, their poems were popular choices! Both before and afterwards we spilled out onto the sunny patio at the Depot to eat, drink and catch up. Perfect.

Then I had some unexpected good news. A poem of mine won the Ruth Selina Poetry Prize, an annual competition held at the University of York and open to anyone in the department of English and Related Literature. It was judged by JT Welsch and Vahni Capildeo. Ruth Selina was a promising student who died at a very young age, and her family endowed both this prize and another at Leeds University. I feel very proud to have won it, especially as I’m currently on a year’s leave of absence from my course, so it’s nice to keep the connection going and remind myself I’m still a student there.

We’re just back from a hot, sunny week in North Norfolk. We seem to be very lucky with the weather when go away in September. I just wish I’d taken more summer clothes! We rented a holiday cottage in Blakeney, completely unaware that it’s the most expensive place we could have chosen (£18 for pub fish & chips, anyone?) But we had a lovely time and managed to actually self-cater, despite the cottage lacking a few essentials. The North Norfolk coast is gorgeous and we also managed a day on the Broads (in which I discovered I CANNOT drive a boat) as well as visits to historic houses and churches. A few pics below.

Meanwhile Planet Poetry is about to begin its second series… I have some interview editing to do!

Obligatory trip to see the seals at Blakeney Point

Blog/ 27/08/202126/08/2021

Meet-ups, currently reading & other distractions

Nothing wrong with distractions, and goodness I’m certainly welcoming them with open arms. But scroll down if you’re only here for the poetry stuff.

Distraction #1: Singing

A couple of weeks ago I was at Westminster Abbey with members of the Lewes Singers, for the fifth time, where we sang two evensongs in a spookily empty quire. We rather rattled around in there. But it was so fantastic to be able to sing again in one of our magnificent cathedrals. If you’re interested I’ve written a more detailed blog post about it here.

That’s my man! Nick rehearsing the Lewes Singers in Westminster Abbey

Distraction #2: London

A few days in London was a real tonic. And it’s still pretty quiet and tourist-free. We visited some more of the fascinating City churches, also the much-revamped Museum of the Home, and just enjoyed exploring London on foot.

We also went to the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy, The Arrival of Spring. It’s two (or three?) rooms of the paintings Hockney did in France during Spring 2020, recording the same trees, plants and landscapes as they transitioned from bare and cold to full greenery and colour. I was quite taken aback – the colours are just indescribably beautiful, and the whole idea of Spring and how it always comes back, no matter what… I don’t know why but I started welling up and before I knew it I was standing in the middle of the room completely in tears. I’ve never had that kind of reaction to any art, so it rather took me aback. I guess the last 18 months have been harder than I thought.

David Hockney number 209, 17th April 2020 — David Hockney, The Coming of Spring number 209, 17th April 2020

Gorgeous Huguenot houses in Fournier Street, Spitalfields, London — Gorgeous Huguenot houses in Fournier Street, Spitalfields

Distraction #3: Gardening

Actually I’ve been taking less care of the garden recently other than deadheading, sitting looking at the wonderful hibiscus that only flowers for one week in the year, and picking tomatoes. These are mostly the variety ‘Romello’, and they’ve been so soft and sweet – highly recommended.

And so to poetry…

I’ve had a few weeks of full-on Planet Poetry stuff, getting our new website up but mostly reading and preparing for interviews with (spoiler alert) Kim Addonizio, Martina Evans, Di Slaney and Sharon Black – you heard it here first! Series Two kicks off at the end of September. Subscribe in iTunes or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Recent poetry by Sharon Black and Di Slaney

I’ve also actually been writing some new poems – hurrah! – as well as receiving the odd rejection email, including one addressed to ‘Dear Francesca’ – ! Dear oh dear. Sorry about that Francesca – do you have my rejection email by any chance?

Last month Hastings Stanza had its first in-person meetup since – well – you can imagine – and I can report it felt quite momentous. Glorious in fact. And a few days ago I met up with my Telltale pals in a Brighton pub garden and downed many pints of beer, as well as being very loud and lairy. Sadly I don’t have their permission to share a photo here, though I am sorely tempted!

And finally, not poetry exactly but kind of – my bedside reading is currently A Length of Road by Robert Hamberger. It’s an utterly absorbing and very personal account of Rob’s walk in the footsteps of John Clare. It’s a meditation on Clare’s poetry, and also nature writing but mostly a beautiful and honest memoir, and perfect reading for the quiet night time journey down into sleep. It’s published by JM Originals. Definitely recommended.

Blog/ 08/01/2021

Readings this coming week, Planet Poetry & Uni stuff

Today feels like a desk-work day even though the sun is shining outside – we did go for a long walk on the Downs yesterday and I always need a day to recover after sustained exercise, although of course I have to keep up my Yoga with Adriene sessions! It was cold and frosty up on the hills yesterday, but beautiful:

On the South Downs winter walk

Poetry & Poetics course update

The good news is I wrote my essay and submitted it a week ago – woop! I could have delayed and kept fiddling with it, but I didn’t really see the point. So now I’m free to devote my reading time to Dante. It looks like the entire Spring term will be taught online, which is a shame, but I’m clinging onto the idea that as I’m doing this over two years, next year I might be able to go up to York more regularly. My small coterie of fellow students is lovely and we’ve enjoyed some sociable Zoom chats. All this is much harder for them than for cosy old me of course.

A couple of readings coming up

Nothing at all since last March and now I have two readings in a week – hmmm. Actually both are team readings, the first is on Monday 11th at 6pm (GMT), an event organised by the Mary Evans Picture Library and Arts Destination South Molton, in which 15 of us will each read a poem from the Poets and Pictures blog, accompanied by the photo or image that inspired it. We had a run through the other evening and there are some intriguing poem/picture combinations. It makes good use of Zoom to have the pictures up while we read. Lots of fine poets taking part, including Janet Sutherland, Jane Clarke, Rosie Jackson and Martyn Crucefix. Its free and open to all, but if you’re interested in attending do drop an email to Alison Verney at admin@artsdestination.co.uk who will send you a link.

Meanwhile on Thursday 14th, again at 6pm, there’s a Needlewriters/Frogmore Press Zoom event in which eight of us will read something from the Poetry South East 2020 Anthology. Drop a line to Jeremy at frogmorepress@gmail.com if you’d like a link to attend. It would be lovely to see you at either or both readings!

Planet Poetry

The podcast is back for 2021! In yesterday’s episode Peter interviewed Mario Petrucci, and then we had a bit of banter about prose poems, New Year’s resolutions and whatnot. We have some very interesting interviews coming up over the next few weeks, including Mary Jean Chan, Inua Ellams, and a number of other lovely poets and pundits to be confirmed ….why not have a listen and sign up?

Spring

More good news – the days are getting longer! Daffodils are pushing up already! last week I did a big clean up in the ‘potting shed’ and that felt good. The seed catalogues are here and I’m thinking about what to plant. Bring it on!

Category: Places