The Brighton Poetry Stanza is expanding. Jo Grigg has done a fabulous job of nurturing this group over the last few years, with a diverse group of people meeting once a month to workshop their poems. There are a number of regulars and many more who come along when they can. Stanzas are regional groupsRead more ⟶
Category: Workshopping
Mimi Khalvati on vowel music and editing with form
Our last workshop of the year with Mimi Khalvati on Saturday, and the subjects of vowel sounds and form were big topics. Here’s an extract from my notes, on the things that struck home for me this month. Vowel music – paying attention to the vowel sounds of words (NB not how the sounds areRead more ⟶
A feast of first lines
First lines. Ack! It’s worse than a job interview. You have 2 seconds to make an impression. Or something like that. Do you find yourself going back to the first line and re-writing because it’s just not strong enough? And as a reader, do you ever read the first line and immediately your mind saysRead more ⟶
Poetry Day at Jo’s
Every now and then, poet friend Jo generously offers up her lovely, sunny top floor for a few of us to have a poetry day. On Saturday there were four of us, the smallest group we’ve had so far, but it was lovely – we all brought along whatever we are reading at the moment,Read more ⟶
More Mimi tips
Here’s my round up of tips from Mimi Khalvati as recorded in my notebook on Saturday…. yours to do with as you see fit! On the subject of clarity and coherence (does one need it? should one worry about it?) Similes are clearer than metaphors, if that’s what you’re aiming for. Mimi’s advice is toRead more ⟶
Power pose through that next workshop!
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 ⟶
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 ⟶
Workshop with Mimi Khalvati
Aren’t we lucky in Lewes? A bona fide A-list poet comes down here from London each month to offer her wisdom and help us improve our writing. And I am finally in! After a year or so of champing at the bit I now have a place, and enjoyed my first ‘official’ workshop on SaturdayRead more ⟶
Bumper latest news
Lots been happening lately. Firstly, my good friend and very talented poet Charlotte Gann was shortlisted for the Michael Marks pamphlet award. Although she was pipped at the post it was a wonderful to see her pamphlet The Long Woman make the shortlist for a big prize. Then, I had the chance to take partRead more ⟶
The key to writing better poetry is …
Saw a tweet about the new Arvon course list for 2012 being up. So couldn’t resist taking a look. I’m going through this thing at the moment where I feel a desperate need for some sort of mentoring, or at least workshopping, with better poets than myself. Better writers, more experienced… I guess I don’tRead more ⟶