I’m feeling very uplifted by real-life in-person poetry events. Last week in Lewes was the launch of three Frogmore Press publications: The Naming by Jeremy Page, Marion Tracy’s Evidence of Love and Neil Gower’s Meet me in Palermo. Strong readings all round and a cautiously-convivial atmosphere. Fast on this comes tomorrow’s Needlewriters event, our firstRead more ⟶
Category: Writing
Trying to write the next poem
I’ve just been editing an interview I did with the wonderful Kim Addonizio recently, for Planet Poetry. I’m a huge fan of Kim’s and in my keenness not to sound like a goofy fangirl I’m slightly worried I wasn’t complimentary enough or warm enough. Which is probably silly. But there was something very reassuring aboutRead more ⟶
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 spookilyRead more ⟶
Not drowning but waving
Did I mention I’d signed up for some swimming lessons? I saw a poster for a six-week long (school holidays) once a week group course, at the place where I swim, and jumped in at it. It’s not that I can’t swim, but I want to swim with style. And I want to learn howRead more ⟶
Lighthouse launch: reading a new poem and its prequel
Tomorrow evening is the online launch of Lighthouse Journal #22 in which I have a poem called ‘Let’s pretend to go shopping together’. This poem revisits an older one entitled ‘Closure’ which first appeared in (the late lamented) Envoi in 2014 and then again in my Cinnamon pamphlet All the Relevant Gods (only £2.09 atRead more ⟶
A sudden rush of sending out & signing up
Earlier this week I found myself pulling out old poems as well as some recent work, and giving them a bit of a pummelling. As a result I’ve had a spree of sending out to magazines and (yes I’m afraid so) the odd competition. As luck would have it, I’m booked into a half-day PoetryRead more ⟶
A question about ‘poechreay’
I’m expecting my granddaughter to be offered a book deal any time now. Last week she gave me a card with a question written on it, somewhat out of the blue, and I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I did what any diligent nana does, I asked the Twittersphere: I was stunned by howRead more ⟶
On encouraging children’s interest in writing poetry
I recently had a text from one of my stepdaughters who was passing on a question from her five-year-old: “Nana, how are poems made?” Hmm! I tried to think very hard before responding. How to say something encouraging and likely to engage a five-year old, while still being honest? No doubt there are teachers orRead more ⟶
Advice to a poet, and a curious birthday thing
Q: Who are these poets and what do they (almost) have in common? (Answers below…) Advice lines Recently I came across this delightful and very relevant piece on the Poetry Ireland website: Advice to a Poet – words of wisdom from Maurice Harmon, critic, biographer, editor, literary historian and poet. Even the title has anRead more ⟶
Those tips from Don Paterson again…
I was doing a bit of editing yesterday and looked back on some of the notes I’d made from various workshops, and then I remember this blog post from 2012. Yes, nearly 8 years ago, a heck of a long time in politics but a few seconds in poetics. Anyway, I thought I’d reblog it,Read more ⟶