Tag: bill greenwell

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Subs, pods and mags

and we were shot down with rain

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 submission together in time to send to Broken Sleep. Who knows if it’s going to be up Aaron Kent’s strasse. I enjoyed compiling it though – 20 – 25 poems is a sweet collection length in my mind.  Meanwhile I’ve been geed up by a couple of acceptances this week, one from Mark Antony Owen’s After... due to go live in January, an elphrastic poem I wrote inspired by a painting by David Hockney from his ‘The Arrival of Spring, Normandy 2020’ (see above).  Elsewhere I’ve still got around a dozen poems that have been out for between 3 and 7 months. The Christmas/New Year break is traditionally a time for rejections to come trickling in, as editors attack the slush pile after too many mince pies. So let’s see.

Bill Greenwell’s workshop turned out to be a bit of a ‘curate’s egg’ for me…  it generated half a dozen new poems, at least three of which have legs. Bill’s feedback was very useful indeed; he has such a depth of experience and insight. On the other hand I didn’t actually finish the 9 weeks, sloping off under pressure of work and other distractions after 6. And to be honest I was overwhelmed with all the poems and comments being posted and just couldn’t keep up. I don’t think the online workshop format is for me (yes, I know I’ve said this before –  but do I ever learn?)

So Peter and I managed to get the latest episode of Planet Poetry edited and up last Thursday, featuring Peter’s interview with Sarah Barnsley on her first full collection The Thoughts. It’s an excellent book, in fact it’s one of my recommendations in the forthcoming edition of Poetry News. The poddy is going well. Now all we need are <unsubtle-hint> a few kind donations to help us pay the costs of the recording and hosting platforms! </unsubtle-hint> We were especially chuffed to hear that Kim Moore (who we interviewed in our Season 3 opener recently) won the Forward Prize! We bask in the reflected glory! Our Christmas episode is coming up on December 15th, featuring my interview with Matthew Stewart plus party hats, carols and bloopers. Don’t miss it!!

Meanwhile I’ve just sent out the updated spreadsheet of poetry magazine windows, and although I’ve lost patience with a few of the mags that seem to be permanently closed and/or never updated, there are some interesting additions. Even one journal that’s finally open for poetry after I took it off the list some time ago because it was never open and didn’t respond to queries. Perhaps poetry mags never die, they just pass out for a while (to nick a line from Prole).

So it’s wall-to-wall concerts at the moment. Choirs seem to be tackling an interesting range of material this year, which means I don’t have to sit though any renditions of ‘For unto WUSS a child is born’.  In fact I’m just off to Brighton again to hear one of Nick’s choirs perform. Yes, even a rail replacement bus service doesn’t put me off. It must be love!

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You win some, you lose some…

As a fresh writing impetus I’ve joined Bill Greenwell‘s online poetry workshop this term, a group I’ve been thinking about for a while. Abegail Morley always spoke well of the mentoring she had from Bill, and I have a lot of time for Sharon Black, under whose auspices the workshops are run. Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, Peter Kenny and I have been busy recording interviews for the new season of Planet Poetry. Watch out for the Season 3 opener later this week (hopefully!)

A lot seems to have happened in the last couple of weeks. Despite my previous blog post when I talked about going back to York to finish my MA in Poetry & Poetics, I decided to pull out. Let’s just say I couldn’t cope with the chaotic organisation there. I don’t think York is particularly geared up to dealing with part time students who commute long distances and have (what??) commitments in their lives other than university.

I’m very sad not to be immersed in the close-reading of poetry, and finishing the MA. But the stress of spending hours on Trainline looking for fares, losing money on non-refundable tickets that turn out to be useless because the timetable has changed again… on top of the considerable academic load… something had to give. Some people have suggested I move my ‘credits’ to another Uni, but I could only find two Universities in the UK (York and Belfast) offering this course. Now, if I wanted to do a creative writing MA, that would be a lot easier!

Soooo… actually I feel a weight has been lifted. More time to write (or think about writing!), more time to devote to Planet Poetry and my work on the submissions windows spreadsheet, plus I’m looking forward to all the music-related admin for concerts on the run up to Christmas, planning for Spring workshops, and enjoying my birthday in The Hague researching a future choral trip. I’m also still tied up with my sister’s estate as her co-executor (now is not the time to be trying to sell a flat).

On the good news front, a week or so ago I happened to check my email at lunchtime on a Saturday, to see that Visual Verse were running a competition – but it was only open for 24 hours. Visual Verse is an online magazine for ekphrastic writing – they post a new image every month and people respond to it. This was a bit different, in that there was only a day to write something and submit. I rather liked the image, so I had a go, and was one of the winners. It’s ages since I won anything so this was a really nice boost for me on National Poetry Day. It was also extraordinary to read the other winning poems and see how different our takes on the image were!

Speaking of NPD, the evening before I was at the Eastbourne Poetry Cafe awards night for their ‘Eastbourne and the Environment’ competition, handing out comments and certificates to the winners. The poems received in the Under 18s category were particularly encouraging, and lovely to see the two young winners take to the stage to read their work. I chatted to one set of parents, who were grateful for events like these to be happening. I know competitions can be seen as problematic, but they do at least give young poets (and potential young poets) a focus and (for the winners at least, but I hope for everyone) encouragement to keep reading and writing poetry.

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Those poetry ‘banned words’ again

banned words in poetry

Another perennial topic that poets always seem to enjoy debating – what are the ‘banned’ words? The word ‘shard’ came up the other evening at Hasting Stanza and I couldn’t help but mention that it was ‘on the list’ – to which the response was, ‘can you do a blog post about this?’

Is it really the case that certain words, inserted innocently into what might be an otherwise excellent poem, can somehow poison the entire piece? That it can ruin your chance of getting the poem published, shortlisted, or even taken seriously? What are these words? And who decides what they are?

The debate has fascinated me ever since I first fell foul of the banned words police, using – yes – shard, in a poem that I took to workshop a few years back. There was no mass outrage, just a gentle murmuring about it having to go.

The first thing to remember is that many people will say the banned words thing is ridiculous. The second is that those same people will often, when their buttons are pushed, turn out to have their own personal list of words they’d never use. I don’t think there are words that everyone agrees should be avoided. Even the most commonly-quoted ones (shard, myriad, tesserae) sometimes slip through. But editors/judges/tutors have their own opinions, and you can’t always know what they are.

I also think that, like language generally, the list is probably in continual flux. The point being that the ‘banned words’ aren’t necessarily evil or tasteless in themselves, they’ve just been overused, misused and abused. But if everyone studiously avoids ‘cumulus’, there will come a day when it will sound fresh, and we’ll start using it again. And you’ve only got to look at today’s poetry magazines to realise there’s a new generation of words that are shaping up nicely for membership of The List. I also think there should be a ‘bad sex in poetry’ sister award to that for Bad Sex in Fiction. But that’s another post!

If you’re interested in avoiding the banned word landmines, Frances Spurrier lists a few classics here.  Mary Lou Taylor attributes a number of them (including ‘shard’ and – one on my personal list – ‘soul’) to Bill Greenwell.

There’s an ever-evolving list (although I’m not sure if anything ever gets taken off it) at the suspiciously anonymous Pretend Genius. Gems here range from the obviously archaic ‘quoth’ to the more baffling ‘Jennifer’ (number 46). Jennifer? Really? (If you know why, please let me know!) Anyway, I can say with 100% certainty that I have fallen foul of this particular list many times. (‘Black’? ‘Leaf’?) Plus, ‘death’ appears twice… so maybe I’ve just been had. Good fun though 🙂

If you agree or disagree please tell us – have you done well in the NPC with a poem about shards of light peeking through the cumulus? Perhaps you’ve been told never to use the word ‘potato’ in a poem? We need to know!

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Seven Questions for Poets #10 – Elly Nobbs

My final interviewee in this series is E.E. Nobbs. Elly is a Canadian poet whose book The Invisible Girl won the Doire Press International Chapbook Competition in 2013.

I almost feel I’ve met Elly – she’s a bit of a poetry Anglophile given her impressive presence on our UK poetry blogs, at The Poetry School and numerous other places. And she’s very supportive of others on social media, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to include her here – also to bring a dash of transatlantic je ne sais quoi to this little patch of poetic doodahs. (NB Canada – a bit of French – see what I did there??)

I know you’re going to enjoy Elly’s answers so I’ll get on with it…

1 – What was the last poetry book you read, that you would recommend?

I just read Click and Clone by Elaine Equi. I admire by her wit, wisdom, conciseness and versatility. In some ways (wit-wise & concise-wise) she’s like another favourite American poet of mine, Kay Ryan.

2 – What would be your ideal place for a writing retreat?

The ocean within easy walking distance. With a dog for company.

3 – Do you enter poetry competitions?

Haven’t as much lately. Usually once or twice a year. But by entering a Doire Press contest in 2013, I won a prize and got my chapbook published – the major thrill of the 21st century for me.

4 – If someone has never read any poetry, where would you suggest they start?

The Writer’s Almanac daily podcast and web site. Garrison Keillor is a fine reader who provides interesting literary tidbits along with the poem.

Also, this FREE online course by Open Ed is a super way to enter the world of poetry and learn more about how and why poets do what they do. And it’s free.

And your question is reminding me to catch up with Carol Rumen’s weekly poem and comments in The Guardian. She’s great.

5 – You’re asked to give a reading at the Royal Festival Hall, to thousands of people. What goes through your mind?

That I might finally get to meet in person my first poetry tutor, Bill Greenwell and other friends that I’ve made over the years online at his poetry courses and clinics – and also folks that I’ve met through Poetry School online courses.

And that I would finally USE my passport!

6 – Why is end-rhyme considered a good thing in performance poetry, but rarely found in contemporary magazines?

There are always going to be some poets who do a good job of rhyme. Your question got me curious so I went looking online for a Canadian example. Here’s one that I found and like … ‘Herons on the Ice’ by Richard Sangar.

7 – Can you remember the first poem you wrote – what was it about?

A Grade 12 English assignment was to write the nymph’s response to
‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ by Christopher Marlowe. I think I still have it somewhere…

QUICK PLUG:

Elly is working on a couple of reviews for the literary magazine Galatea Resurrects and encourages other folks to do the same. The next deadline is November 27th.  It is edited by the energetic and generous Eileen Tabios.

Previous ‘Seven Questions for Poets’:
#1 – Clare Best
#2 – Jill Abram
#3 – Antony Mair
#4 – Hilda Sheehan
#5 – Ian Humphreys
#6 – Claire Dyer
#7 – Louise Ordish
#8 – Anna Kisby
#9 – Rosemary Badcoe

Mags & Blogs/

Getting published/entering competitions – tips from the experts

The weather’s terrible, I am a ‘music widow’ today and I feel the urge to reconnect with what makes poetry good, and conversely what’s BAD about the stuff I’ve had rejected lately. Yes, it’s time for some serious reading and some BIG edits!

I recently came across Tim Love’s excellent LitRefs Articles blog – and read again his piece about getting poetry published in the UK, a very useful resource, and it got me looking out a few other pieces I had bookmarked about getting published or entering poetry competitions.

For example, on Staple Magazine‘s website there’s Wayne Burrows’ lovely piece entitled Five Reasons Why A Writer’s Work Might Be Returned By An Editor…* (*…that have nothing to do with whether it’s actually good enough for publication) – read the comments too, they are entertaining.

Happenstance has a free download The Dos and Don’ts of Poetry Submission – to access it you have to go through a registration process and possibly input your credit card details (I think, although I didn’t get that far), although you’re not charged anything. I mention this article because I’m fairly sure I’ve read it on a blog at some point and found it useful even though it’s now behind a registration wall.

The Poetry Society has some useful FAQs about poetry publication amongst other things…

On the subject of entering competitions – on her blog, Abegail Morley recently interviewed Bill Greenwell about what judges look for in poetry competitions, and here’s George Szirtes’s interview with Ian Duhig on the thorny question of what poetry competitions are actually for… (George S is himself of course a veteran of the poetry competition judging scene, and there are plenty of his wise words on the subject elsewhere on the web)

And finally, a feast of tasty information (huh?) on Abegail Morley’s The Poetry Shed which includes an interview with Helen Ivory on judging competitions, ‘recipes for success’ from various magazine editors, and a bonus piece at the end about drafting a poem, by Kim Moore.

These are just a few articles I’m aware of – do you have more to add to the list – pieces on getting published or winning competitions, that you’ve found helpful/entertaining/informative? Do share – thanks!