Tag: Ink Sweat & Tears

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Readings, writing, reviews & general catchup

'Bikini' athlete mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale, Siciiy

Finally, here I am putting my head above the parapet. It’s been a lovely full summer. Not so much for the garden, which suffered from a too-early onset of dry weather, then the nail in the coffin of the hosepipe ban. We did get a modest harvest of cucumbers, courgettes and tomatoes, although quite a few plants failed.  But plenty of fun stuff: a big family holiday, long in the planning, an extended visit from stepdaughter over from Australia that really energised me, then most recently a two week holiday a deux in Sicily. I’m a lucky woman in so many ways, I won’t bore you with the detail. Let’s just say I’m back and I have that good feeling that comes with the move into Autumn.

Readings

Eighteen hours after crawling into bed on Tuesday morning, after a day’s driving followed by a flight delay, I was at the Hurstpierpoint Festival taking part in a group poetry reading organised by poet friend Miriam Patrick. Miriam is a very talented poet who gives so much of her time to others. A number of the attendees on Tuesday were members of Miriam’s poetry reading group that she set up in the village. It was a good event – I think the room was full, and we all got a warm reception. Miriam read some engaging poems about work, with themes ranging from artist’s muse Lizzie Siddal to Aquinas’s angels dancing on a pinhead. Wendy Klein was also reading, from her pamphlet ‘Having Her Cake’. The collection tackles the subject of assisted dying, with reference to a close friend who made that choice in California, where the process is not illegal. I found it an intense and moving reading.

Meanwhile, forthcoming readings are just around the corner. Please come along if any of them are near you. (I’m also looking for more reading opps next year, so if there’s a poetry event near you that you think I could ask to read at, please let me know.)

Tuesday 7 October 7.45 – 9.30pm: Ouse Muse, Bedford

Friday 12 December 8pm: Reading Poets Cafe

Writing

I’ve been pondering why I’m so lacking in any impetus to write at the moment. After all, if the sun-drenched historic gorgeousness and energy of Sicily doesn’t inspire me, what the heck will? Actually, those fabulous mosaics at Villa Romana Casale of female bikini-clad athletes are pretty inspirational. But sometimes (usually, for me) it’s a small thing that pops out unexpectedly. Among the pile of publications and catalogues waiting for me to read when I got back was a copy of the new-look Times Literary Supplement, bigger and thicker than before and every two weeks rather than weekly. I had barely got into it when today the latest issue dropped though the letter box. A quick skim for poetry content revealed a poem by Jemma Borg called ‘Before & after the night’. (Apologies if this link takes you to a paywall.) As I read it, I felt little lights going off in my brain accompanied by the kind of ‘wish I’d written that’ feeling that can be inspirational but also saddening. Like Salieri in Amadeus, melting in the face of Mozart’s brilliance and at recognising that he himself will never be more than a reasonably good musician. Thankfully, Jemma’s poem had more of a positive than negative effect on me! So I’ve just ordered a copy of her collection Wilder and a already noodling through a few ideas.

Reviews

I’m not the greatest trumpet-blower as you know, but it would do a disservice to D A Prince and Mat Riches not to link to their wonderful reviews of The Mayday Diaries. Davina’s is on the London Grip website and Mat’s is here on Ink & Sweat & Tears. How lovely to have a book read so closely and with such insight. I’m very thankful for the time and effort both poets made. There’s another fillip for the book coming up later in the year, but more about that, er, later.

Subs windows

One job I have managed to get done this week has been the quarterly spreadsheet update of magazine submissions windows. It seems to be getting more complicated, with more journals stipulating more and more micro-guidelines, the rise of submissions fees (but also, the rise of payment for publication), also more publications making their subs windows even shorter and harder to predict. I’m wondering if the spreadsheet in its current format could be slimmed down and made more relevant. I know, I’ve talked about reviewing it before now. But I think a plan is starting to formulate.

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A finale, a winning poem and some forthcoming readings

Art atop the Lingotto building in Turin

A few hot days of summer are here, yay! We had a dip in the sea this morning at a secret location, keeping well clear of the little seal colony that was basking on the rocks, bellowing to each other now and then, probably annoyed to see humans on their beach!

Then I was just trying to stay cool indoors at my desk, clearing up emails and so on, when I realised I hadn’t blogged here for a while. So what’s been happening? Let me see.

There’s a week or so to go until the DYCP deadline, and Peter and I are going to try for some funding to help us with the Planet Poetry podcast. We’re not hopeful, but I put together an application six months ago only to miss the deadline by a couple of hours. So I’ve nothing to lose in trying now, I suppose (except for a day or two of my life going over it and changing it all of course.) We have a handful of kind supporters who donate, and we’re very grateful to them, but it’s a drop in the ocean. Without funding, I can’t see us being able to produce Planet Poetry indefinitely, alas, but we’re committed to one more series at least and then let’s see. We finished Season Four a couple of weeks ago with an unusual episode in which we interviewed each other for a change, about our own forthcoming publications. It kind of broke our own rule of not talking about our own work. But hey, after four years I think we deserve to be a bit self-indulgent. Here we were when we recorded Episode 13 of Season 4, over by the sunny Seaford beachhuts.

Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton, your Planet Poetry hosts

Although Planet Poetry is now on its holidays, we’ve already got some exciting poets lined up for October onwards when we start Season Five. One interview in the bag and a couple more on the way.

Meanwhile, a wee sonnet of mine which was published in June by Ink Sweat & Tears was voted its ‘poem of the month’ – possibly down to the fact that I petitioned my entire mailing list of poets to place their votes – although I did not ask them to vote for my poem of course! Anyway, if you’d like to read it and hear me reading it, the poem and a recording is here on the I S & T website. I was very touched indeed by the comments the poem received.

Other poetry-related stuff I’ve been up to: writing a review of a collection by Simon Alderwick for the Frogmore Papers, re-reading Ovid’s Heroides for a project I’m working on, and contacting poetry groups and Stanzas to ask if anyone will have me give a reading in early 2025, when I’m hoping my book will be out with Pindrop Press. So far I’m reading at Seaford next month and at the Poets’ Cafe Reading in March, with dates at Chichester and Eastbourne yet to be fixed. Hopefully more to come, if I’m to sell some books!

Now back to some lovely box-filling and wordcount checking. Wish me luck!

PS I took the ‘bench art’ photo in Turin, on the roof of the old Fiat factory that’s now part- shopping mall part-art gallery and part-rooftop garden where the old test track still circles.

 

 

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Subs, poddie, choirs & a greenhouse

Leiden

When you login to your blog and see there are 16 updates required it can only mean one thing  – it’s been a bit neglected! So here’s a somewhat belated update…

The podcast is nearing the end of its fourth season! When it comes to the home stretch Peter and I tend to get a bit exhausted, but the last couple of interviews of the season will be goodies and in July we’re going to try for an ACE DYCP grant. The chances of getting one are probably zero, but we have to try. Running the poddie isn’t cheap – we have two very kind regular supporters but would need about a hundred to cover our costs. Anyway, wish us luck.

I’ve also been doing some editing of the new collection, looking at where there might be holes and what I need to write to fill them. Which has led to more writing, and I’ve been submitting again after a hiatus. Despite a few rejections, I’m delighted to say there’s work forthcoming in The Frogmore Papers and Ink, Sweat & Tears, two of the longest-running poetry zines, still going after many years while so many others crash and burn. If running a magazine is anything like running a podcast I can empathise!

On the novel-writing front my medieval mystery hasn’t yet had any interest from agents, but a second book is in the planning stages and it’s quite different, so it will be fun to get stuck into that when the time feels right.

Meanwhile I’m just back from a short trip to the Netherlands with the Lewes Singers: great singing, very social and lovely to be in Leiden. But the awfulness of airports and flying is so depressing. Yes, we should have gone by train, but last time we did that the journey was a nightmare. It’s all a matter of luck I suppose.

Now I’ve got to finish my end of month submissions alert email. And next there’s the spreadsheet to update. It’s a good time to sign up if you haven’t already. Plus a programme to create for the East Sussex Community Choir’s Haydn concert on June 29th. Oh, and seedlings to pot on, tomatoes to worry over and courgettes to encourage.  Did I mention that Nick and I recently erected a little greenhouse, on the three hottest days of the year? The garden is calling…

robin builds a greenhouse

 

 

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Pre-Cork checklist

banshee magazineAlthough I’m going to miss my writer’s group this week it’s for a good reason, as I’ll be in Ireland for the Cork International Poetry Festival, which sounds rather grand, but so far my impression is that it’s going to be a chilled affair, perhaps not as intimate as Swindon but not as scary as Aldeburgh in its Snape Maltings days. Having booked for all the sessions online it was lovely (and unexpected) to receive the slightly ‘alt’ programme in the post. I’ve been googling various poets so that I’m not entirely in the dark when I go hear them read. I’ve also come across at least one ‘fringe’ or rival event on Thursday night, so perhaps there’ll be a bit of poetry gunslinging. All adding to the good energy no doubt. Anyway, you’ll be the first to hear about what goes on as I’ll certainly be writing the odd blog post… but I’ve promised myself some serious writing time each morning. The weather forecast is rain, so what better than to hole up in the warm and dry, reading fine poetry and writing, um, poetry?

Meanwhile I’ve been dipping my toe in the Irish poetry scene with Banshee, three back issues of which arrived in the post, together with a nifty tote which may well come in handy in the next few days. So far so good – and I’ve been enjoying the essays as much as the poems. I do enjoy creative non-fiction and for me it sits well with poetry, whereas I struggle to switch my attention between poetry and short stories. This hasn’t occurred to me before so it’s an interesting discovery.

A couple of things: Martyn Crucefix asked me to mention his current project Works and Days of Division – basically he is posting 29 new, original poems in which he wrestles with Brexit. The form he’s following is an old one. “The so-called vacana poems originate in the bhakti religious protest movements in 10-12th century India. Through plain language, repetition and refrain, they offer praise to the god, Siva, though they also express personal anger, puzzlement, even despair.” A thoughtful alternative to the current political “debate” and one which dwells more on what Martyn terms the “psychological fallout”.  Here’s today’s poem, ‘O Twitterstorm’.

And surfacing on on Twitter, this gem of a poem by Claire Cox was voted the Poem of the Month on Ink, Sweat & Tears: ‘The card given out at his funeral’. Lovely stuff.

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New – List of UK poetry magazine submission windows

window at chichester station

It’s been a while since I updated my last year’s post on this topic and I decided it was worth starting from scratch, as a few web addresses and/or submissions policies had changed, plus it’s given me a chance to review them all. As a result I’ve now got a list of 48 UK (well, one or two Europe/non-UK) poetry journals (some also include fiction, reviews, artwork etc in their pages, but I’ve tried to focus on poetry-led publications.) The list includes:

  • a link to their poetry submissions page
  • regular windows/ dates when you can submit, and/or next ‘open window’ (where available). I’ve also included a couple of mags that I’ve mentioned before but that now appear to be closed.
  • how many poems to send
  • whether they accept simultaneous submissions
  • submissions method (eg email, Submittable, post)
  • notes of anything unusual, eg no responses sent

You still need to visit the submissions pages as some of them are VERY long and specific!

Caveat

There’s an element of recommendation here; it’s not a comprehensive list of magazines. The majority of them I’ve either read, submitted to, or both. There are a few that have been recommended, and which look good. I’m always happy to hear of others – I’m sure there are tons more, please feel free to tell us in the comments if you want to mention any – and if it’s a publication I’d consider submitting to myself then I’ll add it to the list when I update it.

Beat ‘overwhelm’ with a system that suits you

This may look like a daunting list. More and more magazines have submissions windows, and some give little notice of openings, so you may need to follow them on social media or by email in order to be ‘in the know’. As I’m sure I’ve said before, I recommend having a system for keeping track of submissions – I use a good old-fashioned spreadsheets but there are other tools, some more user-friendly than others.

Submitting to magazines: workshop in Lewes, East Sussex

One more thing I’d like to mention – if you’re within travelling distance of Lewes, there’s a workshop coming up called ‘Poetry Submissions Without Tears’ being led by Janet Sutherland and Maria Jastrzębska. They say it’s a ‘hands-on workshop for beginning and more experienced poets on submitting to poetry magazines and anthologies’. It’s on October 21st and full details are here. Janet and Maria are experienced poets who walk the talk, as well as being all-round nice and generous people, so if you’re even slightly unsure about the whole submissions process then this is for you.

List of UK poetry magazines and their submissions windows, etc

There are a few European (non-UK) journals on the list, mainly because they seem to take poems from UK poets, or they just happen to be on my radar.

I’ve done the complete list as a free PDF download. Here are some example listings:

The North – currently open, but closing September 1st. Submit up to 6 poems by post only (so be quick!). No stated policy on simultaneous submissions.

Agenda – currently open, but could close any time. Submit up to 5 poems, by email only. No stated policy on simultaneous submissions.

The Rialto – submit any time, via Submittable or by post. Send up to 5 poems. Simultaneous submissions – OK.

Ink, Sweat & Tears – recently moved to submissions windows – the next opens 2nd October. Send 4 – 6 poems (‘no more, no less’) by email only. No simultaneous submissions.

Get the full list

I’ve created this as a spreadsheet and saved it as a PDF with live links, which I hope makes it easier to work from. It’s also a lot less work for me than to reproduce the whole list on a blog post! I’d be happy to share it with you – please email me if you’d like a copy (I’d rather you didn’t just ask in the comments as that’s harder for me to monitor. Thanks!)

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Breaking this week (poetry and tech)

i broke it
I broke my blog and can’t fix it

The eagle-eyed reader of this blog may have noticed a few wee changes in the look of it. Yes, I’ve changed the Theme, but it all happened rather more quickly than I was expecting, and the day before I was giving a blogging workshop. So I spent four hours trying to make my broken blog look half-respectable. DUH. It’s still not quite how I want it, but that’s my fault for being so trigger-happy and always wanting to change things.

Then, the workshop was going well, until I introduced the class to Pixlr, which I’ve used many times, but for some reason it wasn’t doing what I expected. OH WOE! Never rely on technology in front of an audience, dear readers. It has certainly led to many a pratfall in my time.

On the poetry front, good news: I feel I may have written a half-decent poem, my first in a while. Hurrah!  But I can’t decide where to send it – to Black Hole Magazine*, or the No Hope Poetry Competition*? It’s a tough call!

More good news: the lovely Helen Ivory has accepted a poem for Ink, Sweat & Tears – thank you, thank you Ms I! – to appear some time in the Spring. Another poem made it onto the Plough Prize shortlist (results out in March I believe, but the winners have already been notified, so I know that’s as far as my poem got – the shortlist and longlist idea is great, as it gives you some consolation that your poem wasn’t entirely yawn-worthy.)

Very busy at the moment – with work, with homelife, with other poetry projects such as Telltale Press – we’ve nearly got all our readers for our next Telltale Poets & Friends reading in Lewes on 15th April – and the Needlewriters – launching our anthology next month, and a lot of online proofing to do.

I’m also researching my next ‘regional focus’ for this blog – Cumbria, I’m cumbring your way (sorry!) and one or two poet interviews for the Spring. So lots in the pipeline, and I’ll try not to break anything else.

* absolutely no slight intended towards the lovely mags and comp judges who have been so kind as to place my work in the past!

Image credit: Themewich.com

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New poem on Ink, Sweat & Tears

Clunch

Very nice of Helen Ivory to take ‘Left’, for Ink, Sweat & Tears. It’s the closest thing to a love poem I’ve written, I think. Whether it was appreciated as such (by the person it’s about) it’s hard to say! It’s a poem I workshopped at our regular Mimi Khalvati group here in Lewes. I seem to recall Mimi describing it as ‘bonkers’ – tee hee.

Here’s the audio if you’d like to hear it:

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January’s off to a great start

T S Eliot

Happy New Year!

I’m particularly upbeat about 2013 – already there are lots of positive things going on in both work and play (not sure where poetry sits on that spectrum but I’m doing my best to blue the edges, little by little.)

On New Year’s Eve I had an email from Helen Ivory to say she was accepting my poem ‘Left’ (which Mimi Khalvati had described as ‘bonkers’!) for Ink, Sweat & Tears so that should appear around March time.

And New Writing South have showed interest in a workshop proposal I sent them, which is very exciting, so more on that as it develops.

I’m looking forward to the TS Eliot prize readings at the Festival Hall on Sunday 13th. I first went to this event last year with several poet friends and really enjoyed it. Very buzzy and a brilliant opportunity to hear all ten shortlisted poets reading from their work.

Meanwhile, Brighton’s very own Ten Voice Stanza is only two weeks away – yikes! I hope we can pull in a good audience. It should be a lot of fun with a good range of poets reading, so I do hope so. You can read all about it (and RSVP) on Facebook or here for the Facebook refuseniks. If you’re anywhere near Brighton, please come (and tell all your friends!)