It took three rows of barbed wire coiled round stakes, hammered at angles into sand and shingle. The beach packed and leaking like keddle nets of cockles in green buckets, for six summers. Wading off in gumboots, baitdiggers beyond the rocks held occasional wakes, observed by boys belly-down in the dunes with binoculars, swapping quietRead more ⟶
Tag: poetry
River Ouse, Rodmell, 1941
The first she prises out, clenched in bindweed: reluctance adds to its appeal. And there: not so large as to burst pockets, several flints conspire their surfaces glass-perfect, all the better to slip in without fuss. From mud, she frees a stump of the fat chalk Down walked each day, as worn as the worstedRead more ⟶
Am a bit of a fan
And he’s coming to town: Weds 23rd Nov 8pm, Red Roaster in Brighton. Ooer!
Three minute poem
On Saturday I was at a writing day at the Poetry Society, led by Ann and Peter Sansom, who put us through our paces in a series of rapid fire exercises. In one, we were asked to imagine an abandoned item, something forgotten or neglected, and write in its voice. Unfortunately I find myself turningRead more ⟶
Maitreyabandhu
An interview with one of my favourite poets of the moment.
I was once the Pope
This is not what I expected.Red was my colour, or white,white as a virgin’s skin. Robeshung from me as delicateas the smooth charcoal tissuethat floats from the fire. Each year I am reincarnate.Children press their fingersto my frame, glue and paperswaddling these new bonesof wood and chicken wire.In six months I am fleshed. My faceRead more ⟶