poetry society – Page 2 – Robin Houghton

Events/ 03/10/2014

Launches, lunches & putting the ‘win’ into Swindon

A quick update before I make my way to Swindon Festival of Poetry via lunch in Newbury with my sister-in-law. The Telltale Press public launch on Wednesday evening at the Poetry Cafe was a great success – the audience was mostly friends and friends of friends of myself and Peter Kenny, so we felt right at home. And the peeps at the Poetry Cafe are so helpful and unfussy. We’ll definitely be back in the New Year. Plans are afoot!

Rishi Dastidar at the London Telltale launch — Rishi Dastidar reading at our launch on Wednesday

Our guest readers on Wednesday were Anja Konig, all the way from Switzerland with her new pamphlet ‘Advice for an Only Child’ (Flipped Eye) hot off the press, and Rishi Dastidar, who’s part of the Complete Works II programme, launching on Monday evening at the South Bank.

Then yesterday was National Poetry Day, with an avalanche of stuff on social media and a shedload of events, none of which I actually got to, but that’s mainly because of tiredness and in anticipation of a full-on poetry fest this weekend. I don’t know if it’s just my perception, but it feels as if NPD gets more mainstream coverage than it used to. Probably just my skewed viewpoint.

Somewhere in amongst all the excitement about Forward Prize winners, Next Gen Poets, NPD readings etc was the little announcement about the Stanza Poetry Competition, which I somehow managed to, er, win. (As a reward I get to read at the AGM of the Poetry Society at Keats’ House in November. I am absurdly excited about this.) It was lovely to receive emails and messages of congratulations from fellow poets. Thank you so much. The winning poems and judges comments are here.

And now – I must pack and get myself off to sunny Swindon, where Hilda Sheehan has been Facebook updating with her particular brand of exhilarated craziness – porcelain dogs, men with megaphones, lunch poetry and all kinds of shenanigans appear to be happening. What the hell’s going on down there, Hilda? I’m coming to find out …

Competitions/ 29/03/2014

National Poetry Competition awards last night

chandelier at the Savile Club

6.30pm on Thursday evening, and I receive an email invitation to the National Poetry Competition and Ted Hughes Award prizegiving evening at the Savile Club in the swanky area of London that is Mayfair, taking place 24 hours later.

Quick calculation: do I go? What can I wear? What if no-one speaks to me? Can I find a friend to go with? (Yes, I still think like a teenager in these situations). But how could I turn down the opportunity – bling! Booze! Famous poets! Plus of course I was being invited in my capacity as Brighton Stanza rep, so it would be churlish of me not to be there, representing.

A quick shout-around on Twitter/Facebook/email and I couldn’t conjure up a companion, so I set off like a proper grown-up poet, but with a little trepidation. I needn’t have worried, poet friend Lynne was there which was a great relief. Plus the friendly Poetry Society faces of Kate and Mike. Shall I do a load of name dropping now? Perhaps not. But Carol Ann Duffy, as brilliantly down-to-earth as always, did give me the mwah-mwah – although I’m sure she had no recollection of me, but she was graciousness itself and didn’t show it.

When the Ted Hughes Award was announced I found myself in pole position to take photos, but did I? Did I ‘eck. No. It felt like too intimate an occasion to point my phone at anyone, but I would love to have taken some general pics of the room. Instead, I managed one shot of Maurice Riordan’s back, plus his willowy companion with the ombre hair, and one of a chandelier.

Anyway – to speak of the awards themselves, it was exciting when Maggie Sawkins was announced as the Ted Hughes winner, as one of her collaborators was Lewes’s own Mark Hewitt, standing a few feet from me and grinning from ear to ear. Briiliant. Also fighting in the Lewes corner were John Agard and Grace Nichols.

The NPC announcements included all the Commendeds coming up for applause, the winner and the third place poet read their poems and we heard the second place winner on a recording from the US. I did wonder for a moment about the name – National Poetry Competition – surely it’s international? Is the title a misnomer? Time for a change of name, perhaps? The winner was Linda France, with a lovely (sort of) gardening-themed poem, although that doesn’t do it justice. You can read it and see the vid here, and all the winners/winning poems here.

Interestingly, the Hamish Canham prize was also announced last night, earlier that usual. This was the prize I managed to grab last year, but there was no ceremony (but I did get a big piece in Poetry News) – the new winner Suzannah Fitzpatrick and her poem is up on the Poetry Society website, but alas my name from last year seems to have been erased – boohoo! And I thought I might still be in the list of previous winners at least. Every little counts to a delicate poet ego!

All in all, although I felt like a bit of a gatecrasher, it was a great event to be at, I did have quite a few very nice conversations with people, thank you to the Poetry Soc for the invitation. And of course, congratulations to all the winners. And finally …

haunch of venison yard
I have to say, it’s worth a trip to London just for the joy of seeing quirky things like this … spotted on the lovely walk back to Green Park Station.

Events/ 28/11/2013

Dannie Abse, Alwyn Marriage and Rosie Bailey at Keat’s House

Great evening last night at Keat’s House for the Poetry Society AGM (brief) and three excellent readings. I was very pleased to sit with poet friend Lynne and hear about “that” royal reception last week (and no, I wasn’t invited – boo!) and also have her introduce me to some people I didn’t know, such as Cheryl Moskowitz.

Only just now I googled Rosie Bailey and discovered that as well as being an experienced academic and poet in her own right she was also the collaborator/partner of U A Fanthorpe. Now I feel rather ignorant for not having heard of her. I really enjoyed her poems and delivery, even the painfully sad one about a lady in a hairdressers trying to stay chipper about Christmas.

Alwyn Marriage came to the mic with her phone apparently ringing, and in answering it it became clear this was part of her act (together with donkey, bleating lamb and cow hats for another poem about the nativity). She and Rosie had been briefed to read poems on a Christmas theme, a direction which apparently hadn’t been given to Dannie Abse, but I got the impression nobody minded, least of all him. Dannie read from his T S Eliot-nominated book Speak, Old Parrot… I wonder if he was expecting the ‘Happy Birthday to you’ singsong and the cake when it was brought out?

Hard to imagine Dannie Abse is 90, or what might be going through his mind when he contemplates the Poetry Society today and it’s allegedly tumultuous past. (By the way, check out this biog and wonderful photo of him when he was young.) Fascinating to talk with him, and lovely also to run into Hilda Sheehan (Hilda, you’re everywhere!), Tessa Lang of Clapham Stanza, Kate White, Shanta Acharya and others.

As usual, I managed to make an idiot of myself. I marched up to someone who had been pointed out to me as being Paul McGrane of the Poetry Society, who I’ve emailed with but never met, introduced myself very confidently, only to discover it wasn’t him at all. DUH! I had to then avoid eye contact with the poor man all evening as he clearly had me down as a numpty.

Events/ 23/10/2013

Riordan & Share on ‘100 years of the don’ts’

Yesterday evening I was at Keats House in Hampstead listening to a Poetry Society debate on the subject of Ezra Pound’s enormously influential article ‘A Few Don’ts’, first published a hundred years ago.

As the respective editors of Poetry Review (UK) and Poetry (US), Maurice Riordan and Don Share could be said to represent the behemoth of the poetry establishment from both sides of the Atlantic. And both magazines published ‘A Few Don’ts’ when it first came out. Fascinating though the evening was, I guess this was never going to be a platform for a radical re-working of the ‘don’ts’.

Riordan in particular expressed fondness for many of the ‘rules’, and also argued that they were more discretionary than they are usually given credit for. “Go in fear of abstractions” isn’t the same thing as “don’t use abstractions”, for example. He also pointed out that Pound did say the ‘don’ts’ were not to be considered as dogma, rather that they offered guidance – “cautions gained by experience” and were up for debate.

There were some questions and observations from the floor and the talk was less about whether we need a new list of don’ts, but the bigger question of whether in this century we will see a new poetic movement to take us away from modernism, whether we need (or have) another Pound in our midst to reinvent poetry in the way that he did, “from the doughy mess of Romanticism”. Someone said that in order for a new movement to take off, enough people need to hate what currently holds as fine poetry.

Another important point made by Don Share was that there is far greater access now to poetry from around the world, and new ideas spread quickly via the internet. It’s hard to imagine anyone having the influence and power of Pound over today’s poetry scene, with its myriad different artistic movements, sub cultures and niche followings.

I first came across ‘A Few Don’ts’ in a brilliant book called Strong Words, an anthology of essays by poets on poetry, edited by W N Herbert and Matthew Hollis. I think it’s one of those books that’s on the reading list of any Creative Writing MA, but if like me you’ve never done one, it’s a revelation. Highly recommended.

Courses/ 18/09/2013

Out and about the next few weeks . . .

There seems to be plenty happening at the moment, so here’s a quick round-up of some things I’m going to / involved with …

Firstly, please bear with me if I give a quick plug to my short course at New Writing South which starts tomorrow week, 26th September, 6.30 – 9pm for three weeks, on ‘Improving your social web presence’. It’s basically for any writer who has made small inroads into social media but may be struggling a bit – with finding the time, wondering what to blog or tweet about, not sure how to find writer communities online, struggling with the etiquette or thinking about a Facebook Page, that sort of thing. Lots of practical examples and exercises designed to help writers be inspired, develop useful contacts and find the joy in social media. It’s £80 for the 3 sessions and 10% discount for NWS members. I think there are only 2 places left but I’ll no doubt be running it again in the Spring.

Next Tuesday 24th I’m excited to be going to a Faber Social to hear Sam Riviere, Ruth Padel and others plus music. Yay!

Coming up very soon is my trip to Ty Newydd Writers’ Centre for a residential week with Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty epic and I’m so looking forward to it. Not sure what the broadband is like there, so I may be off the grid for a week and blogging about it when I get back.

Next month I’m planning to get to the Troubadour evening on October 21st to hear an array of lovely poets – it’ll be my first trip to the Troubadour, so am looking forward to that. Details of all the autumn Troubadour readings are here. The next day at Keat’s House in Hampstead, the idea of hearing poetry heavyweights Don Share and Maurice Riordan debate Ezra Pound’s ‘Don’ts’ is just too tempting. Tickets for that event are available from the Poetry Society.

Later that week a bit closer to home is Needlewriters, a quarterly event in Lewes. The October 24th event features our very own John Agard and Grace Nichols, so it’s bound to be a sell-out. I’m delighted to have been invited to join the organising committee of Needlewriters. It’s not really a committee as such – with minutes, officers and regulations – thankfully. (What is it about the word committee? We need a new word which encompasses the idea of a group of organisers working for a common cause, but without the connotations of officiousness, jobsworthyness and petty politics. Or maybe that’s just my take on it?)

Let me know if you going to any of the above, and let’s say hello.

PS completely off-topic but I noticed on the Popshot blog that Transport for London are seeking a number of poets-in-residence to work out of tube stations during the week of National Poetry Day – if you’re in London it sounds like a lot of fun – details here (PDF).

Books/ 08/09/2013

A day at the (Poetry Book) Fair

Having answered a call for volunteers on Facebook, I found myself yesterday at Conway Hall in London, donning a blue badge and helping out at the Free Verse: Poetry Book Fair.

Organised by Chrissy Williams and CB Editions, with a lot of help also from Joey Connolly, the Fair is in its third year and apparently bigger than ever. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was quite a crush – and with something like 700 visitors through the door and 50 or so publishers present, I felt nervously close to the epicentre of the poetry world.

When it comes to events I quite enjoy having a job to do, because otherwise I tend to turn up, wander around, not dare to talk to anyone and leave with a sensation that everyone else knows each other and I don’t know anyone. Actually I still felt like I didn’t know anyone, even though I blatantly did – the ever-friendly Mike from the Poetry Society plus several poet friends including Hilda Sheehan, Marion Tracy and Harry Man. I had very nice chats with many of the publishers and by the end of the day had minded shop for Amy from Seren Books and Sophie from Inpress. I even sold a book for Inpress (thanks, Marion!) I introduced myself to Nell Nelson from HappenStance and discovered a poetry press in my own home town that I’d never heard of. Who’d have thunk it?

I nearly bought quite a lot of stuff but in the end restrained myself. On the Templar table I fell for Matt Bryden’s Night Porter, which has got me thinking seriously about how I might group up some of my poems around a distinct theme and enter them for the Iota Shots pamphlet comp.

Then I spent £3 on a set of 4 microbooks from Hazard Press, witty confections and utterly not what I ought to have been buying, but I couldn’t resist.

On the Roncadora Press table, artist Hugh Bryden told me about the processes involved in producing their beautiful publications, all hand-made. I was so, so tempted by Nest – the photo on their site does not do it justice, the whole thing is a wonderful work of art, and they were selling it for just £6. Blimey, that can hardly have paid for the paper.

Astrid Alben

After the publishers had packed up and left, everyone moved over to the pub for an evening of free readings. Although I didn’t stay for them all, I did catch an enjoyable short set from Astrid Alben, reading from her Arc collection Ai! Ai! Pianissimo (memorable or what?) and later on, with a whole army of young male fans in tow, Chris McCabe who read in tandem with Jeremy Reed from their Nine Arches Press publication Whitehall Jackals. Read his blog post about the making of it here. Sorry about the rather grainy pics by the way.

chris mccabe

Chris was the highlight of the evening for me. I loved his poetry and both he and Astrid were readers with real presence – something that’s hard to define and probably impossible to teach, but you kind of know it when you see it. All in all an enjoyable and inspirational day.

Readings/ 20/02/2013

Reading at the Poetry Cafe this evening

Six of us from the Brighton Stanza are reading this evening alongside six Forest Poets (Waltham Forest) in a ‘Stanza Bonanza’. I don’t think it’s a competition, more like a friendly mingling of Stanzas. Anyway we are definitely the away team. And Paul McGrane of the Poetry Society won’t be there supporting his own Stanza (Forest) because he’ll be at the Orient. Ah! So it takes a bit of footie to find out where people’s priorities really lie!

As a special ‘thank you’ for sitting through yet another poetry night, I’m treating my long suffering husband to drinks in the bar at the top of the Gherkin beforehand. Hurrah!

So now all I need to do is decide whether to read one of my new ‘poem a day’ efforts, or whether it needs a bit of cleaning up first.

Really looking forward to hearing what my fellow Brightonians come up with, and also the Forest Poets who are all new to me. If you’re in London, do come along and give us a cheer – 7pm at the Poetry Cafe, Betterton Street.

Readings/ 16/12/2012

Poetry reading on January 17th

The workshopping group that I go to in Brighton is holding an event, Ten Voice Stanza, on Thursday 17th January. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, please come – and tell your friends! There are ten of us reading and we each have a maximum of 8 minutes, to allow some time for open mic.

There are Stanza groups all over the country – they are affiliated to the Poetry Society, and although group members are encouraged to become PS members, it’s not obligatory. The Brighton Stanza was re-born about 3 years ago when Jo Grigg took it over, and in that time many members have established a pretty good track record of publication and success in competitions. So there will be a good variety and high standard of poetry at Ten Voice Stanza. BUT we’re all relative unknowns, so we need members, friends and friends of friends to help spread the word. Please help – thanks!

Hope to see you there…

Angst/ 23/11/2012

Submissions ups and downs this week

Uncategorized/ 21/09/2011

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 turning to slapstick on these occasions.

Hello?*

I am that knick-knack
you picked up in Spain
You know –
The thing you laughed over
and couldn’t resist, that afternoon
when you were probably
drunk
on the local Sangria
or too much blue sky

Yes, I am the shoe horn
made from bull horn
decked out like a matador
red ribbons and brass buttons
I was just one tinkly gift
on a crowded shelf

You could have hung me in your kitchen
or in the hall, with pride
a perpetual reminder of
one night in Mojacar

Hello?
Don’t you have any shoes?

*of course it should have been Ola – as pointed out by Ann

Tag: poetry society