About a year ago, our local greengrocer closed temporarily for a radical refurbishment, including the addition of a flat over the shop. We resigned ourselves to several months of mildly-aggravating and bit-more-expensive fruit and vegetable shopping in the nearby supermarket, softened by the anticipation of when-Thurgoods-reopens, hoping it would be perhaps a little smarter but …
Category: London
the view from my window
This is the view from my studio* window. I love it. That big blue gasometer has been part of my skyline for very nearly 25 years. I think it's beautiful, in a rugged, industrial way. But the gasometer has been decommissioned. It's being dismantled. You can guess what's going to replace it - luxury apartment …
hippo haiku
Late yesterday afternoon we walked up towards Vauxhall, along the narrow and uneven pavements of Battersea Park Road and Nine Elms Lane, construction sites lining both sides of the road. Then tucked in to follow the river path and soon spotted up ahead, in the cloud-darkened waters, a large curved honey-coloured structure being towed towards …
Hilaire – Letter from Battersea
I'm very pleased to have one of my poems published on The Stare's Nest - a newish site with some great, socially-engaged poetry. In my own small way, I hope to highlight the injustice of Shaker Aamer's continued detention in Guantanamo Bay.
Virginia Woolf at the National Portrait Gallery
Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded. This quote from Virginia Woolf is printed on the back cover of Frances Spalding's Virginia Woolf Art, Life and Vision. How true, how true, I want to say. I recognise this sentiment; it's the source of my early and on-going compulsion to write a journal. To …
Continue reading Virginia Woolf at the National Portrait Gallery
Fourth Friday summer party
Just over a week ago Fourth Friday held their summer party at the Poetry Café, and I've been thinking about it, off and on, since then. I almost didn't go, feeling a tad lacklustre, a bit drained by the humid weather and slightly dreading what the conditions would be like in the café's basement, which …
doing the antipodean Shuffle
No, it's not a dodgy dance move. This was a special antipodean edition of the monthly poetry event The Shuffle, which took place last night at the Poetry Café. Co-hosted by Cath Drake and Gale Burns, the evening featured eight Australian and Kiwi poets, and I was very pleased to be one of those invited …
not a football in sight
Sunday afternoon. The previous night, England lost. It seemed a good idea to stretch our legs and get a breath of fresh air, and an even better idea to take advantage of the fact that in under 45 minutes we can walk to Tate Britain. Grey skies and a stiff breeze hurried us on, through …
Meanwhile, back in defence
Friday evening. Fifty or so people gather in a corporate art venue, the Bloomberg Space, for Errors Hit Orient. Nick and I are here because I saw a tweet from Studio Voltaire about the event, mentioning B.S. Johnson. We're not quite sure what to expect. The idea sounds a bit mad, but definitely unmissable. Someone …
talent times two
Another excellent and uplifting Loose Muse last Wednesday evening at the Poetry Café. The featured writer in the first half was Patricia Foster. A poet and educator, Patricia performed her poems with great charm and presence. Many of her poems draw on her Jamaican heritage and celebrate her close bond with her family. The Broomstick relates …
Hilaire 