Recently I've been working on a collaboration, indoors looking out, with the artist Stephen Graham, and I'm delighted that some of our work has been selected for the online exhibition Covent-19 - Voicing Responses Under Lockdown. You'll be able to view the exhibition on Instagram from 8th May to 5th June. The collaboration began on the eve …
Category: writing
on World Poetry Day
Thought I would share the poem I wrote on Sunday and took to my Stanza group on Monday - now looking like this will be our last gathering for some time. Hope you are managing to stay grounded and safe. staying grounded small piece of glass pyramidal soothing to roll between fingers parakeet feather plucked …
End of November round-up
Wowee. I've been busy. I sat down yesterday morning and began a list of things I've been up to since I last blogged: Words for the Wild - I've had two poems published on this beautiful site, as part of their autumn 'Fruit' themed issue. I love the mix of poetry and fiction, and the …
tenth time lucky
I'm feeling very lucky, and rather giddy, and very grateful. My poem A Cure for Rosesickness is one of three highly commended in this year's Live Canon International Poetry Prize, judged by Zaffar Kunial. It's also published in the competition anthology, which features all 50 longlisted poems. The giddiness may be due in part to a …
Three readings, a workshop, a virus and a Fun Day
That was my May, and I'm still recovering. I eased into the month with a double reading at Loose Muse on 8th May. In the first half, Joolz Sparkes and I read from our joint collection London Undercurrents, recently published by Holland Park Press. Over the five or so years that we've been working on …
Continue reading Three readings, a workshop, a virus and a Fun Day
crazy May
My month ahead, I mean, not the Prime Minister. No, no, no. May is looking a bit crazy for me, but I'll get through it. Scratch that. I'll ENJOY it! (Thanks, Joolz, for the 'be more dog' tip!) First up, on Wednesday 8th May, Joolz Sparkes and I are featured readers at Loose Muse, London’s …
a month away, & looking ahead
It's a week now since I got back from a month away in Australia, visiting family in Melbourne. I'm finally over the jet lag, and getting back into the swing of London life. I was very glad that Nick could come with me on this trip, my first "home" in nearly 3 years. It makes …
how my breakfast inspired a prize winning poem
I won first prize in the City Harvest Holiday Poetry Competition! My first first prize, and City Harvest's first poetry competition. And it all came about thanks to the local surplus food project, Waste Not Want Not, that Nick and I have benefited from over the last couple of years. WNWN circulated details to all their contacts a …
Continue reading how my breakfast inspired a prize winning poem
Weird Wandsworth Workshop
The Balham housewife who transcribed compositions dictated to her by dead composers including Liszt, Chopin and Brahms. Mock mayoral elections held on Garratt Lane in the 18th century, accompanied by much debauchery. Donkey racing and pigeon shooting on the banks of the Thames, where Battersea Park now stands. These are some of the weird and wonderful …
busy elsewhere
Three months to the day since my last blog post! What on earth have I been doing? My biggest news, in case you missed it, is that fellow poet Joolz Sparkes and I have been awarded Arts Council research & development funding for our London Undercurrents project. This has been my main focus since September, …
Hilaire 