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 …
Category: writing
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, …
on the wireless, in print, reading
I have quite a bunch of garden-themed poems now, thanks to my recent residencies with Thrive in Battersea Park, as well as my ongoing involvement with my local community garden. And it's rewarding to see some of these poems emerging into the world, like seedlings planted months ago starting to bear fruit. During Thrive's week …
reading beneath the trees
On Friday, Chelsea Flower Shower was in full swing, and over the river in the much less frenetic environs of Battersea Park, I gave a poetry reading under the gum tree in Thrive’s main garden. This was part of Thrive's week of Chelsea Fringe events, and an opportunity for me to share some of the …
a week in the Thrive Hut
This hut, in Thrive’s main garden in Battersea Park, was my home for five days last week. Well, between around 10 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon. No sleeping over! In the run up to Thrive's Chelsea Fringe week of events at the end of May, invited local artists have had the opportunity …
what I told the canvas
I tell myself I can't draw, that I've got no visual sense. So what was I doing in an art workshop called Tell the Canvas on Saturday morning? Testing myself a little, and enjoying myself quite a lot. This was a one hour drawing and collage session facilitated by Mel Barry, and held in Thrive …
notes towards a blog post
scatterbrain I'm not feeling very focussed at the moment. ARTEMISpoetry Hurrah! I have a poem accepted for the next issue of ARTEMISpoetry, due out in May. Re-Mixed borders e-pamphlet It seems a long time ago that I was poet-in-residence at Thrive in Battersea Park for Open Gardens Weekend 2016. Now The Poetry School has published …
hip hip
Two of my poems appeared in print this week, a lovely boost as I'm in a bit of a writing lull at the moment. One poem is published in Brittle Star issue 39. I really like the mix of poetry, short fiction and articles in Brittle Star, and the magazine is nicely compact and handsomely …
writing ‘not yet Eden’
not yet Eden is the title of the poem I wrote for Lucy Cash's film A Song for Nine Elms. I explained how I got involved in Lucy's film in my last blog post. Lucy had asked me if I could write something that was, loosely, from the roof garden's point of view. I wanted …
reflecting on A Song for Nine Elms
We had a busy Saturday in the Doddington & Rollo Community Roof Garden recently. A shared harvest lunch, followed by an inspiring and practical workshop, Growing Edible Plants in the City, led by Sue Sheehan of Incredible Edible. And then, in the community centre downstairs, the first screening of the film A Song for Nine …
Hilaire 