For the second year in a row, the Poetry School has teamed up with Open Garden Squares Weekend to offer mini residencies in London parks and gardens to emerging poets. Last year, my residency never quite got off the ground, so I'm delighted that this year I've been matched up with Thrive in Battersea Park. …
Tag: poetry
Melbourne, Berlin, London, Coventry & Beirut
Poetry can take you to many places. On Wednesday night we travelled to all these cities without leaving the discomfort of the Poetry Café's infamous orange plastic chairs. I was one of four invited readers at South Bank Poetry magazine's First Wednesday event, along with Norbert Hirschhorn, Peter Raynard and Amy McAllister. The time allotted …
Continue reading Melbourne, Berlin, London, Coventry & Beirut
baths, bananas, bluebells
If you ever doubted the variety of erotic expression, take a peek inside The Emma Press's Mildly Erotic Verse anthology. The expanded second edition was launched on Wednesday night upstairs at the Betsey Trotwood. Outside, it was pretty nippy. Inside, the gaggle of poets and poetry lovers was soon casting aside coats and basking in …
January poetry jamboree
Poets, it seems, don't hibernate. The first couple of weeks of 2016 have been jam-packed with poetry events and I've managed to squeeze in a few, despite a visit from the sinusitis fairy. My personal poetry fest kicked off before the new year, with two poems published in Ol' Chanty online. The issue also includes …
not at Aldeburgh
It's the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival this weekend. Anyone who is Anybody in the Poetry World will be there. Or most of the Somebodies, anyway. I imagine. I'm not there. I'm not going. I have been to Aldeburgh - for the music festival, a couple of years ago. But the Poetry Festival clashes with my birthday, …
not getting any younger
It's a cliché and it's true - none of us are getting any younger. But facing up to the reality of ageing, in a society that prizes youthfulness and demeans or ignores old age, is not easy. So The Emma Press's new Anthology of Age feels like a small but much needed poetic intervention, a …
rounding off Mixed Borders
On Thursday evening there was a reading to celebrate the Mixed Borders scheme run earlier this year by the Poetry School in association with the Open Garden Squares Weekend. I've written previously about the scheme which, for most poets, led to a mini residency in a London park or garden in mid June. Over the …
post Poetry Book Fair stocktake
Yesterday I went to the Free Verse Poetry Book Fair and came home with: One free notebook - thank you, Poetry School! Two bookmarks Three business cards Three anthologies, including the free, chunky, Free Verse Poetry Book Fair anthology Four collections Nine free postcards Ten pamphlets, including the full set of four Telltale Press pamphlets …
strong stuff
Clothes can change your state of mind. Imagine you live in late Victorian times. You are in a state of extreme mental distress, and have been admitted to Bethlem Hospital. Perhaps you believe your soul has been lost, or all your organs have been removed, or some great harm is imminent. Early in your stay, …
In print again, reading again!
If you're in or near London, it would be great to see you at the South Bank Poetry issue 21 launch this Friday. The editors promise a bit of a 'coming of age' party!
