I spent yesterday in Northampton in the company of fellow writers and readers for the tenth Birthday celebrations for Cinnamon Press which was founded by the industrious and inspiring Jan Fortune in 2005. In her usual generous spirit the weekend’s events were shared with other independent presses Fair Acre Press, Grey Hen Press and local…
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Not lost in translation – a handkerchief kiss
One of the highlights of the Free Verse fair in London was the chance to take part in a translation workshop led by Karen Leeder of New College, Oxford. I did study French, German and Russian at school and Welsh with the Open University so this workshop looked interesting, even if my language skills are…
From cover to cover
Over the summer I have been enjoying reading the series of blog posts The reading list by poetgalRobin Houghton. She set herself the target of reading poetry collections from cover to cover, starting with the first poem and keeping going without skipping, hesitating or going back to re-read poems. She has just completed week 6 and…
Can poetry save your life?
I am coming to the end of what has turned out to be an extended period away from work, due to difficulties in my current post. As things were becoming completely untenable at work I discovered Anthony Wilson’s Lifesaving poems. This anthology is of the poems he feels most passionately about. Each poem is accompanied…
End of term The Poetry Cafe from LondonTown.com It feels like there is a school’s out atmosphere this week with children being let loose for the summer. Yesterday evening I went to the last session of advanced poetry workshops with Katy Evans-Bush. These are held in a room above the poetry café in Covent Garden…
Lance Sergeant Percy Honeybill 1917
Percy Honeybill with Sergeant’s stripes – taken in 1917 Thanks to Percy’s grandson, Peter I am now able to share a photograph which was taken on him in his uniform. Please note the three white chevrons denoting his rank as Lance serrgeant. Peter also sent me the copy of a page from a diary of…
Ouse Muse at Bedford
Thanks to the irrepresible Ian McEwen, Bedford has become one of the places to go to for poetry in this part of the world. He has a great line up for current Ouse Muse season; including Claire Crowther, Jon Stone and Hannah Lowe. Last Thursday I and Vanessa Gebbie were the invited poets, reading to…
Sensing Spaces at the Royal Academy
This is another retrospective post about the good things of 2014. Amongst these was the ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition at the Royal Academy, which I will remember long after the rest of the year has been forgotten. The gallery let architects loose on the gallery spaces to see what they could come up with. What they produced…
The seamen at Tower Hill
The merchant navy memorial at Tower Hill is a melancholy place to go to. My visits always seem to coincide with dusk… ‘And each slow dusk a drawing–down of blinds’ as Owen put it and the light was dying last Friday as a friend and I walked around the memorial garden. The plaques are arranged in…
Poetry Postcard Fest
Although I am working on a second book as well as doing a full-time day job and various other things I thought I would join in with the annual August Poetry Postcard Fest organised by Paul Nelson and others. The idea is that each day during August you write a poem on a postcard and send…