On Not Being Observed: Dave Morgan, Flapjack Press
I began to read this collection from the end first. Don’t ask me why, it’s not something I usually do. Perhaps it’s because Dave Morgan and I are both of a certain age. The final poem, ‘Bravado’, starts off in the style of a villanelle, with Dylan Thomas very much in mind: “Do not presume to tell me how to age.” But halfway through it abandons all pretence at the form, in a poetic ‘Oh, sod it!’ mo...
25th April 2024
Hot flushes, nostalgia, The Joy of Sex: meet the Booming Lovelies
Heather Moulson, left, Sharron Green, and Trisha Broomfield are three regulars at Write Out Loud Woking who have teamed up to form a poetic trio called The Booming Lovelies that celebrate “ladies of a certain age”. Here’s a review of their recent performance at Cranleigh arts centre in Surrey:
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24th April 2024
Poetry for the Many: ed. Jeremy Corbyn, Len McCluskey
A would-be prime minister who confessed to liking – and writing - poetry? Was that why the ‘Red Wall’ working-class voters turned so decisively against him at the 2019 election, and gave Boris Johnson...
9th April 2024
Keeping the dialect poetry flag flying at Morpeth's Northumberland Gathering
Morpeth’s Northumberland Gathering is all about tradition: maintaining the county’s music, dance, crafts, folklore, dialects and customs at an annual three-day festival in the town.
And Eileen Beer...
9th April 2024
No mere trifle: recovery and discoveries from armchair poets at village book festival
The last time I saw Richie McCaffery read was at Aldeburgh poetry festival at Snape Maltings, more than 10 years ago, with fellow up-and-coming poets such as Kim Moore. On Sunday he was reading in mor...
5th April 2024
High Nowhere: Jean Atkin, Indigo Dreams Publishing
Shropshire-based poet, writer and educator Jean Atkin is the author of two previously published collections from Indigo Dreams, How Time is in Fields (2019) and The Bicycles of Ice and Salt (2021). Sh...
2nd April 2024
Poetic splendour: festival tour around Northumberland's Seaton Delaval Hall
Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland is a ruined mansion with a rich history. The Delavals came over with the Normans, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that the current mansion was erected, desig...
26th March 2024
All the Birds: Mark Totterdell, Littoral Press
14th March 2024
Over the Edge: Norbert Hirschhorn, Holland Park Press
Norbert Hirschhorn is a public health physician, commended in 1993 by President Bill Clinton as an American Health Hero in the tradition of physician-poets. More recently he was the recipient of the P...
3rd March 2024
How to succeed as a poetry compere: Born Lippy’s Donald Jenkins delivers a masterclass
There are poetry night comperes that embrace the limelight, and there are other comperes who can’t help being the centre of attention, even if they’re not trying to be. Donald Jenkins, MC of the eclec...
22nd February 2024
The Process of Poetry, from first draft to final poem: ed. Rosanna McGlone, Fly on the Wall Press
Far too often you come across volumes of poets talking about their craft, and you are left none the wiser. Rather than dispelling the mystique, they merely add to it. Now here comes a book that miracu...
5th February 2024
Caribbean influencer: meet Shaniqua Benjamin, Croydon's poet laureate
In April last year Croydon became the latest London Borough of Culture, a title it will hold for a year, and which was secured with the help of Shaniqua Benjamin, the south London borough’s first poet...
1st February 2024
Sands of time and tide on poetry walk at coastal nature reserve
Take a Bronze Age burial site, add a tsunami from Norway that saw off Doggerland, fossilised tree stumps, and tales of Grace Darling. Plus wonderful birds making the most of a reclaimed opencast mine ...
29th January 2024
Away with the Birds: eds. Simon Fletcher, Kuli Kohli, Offa's Press
Britain’s Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place each year at the end of January, with many thousands taking part, is said to be the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Even if we don’t agree on ...
18th January 2024
Chemistry, poetry, and laughing gas: analysing the verses of Sir Humphry Davy
In 1799 - the year that Napoleon gained power in France – the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, at the age of 21, discovered the physiological effect of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Being Davy, he wrote a ...
16th January 2024
New Blues and Other Poems: Adrian Green, Littoral Press
Adrian Green is a former small press editor who has published two other full collections, Chorus and Coda and All that Jazz and Other Poems. He is a trustee of the Jazz Centre (UK), and ran a traditio...
7th January 2024