I am honoured to have been asked by Paul Brookes to take part in his series of interviews with poets on his Wombwell Rainbow site. I'm in fine company and it's well worth looking through the index of poets, as there are some well-known names (and others less so), dispensing words of wisdom.
Review of The Evening Entertainment
Since it had a longer gestation than a herd of elephants, I shouldn't have been surprised that it would take a while for my collection to be reviewed, but the wait was more than worthwhile. Thanks to Greg Freeman for his kind and considered review for Write Out Loud.
‘Poetry and Place’ at Marsden Walking Weekend
On the 15th and 16th September, my poem ‘Bleasdale’ will be one of 23 poems displayed in Marsden for the first-ever Marsden Walking Weekend.
Cambridge
Here’s a photo taken after Wednesday’s Eyewear reading at Pembroke, College Cambridge. It’s great to see Eyewear back. (L to R: Todd Swift, Lucy A. Evans, Khariis Ubiaro, James Coghill, Mel Pryor and me.)
Metrognomic
When I run, my looping route is nearly always clockwise. Now I’ve moved to Thames Ditton, my latest loop is more like a long thin rectangle, a grandfather clock: along the towpath from Hampton Court to Walton, over Walton Bridge and back to Hampton Court via Sunbury and Hampton. This morning, in the endless heatwave swelter,… Continue reading Metrognomic
The Dice-box
My poem ‘The Dice-box’ is on the Ink, Sweat and Tears website today.
Poetry Village
I like the Poetry Village website a lot, so I'm delighted to have a poem on it today: ‘The Steepler’.
Widdop
Last week, I was on an Arvon course at Lumb Bank – a ‘retreat with walking’, tutored, or, more accurately, led, by local mapmaker extraordinaire Chris Goddard and novelist–poet Paul Kingsnorth. Being in Ted Hughes Country in a heatwave meant that I had the time and opportunity to take huge delight in the landscape. Chris knew… Continue reading Widdop
British Life in Poetry
The excellent poet Matt Barnard has kindly used a poem of mine from The Evening Entertainment on his British Life in Poetry blog.
On Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake
In a recent piece in New Socialist, Joe Kennedy analyses the regrettably spurious claim that several British, or more specifically English, works of the last couple of years are ‘Brexit novels’. It’s an interesting read, no more so than when he touches upon Paul Kingsnorth, labelled by the Telegraph as ‘the Bard of Brexit’, and his extraordinary,… Continue reading On Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake
