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A ‘Quick Glance Back’

This wasn’t going to be a detailed retrospective of ‘my poetry year’ – for several reasons. Firstly, it seemed self-indulgent, given the current state of the world, to focus on my comparatively insignificant achievements. Secondly, I found I had far less to write about, in terms of poems published and events in which I participated, during 2023 … compared with previous years. Thirdly, given that second reason, I wanted to focus more on the year ahead … and that included writing more poems, rather than self-congratulatory blog posts and status updates. That renewed focus would also include making more submissions in 2024 than I did in 2023. This determination (not a resolution!) came after a ‘serious talk with myself’ about wasting time.

So, what was I proud of achieving, in poetry terms, in 2023, and, more importantly, who do I want to thank for ‘making poetry things happen’ for me last year? Well, I was very pleased to have a poem accepted for Prole 34, for which I thank the editors, Brett Evans and Phil Robertson. The poem, ’Either Or, Both And’, skirted around the trans topic, thinking back half a century to when attitudes to gender were quite different from what they are now. So, it was a risky poem to have written, and a risky poem for the editors to have accepted, which makes me doubly grateful. Copies of the magazine are available here: https://prolebooks.co.uk/ I checked back and discovered it was the tenth poem I’ve had accepted by this consistently high quality literary journal since my first submission to Prole in 2015. Thank you, Brett Evans and Phil Robertson.

Another outlet for some of my ‘riskier’ poems, over several years, has been Visual Verse. As someone who is particularly inspired by ‘the visual’ – and who is a keen photographer – Visual Verse has offered a regular prompt for my poetry. Making a tally, it surprised me to find that twenty of my poems have been published there during the last six years. Alas, Visual Verse closed in October, after a decade of inspiring poets to write in ‘rapid response’ to the image of the month. I’d like to record here, a big ‘Thank you’ to the editors, for the opportunity they provided each month. I valued the opportunity to write in response to some astonishing images over the years,  prompting some of my more surreal and often contentious poems – written and submitted within an hour, so not allowing the luxury of much time for reflection or self-editing, doubling the riskiness! I was extra pleased to have several poems in it last year, delighted to find my name alongside much better poets than I, including those who have, over the years, become friends. January found my offering alongside wonderful poems by Rishi Dastidar, Martyn Crucefix and George Colkitto. I equally enjoyed reading poems by poet-friends, Angie Holden and Pat Edwards in Visual Verse last year. My riskier poems included ‘The Bigger Picture’ which touched on slavery, ‘On the Job Training’ which ventured into policing and gender issues, ‘Conspiracy’ in the September edition and ‘Come-uppance under Construction’ in October, which hinted at political hubris. This was my last submission to Visual Verse and I was very glad to ‘go out on a high’ – with a sonnet! I’m seriously going to miss this opportunity to respond to an astonishing image each month but I am delighted that the vast collection of VV poems and images is being taken over by the University of Newcastle. As their website explains, https://www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/visual-verse/, Visual Verse was founded in 2013 by publisher Kristen Harrison at The Curved House, writer and activist Preti Taneja, now Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and British designer Pete Lewis. A big thank you to these exceptionally inspiring and inspirational people.

Another publisher to which I am indebted is Yaffle Press, and I’m glad to count Gill and Mark Connors as friends, thanks to social media and video-conferencing. Their workshops over Zoom are as exceptional as their energy and productivity. I was thrilled to have a poem (‘Away From It All’) longlisted in the Yaffle Prize in 2023 and I’m delighted that my poem will be included in the Yaffle ‘Whirlagust’ competition anthology being published this year. 

Another book which will be published in 2024 is the Wee Sparrow Poetry Press ‘Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans’ anthology. I was pleased that my poem ‘Green Turtle’ was accepted for the book. This poem had been previously published by ‘The Blue Nib’ on-line, but since the unarchived closure of that outlet, the poem had been in limbo. I’m glad it is being ‘resurrected’ in this anthology, and that it will be alongside poems by poet-friends, including Jenni Wyn Hyatt and Maggie Mackay.

I can’t conclude this record of 2023 without thanking Simon Williams for his Poem A Day group on Facebook which was open, again, in April and September 2023. I also need to thank all the other participants for their comments on poems and suggestions. I’m grateful to have two months’ worth of poems drafted, most of which remain unfinalised and unpublished, and hence playing a big part in my determination to be more diligent in 2024. I’d better get cracking on finding homes for those poems before next April’s PAD comes along!

Lastly, I remain indebted to poet friends locally, especially members of Cheltenham Poetry Society which has now been dual-badged as a Stanza. As the Stanza representative in the county, and as a former Chair of CPS, I was delighted that members of the society unanimously agreed to this ‘alliance’! But mostly, I am grateful to them for their friendship and rigorous feedback on poems during monthly workshops. I am especially indebted to CPS Chairman Roger Turner, Michael Newman, David Ashbee, Stuart Nunn, Sheila Spence, Robin Gilbert, Nick Sheppard and Dan Mountain. I look forward to another great year of workshops … and, I hope, another annual Awayday writing retreat … in 2024.

That’s enough of the ‘boastful post’ I said I would not be writing this year! But, without writing all this, I would not have been able to record my thanks to the editors at Prole, Yaffle, Wee Sparrow and Visual Verse, and the many, many poetry friends I have made, in real life and on-line, during the ten or twenty years I have got to know them, and as we have written, workshopped and submitted our work, together. Thank you. Thank you.

‘When that Aprille with his showers soot …’

April’s Poetry Café at Smokey Joe’s in Cheltenham was refreshed by the poetry, voice and presence of Sam Loveless. Here are some photos of Sam in action and a slideshow of the event, including the lovely gathering of Open Mic poets.  You will see that, at one stage, we were entertained by a poetic duet from Sam and Stephen Daniels.  Sam’s Andean headgear was an additional treat!

Photos of Sam … and Stephen …

 

And the slideshow, including open mic poets:

 

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Regular host, Roger Turner, was unfortunately unable to be at Poetry Café Refreshed in April … a chance for me to run amok 😉

 

Sharon, deputising for Roger as host

 

 

 

Another Exciting Poetry Year Beckons

Lots of new ventures lie ahead in Larkin (no relation) Poetryland next year:

1.  The Good Dadhood Poetry Project.

Between 1 January and 17 June (Father’s Day), the website Good Dadhood will be live, receiving submissions of poems in honour of fathers.  Why?  Why not!  More information about the project is being posted on the site shortly. By mid-June, we should have a good store of Good Dad poems. I’ll then take stock and decide what to do next in terms of bringing the Best Good Dad Poems together in some form.

2. The Kickstart Poetry Project

This new venture starts on 3 January, under the auspices of a Cheltenham Poetry Society. This is a monthly series of workshops, following Jo Bell’s book 52 – The Book and picking up on the success of Jo’s 2014 on-line poetry writing project.  I’m really looking forward to working with a group of local poets who are all eagerly anticipating getting started!

3. Poets Alive

Another year of the poetry reading group meeting begins shortly, under the benevolent banner of Cheltenham Poetry Society! The first meeting on Tuesday 17 January will be considering the poetry of W H Auden. Poets are invited to bring poems by Auden – and also examples of their own work which make an interesting comparison or contrast with the ones they have chosen to bring by Auden. Other poets on the menu for 2017 include T S Eliot, Billy Collins, D H Lawrence and Gillian Clarke.  It’s going to be lovely being back in the CPS chair after a much-needed break last year.

4. Poetry Café – Refreshed

Held at Cheltenham’s unique venue, Smokey Joe’s, this popular monthly “guest poet and open mic night” restarts on 18 January when we (host Roger Turner and I) look forward to welcoming David Calcutt as guest poet.  We have an equally exciting line-up of poets for the rest of the year, and also look forward to the open mic participants who go from strength to strength month on month.

5.  Cheltenham Arts Council’s first meeting of 2017

This takes place on 11 January when we will be looking forward to the awards we will be making in the coming year, and especially the award ceremony in March. I’m slightly daunted at the prospect of heading up these ventures, in what is my first year in the CAC Chair, but there is a wonderfully  supportive committee to keep me on track.

6.  Regular and Special Poetry Events

Back to Cheltenham Poetry Society – I’ll be collaborating with other talented members to run our monthly series of workshops, reading and writing groups .. and also our special events, including the annual lecture in March, when David Clarke will be talking on the subject of German Poetry, and the annual Awayday retreat scheduled for May.  I’m also looking forward to continuing promoting the ‘Cheltenham 300’ anthology of poems and photographs – which came out of workshops at the 2016 CPS Awayday.  We’re especially looking forward to giving a reading – with photo projection – at Cheltenham Poetry Festival in May, thanks to CPF Director, Anna Saunders.

7. Finally – and personally – I’m full of anticipation at the prospect of attending a Cinnamon Press poetry residential in North Wales later in January. There will, no doubt, be a separate blog post about it after the event!

So, there’s an exciting start in prospect to a poetry-full year.

Keep poeting!

Review of 2016 – mentor, monitor, mantra

It has been a year of mountain climbing and a little valley exploring.  High peaks have included:

Taking over the chair of Cheltenham Arts Council from Karen Jones – a hard act to follow. But there is a  lovely, dedicated committee of people from across the wide spectrum of the arts in Cheltenham to keep me on track. I’m learning so much – thanks to these mentors – and ‘network like an over-excited millennial’ has quickly become my mantra in this new ‘job’.

Working with Roger Turner to establish Poetry Café – Refreshed at Smokey Joe’s, Cheltenham has been an ongoing pleasure. I have loved welcoming all the guest poets and open mic performers – from Glos, South Glos, Worcs, Somerset, Oxon, Berks, Herefords, Wilts, Avon and Dorset! ‘Refreshed’ has become known for its friendly, relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, and – of course – its exciting poetry. Monitoring the rise and rise of this monthly event has been a source of considerable satisfaction.  With thanks to Smokey Joe’s for such a great venue – and a menu that is definitely worth monitoring at regular intervals!

Publishing Cheltenham 300, the Cheltenham Poetry Society’s anthology of poems and photographs to mark the Tercentenary of the town as a spa, offered a rich learning experience for me personally. It all sprang from an inspiring Awayday idea, very image-focused from the start … and so it was inevitable that the ensuing book would combine two passions shared by a number of CPS members  – poetry and photography. The richness of this particular learning experience came from choosing poems from those submitted, collaborating with Roger Turner (trusted mentor) on editing, sequencing and taking/selecting images. Investigating sources for some of the images and pursuing copyright permissions were other opportunities to ‘learn stuff’ … as were working with the printer to optimise layout, with a couple of ‘back to the drawing board’ moments!  Chris Griffiths at Stroudprint has been a most patient mentor!  His experience and advice were invaluable. The book was published in November, and according to my monitoring – akin to that of a new parent – it is selling well, at the Suffolk Anthology Bookshop, thanks to Helene. Many copies are also being sold  by the contributing poets, and by mail order (via email  cheltenhampoetrysociety@gmail.com). We have two events/readings coming up early in 2017, when my mantra will no doubt be:  ‘the book will be on sale at the end of the reading’.

An enjoyable morning was spent in early December with Rona Laycock – accomplished writer and experienced mentor – in The Writer’s Room at Corinium Radio, Cirencester. I loved sharing four of my poems from the ‘I Walk on Fire’ event (held in Cheltenham in October – to celebrate Dylan Thomas) … so my Corinium Radio spot had a Welsh flavour, satisfying another of my passions. Monitoring the programme as it went out – worldwide – was a ‘hold your breath’ moment … but I didn’t actually hate the sound of my own voice … because I thought it sounded like someone else! Another mantra:  it’s never too late to try something new.

Nor is it ever too late to have another go at something done previously.   A few years ago I participated in judging the poetry entries for the Gloucestershire Writers Network competition – the first time I’d judged one.  Earlier this year, Stuart Nunn asked me to judge the poetry entries for the Chipping Sodbury competition.  This was an enjoyable experience, with some obvious front runners during preliminary readings.  It took several more readings to place them in order.  The winner took me by surprise.  As I read and reread it, I began to realise that there were rich literary threads and social commentary running right through it. They had not been obvious on a preliminary reading, but an outstanding image towards the end of the poem alerted me to the fact that something deeper was going on in this poem than was at first apparent.  I appreciated the fact that this poet didn’t go for an easy option. The poem offered the reader the satisfaction of teasing out the meaning just beneath the superficial. A worthy winner.  And another lesson learned in the satisfaction and rewards of inviting a reader to ‘go deeper’ … another mantra.

Submissions-wise, it has been my most productive year ever, with a record number of acceptances and few rejections – according to fastidious monitoring via Excel spreadsheet. Much of this success can be traced back to the 52 Project in 2014.  Surely Jo Bell remains all participating poets’ favourite mentor! Her mantra – cut the last two lines – remains valuable advice.

But the ‘mentor of the year award, 2016’ for me personally has to be Ann Drysdale.  I can’t thank her enough for her experience, wisdom and patience as we’ve worked on my manuscript.

Glancing ahead to 2017, I look forward to more learning experiences – with a Cinnamon Press residential led by Jan Fortune – another brilliant mentor and champion of new writing.  This opportunity to learn will take place early in the New Year (back to Wales again – excellent!). I’ll also be beginning another stint in the Chair of Cheltenham Poetry Society next year, with a new series of workshops running throughout 2017 based on Jo Bell’s 52 book. As a new venture for the Society, I’ll be monitoring the success of the workshops, and learning much by mentoring some of those who attend. If there’s one thing my year teaching Welsh to Adult beginners taught me, it is that tutors learn as much by teaching learners as learners learn from tutors! My all-time favourite mantra remains “Never stop learning” …

At the head of this end-of-year resumé, is a word cloud containing elements from the titles of the poems I hope to see ‘out there’ in 2017.  I’ll be monitoring their progress with the utmost interest!  “Go, words!”