Originally posted on The Poetry Shed:
Recovery By the time I have learned to handle the blade of my young body, the blade has been dulled. As my grandmother told me, Youth is wasted on the young. I would tell her now that truth is, too. I didn’t recognise the sound. Do you know how…
How football can disappoint
Two European finals, four English teams. To arrive at this point, four gripping semi-finals offering the highest level of the game – goals, excitement, edge-of-the-seat nerve-wracking moments, and even a penalty shootout. Extraordinary spectacles including a manager unashamedly in tears, on his knees on the pitch. There followed lengthy debate in the media about the… Continue reading How football can disappoint
#WADOD – Day 16: March 16th 2019
Originally posted on Martyn Crucefix:
Works and Days of Division – 29 poems by Martyn Crucefix Drawing on two disparate sources, this sequence of mongrel-bred poems has been written to respond to the historical moment in this most disunited kingdom. Hesiod’s Works and Days – probably the oldest poem in the Western canon – is…
Jeff Skinner – No End of Blue Things
Originally posted on The Poetry Shed:
No End of Blue Things The bone china mug you drank from every morning we’ve retired like a shirt; an exhibition of blouses, perfume-faint, hung behind a door I dare not open. For coastal walks a darker coat, the cursive waves, more grey than blue. Allotment skies in April,…
Notes on Literature as Play
Brilliant summary – I wish I’d written it myself! Crossways As far as I can make out, there is only one rule to the game of literature that we can say with any degree of certainty. That rule is play. Play consists of saying much without really saying anything. It is not the job… Continue reading Notes on Literature as Play
Mental Health and being a Woman…
Originally posted on Not quite curvy; definitely real:
There are 84 sculptures standing precariously on the edges of tall buildings in London. Each one represents one of the 84 men a week who die by suicide every week. You might have seen them overhead, on TV or in recent articles about male suicide – they…
Beer-tasting and poetry on April 8th – A double bill – Parthian Baltic and the European Poetry Festival
Originally posted on The Poetry Shed:
An evening of poetry and beer-tasting to celebrate the launch of Parthian Baltic, a series of books showcasing the best writing from Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Featuring readings from Madara Gruntmane, Eduards Aivars & Krišjānis Zeļģis (Latvia – photos below), Eeva Park & Veronika Kivisilla (Estonia), Aušra Kaziliūnaitė, Marius…
Moving on
This blog was started as work toward my MRes degree. The content of the blog, together with a commentary and visual artwork were submitted to the University of Brighton and my degree was awarded with distinction. I am currently studying Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. I have decided that this blog should become… Continue reading Moving on
A nest of rag and bone
Originally posted on Freefall:
Reviewing John Burnside’s latest collection Still Life With Feeding Snake earlier this week, I was drawn to two poems that frame the male gaze, ‘Annunciation in Grey and Black’ and ‘Approaching Sixty’. In the latter, the narrator watches a girl in a cafe in Innsbruck as she winds her hair then…
