I recently read a poem by Edmund Spenser. Amid all the modern work I read, I had forgotten how good he was. The work focused on a deer. The language was exquisite and fresh, not a spare word and all woven into iambic pentameter. Reading work like this that is so well crafted, I feel totally inadequate and guiltily aware that working in free verse, tough as it is, is nothing compared to the craftsmanship of working within the constraints of  metre and rhyme. Indeed in Spenser’s hands it is n...

This time I didn’t disgrace myself by heckling. There were some accomplished readers and poems however I was struck by the almost universal tone many of the poets adopted. It was as if they switched to an official ‘reading out loud voice’, rather like actor becoming someone else. Now I haven’t been to many poetry readings but I’m guessing this is what you do.  I am gearing up to read but as opposed to this this idiom I fear I will only manage a poetic squeak. The answer I suppose si...

More poems are being submitted which is wonderful and in general they are of good quality so much so I am already up to summer of next year.

I think I may be a bit promiscuous excepting all poems that take my fancy. The magazine needs a tougher selection process. So from next Summer I shall place all the poems I like in a folder and than give then time to ‘prove ‘ so to speak. Nearer the time I shall sit down and decide which should make the cut. In this way I am hoping that the prestig...