My initial response to an invitation to select ‘ My beautiful thing’ was to choose an object of some sort . I thought of the deco cup and saucer in the shape of a clam shell that I picked up at a boot fair . I rejected that in favour of my Lulu Guinness hand bags then cast them aside for my Alexander McQueen scarves , recent acquisitions to the Sinclair wardrobe. I was like a spoilt child at Christmas discarding one present for another.

Then I read other people’s offerings and was put ...

Continue reading ...

What is your most beautiful thing?

Is it your one year old niece's golden smile? The pale pink peony buds in your garden? A silver ring given to you by your grandmother? Your shiny red Vespa scooter? Is your most beautiful thing a place or a moment? Is it a philosophy or a value?

On Tuesday the 24th of April, I'm taking part in a Blogsplash to celebrate beautiful things, inspired by Fiona Robyn's new novel, 'The Most Beautiful Thing'.

People all over the world will be blogging, tweeting & writin...
Continue reading ...

Great news, we have been named as a ‘ Poetry Kit’ recommended site. Took me ages to upload the symbol …no idea GIFs existed!

I would like to thank all poets who have trusted me with their work. The standard is always so good. Please keep it coming! 

Continue reading ...

I was saddened to hear that Geoff Stevens has died. ‘Purple Patch’ and indeed Geoff became incredibly influential in the world of poetry. He championed small presses and unknown poets. His life’s work seemed to be to take on the poetry establishment and its cliques.  ‘Purple Patch’ was dedicated to publishing poems that people actually want to read. At the end of each year the magazine published an honours list of best small magazines and small magazine’s poets.

Whenever one subm...

Continue reading ...

Wonderful  news form Jim Bennett at The Poetry Kit. Two of the poems I nominated from the magazine have been included in The Poetry Kit awards 2011. They are Jane Francis  'Winding Sheet ' and Michele Byrne 'Left Handed'. They will be included in an e-anthology to be published later this year. Congratulations to them both.

I must say I'm chuffed to be listed along with The Journal. Prole and South. Hurrah!

Continue reading ...

Thankfully submissions continue to come into the magazine. What strikes me is the quality of the work. I want to publish them all but of course space is an issue. It occurs to me that I need to be more discerning now. Good poems must be put into a folder and then a judicious examination and selection  of the very best will be made . These will then make up the issue. I think this will increase the reputation of the magazine but alsomake it an absolute achievement to be selected.

...
Continue reading ...

A new year’s resolution to enter competitions has me thinking about the knack of winning glittering prizes. For a start one has to send off entries. This is a bit of a stumbling block for me ….’funds is limited’ .. how on earth  do poets afford to enter once let alone multiple times ? One could spend a fortune. I suppose the art is to find the right competition for your work , affiliated perhaps to a magazine that seems to ‘like your style’ so to speak.

Then there’s the problem...

Continue reading ...

was brave and volunteered to read my poem included in the  charity anthology Not only the Dark, felt sick all day and on seeing the podium and mike nearly bolted. Got through it with the encouragement of June English.

It was lovely though to meet some poets who have been published in the magazine including Marilyn Donovan who is 'Canterbury Poet of the Year' and Alan Gleave a long time supporter of the magazine.

Continue reading ...

I'm thrilled to find that I am one of the featured poets in The Poetry Kit 's 'Caught in the Net' series  .  But dear me the photo , I do indeed look as if I've been dredged up out of the sea .Other poets have groovy photos either posed or in action doing something marvelous like climbing a mountain. I shall have to obtain some new ones or I shall put readers off. My usual way is to take my own whilst leaning back like a gymnast . The photos are OK but I have my hand bag collection waving in ...
Continue reading ...

I have volunteered to read a poem included in an anthology.  This is a step up from my usual efforts. However I will be surrounded by poets used to reading so shall have to stand up, look at the audience and read at the same time .

 Now for a dizzy poet this could be tricky . I have trouble walking and scrabbling for car keys in my bag. So I shall have to rehearse synchronising all three skills. Thank goodness it’s a short poem.

...
Continue reading ...

I was at a reading recently and rifling through an anthology I noted that one contributor's  had listed the magazine in her biography. I was very proud.
Continue reading ...

Quite heartened to find that the magazine is fully booked up until next Summer. I do tend to squeeze as many poems in as possible.  Recent submissions for the Summer issue have included some very fine poems  particularly a batch written by women which is a relief since the magazine tends to be biased towards men. I don’t know why the magazine doesn’t attract female writers especially since I advertised in Myslexia. So I’m hoping the word is being spread that the magazine is open to busi...

Continue reading ...

I’ve found over the years that lack of sleep is not conducive to writing: either wanting to or working effectively. So at the moment, I’m staring at pages wondering if I can have a nap at 4 am.  Similarly it puts the kybosh on ideas…my mind is currently a blank page …. I do think to negotiate poetry  both reading and  writing it,  ones  mind has to be absolutely at its sharpest as opposed to the blunt instrument  that  currently is the state of my poor brain.

...
Continue reading ...

There has been some recent debate sparked by an article on the prevalence of free verse over rhymed poetry. It was suggested that modern poets can’t rhyme and therefore are somehow lesser poets for it.

It’s something I do feel guilty about. I can’t rhyme. When I first started writing I instinctively went towards free verse. Now it is so entrenched I can’t think of writing in any other style. I find it hard enough trying to find the right words, remember to deploy ‘show doesn’t t...

Continue reading ...

I’m all reviewed out . After a while I just can’t think of anything  to say.  The final review I’m writing is a collection by Maria McCarthy in aid of Macmillan cancer research.  That it is in aid of  a charity in no way diminishes the work which is excellent. She is a local girl and it’s rather nice reading about local areas such as Conyer and Faversham. She writes the kind of poetry I love rooted in a the every day full of domestic references .  It’s the kind of writing that makes...

Continue reading ...

So I finally read in public. That is to say at the Canterbury Poet’s open mike I sat glued to my seat not looking up as I read my two short poems out.  I had rehearsed the day before and never having read my poems out loud I found them quite tricky to read... damn run on, lines and alliteration! Nevertheless I managed it with out fluffing my lines. I shall now build up to looking up and eventually standing up. Since they don’t have a rhyme scheme there is no way I can learn them off by he...

Continue reading ...

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...

Continue reading ...

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...

Continue reading ...

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...

Continue reading ...

In my efforts improve the profile of the magazine I now insist that poets mention us in future publications. I say this because I became aware that a young writer whose work I think I was the first to promote has gone onto better things and mentioned all the known magazines she has been published in but not Message.

I am not bitter as you can tell. It’s like the free cyclers who recently harvested all my lavender while I was out without so much as a ‘Thank you’. Still on a more positiv...

Continue reading ...

A poet withdrew a poem from the magazine this week. He was honest enough. It had been taken by another magazine. He had received I suppose a better offer. I remembered outré friends who would do the same with invitations.  I would never be that bold. I like a finely tuned lie. I feel it saves feelings all round.  The ‘other magazine’ implies a more up market periodical, whilst Message is a sort of second division affair.  So I would rather, instead of the blunt sentence of withdrawal, th...

Continue reading ...

I have just come back form my first poetry slam. I went on my own so was feeling trepidacious.  I was about to ask the bar man where it was when I noticed a number of poet type people disappearing up stairs clutching folders. Since it was too late for a convention, I knew I had come to the right place. The room was surprisingly packed. Though I later learned that the numbers where swelled by the MA in writing group for UKC. 

I sat at the back of the room perched increasingly uncomfortably o...

Continue reading ...

I need to write a dedication piece for the new collection. It’s difficult who to select.   It now looks like an Oscar winners list of’ Thank You s ‘.  I’ve left out Henry the Airedale although I was sorely tempted.

The acknowledgements page is strange. I confess I had to ask what I was supposed to put there. It now reads as if I am coughing with embarrassment and shuffling my feet.  I think it would  be better if I could be like that large lady who used to appear at the end of early...

Continue reading ...

I wonder if most people who write poetry experience the following, ( you’ll note I do not call myself a poet , I would never take the liberty) but  for a year now I’ve noticed that writing is not a pleasure more of a compulsion.

It maybe because I write every day and very early in the morning  that has lead to the shine has rubbing off . There is a lot of prevarication before I sit down then it’s like starting a very old motor...there’s lots of turning over the brain until it gradual...

Continue reading ...

Some of the poets in the summer issue of the magazine have received complimentary comments about their work; whilst I was busy emailing this praise to the respective parties, I felt there must be a more immediate way of doing this. So having a rummage around other on line magazines, I noticed that many employ a nice bi line inviting readers to simply click on a button and the comments are emailed to them. 

Half a day  and many emails  later, I have managed to create the same for the magazin...

Continue reading ...

The other day the post exploded through the letter box and amongst the letters, I found a very crumpled envelope with my hand writing on it. This used to be the signal that I had a rejections slip in my hand yet I haven’t sent work out snail mail for years due to financial constraints and preferring to publish on the internet .

However when I opened it, it was indeed a rejection slip from a rather well respected journal. ‘Sorry for the delay’ some anonymous person had written possibly...

Continue reading ...

One of the perks of reviewing and in fact being a ‘gentleman ‘ editor is that I receive poetry collections I would never normally access ……and for free.

Having started the virtual bookshop , I have received a copy of Ruth Sabath Rosenthal’s new collection. What touched me most was the address …. a street in New York City …’’Well’’, I thought ‘’it’s the closest this dizzy gal will get to that longed for place.’’

Continue reading ...

I’ve recently encountered some poetry that did absolutely nothing for me. It was very clever I’m sure. It was probably very well constructed but I couldn’t really tell the fault I fear of not having a classical education.   Of course everyone will say its brilliant ‘blah blah blah’ but to quote my very clever friend Sherrie (who I suspect has classical knowledge) ‘it’s the emperor’s new clothes.’

Either way this type of poetry that either flaunts its poet’s education or l...

Continue reading ...

I seem to spend hours reading poetry .  After a while it can pall. So recently I have returned (dizzies permitting ) to prose and find that it’s really refreshing .  I’m reading all the books I always promised myself I’d read . This is includes ‘Oranges are not the only fruit’  which I loved . After years of marking A’ level course work on the book, swearing to read it , I finally have.

The next challenge is Hemmingway. A friend who adores the writer lent me ‘A farewell to Arms...

Continue reading ...

I’ve always wanted to run a book and coffee shop. Don’t we all?  An impossible dream since the bully boys Waterstones has cornered the market. The last independent shop in Canterbury bit the dust some years ago. 

So I’ve decided to create a book page for the magazine where poets can display their new collections. I became quite ambitious by deciding to up load front covers and blurb which of course is causing a great deal of tutting on my part.

I’m amazed at how many collections so...

Continue reading ...

It’s so strange which work gets accepted where.  A poem that got kicked out of every magazine so that it had crawled into a corner whimpering with shame suddenly got a reprieve last week and by a prestigious magazine I’ve been stalking for years.

Thereby proving yet again how subjective poetry is.  Often a poem is rejected not because it is poorly written but the subject matter doesn’t chime with the editor. 

When I’m reviewing I’m careful not to decry work simply because the sub...

Continue reading ...

A couple of times I have found my work bobbing up in very strange places not least a horror magazine (not a magazine publishing horrendous poetry you understand). 

It was entirely my own fault because I didn’t inspect the publication thoroughly  by reading the work and looking at the track record of the other contributors. This may make me sound like a magazine snob but I don’t care.

Don’t be fooled by a dazzling website, some of the best e-zines are the simplest allowing the poems...

Continue reading ...

I shall be back reviewing pamphlets shortly. I am a very benevolent reviewer. If I have to criticise it is in the ‘umblest terms. I think this is largely due to my up bringing. I was taught never to make fun of anyone. My mother loved ‘The Water Babies’ and was always quoting ‘Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby’.  Consequently, I‘ve an over developed sense of empathy.

Sadly my sensibility is in the minority as my own experience being on the receiving end of reviews can testify.   Still as...

Continue reading ...

For the five years I’ve been writing I have on occasions received advice form editors .Generally this takes the form words of encouragement but as I  have become familiar to some editors the advice has become frank and I have to say very useful.

However, there seems now to be a fashion amongst new magazines for them to reject work and provided an unsolicited critique. This must be taken with a pinch of salt. I find if the editor and magazine has a proven track record that the notes are hel...

Continue reading ...

For some years I have been sending poems off to American magazines but with little success.

Recently however,  there has been a flurry of acceptance.  I am not sure what I am doing different. It may be that I have simply selected magazines who like my style.

I do think American taste is different.  Possibly slightly more conservative in their attitudes towards poetry, consequently the poet has to write poems on subject matter that is absolutely universal.

I also feel there are certain cult...

Continue reading ...

 

It suddenly occurred to me that at least two magazines have not bothered to respond to my submissions despite my sending a stamped address envelope. One of them was sent at least a year ago!  So they are hardly still considering the work.  Is it bad manners or bad management? Who knows?  Either way I’d like my stamps back please.

That’s the benefit of emailed submissions and indeed on line magazines. They are far more immediate and efficient.  The turn around is much quicker.

Which b...

Continue reading ...

I was ambling round the internet during the week and came upon a poet new to me whose work is right up my street being quirky and unconventional. 

Her name is Margaret Griffiths. As usual I am late to the party since she died in 2009. What is so remarkable about her story is that despite being a fine poet she was reluctant to publish and when she did so it was to online venues and forums. On many occasions she used the pseudonyms ‘Maz’  or ‘Grasshopper’.  In time she developed a fol...

Continue reading ...

Word hoard has dried up.

My writing pattern seems to be ….a flurry of poems then nothing which is where I am now. Sometimes I forget that writing poetry is not like making something in a factory. I tend to finish one and then think ’Next’ only to find the ideas have dried up. I end up forcing some poems that are howlers and so have to be discarded.

 

The only answer when this happens is to give myself a writing holiday of several weeks . During that time I read lots of poetry and hope ...

Continue reading ...

 

During the week I read Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader.  I hadn’t read a book for ages but it was recommended by a friend so I sifted through EBay.

I assumed it would be a modern take on Virginia Woolf. How wrong I was. The story is ostensibly about the queen becoming an auto didactic via a chance encounter with a travelling library. Yet it becomes amongst the humour a discussion on why we should read and how one book leads to another.

It only took about an hour and a half to comp...

Continue reading ...

 

Last night I watched BBC2’s coverage of ‘World Book Night’. The majority of books given away were contemporary and I have to confess that although I recognized the titles I haven’t read the novels themselves.

 

There are several reasons for this.  I really don’t like modern or rather post modern novels so my reading history tends to cut out in the early 1960s. I think it’s a dislike of  both style and subject matter which doesn’t leave me with much to go on.

I also found...

Continue reading ...