Month: September 2021

My review of a new selection of poems by Abdellatif Laâbi

Josephine Corcoran
The image is of a hand holding a book. The book is 'My Mother's Language'/ 'La langue de ma mere' by Abdellatif Laabi, translated by Andre Naffis-Sahely

My review of My Mother’s Language/La langue de ma mère by Abdellatif Laâbi, translated and introduced by André Naffis-Sahely (Poetry Translation Centre, 2021), is online at MPT magazine. This is a generous selection of poems (in a neat, pocket-sized French/English edition - perfect to carry with me on a recent train journey) from a poet widely… Continue reading My review of a new selection of poems by Abdellatif Laâbi

Richard Price’s poem, first published at And Other Poems, commended in the Forward Prizes

Josephine Corcoran5 Comments

I'm delighted that one of the poems first published at And Other Poems, the online site I edit, has been highly commended in this year's Forward Prize for Best Single Poem and published in their annual anthology. The poem is 'Personality Test with Worked Examples' by Richard Price and can be viewed at And Other… Continue reading Richard Price’s poem, first published at And Other Poems, commended in the Forward Prizes

New poem in 14 magazine

Josephine Corcoran4 Comments

A new poem 'Self-Portrait as a Green Silk Dress' has been accepted by 14 magazine (Vanguard Editions) and will be published in their next issue, now available to order. My thanks to editor Richard Skinner. Here is an image of the dress that inspired the poem:

Updates to my ‘about me’ page

Josephine Corcoran
The image is of two books written by Josephine Corcoran. The first one is called 'The Misplaced House'. It is predominantly black and white and has a photograph of two children and a mongrel dog on the cover. The second is called 'What Are You After?' and is predominantly blue.

I've recently made a few changes to this website/blog, including changing the site's WordPress theme and updating my 'About/Contact' page. Like other WordPress users, I've found some of the recent technical changes to WordPress difficult to navigate and I've considered switching to a different platform (maybe Substack? Are any of you using that?). But, for… Continue reading Updates to my ‘about me’ page

Making visual poems with flowers

Josephine Corcoran3 Comments
The image is of sweet pea petals arranged in three lines as a haiku, with each petal representing a syllable. There are five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. The final syllables on the first and third lines are inedible sweet pea beans. The text reads 'Sweet Pea Haiku, Late Draft (Overworked).

I've used this blog before as a place to record workshop ideas, so I'm adding a post about some visual poems I've made as they would also work very well in a workshop. Here I've substituted flowers for syllables, words and rhymes in a few poetic forms (haiku, couplet, quatrain, end rhyme) but any found… Continue reading Making visual poems with flowers