One Deliberate Red Dress Time I Shone

I had wonderful time in Liverpool launching my limited edition, handstitched pamphlet One Deliberate Red Dress Time I Shone at the Open Eye Gallery. A massive thank you to writer and artist Maria Isakova Bennett, founder of the Coast to Coast to Coast project, who makes the very beautiful poetry journals for the winners in the annual poetry prize. I urge you to enter the competition, next time it opens.

All of the poems in One Deliberate Red Dress Time I Shone have some connection with fabric or clothing or making – so that the handstitched element of the pamphlet threads through the poems. There are seen-while-walking poems, self-portraits and odes and two poems after self-portraits by artists (Pauline Boty and Louise Bourgeois). Some of the poems were previously published in Magma, Under the Radar, 14 magazine and on the Poetry Society’s website. ‘Ode to an Oversized Cardigan’ was included in the TEXTUS exhibition at the Torriano. It’s a very limited edition publication, and few copies left, but do get in touch with Maria Isakova Bennett or me if you’d like to buy one (£10+p&p).

I loved hearing the poems of my fellow winners, Rachel Spence and Ben McGuire, and Maria’s fantastic poems, also. And what an honour to share our reading space in the gallery with the stunning artwork of Sandra Suubi, selected for this year’s Liverpool Biennial.

Yes, I did wear the second-hand red silk dress (mentioned in my previous post) that arrived at my house folded neatly into a large envelope. Thank you Oxfam Online!

The evening was very well attended and it was so special that some of my cousins and friends from Liverpool and Southport, and beyond, were in the audience. I will cherish that memory.

Now back in Wiltshire, I’m looking forward to running some workshops at The Make Space in Bradford-on-Avon on National Poetry Day, next Thursday, 5 October. If you’re in the area, you’re invited to explore this year’s NPD theme of ‘refuge’ and read, write and share poems in response. The workshops are 40 minutes long with time for sharing work at the end and will take place at 11am, 12pm and 1pm. Write a poem in your lunchbreak? Who knows, maybe Frank O’Hara will join us in Bradford-on-Avon!