All Blogposts

  • World Poetry Day

    World Poetry Day

    Today is World Poetry Day but if you’re involved in poetry in any way, every day is a poetry day, isn’t it?  My social media feeds are mostly jammed with posts about Brexit but some poetry has seeped through, sometimes about Brexit.  I like this poem by Laxinx actor and writer Guido Garcia Luechas which Read more

  • Not really a blog post

    Not really a blog post

    Not really a blog post but an ageing woman cycling on a static bicycle half crying, half laughing listening to an old George Michael song and thinking that she used to imagine George was singing to her about oh there was so much unrequited love in those days! and she never imagined anyone wasn’t straight, Read more

  • New Old(ish) Poets Society

    New Old(ish) Poets Society

    Thanks to Afshan D’souza-Lodhi at The Common Sense Network for publishing my short piece, New Oldish Poets Society – which you can read here – detailing twelve women poets who’ve recently published their first pamphlet or collection in their late 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.  I’ve read a few articles recently charting the rise in Read more

  • My poetry week

    My poetry week

    This week the shortlist for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry was announced and – for the first time ever – one of the books I nominated for this prize has been selected.  I think it’s a strong list and I can’t think of any other recent poetry award (can you?) that Read more

  • A poem a day in the days leading up to Brexit

    A poem a day in the days leading up to Brexit

    Just sharing with you the news that poet Martyn Crucefix is going to be posting a poem a day on his blog, starting on March 1st and ending on March 29th – the day when the UK is supposed to be leaving the EU. Martyn writes that this sequence of new poems “has been written Read more

  • Three years of Drawing Projects UK

    Three years of Drawing Projects UK

    Artist Anita Taylor has written a terrific post at Wiltshire Council’s arts blog giving some insight into the story (so far) of Drawing Projects UK which she and co-director Gary Sangster established in Trowbridge in 2015.  As a Trowbridge resident for 15 years, I absolutely love Drawing Projects UK and I can’t quite believe my Read more