All Blogposts

  • Mostly waiting

    Mostly waiting

    There have been a lot of lovely things going on in the UK poetry world recently, including festivals in Birmingham and in Scotland, and a writing retreat in Cornwall, and they’ve all gone on without me, although I’ve enjoyed reading about them and seeing pictures on social media.  I would have gone to all of Read more

  • ‘Ten Poems from Ireland’ (Candlestick Press)

    ‘Ten Poems from Ireland’ (Candlestick Press)

    Town Hall Poets are a Poetry Society Stanza group who meet regularly at Trowbridge Town Hall, and other places, to read and talk about poetry, workshop each other’s poems and arrange open-mic nights.  We’re also lucky enough to be the Trowbridge Chapter of the Candlestick Press Collective, which means that we receive complimentary copies of Read more

  • A quick update

    A quick update

    A quick update about what I’m up to.  I’m still waiting to hear about a few submissions and I’ve sent out several poems to competitions.  In recent years I’ve been trying to focus on magazines rather than competitions but I decided to ring the changes a bit and see how I get on.  In the next Read more

  • A visit to The Poetry Business in Sheffield

    A visit to The Poetry Business in Sheffield

    …and other thoughts about being away from home. I’m just back from three nights away in Sheffield where I met up with all but one of my Aldeburgh Eight friends.  We’ve been trying to meet up again for some time and we managed to arrange to converge in Sheffield for one of the famous Writing Days Read more

  • A good January, so far

    A good January, so far

    As Januarys go, this one hasn’t been too bad, so far, not taking into consideration world events, of course, although yesterday’s amazing marches across the world have filled me with hope.  I’ve had five – FIVE – rejections in the past six weeks, not all poetry or writing related, but, surprisingly, I’m unbowed.  Could it be Read more

  • In which I entertain a charming visitor

    In which I entertain a charming visitor

    This week has mostly been about me being ill – not seriously ill, just an annoying cold with horrible flu-type symptoms; feverish, aching limbs, bad headache.  Unfortunately I had to cancel our Poetry Society Stanza meeting at Trowbridge Town Hall and I was really sorry about that.  I felt that I might be contagious so Read more