writer
Hot on the heels of my fluffed-up reading in Oxford (see previous post), I drove up to Matlock Bath in Derbyshire for the launch of Templar Poetry's 2013 anthology, Peloton. I say "I drove up" but in fact it was my kind and encouraging husband, Andrew, who did the driving, and our two children, Kitty,… Continue reading Two poems in Peloton, the new Templar anthology
I've been using reading glasses for a few years now. To begin with I bought some cheap, off-the-shelf reading glasses from supermarkets and they made the world appear brighter but, increasingly, over time, my squinting, straining eyes were crying out for something more substantial. So I visited an optician's and ordered some properly prescribed reading… Continue reading A poem in The Interpreter’s House – time to try my new specs!
This week, me and my family hosted two 14-year-old girls from Palestine, visiting Wiltshire on a cultural exchange programme organised by Bradford-on-Avon Friends of Palestine. The girls are two of fourteen dancers, singers and drummers from the Hakaya Group who train at The Ghirass Cultural Centre in Bethlehem. The Centre was set up in 1993… Continue reading Hosting Two Teenagers from Palestine
I'd like to alert you to a new poetry reading series, Transatlantic Poetry on Air, available to view on the internet. This is an exciting project if, like me, you live outside a big city and/or you're sometimes unable to make it to live readings because of caring for children or others. Let's face it, there… Continue reading Live Poetry Readings on the Web
A poem by me here. Looking at it now, I think it needs some more work - the line breaks aren't quite right, for one thing. But it's out there and a nice site of poems to explore, in any case!
Here are some I've bought or been given within the last two years. You might recognise a few of them. Don't the ones with strong coloured covers stand out? (even on my stripy rug!) I like single collections - full collections, that is - but if you're not overly familiar with a poet's work, you… Continue reading I love Poetry Pamphlets
POST UPDATED 22 APRIL 2024 - STEPHEN LAWRENCE DAY I first shared this poem over ten years ago when it was first published at The Morning Star. Since then, it's been shared many times and republished in many different places including in my first poetry book. It's available to read on my Instagram. The original… Continue reading My poem about Stephen Lawrence
A lovely post from Rebecca Gethin about her 2010 visit to Seamus Heaney’s birthplace – and, as she says, now his burial place. Rebecca also mentions how beautiful this part of Ireland is and urges us to go there.
In 2010 we set off on a poetic pilgrimage to Bellaghy in Co Derry, NI, the birthplace and now the burial place of Seamus Heaney, his ‘place of clear water’. To get there from our holiday house on the Antrim coast, we had to pass this avenue of trees. It felt like passing through a portal.
Bellaghy turned out to be an ordinary looking little place in Co Derry (sorry, Bellaghy but you did then). I couldn’t stop thinking of Heaney’s poems about his family and his childhood there. I was on the look-out for a policeman riding a bicycle, a turf spade, a latched doorway, a well, a pump with a windlass, cobbled yards where work went on, a lane of alders, a water diviner, a slaughter house. I even looked for a sign to a place called ‘Anahorish’.
But what we did find was the beautiful Bellaghy Bawn (an old plantation house) where the Northern…
View original post 288 more words
Five essays on Seamus Heaney from this excellent blog about Irish writing. With thanks to Shane.
There has been no shortage of published work on Seamus Heaney over the last few days. Here are some of the best I’ve read – please feel free to let me know of any other must-read reflections on the life, work and legacy of Seamus Heaney in the comments.
Belinda McKeon (The Paris Review)
“He was loved. Beloved. Whether he was met with as a name on a page, or as a voice from a podium, or as a cherished friend or fellow artist, Seamus Heaney moved into the lives of those who encountered him—those countless lives—and he made a difference that will matter forevermore. The difference, for many, was poetry itself. The difference is in those lines, the way they come to mind at moments of worry, or of beauty, or of heartache and of sorrow; today they come to mind like prayers learned in childhood, his lines, so…
View original post 681 more words
I seem to be reading more and more recently, either poems and articles online or blog posts or poetry collections and poetry magazines. But I don't feel that I'm properly reading anything, not really absorbing the words, as if my head is just too busy and full to take very much in - and then… Continue reading Book Review: The Night My Sister Went to Hollywood by Hilda Sheehan
Josephine Corcoran 
You must be logged in to post a comment.