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My main news is that, along with 30,000 other people world-wide, I've signed up for, and am into my second week of, the free, on-line, ten-week taster course in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry, or ModPo, offered by the University of Pennsylvania using the Coursera on-line platform and featuring the charismatic and hugely knowledgeable Professor of Literature,… Continue reading 30,000 students but no-one has to share a desk!
Anita Chapman's interesting blogpost about the benefits and drawbacks of taking excerpts from the first draft of a novel to a writing workshop has got me thinking about when it's best to take poetry. At what stage of the writing process will scrutiny by others benefit a poem? It's a relevant question for me because I've… Continue reading When is the best time to workshop a poem?
Reading the poems in Anthony Wilson's Riddance I had the sensation of walking through a large house, switching on lamps and spotlights to illuminate not immediately visible nooks and crannies. Nowhere is there one garish light explaining everything at once and, although the book is divided into five sections, I felt inclined to move freely… Continue reading Review of ‘Riddance’ by Anthony Wilson
...or perhaps it's a sign of things to come. I'm usually a slow, slow writer (took me FIVE YEARS to finish 'Honeymoon', a runner-up at Bridport in 2010 - I've written about that here) but this week I've dashed off two new poems, both inspired by these quick-as-a-flash poetry projects on the internet: The Queen… Continue reading Well, that was a first…
It's been almost two weeks since I started a separate blog for poems, 'And Other Poems'. At first I thought this would simply be an uncluttered space for my own poems but I quickly decided that I wanted to include other people's work. How, then, to acquire poems? Could I just select poems that I… Continue reading Hey Presto! Poems have arrived in my inbox.
I'm thrilled to be posting a long out of print poem of Ian Duhig's on my poetry blog today. You can read The Irish Slave here. I am so grateful to Ian for his generosity in sharing this and for sending the following notes, with fascinating links, which help to unravel the poem's mesmerising story.… Continue reading Footnote to Ian Duhig’s poem, ‘The Irish Slave’.
I thought it would be good to create a reasonably quiet, uncluttered, noise-free space for poems. The thing about writing a blog is that it's often tempting to add images, widgets, links and all sorts of stuff to make your site more interesting to visit. But poems, in my opinion, really don't enjoy too much… Continue reading I’ve started a new blog, just for poems
I'm pleased to have a new poem on the excellent webzine, Ink, Sweat & Tears, edited by poet and artist Helen Ivory, which publishes an absorbing mix of poetry, flash fiction, book reviews and word and image pieces. I always feel a tingle of happiness when someone indicates that they like what I've written, and it's even… Continue reading Whose Poem is it, Anyway?
I'm pleased to have another small story, 'Snowdrops', on Paragraph Planet today. Paragraph Planet publishes a daily story; no line breaks are allowed, all writing is presented in one small paragraph and must be of exactly 75 words, including the title. However, when I started writing 'Snowdrops, I wasn't sure if it was a line… Continue reading Poem or Flash Fiction? You decide!
The anthology A Complicated Way of Being Ignored, edited by Michael Stewart and featuring poems by C J Allen, Sharon Black, Rosie Blagg, Nina Boyd, Geraldine Clarkson, Julia Deakin, Julie Mellor, Ian McEwen and other poets, including me, is available to buy at Amazon. The book was reviewed by Ian McMillan in the Yorkshire Post.
Josephine Corcoran 
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