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Review: ‘The Way to Work’ by Tom French
Tom French’s fourth collection, The Way to Work, continues to explore the territory he has been making his own since his astonishing 2001 debut, Touching the Bones. The usual French hallmarks – seriousness, sincerity, family, the past, rural Ireland – are very much present and correct. The Way to Work is a generous, wide-ranging collection,…
Jonathan Edwards
‘Wasn’t It All Twinkly When We Sang Happy Birthday?’
Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ dress sells for record $4.8m – BBC News I hated the storage years, each of my hand-stitched crystals dulled by moths and cobwebs. I craved Madison Square again, the night they sewed you in to my rib-chafing tightness, my flesh-coloured brashness. Under the lights, you shrugged your fur from…
Elisabeth Sennitt Clough
‘Lotus Feet’
He’s expecting daintiness a man might cup in his hands. She tells how Great-Aunt Li arrived one winter. Her mother wept but she was a brave child, dreamed of dancing at the Emperor’s court. Great-Aunt soaked her feet in herbs and animal blood, scrunched the little toes, pressed them sideways against the sole then wound…
Sheila Jacob
Primers II Shortlist – Samuel Prince
Just in time for the judges’ final decision, we reach the final of our showcases of the Primers II shortlist. This is a great chance to read once again poems from Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller, Emma Jeremy, Marjorie Lofti Gill, Marvin Thompson, Matthew Dixon, Michelle Penn, Miranda Peake & Paul Adrian to see just how hard Jane and Jacob’s choice is. The final poet we are celebrating…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist: Michelle Penn
We’re continuing to give you a sneak peek into the poets shortlisted for this year’s Primers programme of mentoring and publication, which we are running in collaboration with Nine Arches Press. Editor Jane Commane & poet Jacob Sam-La Rose are nearing their decision about who will make the final three, and we’re getting you involved…
Poetry School
Rachel Long Wins Paterson / Poetry School Competition
And that’s a wrap on the Poetry School / Soda Pictures Paterson competiton! Thank you to all of you who entered your diary poems. We loved reading your various approaches to the quotidian. A lot of autumn leaves were fluttering about in your poems, many cats were frolicking among them, and Donald Trump was the…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist: Matthew Dixon
Welcome to this showcase of a poet shortlisted for Primers II. For fraction fans, this makes us 6/10 of the way through our list of shortlisted poets, and 3/5 of the way through those poets whose name begin with ‘M’ – poetic symmetry! Poems from both Marjorie and Marvin have already been showcased on CAMPUS…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist – Paul Adrian
Welcome to our penultimate peek into the poetry of our Primers II candidates. As the judges’ final decision gets ever closer, we’ve been showcasing a poem from each poet on the shortlist – you can already read work from Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller, Emma Jeremy, Marjorie Lofti Gill, Marvin Thompson, Matthew Dixon, Michelle Penn & Miranda Peake. And next up, it’s a pleasure…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist – Miranda Peake
We’re delighted to be able to show you a poem from each of our ten brilliant shortlisted poets for the second Primers programme, run in association with Nine Arches Press. So far, we’ve posted work by Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller, Emma Jeremy, Marjorie Lofti Gill, Marvin Thompson, Matthew Dixon & Michelle Penn so do have a read of their work by following the links! But today’s…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist: Marvin Thompson
We’ve reached the half-way point of our look at the ten poets shortlisted for Primers Volume II. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the work of Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller, Emma Jeremy & Marjorie Lofti Gill so far and we are delighted to introduce you to the work of another poet now. Judges Jane Commane and Jacob Sam-La Rose are currently considering…
Poetry School
The Spring 2017 Programme – in two lines or less!
Taking our lead from David Tait and Jennie Osborne this term, we’ve tried to give a concise run-down of our Spring 2017 courses, using just two lines or less! Short Courses A Conversation with the Past (Modernisms) with Tim Dooley: Consider how the innovations of modernism influenced the direction of poetry and workshop new poems in…
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist: Marjorie Lotfi Gill
We’re already a few poets into showcasing the Primers II shortlist. If you missed them, you can read poems by Primers shortlistees Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller & Emma Jeremy. But today’s post is all about… Marjorie Lotfi Gill Marjorie Lotfi Gill was the first Poet in Residence at Jupiter Artland (2014-2016) and Spring Fling/Wigtown Book Festival (2015). Marjorie’s poems…
Poetry School
Review: ‘Dirt’ by William Letford
Billy Letford’s first collection Bevel found the poet grappling with graft, family and home and in his keenly anticipated follow-up Dirt, he keeps these themes close to heart while venturing further afield, never ‘feart’ to get his hands dirty. There is the staple poetry you would expect from Letford here: elegy, anger and memory. But…
Richie McCaffery Primers II Shortlist: Emma Jeremy
Time for another glimpse into the work of a Primers II shortlisted poet, as we deliberate picking the final three from a ten-strong shortlist. Our first two featured poems were ‘Copper Calf’ by Ben Bransfield and ‘Leave’ Cynthia Miller. Today, we’re exploring the work of Emma Jeremy. Emma Jeremy Emma Jeremy is 23 years old and originally from Bristol….
Poetry School Primers II Shortlist: Cynthia Miller
Leading up to the incredibly exciting announcement of this year’s 3 Primers Poets, we’re showcasing those 10 poets on the shortlist. We’ve already posted the work of the alphabetically superior Ben Bransfield, and next up for your enjoyment it’s one poem from Cynthia Miller. Judges Jacob Sam-La Rose & Jane Commane will be making their final…
Poetry School
Review: ‘The Immigration Handbook’ by Caroline Smith
The Immigration Handbook collects together stories of people caught up in the unwieldy, impersonal and often seemingly illogical world of government bureaucracy. Not unlike the recently released I, Daniel Blake, such a bureaucracy is shown to brutalise those who depend on it the most. Caroline Smith is perfectly placed to write these stories, having worked…
Kim Moore Primers II Shortlist: Ben Bransfield
Welcome to the first in a series of sneak peeks at this year’s Primers candidates. The shortlist has been announced and the judges, Jane Commane from Nine Arches Press and Jacob Sam-La Rose, are busily reading the full submissions to decide which three poets will receive mentoring and publication in the second Primers: Debut Poetry Shorts. We’re eager to…
Poetry School
Seven Highlights from Poetry in Aldeburgh
‘Hinterlands’ – Blake Morrison, Anne-Marie Fyfe Blake Morrison and Anne-Marie Fyfe opened the Poetry in Aldeburgh readings, both poets recalling a spectrum of desolate coastal locations, including in and around Aldeburgh. Morrison’s ‘Ballad of Shingle Street’ was a stirring example, offering an insistent rhythm (one line simply “again again again again”) that sounded like someone…
BenRogers
Florence Cox Wins Our Poetry in Aldeburgh Pronto Comp!
Florence Cox is the winner of our Aldeburgh ‘Pronto’ Competition. Congratulations! Congratulations also to three runners-up Patricia Wooldridge, Michael Hutchinson, and Roger West. We’re back from the beach, having had a brilliant time at the Poetry in Aldeburgh Festival – talking to the audience, sidling up to possible new poet-tutors, and enjoying some fantastic readings. Ben Rogers, our…
Poetry School
Coming Soon…The Spring Term Programme will be announced on 18th November
While the autumnal plane tree leaves flutter down Lambeth Walk, we are adding the final dabs of colour to the spring programme, which will be ready for booking on 18th November. Crack open your notebooks and buff up your tablets, we’ll have a fantastic selection of activities for you to pick from. Cast your minds…
Poetry School
Review: ‘Noir’ by Charlotte Gann
Charlotte Gann’s debut poetry collection is filled with dark and anxious poems that aren’t afraid to leave their often-worrying situations unresolved. Noir is a tightly woven collection of half-told narratives, which leave room for the reader’s imagination. The opening poem, ‘Puzzle’, reveals, manifesto-like, the intentions of the book: If I look closely I can…
John Challis
Primers Shortlist and Longlist Announced
This July, we set up our virtual in-tray and invited submissions to the second year of our publishing and mentoring programme, Primers, in association with Nine Arches Press. Our Primers scheme will find three new poets whose work we’d like to foster, publish and promote. Thousands of poems later, Judges Jane Commane and Jacob Sam-La Rose…
Poetry School
‘Still Very Green’
The women buried here are sinful. Holding hands with men they shouldn’t have, touching ladies they called their friends in ways that friends don’t touch. The sex has not gone from this garden, I think, Couples walking in, so many pairs of sinners, and So much green. Green, the colour before a bud blooms, Green,…
Bridget Minamore
‘Siberia – Irrational representation III’ by Perienne Christian and a new writing prompt from Ben Rogers
Siberia is one of the most sparsely populated places on Earth. Against a black backdrop, Perienne Christian’s etching is informed by her own family’s history, the harrowing escape of her grandparents from a hard labour camp, walking at night, hiding and surviving on tiny amounts of food. See the interview with Perienne here. At Poetry…
BenRogers
Poetry in Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Perienne Christian
You have an interest in ancient walkways. Can you tell us why you are generally interested in this, do you walk them, and is there one in particular that you have recently been drawn to? Perienne: I am interested in the history of human presence and movement across landscape. The old walkways, changed and shaped…
BenRogers