The Hurst

Two weeks ago today I was in the middle of a wonderful Arvon course at The Hurst. The statue was the view out my window. We had a fabulous week with a fantastic group of poets, led by Helena Nelson and Cliff Yates. I chose this week because of the tutors and I wasn't disappointed. They gave so much of their time, created wonderful tasks for us and were so positive with their feedback and humour. The group worked brilliantly together and I wanted the week to go on for ever. It felt strange coming back into the real world and I'm still feeling a bit depressed to be dealing with mundane issues like food shopping and the next car service. I even started to wonder what it must be like to live in a community as a nun, so long as I wasn't the one on supermarket duty.

I'm now back in Portugal and our next Stanza meeting is on Saturday. We are all bringing poems that we think we'd like to read at our reading on December 3rd. I want to see if any themes emerge and think about how to orchestrate the event. For some of the audience it will probably be the first reading they have ever been to ... and they may ... just may ... think they don't like or understand poetry SO we have to choose our poems well.

Meanwhile I'm on two online courses with the Poetry School. One, Transreading Spain, I'm finding very challenging and I'm not quite sure I understand the latest assignment. I'm enjoying looking at Basque, Catalan and Galician poetry and it's good to be challenged, isn't it? So back to my books.

Not at The Poetry Book Fair!

I'm really disappointed not to have made it to The Poetry Book Fair. Paper Swans Press are using one of my poems (Through a Gap in the Hedge) in their goody bag. It would have meant just one flight too many and I would have had to fly there-and-back in a space of hours. I know it's impossible to do everything but I do miss a lot of wonderful poetry events in the UK. On a brighter note, I will be at The Hurst at the end of the month for an Arvon course and am really looking forward to it.

My blog has lapsed once again over the summer. I do try to keep writing, but family take centre stage and turn the house into a holiday camp in August.

I love the autumn and starting new things. I've just started a course with The Poetry School Transreading Spain, and start another next week Secrets and Lies. I think I would be lost without The Poetry School. I hope taking on two courses at once won't be too much. I just couldn't choose between the two so I went for both. I travel less in the winter so should have more time to concentrate on assignments.

I've just been checking what poems I have out and about at the moment. There seem to be 10 looking for homes. Some have been tied up since April which I think is too long. There are a lot of competitions and submission windows this month, and as a slow writer I have to choose carefully where to send my poems. 

I won't brood on The Poetry Book Fair but might sneak a peep at Twitter to see how it's going.

A moan about pamphlets

I love poetry pamphlets. They're like little gems of a poet's work and slip into a handbag or into a pocket in the car. I'm working on one of my own but have been advised that, like poems, I can only send to one publisher at a time. I sent my first effort into a pamphlet competition in December and the results were only announced in July. I find this too long to have work tied up. If only pamphlets were like novels and we could send them out to 20 different publishers at the same time. At the rate of one pamphlet every 7 months I'll be dead before I get one accepted. I think I have enough poems to put together two different pamphlets so at least I can have two looking for a home at the same time. With my organisational skills I could get into an almighty muddle.

This lovely package of books arrived in Sintra the other day. It was my prize from the Poetry Society for Suvaco do Cristo. I've been reading The Print Museum by Heidi Williamson and have read it twice so far as the poems are beautiful and clever. I think one of the joys of getting a parcel of books that you haven't ordered is that you get the chance to read books that maybe you would never have chosen. I am now thrilled to have discovered Heidi Williamson. I already have Jo Bell's wonderful book Kith so will give this new copy to a poetry pal. The other two books are waiting for me in the pile by my bed!

Suvaco do Cristo

Suvaco do Cristo

My poem Suvaco do Cristo (Christ's armpit) was one of the winners for the Poetry Society Members' Competition for the summer issue of Poetry News (Poetry Review). I'm delighted to have been chosen and loved writing the poem as it brought back so many memories of my years in Rio, an amazing place that will always be very special to me.

Another first, was a visit to Eel Pie Island for their open studios day. I just have to include a picture as it was such a wonderful place. I wonder what it's like to live there as I get the impression that it floods so I might have a hard time sleeping at night. I think that's just me trying not to admit that I would love to try spending time there and I'm sure it would be a great place to write.

London Open Garden Squares Weekend

I was delighted to find myself in London during the OGSW and managed to visit three gardens with resident poets. Diane Mulholland was nearby in Fulham and by fluke I arrived just as she was giving a reading. She had written some lovely poems based on her time in All Saints Fulham Vicarage Garden and on the history of the garden. 

I then jumped on a bus to Nevern Square, and again things were on my side as John Grant was due to give a reading in 15 minutes which gave me time to look around and read poems he had pinned to the trees. He had a small but appreciative audience who loved his poems and his humour.

John in his POET's T shirt

I wanted to meet Julia Bird as I think I must have clocked up more hours with The Poetry School online courses than most people. She was resident poet at Arundel & Elgin Garden in W11 near where I once lived, so I went there on Sunday afternoon. She was in a suitably

poetic bower, so camouflaged by greenery that I nearly missed her. Poems hanging from trees like wind chimes held the clue to her whereabouts.

I love the whole idea of gardens with resident poets and will certainly apply next year as I think it would be a fascinating experience.

Sissinghurst Castle

Last Friday I went to Sissinghurst Castle along with other poets included in Paper Swans Press beautiful pamphlet The Poetry of Roses. We read in the rose garden where the colours and scents were stunning. It was a privilege to be in Vita's gardens after the crowds had left. We were able to wander around and take it all in. Unfortunately the tower was shut, but I will definitely be back. I'd been wanting to visit Sissinghurst for years but never imagined it would be a poetry reading that would lead me there.

I went on up to Aldeburgh for a few days of the music festival and saw the amazing Illuminations, staged to Britten's song cycle Les Illuminations, inspired by Rimbaud's poetry. It was a wonderful spectacle, part circus part opera, and Britten's music was truly fabulous. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

I do wonder what will happen in Aldeburgh for the weekend of the poetry festival. I'm keeping the date pencilled into my diary as I think it would be great to keep it going in some form or other and can see on Twitter that there is a movement in that direction.

...and away!

I flew back to London for a couple of days for the launch of The Chronicles of Eve at The Poetry Café where I read my poem 'Pear Shaped'. The anthology is beautiful - just look at the front cover here. I apologise for the background fabric which is not apt for this powerful collection. I read it cover-to-cover, on the way back to Portugal, and I think it's a wonderful and edgy collection of poems. Congratulations Paper Swans Press.