Poetry Event

Well, thank heavens that’s all over with…… Anyone going to this event….. the launch of Sophie McKeand’s new pamphlet, ‘Hanes,’ Friday 29 Jan, Hayden Reece Room, Theatre Clwyd, £3?  

At Last!

Those of you who came to the last Stanza chaired by Keith may remember my poem called Faith (or If you Build It They Will Come), about building a garden pond and waiting for the arrival of wildlife, especially a pond skater to come and perform the miracle of walking on water.  Well, I’m overjoyed […]

Mousetrap Mayhem!

Thanks to Keith for stepping in and chairing a great Stanza on Monday night.  The theatre and car parks may have been chaotic,  filled with excitable Mousetrap-goers, but the Haden Rees room was filled with calm and culture and wonderful poems – well, actually a lot of frivolity too.  It was a great idea to […]

Confession

Forgive me poets for I have sinned… It’s been weeks since my last poem I confess to having had poetic thoughts on occasion and yes, I’ve dabbled with my pen but to no avail. But now I’m back from that dark poetry-less place, full of chewed pencils and screwed up bits of paper. Great to […]

Publish and be Damned!

That title was on a flyer I picked up at Gladstone’s Library.  It is followed by ‘(But don’t pay for it)’.  For anyone interested, there’s a day workshop ‘a course in DIY publishing’, covering the techniques and software needed to self-publish in three media, the internet, e-books and paper-based publishing at the library in Hawarden. The […]

Diary Dates

I really enjoyed the session last night, thanks to Robbie for introducing me to the work of Penny Shuttle (great name). The discussions were enlightening and insightful. I spent a blissful afternoon at Gladstone’s Library today, supposedly to work on my book project, but I was hi-jacked in the lobby by Wendy Cope, well actually, […]

A little book of verse…

Apologies to Sarah Dolan in advance of this post.  I have no wish to embarrass you Sarah, but I’d like to say how much I enjoyed your latest poetry collection, ‘Back then, when I was a child…’ The dedication says, ‘this book is for you if you still use words such as ‘Fab’ and ‘Ace” […]

Howdy Partners

As a lover of old westerns, I remember the scenes of the town, just before the baddies ride in, or when the gold has finally run out in them thar hills.  The camera shows the empty street, dust swirling, saloon door swinging in the wind and then zooms in on a clump of tumbleweed rolling down the […]

Dying Sunflower (a cinquain 2,4,6,8,2)

Dying Sunflower Curling at the edges, a whorling maze of seeds where goldfinches get lost inside gorging.    and another…………. Mushroom Magic I let you see cap, stem, gills. But not my best trick. Behind a curtain of leaves I’m dealing with decay, decomposing debris, conjuring carbon into oak woods.    

Slug Thugs

Aha! I found day 30….here goes… Slug Thugs They slime over black curly kale, slither over lollo rosso leaves, suck their way over sprouting mange tout, completely ignoring the skin slicing egg shells, the small pot of drowning ale, the copper wall of death, the blue pellets from hell. And all in the bat-black night […]