Summer publications: JAAM

Whilst I have been hibernating in the depths of the frosty snow-storms of a UK winter, those industrious light-filled Southern Hemisphere Wellingtonians have been super busy putting out the latest issue of JAAM. I am a little late on the uptake posting this, as Christmas and Berlin intervened, but I have been eagerly poring over the summer issue for the past month, so I wanted to appreciatively nod to the new issue in all its splendour. The talented poet and academic Anna Jackson and her editorial team put together this issue and organised an intimate launch in December, kudos to them for such a stunning publication (love the Ingrid Boberg cover photograph)!

I feel very honoured to have two poems within JAAM 30′s pages – ‘The Hare’ and ‘The Bees’. I am joined in this issue by many of my fellow Tuesday Poem poets, so I’ve been indulging in dipping in to their poems and also seeing the new work of many other talented New Zealand poets. Of course, many thanks to Helen and Clare for managing such a fab collection. Buy a copy and support NZ poetry!

Winter publications: Other Poetry

Just before Christmas, a lovely little parcel winged its way to me from the North-East of the UK, entitled Other Poetry. This literary magazine, edited by a talented quartet, has been publishing poetry collections three times a year (March, July and November) for 35 years, so is quite a well-established initiative. Issue 4.6, which found its merry way into my letterbox, is jam-packed with poems, reviews and translations.

Among its pages, I was particularly taken with Alison Brackenbury’s eerie war-encrusted pathos of her ‘November 11th’ poem, Abegail Morley’s earthy, present ‘Night Planting’, with its recitation of lists reminding me of Ursula Bethell and Rebecca Gethin’s detailed two-part physical exploration of place in ‘Hartland Point’.

I am very lucky to sit alongside all of these very worthy poets, as I have a poem within the pages of this issue of Other Poetry, entitled ‘Camouflage’ (see below).

If you want to check out other issues of Other Poetry, here is their website. Also, stay tuned, as I have a ‘Summer publications: JAAM poetry’ blog post coming up soon for my heat-ridden Southern Hemisphere readers!

Happy winter poetry reading to all!

Derwent Poetry Festival & Octopus

A couple of weekends ago, I took an early Saturday morning train from Kings Cross up to the Peak District to the little mill town of Matlock Bath to attend the Derwent Poetry Festival.

Organised by Templar Poetry (publisher of the beautiful Iota poetry magazine), this yearly festival is a three-day long weekend treat. I was able to attend several of the Saturday events, but the whole event was spread out over Friday, Saturday and Sunday (16th to the 18th of November). Set in the exposed beam high-ceiling rooms of an old mill building – Masson Mills – as I listened to all the poetry and poetry-related discussions, it felt very cosy.

I was particularly delighted to attend Jane Weir’s talk ‘Like a Polka Dot Pattern We Persist: Rhythm and Repeat’, where she spoke to several of her poetry collections, which draw influence from the creative lives (and wartime experiences) of print-makers Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher.

Two of my own poems – ‘Plum picking’ and ‘Small marks’ – were published in this year’s Octopus anthology, published by Templar, so I partook in a reading of these two poems and also slipped in one or two more recent poems.

All in all, it was a great reading – very friendly, collegial and everyone at ease – with such a wide array of poets sharing their work from the anthology. A fabulous poetry-filled way to spend a wintery Saturday in November.

Magma publication: The Visible and the Invisible

The latest winter issue of Magma (issue 54), edited by the very talented ladies Judy Brown and Cherry Smyth, was launched on the 19th of November as part of the Coffee-House Poetry series at the Troubadour in London. Each issue of Magma is edited by a different pairing of guest editors, and this particular issue was centred around the theme of ‘the visible and the invisible’.

I rather took to this theme – the openness and broadness of its scope. I must admit that I struggle writing to themes, but sometimes you just hit upon one that speaks to you and, in these cases, they really do offer kernels of inspiration. Magma is a stellar publication filled with poems, reviews and and short provocative prose. I feel very fortunate that this issue holds one of my poems ‘The Biographer’s Body’.

When the call went out for submissions for this issue, I was reading Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, and I was rather inspired by Stein’s acts of deferral, of hiding, of dodging representation. All of this went into ‘The Biographer’s Body’. My work sits beside Sean Borodale’s poetry, which consists of an intimate flicker of hidden otters. I was also particularly taken with the poetry of two of the 2012 Gregory Award winners – Sophie F Baker’s ‘Toads’ and Joey Connolly’s meditative ‘An Ocean’ – which grace the issue. There is also an incredible article ‘Violence and Poetry’ (being as much concerned with gentility, physicality, risk-taking, and that which haunts us) by Katrina Naomi, which is well worth searching out.

Magma is available in bookstores throughout London (see Foyles or the impressive poetry section in the London Review of Books bookstore), as well as online directly from Magma.

Auckland University Press – Divine Muses Emerging Poet

On National Poetry Day this year, the Divine Muses (founded by Siobhan Harvey in 2004) held a night of poetry readings at the Gus Fischer Gallery in Auckland, including stellar New Zealand poets Riemke Ensing, Sue Fitchett, Siobhan Harvey, Harry Ricketts, John Pule and Iain Sharp.

In conjunction with the evening, the Divine Muses and Auckland University Press teamed up to produce an award for emerging poets, who were current or prior students of The University of Auckland. The competition was judged by AUP senior editor, Anna Hodge.

The competition winners were announced on the evening of National Poetry Day, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have won first prize for my two poems - ’Soft-shelled crab on Fridays’ and ‘Water Buffalo’. Both poems are set to be published later in the year in Takahe, which I am very pleased and excited about – this will be my first appearance in Takahe. In addition to this, Jane Sanders, who was a key player in the organisation of the event, has been incredibly generous and has posted the judge’s report, as well as one of the poems – ‘Water Buffalo’ – along with my author photo and biography on her website. Do head on over and have a read of ‘Water Buffalo’.

I would like to heartily thank both Siobhan Harvey and Jane Sanders for their hard work and encouragment in organising this event and for supporting me since in all poetry matters.

Otoliths Part II & the British allotment

The British allotment fascinates me. Gardening seems like it should be an act undertaken with others – to have a chat with, a shared cup of tea, admiring others’ progress and swapping advice. Of course, I always think of our invisible animal others and take quite a bit of delight in the local bird-watching blackboards, the progress of the honey hives and the tell-tale signs of the neighbourhood fox(es) and moles.

In rather stark contrast to the allotment, I have recently been avidly reading about this research on Zelda Fitzgerald’s flowers (see below for an incredible image of Zelda in the garden), undertaken for the filming of the new Gatsby film, indulging in descriptions of the magnolias of Montgomery and the icing-like white tulips and the purrs of the black tulips of Paris. When dwelling on gardens in Fitzgerald, I always turn back to Beatrice’s elaborate garden vision that she tries to communicate to Amory in This Side of Paradise: ‘I saw bronze rivers lapping marble shores, and great birds that soared through the air, parti-coloured birds with iridescent plumage [...] it merely recurred and recurred – gardens that flaunted colouring against which this would be quite dull, moons that whirled and swayed’.

It was with these thoughts in mind (and this inspiration below) that my poem ‘Night visitor’ came about. Otoliths accepted the little square of otherness, much to my delight, and it was published at the beginning of this month. I have been immensely slack in keeping up-to-date with posting my poetry publications lately – of course, as long as I have time to write the poetry, the announcements of publication can come later, right? (this is what I have convinced myself) – so apologies on the late posting. But the good thing about online publication is that the volumes stay available for perusing! In other creative organisational blog news, I’ve been updating my ‘Creative Publications’ page so that there are links to my online publications. It was a bit of a trawl, but was worth the effort. Do check it out!

Abridged Gallery Launch

I wish I was somewhere near Belfast this Thursday night. And the reason for this is the upcoming Abridged publication launch of the collection Rust. I am rather excited to have one of my poems – ‘Harvest’ – published in the collection, which will be part of the exhibition this week.

Abridged is an art and poetry initiative based in Derry, Northern Ireland, which publishes and commissions contemporary works for collections and gallery exhibitions. Edited and run by the talented Gregory McCartney and Susanna Galbraith, it can be found in many galleries and arts organisations in its printed form. It can also be accessed on Abridged’s webpage, once the launch has occurred. The basis for the collection was the term ‘Rust’, which, in the words of Abridged, ‘is our mutability … our diminution … the evolution of the elements’. The particular poem that I have published in the pages of Rust focuses in detail on the natural rust that occurs on asparagus tips that are being harvested.

So for anyone in the close vicinity of the Golden Thread Gallery on the 23rd (this Thursday!), do pop in and pick up a copy of Abridged’s Rust and enjoy the vibrant launch on my behalf. I’ll be thinking of all the talented poets and artists involved from my London flat, with a glass of wine in my hand, pretending I am actually at the gallery, surrounded by inspirational contemporary poetry and art.