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Spelt Magazine and Pennine Platform

I’m proud to have poems in Spelt Magazine and Pennine Platform this spring. The continuation of both these lit mags owes much to the tenacity of their editors who have ensured they continue to hit people’s doormats in hard format, despite increasing pressures. Spelt celebrates issue 10, and there’s a submissions window open for issue 11. What’s the secret? A clarity about its readership (rural…

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Long-lived poetry mags: Spectator, Dreamcatcher, The Journal

I’m delighted to have poems out in three magazines which have proved to have real staying power. Granddaddy of them all is The Spectator (continuously published since 1828). Feisty York-based Dreamcatcher has been wowing its readership with poems, art and short stories for 28 years, and The Journal (formerly Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry) has just celebrated an impressive 30 years in…

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Interview for Quill & Parchment + Artemis 31

Being interviewed forces you to take stock of why you write, what you hope to achieve (if anything) by putting words to paper. Poet and reviewer, Neil Leadbeater, set up some stretching questions for me in his interview for American-based webzine Quill & Parchment.  “What are your future plans as a writer” brought me up short. I realised I didn’t have any plans; just writing, more writing, more…

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Finished Creatures on Edge

Another fine trawl of poetry in Finished Creatures, just in time for festive reading. Poets writing on the theme of ’Edge’ include Claire Booker, Matt Bryden, Charlotte Gann, Rosie Garland, Philip Gross, Susannah Hart, Tess Jolly, Lisa Kelly, Jane Lovell, Simon Maddrell, Jes Mookherjee, Cheryl Moskowitz, Penelope Shuttle and Julia Webb. Issue 8 maintains the high standard already expected of…

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When Poetry Meets Music

There’s a natural affinity between music and poetry, each using sound to create meaning and texture. Even the genius of Goethe’s poem ‘Erlkönig’ becomes more powerful when Schubert uses its words to create a Lieder. I’m always thrilled if my work is performed or set to music. So I was delighted to hear my poem ‘Refuge’ transformed into a piece of music at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival,…

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The Ekphrastic Review and Menopause: The Anthology

Two of my poems inspired by women’s experiences have been published this month. One traces my direct line of female ancestors via mitochondrial DNA, and the other is a surreal riff on hot flushes. Arachne Press’s Menopause: The Anthology is already making waves with launches in London, Sheffield, Liverpool, at the Open University and online. Editors Catherine Pestano and Cherry Potts called for…

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Words for the Wild - nature poems and stories

Words For The Wild has posted new poems by Robyn Bolam, Claire Booker, Rachel Bower, Lesley Cooke, Joan McGavin, Sue Spiers and Kate Young. Edited by Amanda Oosthuizen and Louise Taylor, the website is “rooted in countryside”, using lovingly chosen photos to build an image-nest for each poem or story. There’s also a recently posted interview with Kathryn Bevis on her latest collection…

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The Alchemy Spoon on friendship

Thank you Tamsin Hopkins for selecting one of my poems for The Alchemy Spoon (issue 10), where the theme of ‘Friends’ inspired some cracking poetry. From stories of herring girls, travel companions and brothers-in-law, to doggy friendship, childhood friends and friendly divorce, all of life is here. Poets featured in this issue include: Sharon Ashton, Julian Bishop, Claire Booker, Matthew Caley,…

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Magma on Schools + Fenland Poetry Journal

What hope for poetry without the next generation? Magma (issue 85) is an open letter to Government on how secondary school pupils could be taught poetry in ways more conducive to enjoyment. The editors Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Laurie Smith and Gill Ward have all worked in secondary schools and believe the love of poetry is being squeezed out by learning facts about poems rather than understanding…

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Agenda turns a new page

I’m thrilled have two poems in the final issue of Agenda edited by the legendary Patricia McCarthy. Stepping Stones (or Volume 55, Nos 3-4 to those of a bibliographic mind!) is a beauty in both form and content, and a fine finish after two decades of Patricia’s curatorship. “Agenda is being taken over by the University of St Andrews, with the illustrious poet and Professor John Burnside as the…

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Dreamcatcher and Artemis Poetry

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Alchemy Spoon and Orbis #202

A first time for me in The Alchemy Spoon, and a welcome return to Orbis – one a relative newcomer on the poetry scene, the other with more than 200 issues to its name. I love them both. If you’d like to get into the next issue of The Alchemy Spoon, the submissions window closes on Feb 28th, with a theme of Grafitti. So get scribbling! Editors Roger Blore, Vanessa Lampart and Mary Mulholland…

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Voices for the Silent - Broken Sleep Books, Channel Magazine, Indigo Dreams

Voices for the Silent – Broken Sleep Books, Channel Magazine, Indigo Dreams

The natural world has found champions in three recent publications. I’m proud to have poems in each of them. Now on its 7th issue, Dublin-based Channel offers short fiction, poems, translations and essays which encourage reflection on human interaction with plant and animal life, landscape and the self. To buy, submit or watch the launch video, visit: www.channelmag.org Broken Sleep Books…

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Magma 84 and The Morning Star

Magma 84 and The Morning Star

Physics and poetry are uncommon bedfellows, but Susannah Hart and Stav Poleg’s call-out earlier this year has created a Magma pulsing with philosophical vigour (and a few laughs too!) Poets include Vasiliko Albado, Claire Booker, Mark Fiddes, Martin Figura, Philip Gross, Ramona Herdman, Jan Heritage, Tania Hershman, NJ Hynes, Isabella Mead, Hilary Menos, Meredi Ortega, Paul Stephenson, Claudine…

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Under The Radar - guest edited by Tom Sastry

Under The Radar – guest edited by Tom Sastry

Perhaps it was in the stars, perhaps it was the guest editor, but after a five year gap, I have a poem in Under The Radar again. It’s a lovely magazine, beautifully spacious, with creamy white pages of up to 35 lines, offering cutting edge poetry and fiction three times a year. It’s published by Nine Arches Press and edited by Jane Commane and Matt Merritt. Guest editor, Tom Sastry, refreshingly…

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Prole and Caduceus - offering accessible poetry

Prole and Caduceus – offering accessible poetry

When it comes to clear, compelling, enjoyable poetry, Prole is up there with the best. They’ve been kind enough to take another of my poems for issue 33, alongside succulent work by Bob Beagrie, Sharon Black, Matt Broomfield, Pat Edwards, Matthew Friday, John Grice, Kevin Hanson, Robin Houghton, Sue Kindon, Wendy Klein, Richie McCaffery, Emma Pursehouse, Nikki Robson, Joel Scarfe, Sue Spiers, and…

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I do love to be beside the seaside! (Part 2)

I do love to be beside the seaside! (Part 2)