The Tower of Maps and Thread (there’s a title)
A few hurrahs: firstly, my poem ‘How to Preserve a Fatberg’ is up today on The Poetry Shed – read only if you have a strong stomach, or a weak imagination.
I was also delighted to have been shortlisted in The Bridport Prize this year, and not for the poem I was expecting – hoping said poem (which remains in my ‘Available’ folder) will find a different home, soon…
Another two poems – also somewhat surprising ones – have found their way into the excellent Nine Arches Press journal, Under the Radar, which will be out in early 2019.
And finally, the delightful handmade journal Coast to Coast to Coast will be publishing another poem offering a queer perspective on a very straight ritual, also out in early next year. So quite a run of publications of late. (A Poemberg indeed.)
On Monday, I traipsed back from my home region of East Anglia, having been at Poetry in Aldeburgh – a glorious and exhausting Poemberg in itself. Among my highlights were: a hugly illuminating ten-minute crash course on a Tennyson In Memoriam poem; discovering new and enjoying already-known voices (I came away with a few books, including I Refuse to Turn into a Hatstand by Charlotte Whetten & Assembly Lines by Jane Commane); throwing myself into the ecopoetry sessions on Sunday – the very good winning poems in the Gingko Prize for ecopoetry (I especially loved Tuna) and the Hot Mess session. These two sessions really stirred up some ideas about intersectional and queer ecologies, and how important they are for me and my writing. And indeed for our human approaches to both ecology and gender identities. (I’m still processing all of that.)
I had the great privilege of reading at the Queer Studio event on Saturday, alongside Mary Jean Chan, Richard Scott and a fine company of fellow queer poets. It was great fun reading there, and I’m looking forward to getting out performing more often!
On which note, I’ll be doing a feature slot at Lines of the Mind at the Ropewalk pub, Bedminster – hope to see you there!
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