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 Gareth Writer-Davies.

With its trade-mark black and white covers and familiar layout (short stories first, followed by all the poems), Prole is a trusted companion, still able to surprise (in a nice way!). So thank you to co-editors Brett Evans and Phil Robertson who have been ploughing this happy furrow since 2010. As well as the magazine, they also manage to squeeze in several writing competitions each year, and publish pamphlets too.

I enjoy the World by Sparx which always livens the final pages of Prole. But who is Sparx? I wish I knew. Answers on a postcard please.

If you’d like to submit a poem or short story to the next issue of Prole, find out about future competitions, subscribe or buy a copy of issue 33, please click on the following link: www.prolebooks.co.uk

“Our anatomy is a common trope for poets, as is the deep connection between people and plants,” writes Dawn Gorman in the latest issue of Caduceus. As a medical herbalist, I’ve always been interested in different ways of looking at health, so it’s a pleasure to have a poem selected for publication by Dawn, alongside some lovely work by Anne Adriaens, Claire Coleman, Maggie Harris, Rosie Jackson and Susan Utting.

Dawn is a creative writing tutor and mentor, broadcaster and prize-winning poet. Follow her on Facebook to find out when her next call for poems will be (and to check out her radio programme on West Wilts Radio).

Pandemic Poetry

How interesting it’ll be when we can look back at the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluate how (if at all) it’s made permanent changes to our lives. At the moment, first responses are all we have. Poetry anthologies have bloomed, and I’m happy to have a poem in The Poetry Kit‘s online anthology Poetry In The Plague Year, which includes work from nearly 600 poets in 21 countries.

Each poem is dated by when it was completed, so you can trace the development of ideas chronologically through the progression of the pandemic.

Hearty congratulations to Jim Bennett at The Poetry Kit for putting together such an inclusive anthology.

You can view all of the poems for free at: https://www.poetrykit.org/py/00335.htm

It’s also worth checking out the website for their on-line poetry courses. They’re fantastic value for money. I’ve taken part in two (ekphrastic poetry, plus writing from science) and can recommend them.

Not surprisingly, Covid-19 features strongly within the pages of Caduceus, a health and healing magazine for which Dawn Gorman has recently set up a poetry page. As well as being a fine poet in her own right, you may also know Dawn as the co-host of The Poetry Place show on West Wilts Radio. You can listen to the show live on the last Sunday of the month, or catch up any time on ‘play again: https://westwiltsradio.com/shows/the-poetry-place/

Issue 105 contains poems by Jean Atkin, Claire Booker, Pratibha Castle, Cora Greenhill, Richard Skinner and Lynne Wycherley, on the theme of ‘The Oneness of All’.

“Many people have recently turned for sustenance to Nature’s grace,” writes Dawn in her introduction. “Here, two poets lean against oak trees: the synchronicity is no surprise.”