Finished Creatures rises to the surface

Issue 5 of Jan Heritage’s lovingly produced Finished Creatures, includes the work of 60 poets, each offering a different interpretation on the theme of ‘surface’. I was delighted to read my contribution at the magazine’s Zoom launch this month, along side stablemates Clare Best, Carole Bromley, Susannah Hart, Cheryl Moskowitz, Paul Stephenson and many others.

The full roll call includes Dean Atta, Judy Brown, Matt Bryden, Oliver Comins, Claire Dyer, Charlotte Gann, Maria Isakova Bennett, Karen Izod, Maria Jastrzebska, Tess Jolly, Lisa Kelly, Jane Lovell, Antony Mair, Jenny Mitchell, Fiona Moore, Jeremy Page, Penelope Shuttle, Richard Skinner and Helen Tookey.

“The theme of Surface invited so many beautiful and intelligent responses: new landscapes, delicate textures and intricate stories of concealment and exposure,” writes editor, Jan Heritage, in her foreword. “This selection of poems asks the reader to move from one environment to another and to continually readjust the focus as we stand by icy foreshores and frozen lakes, or on the crust of the Earth with its ancient fractures and secrets: as we climb mountains and fells, or look out to sea ‘keeping watch for the future.’

“Our eye is drawn from infinite horizons to the miniscule detail of fungi, moss, mulch and skin. We are weathered, windswept and often drenched as the climate and seasons change; sometimes we are invited to curl up and hide.

“These are poems that ask us to get soaked and muddy; to dive below the surface of rivers, oceans and dreams; to excavate for lost people or to hear the hearbeat of the not yet born. We are asked to look closely, to look again and, as Lisa (Kelly) says, ‘Consider’.”

To buy a copy of Finished Creatures (issue 5) or to subscribe to the biannual magazine, please visit: www.finishedcreatures.co.uk The next submissions window will open early in the new year, with a new theme, so keep your eye on the website for news.

Magma 74 – Poetry Gets Down to Work

We may be knee-deep in the holiday season, but Magma’s summer issue gets to the heart of what everyday life so often boils down to – work. The getting of it. The losing of it. The joys. The frustrations. The politics.

It’s a truly memorable issue, put together by editors Benedict Newbery and Pauline Sewards with an eye for wit, as well as grit. The cover image by Joff Winterhart is spot on.

Poets published in issue 74 include:  Anne Berkeley, Claire Booker, Kate Bingham, Alison Brackenbury, Carole Bromley, Fiona Cartwright, Emma Danes, Caroline Davies, Terence Dooley, Duncan Forbes, Owen Gallagher, Anne Hay, Robin Houghton, Angela Howarth, Ewan John, Lorraine Mariner, Fokkina McDonald, Martin Rieser, Anne Ryland, Jayne Stanton, Paul Stephenson and Angela Topping.

From posties, haymakers, turnip-pullers and stone masons, to tea ladies, celebrity-minders, university lecturers, ventriloquists and new mums – so many takes on what makes work, work. How to survive it. Why we do it. What it’s like when it stops.

“Work should be every bit as universal a theme as love” says Jane Commane in her feature article ‘Ideas Above Your Station’. “And yet too often it remains the unspoken, unsung business of our days.”

As part of Magma’s regular slot, Tim Wells responds to Linton Kwesi Johnson’s poem Inglan is a Bitch, with his own specially commissioned poem no escaping it – read with absolute verve and conviction at the Magma 74 London launch at Exmouth Market last month (see below).

It was lovely to be one of the 23 contributors performing on such a glitzy stage. Stand-out readings included the flamboyant Stuart Charlesworth, the sinister tones of Graham Buchan, and a brilliant sestina by Rachel Bower. There was even a surprise guest spot for Hilaire whose joint collection with Joolz Sparkes is reviewed in this issue.

If you entered Magma’s 2018/19 poetry competition, you’ll be interested to read the winning entries – Judge’s Prize: Fuck/Boys by Inua Ellams; Stillborn by Rowena Warwick; Hangover by Ben Strak. Editors’ Prize: A Strange Boulder by Derek Hughes; Entertaining Sammy Davis Jnr in St Ives, 1962 by Kathy Pimlott; Lanterns by Katie Hale.

Tom Sastry is the featured poet in the current issue. His first full collection (A Man’s House Catches Fire) will be published by Nine Arches Press in October. There are fascinating articles relating to poetry, work and class by Louisa Adjoa Parker, Jane Commane and Fran Lock, and the usual meaty, thought-inducing reviews section.

To order a copy of Magma (issue 74) or to find out how to submit to Magma 76 (closing date 31st August, theme Resistencia) check out the website at: Magma

Paper Swans Pocket Book of Love

As inflation continues to gouge lumps out of our wallets, Paper Swans have come up with a winning formula – a pocket book series of poetry priced £3.50 each.

First off the press is The Pocket Book of Love, which contains 12 short poems by Yvonne Baker, Charlotte Begg, Claire Booker, Carole Bromley, Sami Cox, Olivia Dawson, Olga Dermott-Bond, Maria Isakova-Bennett, Karen Izod, Linda Kurowski, Fokkina McDonnell and Claire Walker.

It’s a little gem of concision, put together by editor Sarah Miles. If you’re too busy, or too shy, to pop one in the post to a loved one, Paper Swans Press will do this for you. Weighing less than 100g, it goes standard class, and is even more fun than receiving a postcard.

Next in the series is Anger – (careful who you send that one to!) with pocket books of poetry on Women’s Suffrage, Gardening, Cricket and Weddings in the pipeline.

If you’d like to buy a copy of The Pocket Book of Love please visit this link: Pocket Book of Love  Or to find out more about Paper Swans Press click on: Paper Swans Press

It’s not too late to submit your own work for the Gardening, Cricket and Weddings pocket books. Poems should be a maximum of 12 lines and can have been published elsewhere.    Closes March 31st.

Picaroon Poetry goes ‘Deranged’

With Halloween just round the corner, why not treat yourself to some seriously unsettling poetry, curtesy of Picaroon’s ‘Deranged’ anthology, edited by Kate Garrett and Rachel Nix? The book is “for seriously ‘deranged poetesses’, in practice or in spirit, everywhere,” states its dedication.

Always happy to walk the edge, I’m delighted to have a poem in the anthology, alongside poets such as Rishika Aggarwal, Carole Bromley, Rebecca Gethin, Lizzie Holden, Amy Kinsman, Laurie Kolp, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Sarah Pritchard, Angela Readman and Sade Andria Zabala.  There’s a strong contingent from across The Pond, which is perhaps not surprising, given the move towards madness shown recently by the American electorate!

The anthology features poems about rule-breaking, gender nonconformity and women in the arts. It is “for those who openly refuse to be chained to the status quo; those who rebel quietly, biding their time; and everyone in between. ”  I’ll drink to that!

For more information on Picaroon Poetry please click the following link: Picaroon anthology

To order a copy of ‘Deranged’ direct, please click: Deranged