Magma 63 Eavesdrops on Conversations

Literary magazines exist to offer  an exchange between reader and author – ideas and inspiration flowing freely between minds.

So bravo to Magma 63’s editors Susannah Hart and Lisa Kelly for their fascinating cache of poems and articles on the gentle (and not so gentle!) art of conversation. Poets in this issue include Sophie Baker, Claire Booker, Jane Draycott, Jody Porter, Robert Seatter, Martha Sprackland, Eoghan Walls and Jackie Wills.

And as part of Magma’s on-going commissions, Daljit Nagra presents his new poem ‘The Look of Love’ which draws on a couplet by lesser known Elizabethan poet, Thomas Campion – “Fairenesse seene in th’outward shape is but th’inward beauties Ape.”

Plus there are some excellent feature articles in this issue. Christine Webb writes eloquently on the experience of having one of her favourite poems (‘Hurrahing In Harvest’ by Manley Hopkins) recorded for her by an actor at The Poetry Exchange. If you’d like to do the same, or would like to listen to already recorded poems, then visit:  www.thepoetryexchange.co.uk

And what about posterity? Is this still a possibility for contemporary poets? Tom Chivers (Penned in the Margins), Amy Wack (Seren), Neil Astley (Bloodaxe) and Parisa Ebrahimi (Chatto & Windus) enter the conversation.

Ambit’s Poetry Editor, Declan Ryan, considers Ian Hamilton’s concept of ‘perfect speech’ and finishes with a poetry exercise: write a poem that says something that should have been said to someone at the time, but who is no longer around.

And of course, there are reviews of some of the latest poetry collections including ‘Citizen’ by Claudia Rankine, ‘Loop of Jade’ by Sarah Howe, and ‘Careful What You Wish For’ by Peter Sansom.

To read some of the poems in issue 63, or to buy a copy, check the Magma website at: www.magmapoetry.com

Hat-trick of poems in The Frogmore Papers

The Frogmore Papers are out – along with the daffodils and precocious tulips! Contributors include Ross Cogan, Sasha Dugdale, Claire Booker, Eoghan Walls, Wendy Klein and Andrew Pidoux.

Three of my poems appear in this latest issue:  ‘Impossible Lover’ (about a love affair I had with a seal off the isle of Lundy); ‘A Voyage Round Alan Bennett’ (a poem about the emotional impact of marginalia); and ‘Red Hair’ in which a young woman meets her biological father.

Poetry collections reviewed in The Frogmore Papers (issue 83) include ‘Vanishing Point by Clare Crossman (Shoestring Press) and ‘Hannah, are you listening?’ by Hamish Whyte (HappenStance). There are also a series of delightful black and white drawings by Clare Johnson at: www.clarejohnson.com The cover design is by Carol Lewis who lives in Hythe, Kent.

For more information or to buy a copy of issue 83 please check: www.frogmorepress.co.uk

The Frogmore Papers were founded in 1983 and are published in March and September each year. If you’d like to submit your work (poetry or prose) send hard copies to the editor, Jeremy Page, at 21 Mildmay Road, Lewis, East Sussex BN7 1PJ, UK (email submissions are accepted only from overseas via frogmorepress@gmail.com)