Poetry Certificate from Lidia Chiarelli

My thanks to Italian poet, Lidia Chiarelli, for this smart certificate. 

My thanks to Lidia of the international Immagine e Poesia movment 

for including my poem about the view through a dragonfly's eye

in the Poetry Basket at the Exhibition of 'Artists' Glances', 

mounted by Gianpiero and Lidia Actis in Turino. 

Sadly I was not in Italy for the exhibition, 

but my poem represented me!

You can take a virtual tour

on YouTube.

What would we see through these eyes?

• Previous post: The Fen Raft Spider - ZSL Poetry Competition

ZSL Debut Poetry Competition Poems

A pool at (Suffolk Wildlife Trust) Redgrave and Lopham Fen

My thanks to Talita Jenman, ZSL Arts and Culture Coordinator, for her post on my ZSL Poetry Competition win on the theme of 'conservation'.

You can read my Villanelle, 'Raft Race', about the Fen Raft Spider here, along with the other prize-winning entries. The competition was judged by members of ZSL Discovery & Learning department, ZSL Resident poet Ahren Warner and Poet and ZSL council member Ruth Padel.

From the East Anglian Daily Times and The Ipswich Star

16 January 2015

The photos on my post here were taken last August (2014), when we visited Redgrave and Lopham Fen. Sadly we failed to see any Fen Raft Spiders, though we enjoyed the chance to experience their habitat along the Spider Trail.

You can read more about the Fen Raft Spider here. 

Follow the red arrow!

Other reserve residents who enjoy the special fen landscape

We found lots of helpful information on our visit ...

A Spicy Clang

My short poem, 'Prawn Madras' [24/2010], has been posted on a site from the Netherlands called Kostro by site-owner, Vouter van der Land. 

The poem was written in my Swansea poetry group of 'Tuesday Poets' in 2010 to demonstrate the 'Clang' form, which was devised by fellow Tuesday Poet, Llewelyn Hugh Nicholas. 

The poem was first published in The Book of Forms - A Handbook of Poetics Including Odd and Invented Forms by Lewis Putnam Turco, University Press of New England 2011.

2014 Review of Poetic Highlights

2014: Dylan Thomas 100

I am following the practice of fellow poetry/writer bloggers and posting a selection of my 2014 highlights (in no particular order).


Poetry and Literary Events attended

• The Poetry School and Scott Polar Research Institute's 3xSaturday residency poetry course in Cambridge (and launch of course eBook at The Tea House Theatre, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, London). 
• 'Singing in my Chains', a Suffolk Poetry Society presentation by Chairman, Ian Griffiths, in Walpole Old Chapel to celebrate the Dylan Thomas 100 centenary.
• Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, a workshop led by Karen McCarthy Woolf in the Red House, Aldeburgh.
• British Museum, 11 November, a presentation behind the scenes on Laurence Binyon.
• NT Wicken Fen, 'poetry workshop and cream tea' on the reserve, led by Poet in Residence, Dr Charles Bennett.
• A pair of workshops ('coast' and 'land') at Writers' Centre Norwich, led by Rebecca Goss and Esther Morgan.
• A day of poetry at Sutton Hoo: Dr Sam Newton on Beowulf.

Submissions/Acceptances

• My Edward Thomas tribute poem, 'Literally, for this', in so too have the doves gone.
• Several poems in Reach Poetry, Indigo Dreams Publishing. I am delighted that Indigo Dreams Publishing editors, Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling, have just won the PoetryKit's prestigious Ted Slade Award.
• 'Starvation Point, Isle of Ulva' published in the 2014 Paragram anthology, Remember. 
• Two poems published in Restless Bones, ed. Elaine Christie and Jacqui Rowe, in aid of the Born Free Foundation.
• One poem published in The Pre-Raphaelite Society's second anthology of poems (ed. Serena Trowbridge).

Festival Participation

• Essex Book Festival - First Essex launch of so too have the doves gone.
• First Suffolk Poetry Festival - one of three poets representing the Poetry cafe at Arlington's. 
• Winchester Poetry Festival - Hampshire launch of so too have the doves gone (and the chance to visit Steep). 

Commendations

• Overall Winner, Inaugural ZSL Poetry Competition on theme of 'conservation'.
• 'Elegy for Idris Davies': nomination by Quill and Parchment for the Pushcart Prize.
• Joint Second Place in the Metverse Muse (ed. Dr. H. Tulsi, Visakhapatnam) competition for formal poetry, category A.

 ... and so to 2015, which has just begun with a wonderful Suffolk Poetry Society workshop on the theme of 'layers and layering', led by Dr. Geraldine Green. Do throw a link in the Comments if you have posted your own review! Happy writing to all.