Reach Poetry #205, Indigo Dreams Publishing

Bracelet Bay and the Mumbles Lighthouse, Swansea

An A5 package came through the letterbox this morning containing two magazines from Indigo Dreams Publishing, Reach Poetry #205 and The Dawntreader #032.

I have written before (here) about my long association with the press, and am always delighted when the latest copies arrive in my home. I tore open the envelope; and to my surprise, a cheque fluttered to the floor. My small poem about Bracelet Bay had come Second in the September contest of readers' votes. Thank you, Reach Poetry editor, Ronnie Goodyer!

My poem is a take (or perhaps a slight variation, since the key mid-line is split) on the Folding Mirror poetry form, devised by Dr. Marc Latham and included in The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics including Odd and Invented Forms by Lewis Putnam Turco (University Press of New England).

Reach Poetry is a monthly publication. You can subscribe for a year or buy a single copy. The Dawntreader (editor Dawn Bauling) comes out each quarter, and again you can buy a sample issue or an annual subscription. 

Magazine Moment ~ Reach Poetry at 15 Years Old (and issue 180)

I have got a bit behind on this site, so in the hope that I will eventually catch up with myself by filling in the gaps, here is a new post.

I have been a subscriber to Reach Poetry since the days when Shelagh Nugent was editor and the poetry publication was known simply as Reach. This eclectic and well-loved poetry magazine has been under the aegis of Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams Publishing for some years now. It has just celebrated its 15th birthday with its 180th issue, which sports a magnificent avian creature from the editors' new homeland of Devon, as you will discover if you take out a subscription for yourself.

So what is *so* special about this poetry magazine? 

I will list my Top Ten answers - in no particular order.

Reach Poetry ...

• is more like an ever-expanding writers' circle. Well-known names in the poetry world sit comfortably alongside those of newcomers.
• is a monthly poetry magazine, one of the few in the UK.
• is eclectic in style and tone. You will find a healthy mixture of e.g. formal Shakespearean Sonnets and free verse poems. You will encounter poems for every mood: there are fine contributions that are elegiac in tone and there are humorous poems to make you smile.
• is eclectic in its subject matter. The current issue contains poems concerning a samovar, a long shadow and a ride on a feather, to name but three examples. I never cease to be excited and/or moved by the editorial choice, which often results in serendipitous connections for the reader. 
• has a monthly pair of book-end poems, one by Ronnie and one by Dawn. Judging by the reader comments, we all look forward to enjoying these. 
• is a magazine that takes feedback seriously. Each month the readers are invited to offer comments and to cast votes for their favourite pieces. There is a £50 prize (which can be shared), and the top four poems are elevated to 'The Box' which appears in the following issue.
• is a magazine with a perfect blend of the 'professional' and the 'personal'. 
• is a publication with stunning photographic covers, designed by Ronnie. 
• is perfect bound and feels good to handle.

• Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention (as if I would) that each month brings the new challenge of spotting a photo of Soxx, the resident Border Collie, who will doubtless be hiding somewhere on the cover. 

I hope that you will be able to enjoy the latest cover photo for yourself. I will end this post with a couple of pictures of my own - no prizes for guessing what my poem in #180 is about ... and, incidentally, I read this poem out at our monthly Poetry Cafe at Arlington's last night.

Publication Pointer: 'Heart Shoots' from Indigo Dreams Publishing Ltd.

'My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water'd shoot ...' 

Christina Rossetti 

A pre-ordered copy of Heart Shoots has just arrived at my home. This new poetry anthology is the companion volume to the popular Soul Feathers, also produced by Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams Publishing Limited. Thank you, Ronnie and Dawn, for your dedication and tireless efforts not only on behalf of poetry, but also on behalf of the charitable causes you care so much about.

This new collection is sold as a fund-raiser for Macmillan Cancer Support, the charity known primarily for its Macmillan Nurses. These, of course, are backed up by a strong team of medical doctors, therapists, managers, administrative support-workers, campaigners, volunteers and others. You can find some of the people who make up the face of this inspiring organisation here. Way back in 1911, Douglas Macmillan established the 'Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer', providing information on recognising, preventing and treating cancer to patients, doctors and members of the public. All profit on the sale of this new volume has been waived by the publishers, allowing £2 (inc. of VAT) to go to the charity for every copy sold.

Heart Shoots is a volume in which poems by 'the newcomer' and 'the internationally famous' nestle side by side. Those in the latter category include Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Seamus Heaney, Joni Mitchell, Benjamin Zephaniah, Sharon Olds, Penelope Shuttle, Moniza Alvi, Pascale Petit and Dennis Lecorriere, to mention those on the front cover. You will also find poems by Wordsworth, Keats, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and John Donne. There are many contemporary poets whose names you will know from the wider poetry and small press scenes. 

And if you are wondering why I have posted this dragonfly, well, perhaps the answer lies on p.57 of Heart Shoots.

Magazine Moment (31): Poem in The Dawntreader

Looking across to Skye, the Misty Isle

My poem, 'Cuckoo Song', has been published in The Dawntreader #019 (ed. Dawn Bauling and Ronnie Goodyer, Indigo Dreams Publishing). The poem is a rondeau redoubled, and is a tribute poem to William Ross, a Scottish poet who was born at Broadford on Skye in 1762. You can see where he died here.

Publication Pointer (5): Seurat, Pointillism (and the 2012 Olympics)

© Caroline Gill 2012

Well, I wonder how you rate my Pointillistic view of the Eiffel Tower!

I have not been in Paris for over quarter of a century, so my photographs, taken on my small 'point-and-shoot' camera are feeling their age. I cropped one and hope you will feel that Photoshop has helped me to jazz it up ... just a little!

Having recently returned from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, with its truly amazing works (and here - not forgetting the monkey in the painting mentioned below) by Seurat, I am almost ashamed to post my electronic attempt. However, my affinity with the artist's Pointillistic techniques goes back almost into the last century, and earned me the nick-name of the 'Dotty Painter' (or was it the 'Spotty Painter'?) in my Friday art class! 

My poem, 'Harmony in Fragmentation', an ekphrastic piece concerning Seurat's painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (the study for this painting is here in New York), has just been published by Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams Publishing in issue 161 of Reach Poetry magazine. 

*

Curiously, Seurat seems to be currently in the news. This Seurat-style Olympic Games photo might make you smile!

Magazine Moment (27): Reach Poetry (and Puffin)

Reach Poetry issue 158 arrived this morning (thank you, Ronnie and Dawn at IDP). There are some great new poems in the magazine - not forgetting a fabulous cover of a certain Border Collie called Soxx.

It was great to find my name in 'The Box' for my 11-syllables per line Sonnet* on - you've guessed - those amazing Yorkshire Puffins. My poem was voted 4th out of those published in issue 157 - so thank you to all who chose it.

Many congratulations to Tina Negus, who took First Place with her brilliant poem, 'A Contradiction of Hoopoes'. 


* Shakespeare's Sonnet XX had 11 lines per line, which was unusual - but I like the rhythm.

Anthology Alert (5): 'Crab Lines off the Pier'

Fishing Gear,
Cadgwith

I mentioned in an earlier post that my poem 'The Ocean's Tears' had been included in Crab Lines Off The Pier, the new summer anthology from editors Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams Publishing.

The book has just arrived, and I have much enjoyed an initial browse. Apparently there were over 600 submissions from all over the world.

As a left-hander, I tend to begin browsing from the back, and was delighted to take a trip down Memory Lane as I read Catherine Graham's evocative poem about The Hoppings on Town Moor, Newcastle. Back in 1980 during my first summer as a student, I recall the excitement surrounding the arrival of the big fair known as The Hoppings.

To switch to the other end of the country, I have much enjoyed Ronnie's beautiful and lyrical poem, 'On Crockern Tor', Dartmoor. Closer to home, 'Crabbing on the Parrog' by Tina Negus evokes those days on the beach with seaweed and muddy pools. Claire Knight's beautiful Haibun re-captures the essence of a broom-clad Cornish cliff forty years on. Gerald Hampshire prefers his crabs in Whitby, with its jet 'black silt'. Pamela Scott takes us a little further afield to Paris, while Thelma Laycock presses on for midnight in Alaska.

Do consider buying a copy to accompany you on your travels or on those 'deckchair-in-the-garden' afternoons. You can read my earlier post here; and more to the point, you can buy the book here. Thank you, Ronnie and Dawn.

And now all I need is a burst of sun!

Anthology Alert (4): 'Crab Lines Off The Pier'

Mumbles Pier, Swansea


I am delighted that my poem, 'The Ocean's Tears' (a Tercet Ghazal),
is to be included in the new Summer Anthology from Indigo Dreams Publishing,
Crab Lines Off The Pier (ed. Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling, IDP 2010).

Paperback : Date of Publication : 1st June 2010
Publisher : Indigo Dreams Publishing
ISBN10 : 1907401210
ISBN13 : 9781907401213
Paberback, perfect bound, 90 pages

Flotsam and Jetsam

You can read about the anthology here
on the Indigo Dreams Press website.

Breaking Waves

Orders for the anthology (£7.50 per copy plus p&p) can be placed here
on the Central Books site.