Magazine Moment (6): Wendy Webb's TIPS for Writers 75

Cold Snap: Leaf

I was delighted to receive the current issue (75) of Wendy's TIPS for Writers magazine, linked to Norfolk Poets and Writers. I tend to start reading volumes from the back - or at least to flick through from the end to the beginning - so my eye was immediately drawn to the amusing 'Podge' cartoon of a wannabe poet mistaking her Haka for her Haiku! I am not a great rugby fan, though perhaps I will take more interest now that I have discovered that a distant ancestor, Charles Monro, was at least partly responsible for introducing the game to New Zealand in 1870.

Issue 75 is packed with poems, reviews, competition details, publications to buy, and a round-up of news. A sample of work from 'Top Tips Poet', Michael Newman, takes pride of place. The first page of his poetry contains two fine sonnets, 'Cold Snap' and 'Landmark'. I have just spent a birthday book token on 'The Cinder Path' by Andrew Motion, and was very interested to see how Newman's 'Cold Snap' and Motion's 'Raven' both tackle the subject (I can't say persona, can I?) of the raven in distinct ways. I sense a resonance with John Dyer of Aberglasney, too; but this may not be the intention of either of these poets. Newman's 'statue-breaths' and 'willow-pattern dells' are two images that will stay in my mind.

Other treats include two Davidian poems by Claire Knight, ever the queen of the kernel in her ability to pack so much into a nutshell. Other poems that stopped me in my tracks were 'Quiet Lanes of Norfolk' (well, those who know my Norfolk roots will not be surprised here!) by Frank Topley - and 'Transience', a fine Davidian by Peter Davies. On the theme of tugging at the heart-strings, I have much enjoyed 'Ex Libris' by Kay Weeks from Maryland, USA. It never ceases to astound me how some poets can pack so much possibility into so few words.

Bernard Jackson has reviewed 'A Waste Land', Wendy's new anthology (which contains a few poems by guest poets, including one about a Cornish standing stone from yours truly). Speaking of Wendy's work, Jackson feels that the poet 'applies the implied rhetoric surrounding major past and present events, to seek out new hope for our world of the future.'

TIPS for Writers costs £3 per issue and is a print magazine. eTIPS is a free pdf which can be delivered to your inbox on request. You can find Wendy's email here if you would like to receive the monthly ezine or would like to take out a subscription to the full print magazine.

Poetry Matters (13): TIPS Xmas Special

Sheep
(on Hay Bluff)

I have been greatly enjoying the festive poetry selection in the TIPS for Writers (74) 'Xmas Special' anthology, edited by Wendy Webb of Norfolk Poets and Writers.

The anthology has an all-colour cover, featuring a barge in autumn, pictures of James Knox Whittet's winning anthology, 'Fires of Memory' (of which more in a future post) and Peter Smith's collection, 'Poems for Peter'. It also shows the cover of the 'Live Canon Emerging Poets Anthology 2009': my renewed congratulations to Wendy for taking the second prize in this esteemed competition.

Subjects in the anthology range from traditional Christmas themes (hence my sheep photo, in case you were wondering, to complement the Haiku by Jean Cooper on p.12), with 'Mary's Song' by prolific small press supporter, Joan Sheridan Smith (p.26), to 'Ye Olde Yorkshire Pudding' by Bernard M. Jackson (p.17).

Forms are wide-ranging, and include free verse (if this statement is not a contradiction in terms!), for example 'The Night Before...' by Alison Chisholm on p.31. I spotted examples of Tanka, Haiku (including a link to Claire Knight's poem* that won First Prize in the Haiku Section of the New Zealand Poetry Society Competition 2009) and Cinquain. Sonnet forms include Wendy's invented form, the Brentor Sonnet, 'Wishful Thinking' by Peter Davies; and my poem, 'Poltesco', in the Cornish Sonnet form. Dr Marc Latham's poem, 'Hiking Hadrian's Wall at Summer's End' is a colourful ('cerulean', 'green', 'gold[en]', 'yellow', 'emerald' and 'blue') Folding Mirror Poem, a form invented by Marc.

I am delighted with this anthology: thank you, Wendy, for another great publication.

* One of Claire's Haiku features in the 2010 Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar. My copy arrived today: you can order one here.

• Wendy's post about creating the Brentor Sonnet form
• Wendy's profile (& email for potential TIPS subscribers)
  

Publishing Outlets (1): eTips

Wendy in the Lakes (2009)
Photo: copyright Wendy Webb, used with permission

Wendy and Caroline at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea (2008)

The May issue of eTips has just come out in rtf form. It is produced by Wendy Webb, founder of Norfolk Poets and Writers and editor of Tips for Writers. It contains an excellent interview with Wendy's fellow poet/publisher, Ronnie Goodyer of Indigo Dreams Press. It also features the first of my 'occasional column' pieces (under the heading 'Small is Beautiful') on a new poetry form that is gaining pace in the USA, the Fib (after Fibonacci), created by Gregory K. Pincus. The ezine contains good examples of the Fib by Claire Knight (whose Haiku, windfall apples..., features in the Snapshot Press 2009 calendar) and Norman Bissett.

If you would like to receive a trial copy of eTips, I suggest you visit Wendy's blog, Tips for Writers, where you can contact her via email or the comments facility.

The May edition of eTips also contains poems by poet and international reviewer, Bernard Jackson, from his sparkling Newcastle upon Tyne collection, Ballads of a Northern Town (reviewed by me in the magazine). There are, of course, announcements about Wendy's current challenges and competitions. Why not join us - and join in the fun?

Posted Poems (1): A Stone Romance

Wendy Webb's new blog for Norfolk Poets and Writers is up and running. My sonnet, A Stone Romance, (first published in Reach Magazine, ed. Ronnie Goodyer) has been posted on the site.