The Natural World - a Poetry Event for UNESCO World Poetry Day 2017

Fin whale jaw at Clachtoll in Assynt, Scotland

We marked UNESCO World Poetry Day last night with a reading event at the University of Suffolk, attended by students and local (and not-so-local) poets. Suffolk Poetry Society hosted the evening, and our guest readers were members of Poetrywivenhoe. Huge thanks are due to those who organised the event, providing refreshments, amplification and so much more.

Our theme, 'the natural world', produced poems on edgelands, coastlines (including a magical depiction of the essence of low tide from Pam Job) - and wildlife along railway tracks. There were seasonal references and a few slant-allusions to climate change and conservation initiatives. Subjects ranged from a female eel-catcher (Alex Toms) to a view from the train of the iconic swans at Manningtree (David).

I bought a copy of Ornith-ology from the book table. This beautiful anthology of birds in poetry and art was edited by Tim Cunningham for Poetrywivenhoe and the Mosaic stanza. M.W. Bewick, one of the Wivenhoe readers, brought copies of three Dunlin Press books, including his striking poetry collection, Scarecrow, which has just been launched.  

I read a couple of my poems, 'Moonshine', about the appearance of a Snowy Owl in Cornwall in 2009, and 'Notes from a Netting Station' about the fin whale bone in the photo above that lies, rotting, in the north of Scotland, near the old salmon netting station at Clachtoll in Assynt.

Poetry gatherings often find their own organic themes when no theme is proffered, but I felt the subject last night provided a sufficiently wide canvas to allow plenty of scope for interpretation, while, at the same time, making us feel we were travelling together on a journey of discovery.

'Nature is ever at work...' John Muir

Anthology Alert (12): ... and Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow is TEN!

Cover Photo credit: Angelicia 'Bird of Paradise Flower'

Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow, # thirty four

I have been a subscriber to Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow almost from its arrival on the small press poetry scene. A number of my relations lived in Cornwall, and it is a part of the world I have known and loved for as long as I can remember. Presumably like a number of others, one of these relatives felt that she had invented surfing ('belly-boarding') by riding the Atlantic waves on a coffin lid.

Forget the coffins: this is a time for celebration. Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow is riding high on the upward trajectory of its unique wave-crest as it marks this special 10th anniversary year. Thank you, Les, on behalf of so many of us, for a terrific magazine. Thank you for sharing poetry, for publishing our poems and also for including poems in dialect, in Cornish, in other languages and in translation.

This issue contains my piece, 'Moonshine', about the Snowy Owl who landed in the Zennor area of Penwith around Christmas-time in 2008. I had the opportunity to read the poem a few days ago at the IpArt PoetryFest here in Suffolk.

Looking down on Zennor ...

with its Mermaid pew ...

in the lovely church of St Senara.

Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow also marks its milestone anniversary with the publication of a new book, Cornwall - an anthology of poetry and photographs, described as 'an artistic and literary credit to the identity, heritage and culture of a Celtic nation'. The book is compiled by Les Merton and illustrated with photographs by Angelicia. It contains my dragonfly poem, 'Vagrant Emperor', written in a form inspired by Bengali-American poet and editor of Shabdaguchha, Hassanal Abdullah's 'Swatantra Sonnets'.

Thank you, Les, and here's to the next anniversary! 

Poetry Cornwall | Bardhonyeth Kernow # thirty four
ed. Les Merton
ISSN 1476-7007
Price £4.50

Cornwall - an anthology of poetry and photographs
compiled by Les Merton, photography by Angelicia
ISBN 978-1-906845-38-4. 
Price £8 with free p&p.

Both publications are sold by Palores Publications.