'Where the Seals Sing' by Susan Richardson

 

This is an astonishing and beautiful book. It exudes Susan Richardson’s passion for our fellow creatures, and particularly for the pinnipeds who frequent the waters around the UK. The seal narrative is intertwined with, and enhanced by, the parallel story of Susan’s family, a story that deals openly with the challenges faced by the author as she strives to balance her seal research alongside her father’s health-related needs. This seamless interweaving of the parallel narratives is perhaps one of the many features that makes this book unusual, authentic and compelling.

The seal revelations and theories shared by Susan must surely be of huge practical and educational value in the complex but vital sea of conservation. These discoveries, gleaned from the author’s travels around the shores of Wales, England, Scotland and the Isle of Man, are presented in a way that enables the reader not only to appreciate the magnificence of the seals themselves, but also to encounter afresh the many human-induced dangers faced by these threatened mammals. The author’s quest to find out more about the mysterious seal, not least its extraordinary ‘singing’, is inextricably linked to her animal-activist mission to bring about positive change. 

As someone who has been entranced not only by the otherworldly song of the seals, but also by the author’s skilful dexterity as a poet, Where the Seals Sing fascinated me from the outset. I delighted in the Pembrokeshire seal-watching cameos and the small but memorable details of the natural world, such as the fragrance of the Elderflowers encountered along the coast. The sections on music and mythology were intriguing. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the reports of cruelty, pollution and plastic were often devastating. I was totally captivated by Susan’s engaging affection for, and whole-hearted dedication to, her Grey Seal subjects. I would love to think that some of her zeal and practical actions might inspire us all to play our part in these uncertain ecological times.

 * * *

Where the Seals Sing: Exploring the Hidden Lives of Britain's Grey Seals

Author: Susan Richardson

Publisher: HarperCollins (imprint: William Collins, 7 July 2022)

ISBN: 9780008404543
ISBN 10: 0008404542

* * *

You can find my previous post here.

'Driftwood by Starlight' Online Launch

Tin-mining country, Minions Moor, Cornwall

 

My first full length poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight (The Seventh Quarry Press, June 2021), is being launched via Zoom this evening, Tuesday 3 August 2021. 

Driftwood by Starlight can be purchased for £6.99 (UK price) from the online shop at The Seventh Quarry Press website - here.

 

Peter Thabit Jones, my publisher, will introduce The Seventh Quarry Press. I have invited Peter to read one of his 'Edward Thomas' poems in the first half. 

I will read a selection of poems (East Anglia, Wales, Cornwall ...) from the book. Guest readers, Susan Richarson and Jean Salkilld, will each read one of their poems. David (Gill) will also read one of his poems.

Jean's collection, The Familiar Road, was published by The Seventh Quarry Press in 2016. (The Suffolk poem Jean is due to read is not actually in this collection.)

Susan Richardson's poem comes from Words the Turtle Taught Me (Cinnamon Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. 

My thanks to photographer, Laurence Hartwell, for his night-time photograph of Cadgwith on the front cover.

Thank you also to Maria Lloyd whose questions about the collection will appear in a future post on my blog ... with my answers! 

Update, 4 Aug 2021: my sincere thanks to Juliet Wilson who has posted a review on her Crafty Green Poet blog here.

 

 

My poems included in the online launch:

• The Serpentine Stile, p.9
  
• Zennor Voices, p.19
• Preseli Blue, p.37
• Monte Testaccio, Mound of Potsherds, p.35
• Treasure Hulk p.36 (For interest: the Scallop can be seen here.)
  
• The Ocean's Tears, p.24
• Isabella Tiger Moth Greets the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, p.34
• Two Penguins and a Pebble, p.44
• The Ceilidh House, p.16
• Rhossili: Writing The Worm (extracts), p.38
• Moonshine, p.27
  

 I refer to my two 'Edward Thomas' tribute poems. These are:

• Lost, p.12
• Dunwich in Winter, p.14

My poem, 'Rhossili: Writing The Worm', was first published in Hidden Dragons/Gwir a Grymus (Parthian Books, 2004) after I had taken part in The Write Stuff, a Disability Arts Cymru initiative. I attended launches at the Hay Festival, Ty Llyn/The Dyan Thomas Centre and the National Botanic garden of Wales. 

 

'Hidden Dragons/Gwir a Grymus' (Parthian Books) launch at the Hay Festival, 2004

  I have invited ...

Peter Thabit Jones to read his poem, 'The Edward Thomas Stone in Steep' from Peter's new book, GARDEN OF CLOUDS New and Selected Poems. You can read about it and buy a copy here. There are some sample poems here and here.

Jean Salkilld to read her poem, 'At Saint Edmundsbury Cathedral'.

David Gill to read his 'Adlestrop'-inspired poem, 'Gloucestershire in the Negev', first published in The Seventh Quarry poetry magazine (2008). See also here.

I refer to the poem, 'Words' by Edward Thomas. 

 

Launch day, Tuesday 3 August 2021

 

Caroline in Cadgwith, June 2021

My website: Caroline Gill: Poetry

Find me on Twitter: @coastcard

My chapbook: The Holy Place (2012), shared with John Dotson,  and published by The Seventh Quarry Press in conjunction with Cross-Cultural Communications, New York. John was the first poet-in-residence at the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation in Carmel, California.

A Book in the Hand ... 'Driftwood by Starlight', my new poetry collection

 

To my great excitement, 'advance copies' of Driftwood by Starlight, my first full-length poetry collection, have reached my Suffolk home today. Here I am holding my first copy, trying hard to keep the 1- and 2-degree burns on my left hand out of the frame! 

 

Immense thanks are due to Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry Press, who has enabled this wonderful day to happen. 

Driftwood by Starlight can be purchased from The Seventh Quarry Press online shop here.

Susan Richardson has generously written the back-cover blurb. The following words will give you a flavour of the collection ...

 

 

 

 

Publication Day ... 'Driftwood by Starlight', The Seventh Quarry Press

 

I am excited and delighted to announce that Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry Press in Swansea has just published my first single-authored poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight. I am immensely grateful to Peter.

The book can be purchased from the online shop on The Seventh Quarry website - here. 

Fellow poet, Susan Richardson, has written the following words:

 

Laurence Hartwell generously provided the cover photograph of Cadgwith Cove on The Lizard in Cornwall, UK.  

As it happens, one of my poems in the collection, Elegy for Idris Davies, is currently a Poem of the Month on the SecondLight website here. 

Going Green (1): Writing Workshop on Climate Change

I have been continuing to enjoy the annual Dylan Thomas Festival in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea.

I spent Saturday afternoon at an enjoyable, informative and highly stimulating workshop on the topical theme of 'Climate Change'. The afternoon was organised by Emily Hinshelwood and led by eco-poet, Susan Richardson (and here). It proved a very popular event, and a good time was had by all. We balanced a spell of organic writing with a time set aside for a more structured approach, in which each participant began to create a poem in response to various prompts around the given theme.

Emily Hinshelwood and Susan Richardson

The workshop was delivered under the auspices of Awel Aman Tawe. This organisation is running a poetry competition to encourage people to write their own 'Climate Change' poems. Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, and Menna Elfyn, award winning poet have agreed to act as judges. The closing date is 30 November 2010. There are categories for adults and children, with prizes of £200, £50 and £25 (adults) and £20, £10 and £5 (children). Further information is available from the Awel Aman Tawe website, if you tap 'competition' into the search box. It's time to formulate those ideas.

Magazine Moment (18): Cultural Horizon Magazine, Romania

The magazine arrives from Bucharest!

 Those who follow this blog will know by now that I have conducted several interviews with writers in Wales for Contemporan Orizont Literar | Cultural Horizon Magazine in Bucharest, Romania. The writers to date are:

• Peter Thabit Jones, poet, tutor - and editor of The Seventh Quarry
• Byron Beynon, poet and tutor
• Chris Kinsey, BBC Wildlife Magazine Poet of the Year 2008 and Greyhound Laureate
• David Gill, archaeologist - lecturer and writer
• Susan Richardson, eco- and polar-poet, with a regular slot on Saturday Live (BBC)

I was delighted today when editor-in-chief, Daniel Dragomirescu sent the following links to a YouTube video interview from Mexico and two Suite 101 articles in Spanish about this wide-ranging multicultual magazine. 

Sadly I am not a Spanish speaker, but with my knowledge of other European languages and the help of Google Translate, I was able to get a pretty good idea of the texts in the links below.

The poet, Marina Centeno, takes a seat in 'El sillón de la lectura'...






Marina's blog can be found is you follow this link.

The two Suite 101 articles by María Eugenia Mendoza Arrubarrena can be found here and here.

Photographs of members of the 'team' appear here, here and here.

Do take a look at the magazine site here. New subscribers are always welcome.

• MAGAZINE PRICE: 12 EUROS | 15 DOLLARS PER COPY (SHIPPING INCLUDED). PayPal details to the right of the magazine page if you click here. The latest issue is now available!

Poetry Matters (15): National Poetry Day 2010

Susan Richardson, Sarah from Cover to Cover Bookshop, Susie Wild

 We had a stormy evening yesterday, with waves lashing over the road at Mumbles in Swansea. However, we scuttled inside and were treated to some brilliant readings and recitations at the Cake Gallery, an atmospheric venue with fairy lights and paintings. The National Poetry Day event had been arranged by Sarah from Cover to Cover. Thank you to all those who were involved. 

Susan Richardson (and here) read - well, recited the poems by heart - from Creatures of the Intertidal Zone (Cinnamon Press) and from her forthcoming collection. Susie Wild kept us on our toes with a mixture of poems and fiction.

A good time was had by all ... and we enjoyed the olives and other nibbles, too. It was a great evening.

Poetry Matters (14): National Poetry Day 2010

Mumbles Pier, flying the flag for poetry?

A very happy NPD to you all from Swansea, home town of Dylan Thomas!

I'm wondering if the postman will bring anything poetic in his bag this morning.

I hope you may be attending an event to mark the day. I would like to highlight one actual event, a reading by eco-poet, Susan Richardson, and short story writer, Susie Wild, at the Cake Gallery in Mumbles, Swansea (tickets from Cover to Cover ).

I would also like to draw attention to one virtual event, Wendy Webb's Online Poetry Slam on Facebook, which is already underway. I'm not sure whether the FB event is an 'open' one, but I found it via the search box (and yes, I had an invitation. too!).  

Ju Shardlow, writing a plea for old poetry in The Guardian, notices that modern forms - rap, performance, slam, podcast etc. - have pride of place this year. 'Just 10 of the 168 events listed on the National Poetry Day website have any connection with a world pre-Eliot. Ten,' she adds. How do we feel about this?

The web is full of blogposts, newspaper articles ... and celebratory poems. I will post a pick'n'mix selection of links below. Enjoy! 

•  The Poetry Society
• The Southbank Centre
• National Poetry Day in Wales
• Poetry Day spells all-age fun: click here to listen to Sarah James and her ideal 'home' 
• BBC Wales
• 'Poetry is ... mathematics' Steve Jones in The Telegraph. Agree? 
• I'm all for green digital 'solutions' - but where does this leave the book? 
• Roger McGough on the Greenbelt blog
• NPD at Dove Dottage
• A poem at last! (Norman MacCaig)
• Salt Publishing suggest we should 'seize the day'
• The Prime Minister's choice

And finally ...

... many of us who engage with poetry will have our own answers to the following question, but what does poetry mean to you? If I receive enough one-word answers, I will post my favourite ones in a word cloud ... (dream on?).

Does poetry need a special day? But of course. Let's party ...

Green Moment (1): Organic Fortnight - and the Eden Project

Welcome! | Croeso!

This post is part of
Crafty Green Poet's Blogfest
to mark the Soil Association's
ORGANIC FORTNIGHT
3-17 September 2010

Thank you,
Juliet,
for arranging this enterprise.

"It is poetic that a china clay pit, so Cornish in essence, has been given another life.
It is a constant source of inspiration for me and continues to get better and better.”

Anthony Eyton R.A.
Artist in Residence,
The Eden Project

I wonder when you last had a 'green' moment.

I vividly recall my first visit to the Space Age biomes
of the Eden Project in Cornwall, back in 2002.
The structures alone were impressive.

However, I was particularly struck by the 'recycling work'
that had given the old China Clay pit a new lease of life
as a place in which people could come to enjoy themselves
and learn a great deal about the world around them.

The colours of the plants were vibrant.
The scents were intoxicating.
You could feel droplets of humidity on your skin.
The organic coffee in the café was delicious.
Birdsong resounded through the jungle!

I was so captivated by Eden that I came home and wrote a long (semi-fantasy semi-autobiographical) poem about my visit, under the tutelage of Susan Richardson, as part of a Disability Arts Cymru project. The poem, 'The Cheerful Chocoholic Woman Goes Exploring', was published in Hidden Dragons | Gwir y Grymus (Parthian Books 2004).

The poem revolves around my (imaginary) Biome conversation with a Praying Mantis (and here), who makes me appreciate the qualities of our fragile earth in a new light - as you will see from the following quotation:

He tells her all about the concept of fair trade,
about sustainable forests and water aid.
‘I have seen lots of wonders, but it’s time to depart,’
sighs the chocoholic woman, with a burdensome heart.
‘I envy those Aztecs with their cocoa bean brew,
mixed with spice from the chilli to warm them right through!’

The Chocoholic Woman finally arrives home, flinging 'chocoholic chippings' from her 'chocoholic heels', only to discover with a sense of panic that the 'snowy peaks of chocolate treats' beside her favourite chair are not, in fact, organic...

You may like to read about:

• The Eden Project Real Cool Futures Project, with a case study on Clio Turton who has worked as a manager at the Press Office of the Soil Association.
• The Eden Project Blog
• The Eden Project Shop (how about some Christmas present ideas?)
• Why Organic? - from the Soil Association
  

If chocolate is your thing, you may like:

• Divine
• The Divine Chocolate Blog
• The Divine Deep Dark Chocolate Competition (still time to enter)

If you enjoy poetry, you may like:

• The winning poems of the 2009 Divine Chocolate Writing Competition (judge, Anthony Horowitz)
• Organic Poetry (N.B. this site is about organic - or free-form - writing, rather than organic produce)
• An obituary (1994) in The Independent for Jack Clemo, who found inspiration in the china clay pits.

Enjoy Organic Fortnight ...

and don't forget to visit
Crafty Green Poet

and

here

the other participating blogs, linked to the site.

And finally ... if you like the thought of a Praying Mantis, you may enjoy Naquillity's post about a Walking Stick here.

Magazine Moment (16): Cultural Horizon Magazine (Romania)

You can enjoy the vibrant 'buzz'

of Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers
here

I was delighted to receive the current copy of Contemporan Orizont Literar (Annul III - Nr.4 (18) / JULY-AUGUST 2010) through the post from Bucharest. Mihai Cantuniari is Director of this international and largely multi-lingual publishing enterprise, with Daniel Dragomirescu as Editor-in-Chief. The magazine's new Foundation is a media partner of MTTLC, which comes under the guidance of Professor Lidia Vianu at the University of Bucharest.

GOOD NEWS! ... Members of the magazine's editorial and production team have secured a national headquarters in Bucharest. The new Foundation is now on track. Daniel and his colleagues have persevered to ensure that the magazine goes from strength to strength, rising to new heights and inspiring readers (and writers) from all corners of the globe. I am not alone in acknowledging a debt to the editor's cultural foresight.

A package from Romania!

The arresting and penetrating eyes of Van Gogh, in his self portrait 'without beard', adorn the front cover of this issue. I cannot help feeling that the portrait complements the poem on p.16, After Kirchway after Keats by Professor Donald Riggs of Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. I have no idea whether the painter's depressive and suicidal traits were manifested in a previous generation, but I find myself substituting 'brother' for 'sister'* in Van Gogh's case. The poem poses - as perhaps all good poems should - more questions than it attempts to answer, concerning our genetic and social make-up as individuals. I found myself reconsidering the old chestnut of whether art arises in its most potent form out of suffering - or whether suffering is just one of many valid catalysts for creativity.

This fine poem by Riggs is, of course, not about Van Gogh but about Keats. A picture of the poet lodged itself in my head back in 1985, when I lived in Rome, and paid my first visit to the Protestant Cemetery by Piramide (named after the eye-catching Pyramid of Cestius), to see those paradoxically ethereal and immortal words of epitaph etched in stone. Since then my vision has mutated somewhat, and it would be fair to say that the Keats of Bright Star is probably the dominating picture today - such is the power of story, reconstruction and (perhaps especially) the moving image.

Curiously, this issue has more of Keats on p.50. Swansea poet, Byron Beynon, evokes the interior of the Keats-Shelley House at 26 Piazza di Spagna, in his poem, The Spanish Steps, Rome. The poem includes the chilling line, 'death entered at eleven o'clock'.

Speaking of Wales, you will find my interview with Cardiff eco-poet, Susan Richardson (and here), on p.4 - along with Susan's polar poem, Waiting at the Breathing Hole, about life above and below the ice, in which the speaker waits expectantly for 'the whiskered nose of inspiration'. The poem is from Susan's acclaimed poetry collection, Creatures of the Intertidal Zone, published by Cinnamon Press. Thank you, Susan, for your detailed answers to my snow-shower of questions! Incidentally, you can read about Susan's recent visit to Keats' House in Hampstead, UK here.

This edition contains 60 packed, illustrated and well presented pages of:

• Articles and Features (e.g Deborah Ann Erdmann, USA on There's No Place Like Home)
  
• Poetry (p.8-11, 16-18, 21-22, 25-26, 30-31, 34-36, 43-48, 50-55, 59)
  
• Contemporary Perspectives and Horizons (e.g. Peggy Landsman, USA; Iorgu Gălăţeanu, Romania; Maria Eugenia Mendoza Arrubarrena, Mexico)
  
• Photographs and Illustrations (throughout)
  

Thank you once again, Daniel, for the opportunities that have arisen - opportunities to make new friends, to gain fresh perspectives on the multi-faceted world of the Arts, and to learn more about Romania itself.

This edition is truly 'international' in outlook. The following countries are represented by those who have contributed:

• Romania
• USA
• Germany
• Chile
  
• India
  
• Bulgaria
• Nigeria
  
• Spain
• Mexico
  

... and Wales, including a page of Lyrical Horizon | Orizonturi Lirice poems by Chris Kinsey. I interviewed Chris, BBC Wildlife Poet of the Year 2008, in an earlier edition in my occasional column, Dialoguri Galeze.

Do take a look at the magazine site here. New subscribers are always welcome.

• MAGAZINE PRICE: 12 EUROS | 15 DOLLARS PER COPY (SHIPPING INCLUDED). PayPal details to the right of the magazine page if you click here.

* A letter from Keats to his sister, Fanny

Poetic People (27): Polar Poets, Susan Richardson and Siobhan Logan

Deep and crisp and even...

Caroline (in Arbeia shirt) with Susan Richardson at the Hay Festival, 2009

Why not pack your snow boots and leki sticks away for an hour or so, and join two polar explorers on their cyberspace journey of writing?

Polar Poets, Susan Richardson and Siobhan Logan are launching their exciting new blog this week, with the evocative strapline 'making wordprints across the Arctic'.

Susan and Siobhan both have first-hand experience of Arctic regions, and hope in their writing 'to evoke the unique appeal of one of the planet's last great wildernesses'. Be sure to keep an eye open for their interviews, quizzes and poems. The site is enhanced by photographs of Greenland taken by Paul Lomatschinsky.

I first encountered Susan as my creative writing tutor when I took part in Disability Arts Cymru's project, The Write Stuff, in 2003. This enterprise led to the publication in 20o4 by Parthian of Hidden Dragons/Gwir a Grymus (I still love the name!), a ground-breaking anthology of 'New Writing by Disabled People in Wales', edited by Allan Sutherland and Elin ap Hywel.

Since those days Susan and I have kept in touch via our blogs, enjoying the occasional chance to meet up over literature, coffee ... or chips ('my one weakness'), in Cardiff and Hay.

I have mentioned Susan's wonderful poetry volume before. For a veritable marine menagerie I would recommend Creatures of the Intertidal Zone (scroll down the linked page), published by Cinnamon Press. The poet follows in the footsteps of Gudrid, an eleventh century 'Viking heroine'. Within the pages of the volume you will encounter not only seals and cetaceans, but other creatures like the hermit crab and - of course - a colony of penguins.

Remember to keep an eye open for those footprints in the snow...

• Creatures of the Intertidal Zone (poem) by Susan Richardson on the Sea Stories site.
• Be sure to visit Susan Richardson's amazing website.

Postcript: you might also like to see the ice and penguins on Professor P. Brain's Swansea ecology blog here.

Media Mix (4): PoetCasting comes to Swansea

Alex Pryce, founder of PoetCasting (left), with me at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
Photo: © David Gill 2009

Readers of my Land&Lit blog will know that it is Dylan Thomas Festival time in Swansea. David and I went down to the Dylan Thomas Centre on Saturday to meet Alex Pryce of PoetCasting.

Alex set up the PoetCasting project in April 2007, with support from Ignite! and NESTA. Poetcasting has received funding from The Arts Council England since July 2008. Ignite! promotes creativity in learning and encourages creative development in young people. Initially a pilot project at NESTA, Ignite Futures Ltd. now exists as an independent and not for profit organisation.

Alex, poet and podcaster, has been dubbed the ‘one to watch' in the art world by judges of the Women of the Future Award. Alex was awarded the Booz & Company Art and Culture Woman of the Future Award, and was the youngest category winner when she was 20 years old. The award was for her work in conceiving and launching PoetCasting, which showcases poets who share the medium of the internet as a place where poets can be read and heard.

David has developed a number of (audio-visual) Podcasts for teaching purposes, and was interested in the applications of audio poetry. I was particularly impressed by the range of poets represented by PoetCasting. I enjoyed listening to the poets reading their own work. It was especially good to find the familiar names of fellow bloggers, Susan Richardson and Matt Merritt among the cast of those who had recorded work for the project. The Dylan Thomas Festival is dedicated to the memory of Aeronwy Thomas this year, and I was delighted to read that Aeronwy features on the PoetCasting iPod Shuffles, alongside the voices of more than 160 other poets.

PoetCasting is an amazing initiative. Do go and discover more if you find that Alex is visiting your area.

Other links:

• Alex Pryce (website)
  

• The Association of Poetry Podcasting
  

Language & Linguistics (1): Word a day in Welsh

Sign up for a new Welsh word every day, brought to you via Twitter. (Thank you to fellow poet and blogger, Susan Richardson for alerting me to the BlogCymru site).

Culture Corner (3): Guardian Hay Festival

Scenes from the Guardian Hay Festival 2009

(a) Caroline with fellow poet and blogger, Susan Richardson
(waiting for Lavinia Greenlaw's Housman Society Lecture to begin)
(b) A day for Wellies of all shapes and sizes
(c) A quiet corner
(d) David 'flying the flag'
(e) It never rains...

It was a good day at Hay, though you could have been mistaken for thinking that it was October rather than May. We met up with friends for tea, did a spot of book-shopping in the Poetry Bookshop (a favourite haunt) and visited the CADW and academi stands.

We had tickets for John Toman on Kilvert's Diary - a very appropriate subject for Hay - and for the Housman Society Lecture. Lavinia Greenlaw (author of 'Minsk') gave a sparkling and erudite paper on the effect of poetry upon poet and reader, of which more soon.

Poetry People (2): Susan Richardson at Chelsea

Do listen on the 'BBC Listen Again' facility (Episode 5, part way through and again near the end of the programme) to Cardiff-based fellow poet and blogger, Susan Richardson, as she fulfils her horticultural duties with great panache as Poet-in-Residence at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show.

Congratulations, Susan, on a star-studded performance among the Silver-gilt medals, trellis and mulch!

P.S. I loved your witty ditty, too!