Magazine Moment (10): Quill and Parchment (USA) - Featured Photographer

I am grateful to editor, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, for inviting me to join her as her fellow 'Featured Photographer' for the June issue of the subscription online magazine, Quill and Parchment.

If you would like to see my photographs of Wales in the magazine, you are invited to follow the link here, and type the following Guest Passwords into the box that will appear when you click on Sharmagne's cover photograph of Tynemouth Castle (a site I know well from my years in Newcastle):

NAME: june
PASSWORD: lake

I hope you enjoy the issue!

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.

Archeological Avenues (3): Palmyra, Petra ... and the Parthenon

The Parthenon

I was delighted to find that my sonnet, Palmyra, had been selected for inclusion in the first edition of Chapter & Verse, the electronic in-house student magazine for The Writers' Bureau. You can read my poem about another archaeological site, Petra, on Wendy Webb's TIPS for Writers blog. My profile listing has now appeared no the Poetry Society site (you may need to scroll up a bit).

• Blog post on Palmyra (part of the Carnival of the Arid).
• Speaking of things archaeological, the new Acropolis Museum will be officially opened tomorrow.
  

Magazine Moment (2): A Parcel from India

This interesting package dropped through my door a couple of days ago, all the way from India. It contained a copy of Metverse Muse, edited by Dr H. Tulsi. The March issue is, in fact, the Silver Jubilee number, and it is packed with poems, articles and reviews. The contributors come from places as diverse as Kazakhstan, Japan and Nigeria; India, Ireland and the USA; Australia, Russia and Brazil. I wonder if I am the only contributor from Wales. There is a feature on the Virelai: no prizes for guessing which form I may try next! You can read a reverse-Davidian by Dr Tulsi on PoemHunter. The Davidian form was invented by Wendy Webb of Norfolk Poets and Writers.

Poetry Submission Poll: results time

Time is up for my blog poll. The response has not exactly been much to blog home about, but it has been an interesting experiment all the same. It certainly set me thinking about my own publication priorities and aspirations.

The results are as follows:

• 3 voters prefer to submit to hardcopy outlets.
• 3 voters pressed the 50:50 button.
• 2 poets like to go for gold and grasp every opportunity that presents itself.
• 1 poet prefers to submit to online magazines.

Books can be among our most treasured possessions, so I do not intend to comment on them here. However, the poll made me think about the magazines that come through the door. Most of us would keep a copy of ones that include our work, but what do we do with others? Do we stash them away or pass them on to our fellow writers? Do we cut out work or features of interest? Do we recycle the remaining pages?

I keep a commonplace book of snippets, articles, new poetry forms and quotations that appeal to me. This means that I do not alway feel the need to keep everything that comes my way (though I am a squirrel by nature!). What policies do you adopt? Do let me know if this poll has set you thinking.

Blog poll ... last chance!

The sundial on St Mary's Church, Dymock

Tick, tock ...

At the time of writing there are only 40 minutes left in which to cast your vote in my 'for interest only' poll (right). Thank you to those of you who have already clicked an option.

Birds: final countdown to RSPB Birdwatch 30

Publicity - of all sorts - for this event is coming in from all sides. Professor P. Brain has added his comments, with a link to the RSPB. I found an amazing and amusing poem to get us in the spirit for our individual 'birdfests and quests' this weekend. Thank you, Seabrooke.

You can download a counting sheet for your RSPB garden survey.

• On another subject, please remember to vote in my anonymous just-for-interest poll (far right) about where you send your creative writing.
  

Right: King of the Castle (Tintagel, Cornwall)

Tips for Writers: issue 70

I have just received the latest issue of Tips for Writers from editor Wendy Webb of Norfolk Poets and Writers. As usual it contains an enticing mix of challenges, reviews and poetry. I am particularly looking forward to trying my hand at Wendy's new 'Sliding Doors' poetry form. This edition of Tips includes Norman Bissett's Top Twenty questions, which he puts to Sophie Hannah in a fascinating interview. Tips supporter and adviser, Bernard M. Jackson, lists his web pages and publications.

The deadline for the Margaret Munro Gibson Memorial Poetry Competition 2009 (aka 7th Davividian) is 23 April 2009 for poems not exceeding 20 lines. The judge is Doris Corti, and the entry fee is £2 for one or £10 for six. Entrants must be 18+ and resident in the UK. Full rules are listed in Tips.

• Wendy Webb Books