Poetry Book Review: 'Flavours' by Lori Levy and Neil Leadbeater

 

I was delighted to find that fellow poet, Neil Leadbeater, had brought out another collection, shared this time with Lori Levy (interviewed by Neil here). The very title, Flavours, conjures up a lavish spread of glorious food for the reader's enjoyment; who could fail to be drawn in by those zesty lemons that adorn the cover, painted in acrylics by Katie Bayer?

The first half is given over to Lori's poems under the intriguing heading, 'Lemons, Eggplants and Chocolate Chip Cookies'. Neil's poems follow under the heading, 'The Fruits of Our Labour' (Psalm 128:2 comes to mind). The final section contains 'Dialogue Poems' which unfold in a poetic conversation between the two poets, who comment playfully on each others work throughout the book.

The Contents page alone is enough to set one's mouth watering, with its mention of 'Peach', 'Pomelo', 'Pistachio' and 'Olives'. Perhaps somewhat unusually for poets today, Lori and Neil have not shied away from the inclusion of humour, an ingredient (sorry...) that enhances these beautifully crafted texts and brings a wry smile to my face. To humour we can add a compelling sense of playfulness, an aspect that is particularly appreciated in these difficult times. I am pasting in the opening lines of Neil's penultimate poem, written in response to 'You Change Your Mind' by Lori:  

 

 

I mentioned 'Pistachio' (ah, how I love pistachios!). Neil's poem, once again pasted in below, made me wonder why I had never made the sonic connection between the name of the nut and the nasal reflex action. I cannot imagine hearing another sneeze without chuckling to myself, even though the setting for my own pistachio experiences have taken place in a rather different geographical zone, along the shores of the Aegean.  

 

And finally, by way of samples from Neil's pen, I thought I would include 'Gathering Windfalls', which sits opposite another apple poem by Neil, 'Grease-banding the Apple Trees'. Apples, whether mentioned by name or not, have played a key part in texts from Genesis (Adam and Eve) to Greek mythology (Eris). Sir Isaac Newton's 'eureka' moment supposedly came about when he was hit by a windfall. The apple is, of course, also associated with the story of Snow White. 

Neil's poem, and I sense there is an intended allusion to at least one of the apple instances above, will resonate with those of us who grew up in Kent, the Garden of England. My family had two Bramley trees in our suburban garden, and like the speaker in the poem, I recall foraging 'in the grass' as a youngster, trying to find shiny apples without too many worm holes, for Harvest Festival or indeed for apple sauce. I love the character of the robin and the fact that Neil has alluded to the wonderful apple names. Perhaps what I find most arresting however is the final unexpected twist when the warm shades of September, the scarlet (of the bird), copper and burnt umber, give way to full-blown autumn 'in its lemon light'. 

 

 

There is so much more that could be said about this enticing smorgasbord of a collection and I am conscious that I have made Neil's contributions my focus. I have barely touched on the skilful use of craft, the clever metaphors that have been employed or the rich vocabulary. However, I hope you may care to explore these 'Flavours' for yourself so that you can follow and enjoy the gist of the stimulating conversation between two poets who live in different parts of the globe and offer their thoughts on much of what it is that makes us human.

 

Flavours is available from various outlets including...

• Bookshop.org
• Amazon UK 

 

Publisher	Cyberwit.Net
Published	2026
Pages	74

 

14 May is #dylanday

Tulips in Cwmdonkin Park, Swansea

 

14 May is #dylanday, a day to remember Dylan Thomas. I am posting this as part of a Facebook celebration initiated by Lidia Chiarelli of Immagine e Poesia. 

Under Milk Wood was first read on stage at The Poetry Centre in New York on 14 May 1953.

Please find below some lines from my poem in memory of the poet. My poem was first published in Places within Reach (2006), an anthology from Indigo Dreams Press, edited by Ronnie Goodyer.

Tycoch

 
Tall rows of rainbow tulips line these ways
where poets, lovers, dreamers stoop to gaze
upon the mirror of the pool. A sudden spark
shakes up the surface like a burning coal.
We jump, and vow to leave before the night
sweeps down from Kilvey Hill: a rook in flight
spreads shadows on the bay and bares its soul.
We climb the hill where ponies used to roam
and reach at last the red, red walls of home.

© Caroline Gill

Tycoch is a district in Swansea. Its literal meaning is 'red house' in Welsh. 

 

 

... More #dylanday here. 

14 May: #dylanday

 

I have been invited to take part in a #dylanday poetry and art project coordinated by Ana Stjelja of Association Alia Mundi ...

You can read my micropoem above and see my accompanying image below.  

I am delighted when poetry brings us together in these uncertain times. My thanks to Ana.  

  

More #dylanday here. 

And finally, with thanks to Ana:

 

 

World Book Day, 5 March 2026

 

Today is World Book Day 2026, and while the day is primarily intended for children and young people, it seems sense to broaden the boundaries. 

The covers above are from my poetry collection Driftwood by Starlight and my recent poetry pamphlet, Polar Corona. 

 

* * * 

 

In other news, Italian poet, Lidia Chiarelli, has just compiled an eBook which you can download for free from her site here. 

Lidia writes:

IMMAGINE & POESIA 2026 Ebook is a Bridge between different Countries and Cultures: Artists and Poets meet in the name of Beauty and Peace. In a wounded world where new wars are constantly breaking out in different parts of the globe, we want to believe and make our own the words of American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-1921): Poets and Artists are Natural Bearers of Light. 

I am delighted to have a poem, 'Under a Marbled Moon', in the eBook. It was written in response to artwork by South Korean artist, Jong-o Park. Jong-o's picture is entitled 'Song of the Moonlight Sea'. 

'Polar Corona': Three Reviews

 

POLAR CORONA

A Crown of Antarctic Sonnets 

Hedgehog Poetry Press Pamphlet 

 

With much gratitude to those whose names appear below, here are the latest REVIEWS (in order of appearance):

 

1. Neil Leadbeater on WriteOutLoud

2. Juliet Wilson on her Crafty Green Poet site

3. Jill Stanton-Huxton on her Website

 

 

'Polar Corona' ... First Review

 

 

Thank you to all who have expressed an interest in my new Polar Corona pamphlet. You can find further details about it here on the Hedgehog Poetry Press site. UK price: £7.99.

It seemed appropriate to take a photo in the snow. 

I am indebted to Neil Leadbeater, whose review appears on the WriteOutLoud site, here.  

   

Happy New Year to all

 

* * *

 

On a different note, A Poet in Every Port is an initiative to mark 75 years of the Southbank Centre, which includes the Poetry Library. Visit the website here to find out more. 

 

'Polar Corona': Today is the Official Release Day

 

And the mice? See page 14

 

TODAY'S THE DAY...

Are you looking for a stocking filler? Or a small gift for yourself? Take a look here. 

Today, Thursday 18th, Flake Appreciation Day (see here), marks the Official Release of my new snowbound poetry pamphlet, Polar Corona (Hedgehog Poetry Press, £7.99). 

*'Signed copy' orders: see here for ordering instructions. You can DM me on Facebook or leave a comment on this blog. Copies ordered up until 3pm/15:00hrs via these methods for UK destinations will be posted First Class this afternoon.* 

 

 From the blurbs: 

“Caroline Gill has produced a beautifully crafted cycle of poems, in which the final line of each one is taken up by the next until the final poem brings us back to where we began, in a perfect round. These poems bring the Antarctic to life, a vast world of ice and snow, a world of astonishing loveliness, illuminated by the stars, and at the same time a world in which human beings and creatures such as penguins live out a perilous existence... To read these poems is to be confronted with a terrifying beauty, and with courage in its purest form.”

– Professor J. R. Watson, University of Durham

“In Polar Corona, Caroline Gill offers a vivid and precise depiction of Antarctica’s landscape and wildlife, especially the seasonal rhythms of penguins’ lives, interwoven with a poignant exploration of human fortitude in this most testing of environments. Her marvellous ear for the music of a poem is evident throughout and the intricate pattern of mostly half rhymes cleverly accentuates the pervading sense of risk and unpredictability...”

– Susan Richardson Author of Where the Seals Sing (William Collins, 2022) and Words the Turtle Taught Me (Cinnamon Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award

 

“When we introduce people to objects, artworks and archives in our polar collections, they are transported to a time and place far removed from our museum in Cambridge. In Caroline Gill’s evocative Polar Corona, she closes the distance and brings the ‘heroic age’ of polar exploration to life. Her words open a window in our imaginations directly onto Antarctica’s remote sights and sounds.”

– Dr Charlotte Connelly Former Museum Curator, The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

 

'Polar Corona', my prize-winning poetry pamphlet on Antarctica

 

I am excited to say that I have just received advance copies of Polar Corona, my prize-winning 'crown-of-sonnets' poetry pamphlet, published by the Hedgehog Poetry Press.  

 

For further details: click here. 

 

From the blurbs:

“In Polar Corona, Caroline Gill offers a vivid and precise depiction of Antarctica’s landscape and wildlife, especially the seasonal rhythms of penguins’ lives, interwoven with a poignant exploration of human fortitude in this most testing of environments. Her marvellous ear for the music of a poem is evident throughout and the intricate pattern of mostly half rhymes cleverly accentuates the pervading sense of risk and unpredictability." 

 – Susan Richardson, Author of Where the Seals Sing (William Collins, 2022) and Words the Turtle Taught Me (Cinnamon Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award 

“Caroline Gill has produced a beautifully crafted cycle of poems, in which the final line of each one is taken up by the next until the final poem brings us back to where we began, in a perfect round. These poems bring the Antarctic to life, a vast world of ice and snow, a world of astonishing loveliness, illuminated by the stars, and at the same time a world in which human beings and creatures such as penguins live out a perilous existence."

– Professor J. R. Watson, University of Durham 

  

“When we introduce people to objects, artworks and archives in our polar collections, they are transported to a time and place far removed from our museum in Cambridge. In Caroline Gill’s evocative Polar Corona, she closes the distance and brings the ‘heroic age’ of polar exploration to life. Her words open a window in our imaginations directly onto Antarctica’s remote sights and sounds.”

– Dr Charlotte Connelly, Former Museum Curator, The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

 

'Polar Corona' ... today is 'Cover Reveal Day'

 

My super-slim prize-winning poetry pamphlet, Polar Corona, has nearly reached publication. It's almost 'touch down' time for the penguin. You can read a bit more by clicking here. And meanwhile, I hope you like the cover. 

Little Black Book: Exhibition Cards for Imaginary Paintings

 

Mini anthology: 'Exhibition Cards for Imaginary Paintings' - see here

 

These stylish Little Black Books arrived in the post today as my contributor copies from the Hedgehog Poetry Press. 

Participating poets were invited to write an imaginary gallery label for an imaginary artwork. 

Each of the eleven selected entries is accompanied by a few details pertaining to size of work, type of media etc. I don't want to give too much away, but my poem has something to do with a wild creature in the woods - or does it?

Little Black Books are staple-bound and the size of a postcard or pocket-book.

 

'World Poetry Anthology' edited by Hassanal Abdullah

 

 

David Gill and I are delighted to be included in this new anthology of poetry from across the globe, compiled and edited by Hassanal Abdullah to mark 25 years of his international poetry journal, Shabdaguchha.

This volume published by Darklight Publishing (New York and Mexico) features, among many others, poems by Pablo Neruda, Aeronwy Thomas, Stanley Kunitz, Peter Thabit Jones (poet, writer and editor of The Seventh Quarry Press), Louise Glück and Lidia Chiarelli.  

You can buy the anthology here. 

David's poem is a nod to Edward Thomas. My poem, 'Preseli Blue', concerns a bluestone from Stonehenge and was triggered by the sight of one of these boulders on display in the National Botanic Garden of Wales, way back in 2001.  

Previous post: click here.

'Winter', a Special Solstice eBook

Shingle Street, looking inland from the Suffolk coast (taken 17 Dec. 2023)

 

May I wish you all 

a happy Christmas 

and a productive New Year.

 

Mark Davidson, editor at The Hedgehog Poetry Press, has brought out the fourth in his seasonal Stickleback eBooks. Winter is published today to coincide with the Solstice. The anthology contains ten poems, including my 'Christmas Questions'. You can download a free copy here. 

P.S. My previous post concerns two international anthologies, one from Romania and the other from the USA. Do take a look here. My poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight (The Seventh Quarry Press) can be ordered here. 

Nativity scene from St Peter and St Paul, Peasmarsh

 

A New Volume from Romania

 

 

Those who have popped across to this blog over the years will know that I have had links for many years with Orizont Literar Contemporan, the international literary journal from Romania produced by Daniel Dragomirescu. This new volume, Retrospectiva Revistei, highlights the writing of fifteen writers of 'prose, poetry and essays' who come from very different parts of the world, including Chile, Romania, USA and Portugal. 

 

A few pages have been allocated to each of the selected contributors to the journal. Each set of pages contains an author bio with photograph, a CV and a sample piece of work. 

 

 

I am very grateful to Daniel for including me in such an international list and for profiling my work and my poetry collection in this way. Driftwood by Starlight can be purchased from The Seventh Quarry shop (link here). 

 

POSTSCRIPT

Speaking of international volumes, I am excited to learn that the new World Poetry Anthology (Darklight Publishing), edited by Hassanal Abdullah, has just been published. It contains poems by Pablo Neruda, Peter Thabit Jones, Aeronwy Thomas, Stanley Kunitz, Lidia Chiarelli and John Kinsella. My Stonehenge poem, 'Preseli Blue', and my husband, David Gill's poem, 'Gloucestershire in The Negev' have also been included. 

International Dylan Thomas Day, 14 May 2023

 

Laugharne

Wishing all my friends 

a Happy International Dylan Day

2023

 

David and I enjoyed many happy visits to Laugharne and the Carmarthenshire coast from our Swansea home. You can barely make out the Writing Shed, but the Dylan Thomas Boathouse is the last white building beyond the castle on this side of the estuary, where the tidal stream bends to the left. You can see it more clearly in the photograph below.

Lidia Chriarelli* has once again curated an anniversary website to mark the occasion - here. My thanks to Lidia for including my Swansea-based contribution, a picture-poem. You will find it here, if you click the link and then scroll down. 

You might also be interested in Dear Dylan, an anthology of Dylan-inspired poetry and prose from Indigo Dreams Publishing, edited by Anna Saunders and Ronnie Goodyer. This volume (see here) was published on #DylanDay 2021 and contains one of my poems, 'Tentacles and Tar'. 

Laugharne, evening light

* There is an expansive interview with Lidia Chiarelli here in The Poet online; do take a look.

 

 

WORLD POETRY DAY

 

 

I hope everyone has been enjoying World Poetry Day, 2023. Some of us 'celebrated' with a trip to the dentist ... but I am just in time to say that Spring, a new Stickleback download, has been produced by Mark Davidson of the Hedgehog Poetry Press. It contains one of my ekphrastic poems. Do take a look here. 

The photo above shows me with my poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight, which can be purchased from Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry Press here. The poems concern heritage, conservation, Cornwall, our fragile coast and other topics.

'Voices For The Silent', New Anthology from Indigo Dreams Publishing

.

 

What can poetry do?  

There have been many who advocate art for art's sake, or l'art pour l'art, as the slogan was initially rendered in nineteenth century France. 

There have also been many, and indeed there are an ever-increasing number, of artists (in the broadest sense) who see their work as a focus for, or extension of, their activism. 

I feel fortunate to have had poems included in a variety of charity anthologies over the years, raising funds and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support, Welney WWT and the Born Free Foundation, to name but three. 

I am delighted to add another to the list in the form of Voices for the Silent (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2022), the new companion volume to For the Silent (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2019), edited by Ronnie Goodyer, Poet-in-Residence at the League Against Cruel Sports. These companion (or stand-alone) volumes have been produced to aid the work of this charity, and not surprisingly some of the selected poems concern animal cruelty. Others focus on habitats and the wonders and complexities of the natural world. 

The new book includes poems by well-known names such as Margaret Atwood, Gillian Clarke, Pablo Neruda, Philip Larkin, John Clare, Mary Oliver, William Cowper, William Blake and Thomas Hardy, alongside a host of contributors who are part of the contemporary poetry scene.

Voices for the Silent costs £15 in Great Britain. Prices for other parts of the world are listed on the Indigo Dreams Publishing website. The book includes six wonderful pages of illustrations by Sam Cannon. The superb cover photographs are by Andy Parkinson.  

Subjects in the anthology range from a stag to a sparrowhawk, from a Chequered Skipper butterfly to an elephant. My poem, 'Basking Shark Blues', was inspired by the brooding Hebridean waters off the coast of Skye where I spent an evening watching one of these gentle giants of the ocean.

 

Evening, Loch Scavaig, Isle of Skye

  

Fingerstone Poem Quoted in 'The Maker', The Charles Causley Literary Blog

 

Launceston Castle

Those who know me will be aware of my love affair with Cornwall. It is a county I have visited all my life, initially to spend time with relations who lived at Widemouth Bay on the north coast. I recall many days further south, not far from the Helford River in the 1970s and 80s, enjoying occasional walks along Frenchman's Pill and the tree-lined watercourses that inspired Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek. I began to discover other writers who made Cornwall come alive on the page: Charles Causley, Thomas Hardy, R.S. Hawker, Anne Ridler, Jack Clemo, W.S. Graham, John Betjeman, Ursula K. Le Guin and Lionel Johnson, to name but a few. 

I forget how I first encountered the poems of Charles Causley, but I was immediately drawn to them. And indeed, I have found some firm favourites among his body of work, favourites such as 'Who?', with its brilliant repetition in line 1 of the first stanza, and 'Morwenstow', in which the speaker interrogates the sea on the subject of its wildness. I have visited Causley's hometown of Launceston a couple of times in recent years and have enjoyed exploring the castle, which dominates the scene. I even tried to do a quick pen-and-ink sketch of it.

I was delighted when Sue Wallace-Shaddad asked me if she could include a few stanzas from 'Penwith Fingerstone', one of my Cornish poems, in her November post for The Maker, which you can find on The Charles Causley Literary Blog. The poem, which features in Driftwood by Starlight (The Seventh Quarry Press, 2021), was awarded Third Prize by Brian Patten in the 2017 Milestones Poetry Competition, administered by Write Out Loud. As it happens, I posted a photo (here) of the fingerpost on Twitter a few days ago for #FingerpostFriday.

 

Beavers

 

 

I have subscribed to Reach Poetry magazine for over twenty years. The magazine is edited by Ronnie Goodyer of Indigo Dreams Publishing. From time to time Ronnie has issued a particular challenge. The most recent was for a Terza Rima Sonnet, one of my favourite forms. 

I decided to have a go, and submitted my poem, 'Navigating Knapdale', which was published in the September 2022 issue. The focus of the narrative was a trip to Knapdale Forest in search of beavers. We failed to spot any; it is rare to do so in the daylight, but sometimes the quest is the thing that counts. Or so Cavafy implied in his well-loved poem, 'Ithaka'.

 

Beaver landscape, Knapdale ... in the rain

 

•  My post here, written over 100 issues ago, explains some of the reasons I enjoy this monthly magazine so much.
  

TURIN: LUCI PER LA CITTÀ / LIGHTS FOR THE CITY

 

A lamp post at Mallaig, Scotland

 

LUCI PER LA CITTÀ / LIGHTS FOR THE CITY, hailed as a great Festival of Lights, opens today in Turin, Italy, thanks to the vision of Lidia Chiarelli, poet, creative and Charter Member (with Aeronwy Thomas, Gianpiero Actis, Silvana Gatti, Sandrina Piras) of the international poetic and artistic movement, Immagine e Poesia. The organisers from Immagine e Poesia are joined by Arte Città Amica in this enterprise.

 

LUCI PER LA CITTÀ / LIGHTS FOR THE CITY 

 

 comprises 

'two projects at the same time': 

-An Art Exhibition at the Villa Amoretti in Turin, 

which opens on 25 October2022.

 

-An International Website with Poetry, Aphorisms, 

Short Stories, Art, Music and Photography.

 

These two projects, the Luci per la Città Exhibition and the International Website, have been created as a tribute to Guido Chiarelli (1902-1982), on the 120th anniversary of his birth. Chiarelli is hailed as the man who transformed Torino into a "Ville Lumière" by illuminating the city streets with his futuristic designs in the 1950s and 1960s.  

 

* * *

 

I wish to thank Lidia very much for inviting me to supply a written contribution for the international Luci per la Città website. You can read my poem,  'Stars in Suburbia', here. 

I was born in London and spent the first couple of years of my life in the capital, before moving out with my family to Kent's 'commuter-land'. Our road began at the foot of a slope near the railway station. The public library was situated near the top, where our road joined the High Street at right angles. We lived at the halfway point, neither up nor down. 

My bedroom window looked out onto the road where a lamp post (like the one in my picture here) sent its beams into the night sky. Looking back, it seems hard to believe that we still had a gas lamp, requiring the occasional services of a lamplighter; but I have looked into this, and am assured by those who know these things that my memory is indeed correct. 

Unlike Leerie in the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, which I came to love, our lamplighter would not have had to make daily visits as the lamps had become partially mechanised by my the time of my 1960s childhood. But they would have required winding at regular intervals. The image of the lamp post also reminds me of the one in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis where Lucy Pevensie first caught sight of Mr Tumnus the faun. 

I have not had the opportunity of visiting Torino, but David and I lived in Rome from 1985 to 1986. How well I remember the beautiful lights around Spagna and Piazza Navona in the run-up to Christmas. I can still smell the scent of hot chestnuts and pizza rustica. I even remember the sparkle of snow! 

P.S. I couldn't resist including images of two of my favourite UK lamp posts, the top one in Mallaig on the Scottish mainland, where one can catch a ferry to Skye, and the one below from Lyme Regis, designed in the shape of an ammonite. 

 

Ammonite-style lamp post, Lyme Regis, UK