New Year Greetings (despite everything)

 

Farewell to 2020

I expect you are also wondering how to wish everyone a happy new year in the light of the past nine months and, indeed, the current situation. Let's hope the vaccination programme really speeds up this coming week, here in the UK at least; and that 2021 will eventually prove to be a bit easier for all.

I am very much looking forward to the publication of my first poetry collection later in the year by Peter Thabit Jones, editor of the Seventh Quarry Press. Meanwhile, I am enjoying my Christmas books, notably Fury (Carcanet) by David Morley and The Christmas Wren (Candlestick Press) by Gillian Clarke.  

I am delighted to find myself included once again on Matthew Stewart's Rogue Strands Best UK Poetry Blogs of the Year list. Thank you, Matthew.

2020: the start of a new writing decade

I was up early this morning and able to appreciate the sunrise. New beginnings offer fresh opportunities, and I wait with anticipation to see what the new decade will bring in terms of developments in our surprisingly fast-moving poetry scene.

Healthwise, my new year did not start in the best of ways (shingles!), but I am encouraged by the fact that once again this blog has been included in Matthew Stewart's Rogue Strands list of The Best U.K. Poetry Blogs of 2019. Thank you, Matthew.

Thank you, too, to the December readers of Reach Poetry (Indigo Dreams Publishing), who voted my Warkworth Hermitage poem into 'The Box' for January. Endorsement from one's poetry peers is particularly welcome, especially when the vote is accompanied by a specific or constructive comment.

I wonder how much fellow poets plan their year and how much they go with the flow, depending on what opportunities arise. I remember setting a specific New Year goal some years ago, and sensing the satisfaction some months later in reaching the set target. Do you set specific personal goals? These days I tend to trade more in 'hopes' and 'dreams', but perhaps I should do more plotting and planning. Above all, I would like to commit to more incisive thinking and to a year of more reading, writing and submissions. In these uncertain times I want to experience that sense of wonder that poetry can offer.

But first I must knuckle down and tackle my record-keeping and my annual box of poetry filing...

Winter Update, 2018

This picture seemed to me to have a wintry feel despite the fact the photograph was taken in summer! It depicts the Skye Bridge and the small island of Eilean Bàn. I have posted it to accompany a link (here) to my Skye poem, The Ceilidh House, about winter in the Inner Hebrides in times gone by. My thanks to Sharmagne and her editorial assistants for publishing my poem in the December issue of Quill and Parchment.

Special thanks, too, to Matthew Stewart for including this blog in his Rogue Strands 2018 list of poetry blogs. I feel very honoured to receive another mention. Thank you, Matthew.

A summary of my 2018 poetry activities can be found here. 

Matthew Stewart's Best U.K. Poetry Blogs of 2016

New Vistas (boardwalk to the bird hide, Tregaron, Wales)

It is the season of lists and annual reviews, and I am delighted and honoured to find that this blog has a mention in the Rogue Strands line-up of Best U.K. Poetry Blogs of 2016. Thank you so much to Matthew Stewart for this inclusion.

Thank you, Matthew, as well, for drawing my attention to the other blogs in the list. I have followed some of these with interest for a while, but the others will open up new vistas and provide fresh paths of poetic exploration in the days to come.

P.S. I cannot decide whether this is related or a bit 'off-topic', but I have just seen this list of favourite 2016 poetry book covers (I believe most, but not all, are North American) on C.A. LaRue's Bonespark blog. It may be of interest to you, as it was to me.