Immagine e Poesia: the 2017 Anthology of Poetry and Art Pairings can now be downloaded

Zennor mermaid chair (dating from 1400-1500) in St Senara's Church

One of the joys of poetry is the opportunity to experiment and create collaboratively either with other poets or with practitioners in another art form. For the last few years I have submitted a poem to the annual eBook produced by Immagine e Poesia, based in Italy. Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan and Caitlin's daughter, became Patron of the Immagine e Poesia movement in 2007.   

The annual eBook contains pairings of poems and visual art from across the globe. My poem in this year's anthology was written in response to an artwork entitled 'Voice of the Sea' by South Korean artist, Jongo Park. There have, of course, been many takes on the mermaid-meets-mortal story, but this Zennor mermaid was uppermost in my mind. Zennor is one of my favourite villages in Britain. It lies on the Cornish coast in West Penwith, between Land's End and St Ives. The village has many literary connections, including 'Zennor', a favourite poem of mine by Anne Ridler (which was once played at my request on BBC Poetry Please).

This year's anthology, containing contributions from visual and word artists from 35 countries, has been produced by Huguette Bertrand and Lidia Chiarelli.

You are invited to download a copy - here.

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.

Just for Fun? (1): Cornish Pasty and Crisps?

The Zennor Mermaid
(as seen on Britain's Best Drives BBC4 last night)

You may like your pasty and chips, but have you tried the Cornish Pasty-flavoured crisps? Lusty Pirate crisp packets are adorned with literary legends such as King Arthur, the Giant of St Michael's Mount and the Zennor Mermaid!

On a serious note, you can read about the composer-poet, Ivor Gurney, and his travels around Zennor on Philip Lancaster's blog.