First Prize (Publication)

 

Sign on the Scottish island of Gigha

After a tricky ten days, it was a real boost to hear that I had won First Prize in the 'Wee Collection' Challenge, set last November by Mark Davidson of the Hedgehog Poetry Press. This means that my sequence of seven interlinked sonnets will be published as a slim pamphlet. 

Watch this space!  

In other news, I very much enjoyed taking part in the ACW-Trellis online poetry day last Saturday. Participating poets came from England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Albania. I read 'Dunwich in Winter' from my 2021 collection, Driftwood by Starlight (The Seventh Quarry Press).   

Competition Corner (5): Metverse Muse ~ Best Fixed Form Poet, 2011, Category A

KIlt Rock, Isle of Skye. Can you see the tartan plaid (well, almost)?

I received a copy of the international poetry journal, Metverse Muse (ed. Dr. H. Tulsi), through the post today from Visakhapatnam in India. I had entered the annual competition a year ago, and was delighted to hear that the combined scores for my two fixed-form poems had won me the title of Metverse Muse 'Best Fixed Form Poet of the Year' in Category A for 2011.

My thanks to the panel of judges. One of my poems, a Terzanelle (a form devised by Professor Lewis Turco, author of The Book of Forms) is about Kilt Rock, a favourite haunt on the Isle of Skye.  

Anthology Alert (10): Ten Forward, Carillon's 10th Anniversary Publication

Ten Forward ~ Celebrating ten years of Carillon Magazine

Carillon is celebrating its 10th birthday, no small achievement for a literary magazine in the current climate. Editor, Graham Rippon, has done a terrific job in producing a glossy anniversary perfect-bound book edition, with the positive title, Ten Forward. I love the way in which the bursting bud on the front cover becomes a full-blown and flamboyant poppy on the reverse. Spring has indeed sprung in South Yorkshire!

I recall the early editions of the magazine, and indeed the welcome small payments that were made for work that was selected. We all know how few small press magazines are able to pay their authors and poets, but it is always a boon when a cheque arrives in the post or, for that matter, a contributor's copy. It is not only the contributors who are well looked after, for Carillon readers are treated to a rich variety of subject and writing style.

Ten Forward is divided into three sections: (1) poetry, (2) prose and (3) 'Bookmark' and other competition winners. Carol Thistlethwaite has been reviewing books for the magazine for some time, and Graham Rippon has also included his review of her delightful poetry collection, From the Field Book.

I feel privileged to have two of my 'Bookmark' poems, 'Through the Door of Wishful Thinking' and 'Dartmoor: the Call of the Wild' included alongside work by familiar names such as Gerald Hampshire, June Drake, Michael Newman, Pat Jourdan and Neil Leadbeater.

Poems that made a particular impact on me include 'The Slave' by Barbara Robinson, 'Sighing the Deep' by Angela Bradley - and 'Daybreak' by Lorna Grinter, in which 'the air is stitched with birdsong'.

If you would like to find out more about Carillon or if you would like to order a copy of the anthology for yourself, you can visit the Carillon website here - or you can click here for a list of contributors. Thank you, Graham, for a fine and beautifully produced anthology.

And when you next see a red poppy on your travels, don't forget that (in the words of Gordon Scapens),

'it waves a message'.  

International Echoes (14): Metverse Muse

I had been looking forward to the arrival of a package from India for some time, and was delighted when 'Metverse Muse' (double issue, 27 and 28) popped through my letterbox yesterday, all the way from Visakhapatnam.

The editor, Dr H. Tulsi, has put together 248 pages of international poetry (from India, Australia, UK, USA, New Zealand, Singapore...), articles, reviews and competition results.

I feel very honoured to have been awarded Joint Second Prize (with international Haiku prize-winner, Claire Knight) in Category A of the competition for the 'Best Fixed Form Poet of the Year 2010'.

Prizes and Commendations (2): The T.S. Eliot prize

My thanks to Matt Merritt at Polyolbion for alerting me to the coverage of the prize ceremony on Jane Holland's blog, here. Derek Walcott won the prize with his Faber collection, White Egrets.

In case you have not caught up with the news reports, you can read The Guardian's feature here. 

Little Egret, Penclawdd, Gower, Wales, UK

 I recall a happy evening at Hay some years ago, when Derek Walcott answered questions and delivered his poetry to a packed auditorium. I was particularly pleased to have bought a copy of his 'Omeros' in the Poetry Bookshop that afternoon.

Above and below: Little Egret, Divari Lagoon, Pylos, Greece

N.B. My photos are not linked to locations or symbolic representations in the book, but it seemed a good opportunity to appreciate these fine birds! The Egretta alba, the Great White Egret, has black feet and a yellow bill, unlike the Little Egret on one leg in the Divari Lagoon photo. 

Poetry Matters (10): Good News from India

Awaiting a package from India

I have just heard that my Kyrielle, The Winding Way, has taken Joint Second Position in the Metverse Muse Fixed Form Poetry Competition 2010.

Dr H. Tulsi from Visakhatpatnam is the editor of Metverse Muse. The magazine's new book of poetry forms, Muse Clad in Costumes, contains two of my poems. I am looking forward to its arrival from India.

Poetic Places (4): Loch Coruisk, Skye

The view from Elgol,
looking across Loch Scavaig towards Loch Coruisk

It gave me a real boost to return from Skye (nursing what seems to be a fractured ulna... final diagnosis still pending) to find that my poem, 'Turner's Loch Coruisk, Skye' [24/2009] had been awarded 2nd Prize as a result of Readers' Votes in issue 141 of Reach Poetry (Indigo Dreams Publishing, editors Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling). Thank you to all who voted and to Ronnie and Dawn for the cheque!

Incidentally, Wendy Webb's poem about (David and me at) Loch Coruisk appears in her volume, A Mermaid's Tale (Wendy Webb Books 2010). You can read more here on my Land&Lit blog.

Sadly, my injuries meant that we were unable to take the boat over Loch Scavaig to Loch Coruisk on this occasion, but we had a couple of memorable visits to Elgol. If you would like to see what we enjoyed watching on the sea loch, you might care to click on this link, which will take you to my new blog, 'Wild and Wonderful', about the natural world.

P.S. On the recommendation of the Quaerentia blog [and here], I took a copy of Robert MacFarlane's book, The Wild Places with me as holiday reading. I injured my dominant arm on our first full day on the island, so my reading plans have been delayed due to difficulty in holding the volume or turning the pages. Watch this space! I know the book contains a small section on Loch Coruisk.

Poetic People (29): Sir Andrew Motion's Line, Part i

'Clash over degree courses that try to teach budding authors the write stuff'.

This was the heading in The Times (16 January) linked to a column by the education correspondent, Nicola Woolcock, in the run-up to the announcement of the TS Eliot Prize. The link is here, although the online version has a less controversial heading!

• 12 out of the 17 on the shortlist of those with the Masters Degree in Creative Writing were women.
  
• 7 (of these?) attended UEA.
• 5 of the 17 (men and women) have been contenders in the Costa First Novel Award since 2005.

Sir Andrew Motion made the valid point that nobody makes a fuss when musicians and actors receive training. He does not agree with those who feel that (creative) writing is not a suitable subject for universities to teach.

'The idea has taken root that writing can be taught as well or badly as acting, painting and dancing,' he concluded.

Do you agree? PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE IN MY POLL (top right). It will run for a week.

Beautiful Birds (15): 'Crow Country' by Mark Cocker

Above: corvid capers...

I was delighted to learn that Mark Cocker had won the £2000 New Angle Prize for East Anglian Literature, awarded by the Ipswich Institute for a book 'set in or influenced by the East Anglian region.' Many congratulations to Mark.

If you have not read this remarkable book about corvids in their natural habitat and a man's desire to chart their lifestyle, I would highly recommend that you add 'Crow Country' to your Christmas wishlist. You will find details of it in my Amazon 'Buy a Book' sidebar on this blog (you may - or may not - have to click p.2, as the order is random, I think, and seems to change!).

Meg Rosoff took second place and the late Roger Deakin's book (already on my list to read), 'Notes from Walnut Tree Farm', was highly commended.

***

P.S. Friday: I have just watched BBC Autumnwatch, and enjoyed seeing the Norfolk footage of Simon King with Mark Cocker, watching the amazing dawn and pre-roost dusk spectacles of the airborne corvids.

P.P.S. Tuesday: I have just been enjoying pictures of large numbers of Lesser Snow Geese in the air over on the Rock Paper Lizard blog. Do take a look. I have also greatly enjoyed the article in The Observer on the phenomenon of bird watching. Thank you to Matt of Polyolbion for pointing this out. There are a number of bird books mentioned in the article: my Christmas wishlist is about to multiply!

Poets win Prizes (1): Wendy Webb and Claire Knight

Wendy (left) with me outside the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea

Many congratulations to Wendy Webb (of TIPS for Writers, Norfolk Poets & Writers, and Wendy Webb Books) for taking second prize, with her poem, The Sap is Rising, in the Live Canon Poetry Competition.

My congratulations, too, to (fellow TIPS poet) Claire Knight for winning the New Zealand International Poetry Competition, Haiku Section. Claire has also had a Haiku accepted for publication in the Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar for 2010.

Surprise Subjects (2): Butter Poetry

One of my favourite childhood poems was The King's Breakfast by the creator of Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne. It tells the priceless story of a king who went into a sulk because the sleepy Alderney cow thought (or perhaps hoped) that his Majesty might prefer marmalade instead of butter on his bread. Leslie McGrath, 2004 Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prizewinner for Poetry, has just won the unusual honour of having her poem, Butter Taps, printed on butter wrappers from Cabot Creamery on the East Coast of America.