Fiesta Time (1): Dylan Thomas Festival 2009

The Dylan Thomas Centre,
Swansea, Wales

The 12th Dylan Thomas Festival (26 October - 9 November 2009) is about to begin in the Dylan Thomas Centre, with supporting events taking place around the city.

You can read about it on my Land&Lit blog, here.

• Forthcoming events at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive
  

Anthology Alert (2): 'Empty Shoes'

I have just heard from the editor, Patrick T. Randolph, that Empty Shoes, the new anthology in aid of shelters for those who are hungry and homeless in the USA (which includes my poem, 'Stranger'), hit number 4 yesterday on the Amazon.com Hot New Release List. At the time of writing it is in at number 7 in the category marked as 'Inspirational & Religious' literature.

Creature Feature (10): Mercedes the Polar Bear moves North

Ruins of Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie
(sorry - no Polar Bear pics!)

Mercedes, the only UK's Polar Bear, has just moved from Edinburgh Zoo to a The Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie (home of some of my ancestors!) in Scotland. You can read about Mercedes here. Soldiers from 75 Engineer Regiment and the Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers volunteered to build the enclosure with its viewing platform, road and its car park, reducing the cost from an estimated £300,000 to £75,000.

• Highland Wildlife Park site
• Mercedes in The Times
• Mercedes, her former life (2005) ... in The Times
• Edinburgh Zoo: Mercedes and the Centenary Appeal
• A polar cub hitches a ride...

Postscript: you might like to read Gillian Clarke's poignant 'breath and growl' poem, 'Polar', on p.10 of Roundyhouse 28.

Magazine Moment (5): Wendy Webb's TIPS for Writers

Dylan's Writing Shed, Laugharne, Wales, UK

The Dylan Thomas Boat House, Laugharne

The estuary

Laugharne Castle

My copy of the winter edition of TIPS for Writers (ed. Wendy Webb) arrived last week. I am delighted to mention that the magazine has received an award for 'best UK poetry magazine' from the Writers' Grand Circle Awards 2009. Congratulations to Wendy!

The latest issue of TIPS (issue 73, Winter 2009) is dedicated to the memory of Dylan's daughter, the poet Aeronwy Thomas Ellis. The cover sports an image of Aeronwy's last book, 'Shadows and Shades: Selected Poems', which is available from Poetry Monthly Press (ed. Martin Holroyd).

TIPS 73 contains the text of an interview with Aeronwy, shortly before her death. The original TIPS TOP 20 questions were devised by Norman Bissett, and I adapted them for Aeronwy. You will not be surprised to learn that Aeronwy's 'Laugharne years' - 1946-1953 - are mentioned.

Congratulations not only to Wendy, but to Peter Davies, Norman Bissett and Bernard Jackson, who shared the readers' vote for their poems in TIPS 72. Many congratulations to James Knox Whittet for his clean sweep in the Pamphlet Competition.

It is good to have the chance to re-read Part I of 'Surface Trilogy', a Folding Mirror poem by the creator of the form, Dr Marc Latham. It is a very visual poem, packed with possums, blossoms, sharks, damselflies, coral and vipers!

I am particularly interested to find details of Wendy's new Brentor Sonnet form, with its split lines [6/7 and 13/14] 'for visual and sound effect'. Brentor, 'a hill transfigured in the mist' on the edge of Dartmoor has a chapel perched on the top of it, and was a favourite haunt of some of my Tavistock-based relations in the early 1900s.

Geoff Stevens (ed. of Purple Patch) is due to adjudicate the current Norfolk Poets and Writers' TIPS Pamphlet Competition. The closing date is 31 October 2009. The specified styles are (a) blank verse, (b) max. 2 verses of tetractys poems - and (c) simple rhyming quatrains. Further details of the competition and all TIPS activities and opportunities can be sought from Wendy via the email on her TIPS for Writers blog - here.

P.S. I have just been reading the Anniversary Issue of The Pages online magazine, which also mentions Wendy's competition and Marc's Folding Mirror Poetry. Do have a look at this enterprise from Wales: the link is here.

Magazine Moment (5): Cerise Press

I have been sent the url for a brand new online international literary review, based in the USA and France, Cerise Press. Do take a look.

The editors are Fiona Sze-Lorrain (Greta Aart) Sally Molini and Karen Rigby. The magazine is packed with literature and art. I particularly enjoyed the feature entitled 'A Life in Poetry: Ted Kooser' by Sally Molini and Ted Kooser.

The editors write,

'contributors (poetry) for this issue include Tess Gallagher, Eleanor Wilner, Robert Kelly, Ray Gonzalez, Laura Kasischke, Patricia Fargnoli, Natasha Sajé, James Harms, Karen An-Hwei Lee, Diane Gilliam, Forrest Ganders, Ted Kooser, Thomas Lux, etc.

Translations include works by Akhmatova, Madelshtam, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Apollinare, Hai Zi, Abdelwahab Meddeb and Pura Lopez-Colomé. We also feature photography, art, essays, reviews and fiction.

Please feel free to spread the word to fellow friends, writers, photographers and artists.

Our 2nd issue will feature on 1st November. We are currently reading for Spring 2010 issue.'

I think I was sent the details because my poem, 'Stranger', appears in the same anthology, Empty Shoes (ed. Patrick T. Randolph, Popcorn Press 2009), as Greta's poem, 'Petit Déjeuner'.

Poetry Events (2): The Seventh Quarry

I went to an excellent international evening of poetry and music at the Dylan Thomas Centre last night, under the auspices of The Seventh Quarry magazine. You can read about it here.

Creative Corner (7): Poetic Postcard Swap

Click to enlarge
(or visit Rachel's site here for a better view)

Blend in with the trees
Make use of their breadth
Think wild...

from Save the trees (or else) - by Rachel Fox

Fellow poet, Rachel Fox, and I have been swapping our poetic/photographic/poetic greetings cards.

Rachel sent me a set of her ten poetic postcards in exchange for a (rather eclectic) selection of my Coastcard items. It was Rachel's idea, and we both felt that it would be an interesting and experimental venture. Who knows where it may lead...

I promised to mention the swap on my blog. Rachel's cards can be purchased from her website: www.crowd-pleasers.net. Let me give a few more details:

• A set of ten costs £3.50 via PayPal (I assume for UK sales)
• The cards can (sometimes) be bought from the following outlets, though Rachel suggests that it may be best to buy direct from www.crowd-pleasers.net if you would like to have 'all the set'. Outlets as follows:
  
• Loch Croispol Cafe, Bookshop and Gallery, Durness, Sutherland
  Oathlaw Pottery and Gallery, by Forfar, Angus
  Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton's Close, Edinburgh
  Tarts and Crafts, Balmedie, Aberdeenshire
  The Forest Bookstore, 26 Market Place, Selkirk
  The Windsor Gallery, 61 Perth Road, Dundee
  Unique Arts, South Square, Thornton, Bradford, West Yorkshire
  Wisecraft, 10 Lower Mill Street, Blairgowrie, Perthshire
  Word Power Books, 43 West Nicholson Street, Edinburgh
• Rachel's cards are (in non-metric measure) approx. 6"x4"
• I really like the fact that they are made on recycled card, and printed in Rachel's home locality.
  
• You will find Rachel's email on her site, if you have any queries.
  
• All cards (image, design and poetry) are the copyright of Rachel Fox.

The postcard set comprises ten poems. Most of them are in an American Typewriter-style font.

• The sisters said it best - on 'estuary sand-coloured background'
  
• Crowded out - on indigo/grey, with a lighthouse
• Save the trees (or else) - green background of birch trees
• Free at last - sand-coloured, with a balloon
• And so it goes - interesting and unusual shot of a car on mottled jade background
• Pluses and minuses - this witty and pithy poem is hand written for maximum impact
• Happy new hope - pink background, with handprint overlay
• Significant other deceased - pearl grey 'sky' background
• Diving - set against calm blue waters

and my personal favourite,

• Auchmithie road - muted brown background, with the words superimposed on a cliff edge scene. This poem has a liminal 'feel' to it. It was the one that particularly resonated with me, living as I do, high up in the clouds on the edge of Swansea Bay. Rachel's poem refers to Auchmithie near Arbroath on the Scottish coast.
  

Rachel's poems use rhyming quatrains and couplets. Most poems are not 'end-stopped', which gives them an open feel, and perhaps encourages the reader to add his or her own interpretation and ending.

Would I enjoy sending these poem cards to friends? Yes, indeed I would - and I have already done so. I feel they are good value - barely more (for a pack of ten) than one would pay for a single cup of quality filter coffee in town. They would make an unusual and welcome Christmas gift.

• Rachel's crowd-pleasers blog
• Rachel's crowd-pleaser PayPal page, where the cards can be purchased
  
• My Coastcard online shop (or you can click on the seal photo at the top right of my blog)

• Rachel reads her poems on YouTube
  

We look forward to your feedback!