Anthology Alert ~ Pre-Raphaelite Poetry II ed. Serena Trowbridge

There is a new poetry anthology out from the Pre-Raphaelite Society, edited by Dr Serena Towbridge. The blurb on the back runs as follows,

'Collected here in Pre-Raphaelite Poetry II are the entries to the Pre-Raphaelite Society's second poetry competition. The poems offer a myriad of pleasantly surprising responses to the Pre-Raphaelites, their successors, paintings, poetry or lives.'

The anthology contains my sonnet, 'Strayed Sheep on our English Coasts'. You can see the painting of 1852 by William Holman Hunt that inspired the poem by clicking the link here.

Copies of the anthology are for sale here.

'so too have the doves gone' ~ anthology launch at Essex Book Festival

We had an excellent evening at The Minories in Colchester last night, launching the new poetry anthology, so too have the doves gone, to mark the anniversary of the Great War.

The book, published by Jardine Press, was edited by Stephen Boyce, Pam Job and Judith Wolton. It contains contributions from a range of poets, largely but not exclusively from Essex and Suffolk. The evening began with a slideshow of the new Wilfred Owen Memorial at Forester's House in northern France, a building summed up in the metaphor, 'bleached bone'.

The event was part of the Essex Book Festival and was very well supported. Poems spanned wars from Homer to the present day. There were many different 'takes' on the theme of conflict and peace. I read my Edward Thomas poem about the poet's decision to enlist.

The evening afforded guests the opportunity of viewing the complementary artwork produced by students of Fine Art at Colchester Institute. Many of the images have been reproduced in the book.

The anthology concludes with a poem called 'The Standard of Ur' by Julia Brady. It draws to a close with the thought that 'art ...builds up some clear-cut arguments for peace.' If the poems and ekphrastic images in the book promote something along these lines, they will surely have done their work. 

Postscript: see here for a review by Dave Martin.

Launch Alert ~ Paragram Anthology, Slants of Light

I love the keyhole!

We braved the storms on Valentine's Day 

to attend the launch of Slants of Light 

at the Poetry Place, 22 Betterton Street, London.

 Sally J. Blackmore of Paragram hosted a wonderful evening

of poetry on the anthology theme, Slants of Light,

chosen as a nod to the poem by Emily Dickinson.

The anthology contains my sonnet, 'Meteor Shower', 

one of the poems shortlisted by judge, Adrienne Dines. 

It was a privilege to hear so many poems read by their authors:

thank you, Sally and your 'A Team', for a riveting poetic evening.

Postscript ...

This was the view (in photo below) from our 12th floor window in Holborn.

The Post Office Tower displayed digital pink hearts on its revolving display! 

2014 Reading List (a selection of books read to date ...)

I will aim to update this as and when I remember! 


Poetry

Astley, Neil (ed.) Being Alive (Bloodaxe 2004)
Beynon, Byron The Echoing Coastline (Agenda Editions 2013) 
Cook, Elizabeth Bowl (Worple Press 2013, first publication 2006)
Crossley-Holland, Kevin The Mountains of Norfolk (Enitharmon)
de Bernières, Louis Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of C.P. Cavafy (Harvill Secker 2013)
Guite, Malcolm Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Canterbury Press 2012)
Motion, Andrew The Customs House (Faber & Faber 2012)


Fiction

Berlin, Beta Alfred's Ribbon (The Seventh Quarry Press 2013)
Chevalier, Tracy The Last Runaway (Harper 2013)
Mountain, Fiona Isabella (Arrow Books 2011)
Von Arnim, Elizabeth The Enchanted April (Virago 2011, first publication 1922)


Non-fiction Prose
Cocker, Mark A Tiger in the Sand (Jonathan Cape 2006)

Book Review of Ekphrastic Poetry ~ Immagine & Poesia by Lidia Chiarelli

Image: Caroline Gill

'A windmill of sounds and fluorescent colours' *

Immagine & Poesia (subtitled 'The Movement in Progress') is a beautiful book in which the poet, Lidia Chiarelli, has placed her bilingual English-Italian poems alongside the work of artists. Aeronwy Thomas described the result in terms of 'moments of cross fertilization', for something unusual happens when Chiarelli's lyrical lines are read in their assigned context. The words and the artwork have been paired with great care and imagination. It would be fair to say that many - perhaps most - of the artworks are in some way described in the lines of their accompanying poems, as is demonstrated on p.40 when 'the Statue of Liberty raises her torch'; but these poems are more than descriptions of art. They could doubtless stand alone; but in this book, each poem becomes something greater than the sum of its parts when it connects with its image. It is as if a firework and a lighted match have come together unexpectedly to ignite the poetic landscape by releasing a multitude of coloured sparks.  

This exciting volume has been published by Cross-Cultural Communications (editor Stanley H. Barkan) in New York. The selected artworks represent a wide range of media, from pen-and-ink (Boats by Marsha Solomon) to fine-art photography (Traces of Pollock No. 3 by Adel Gorgy). The images have all been beautifully produced on quality paper and it is good to be able to see both the English and Italian language versions and their accompanying image on a single double-spread. Abstract images (Cerulean Shorelines by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld) are interspersed with more concrete pictures (the 'wonder wheel' in Coney Island by Alessandro Actis), creating a not only a pleasing sense of balance but also that important element of surprise.

Chiarelli is fond of epigraphs, and these range from a Dylan Thomas quotation to a description of water by Lao Tzu, penned in the seventh century BC. Dylan Thomas and his daughter, Aeronwy, have been significant influences, in addition to American poets such as Walt Whitman and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Chiarelli's style, however, is very much her own. Her lines are often short and her stanzas burst with light, shade and colour.

* quotation from 'Coney Island' p.46



About Lidia Chiarelli ...

Lidia lives and works in Torino in the north of Italy. She is one of the Charter Members of IMMAGINE & POESIA, an artistic literary movement founded at TEATRO ALFA (TORINO) on November 9, 2007.
See: Saatchi online

Lidia Chiarelli Immagine & Poesia -The Movement in Progress - A Cross-Cultural Communications Edition, NY, 2013 ISBN 978-0-89304-994-2

Poetry at Sutton Hoo ~ a Day with Dr Sam Newton on Beowulf

Model of the Sutton Hoo helmet ...

I spent today at Sutton Hoo, site of the incredible Anglo-Saxon ship burial. The site is in the care of the National Trust. The study day, 'An Introduction to Beowulf and Sutton Hoo', was put on as part of the Wuffing Education scheme by Dr Sam Newton, who has written extensively on the subject.

It was an excellent way to spend a January Saturday, and I came home wanting to read Seamus Heaney's translation of the tale and hoping to re-watch the Michael Wood programme, 'In search of Beowulf' (which I believe is only available on YouTube). I also want to explore some of the Anglo-Saxon landmarks in my locality.

This is the framed view of the site, looking down from the level of the mounds to the River Deben in Woodbridge. 

This was my view as I came out from the Old Court to go home. You can make out one of the burial mounds between the trees. 

Poetry Anthology ~ 'so too have the doves gone'

The anthology, edited by Judith Wolton and Pam Job, explores the subject of conflict and marks the centenary anniversary of the outbreak in 1914 of World War I. It includes my Edward Thomas tribute poem. 

Further details of the launch event and of the Essex Book Festival can be found here.