Month: April 2021

read all about it

Just wanted to let you know that shades of blue has been reviewed here, on my colleague Nigel Kent’s site. Definitely a read it and purr situation for me! The other good news is that Nigel is going to be a guest columnist here for us in a couple of weeks’ time, which I’m very much looking forward to. A treat for me to be surprised by someone else’s choice.
And before then, of course, I’ll see you on Thursday, as usual.

making the most of it

This week’s poem brought a soft smile to my face. It has a delightful quality of warmth and tenderness, and is such a good reminder of making the most of what we have—not in a Brownie-Guide Come on, girls, no moping! style, but in a much more palatable, seeing what is, not just what isn’t sort of a way. Enjoy ‘Happiness‘ by Wesley McNair.

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getting about a bit

Gosh, more stuff on the interweb: I’m writing a guest post for fellow-poet Nigel Kent, who is also going to review shades of blue. Nigel will shortly be a guest columnist here for us. I know he’s going to be introducing a poet new-to-me, so I very much look forward to that.
In the meantime, my piece will be up on the 17th April, and will look at one a poem from shades of blue and how it relates to my work in general. I’ll be saying the kind of stuff I’d normally have been saying at readings over the last year as I introduced the book. It’s nice to have a chance to do that. Go to Nigel’s site on the 17th to read my post.

carpe while you can

For some reason, the only line I can remember from my first-term-at-Cambridge, deeply-uncomprehending reading of Gawain and the Green Knight is the line ‘Þe snawe snitered ful snart’. The snow snitered a bit this week (though not full snart) out of a beautiful blue sky; very odd and April-ish. We’ve also had some days, though, where ‘that blue has been all in a rush with richness’, so I thought today we could enjoy Hopkins’ lovely hymn to spring (have it read to you here. Poem starts at 1.19):

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if only…

Apologies for radio silence over the last 2 weeks; I’ve not been well. I’m glad to be back, not least because this week’s poem is a relatively new discovery (to me) and I’ve been looking forward to sharing it. Some part of me deeply recognises the states and thoughts described in Jennifer Maier’s ‘Post Hoc‘ by Jennifer Maier. How about you?

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