Featured Poem Feb 2014 - 'Teachers' by Terry Caffrey

'Teachers'

You see the Teachers
They rule the classroom
And in a classroom then the teacher's word is law
They give us homework
I get it all wrong - and
Then I'm standing in the corner near the door.

(CHORUS
I fainted, I panicked, my clothes were far too tight
I wobbled, I waivered
I gave the kids a fright
I went to pieces
At St. Teresa's
But then a dinner lady
Brought me back to life.)

You see the teachers are always shouting
And all that shouting doesn't get them anywhere
It hurts their voices
They wag their fingers
Stamp their feet and end up pulling out their hair.

CHORUS

You see Teachers they take the lessons
They teach us maths and art and english all the day
Say "get your books out"
Sit up and listen
But we're just kids and all we wanna do is play.

CHORUS

Tom cats and meeces
Some sheep wear fleeces
And it's so hard to balance peas upon your knife
Some chimpanzeezers
and cockney geezers
have took a dinner lady
home to meet the wife.

CHORUS

I fainted, I panicked
I kissed the cat goodnight
I tumbled, I bumbled
The dog put out the light.
I went to pieces
at St. Tereas's
But then a dinner lady
brought me back to life.

© Terry Caffrey 2014
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

 

For further information about Terry and his work please visit Terry's page here.

 

 

 

Featured Poem for November 2013 - 'My First Funeral' By Gemma Lees

My First Funeral

There were no sing-along hits

Painstakingly picked for mix CDs

At the start of this sombre road trip

Just jabbering local DJs

Changing accents, same old chatter

As we crackled over each county’s boundary

From North West to South East

He driving and me counting junctions

Passing him pop

And squeezing his hand

As he rested it on his knee

At each red light

Travelling three hundred miles

To say goodbye

To a shut up box

With our friend inside

The cool countryside church was packed

With punks, Goths and freaks

Drawn to this village from countrywide

Disturbing the peace and quiet

Just how he would have liked

I managed not to cry

Until they brought him inside

Everyone as wearing his footie team’s sky blue

And once outside it was as if the sky knew

As even it obliged

And sky blue was all I could see for miles

Around the secluded field

Full of grey and white stones

And his box lowered into his hole

Surrounded by mounds of Earth

We stood in line

Under that blue sky

To say goodbye

To that shut up box

With our friend inside

After sing-alongs

And dancing down the motorway

We sat in his local

Toasting his memory

And reminiscing the rest of the day away

Drink blurred those unreliable memories we shared

Showing each other slightly more reliable

Memories we’d snapped up

In still-framed longevity

And we said goodbye

To an unlocked box

We could look inside

At any time

© Gemma Lees 2013
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

  

For further information about Gemma Lees and her work please visit Gemma's page here.

Call for Submissions: 2014 iOTA shots Awards for Short Poetry Pamphlets

Two, and up to three, poets will have their shorter 'poetry shots'  published by Templar Poetry in 2014 and publication will be accompanied by launch events as well as the opportunity to appear at live Templar Poetry events and other venues.

An iOTA shot will be whatever you make it as a poet. It may be a series of sonnets, haiku, a sequence, a single narrative poem, a mini-epic or a short collection on a theme; it is both an invitation and an opportunity to produce an innovative, original and imaginative short piece of work.

Templar Poetry  is a publishing house with a reputation for developing new audiences for poetry through its fresh and unfettered approach to discovering excellent new writers and presenting their work to a wide range of readers and listeners.


THE  iOTA SHOT AWARDS: 2014

•     Two, and up to Three submissions selected for publication by Templar Poetry
•     Each winning poet receives £100 and fifty copies of their iOTA shot pamphlet
•     Each winning poet will be offered the opportunity to record their work for our
•     forthcoming online poetry carousel
•     Each winning poet will be issued with a Templar Poetry publishing agreement which
•     will include the option to submit a full collection for consideration
•     All poets who submit receive a complimentary Templar Pamphlet
•     CLOSING DATE for sending submissions – 18th November 2013

 For further submission guidelines and fees please visit Templar Poetry's website.

Developing Dylan is now Online

www.developingdylan100.com

The website for Developing Dylan, Literature Wales’ new education project, is now live and ready for you to explore.

Find out about the creative writing workshops which will be available for teachers to book from 1 September, and discover the cross art-form workshops which will get young people playing with Dylan’s world through social media, music, visual art and spoken word.
Young writers from 7 to 25 will also be able to find out about Prologue to an Adventure, the Developing Dylan international writing competition.

The website offers a sneak preview into Dylan Live, the live music and bilingual spoken word show which will bring Dylan Thomas’ 1950s New York back to life through a fusion of vinyl, jazz, beat poetry, hip hop and spoken word. Poets Martin Daws, Aneirin Karadog and Zaru Jonson, hip hop artist Ed Holden, DJ Dyl Mei and academic Huw Vaughan Williams will sample, re interpret and mix music that is quintessentially New York with Dylan Thomas’ words for a unique live experience. Coming to a student union bar near you soon…

Whether through prose, verse, music or visual art, Developing Dylan will celebrate the diverse ways in which Dylan Thomas’ poetry can be appreciated, shared and enjoyed.
Developing Dylan is funded by the Welsh Government and will form part of the official Dylan Thomas 100 Festival.

The Developing Dylan website was designed and developed by Ctrl.atl.design

Eat Our Words: submissions wanted

Organisers are looking for tea, chocolate cake and cheese-inspired poetry, micro sagas and flash fiction to be published, performed and eaten as part of the Speakeasy & Salon at NewcastleGateshead EAT! Festival 2013. 

Email your poems (maximum 10 lines), haikus, micro sagas (max 10 words) and flash fiction (max 100 words) to eatourwordsnewcastle@gmail.co.uk by 12 noon on 31st July 2013. 

If your work is selected, you will need to be available to read at the event on 25th August at 3pm. Maximum two submissions per person.

Further details can be found at http://www.newcastlegateshead.com/eat-festival/food-adventures/the-speakeasy-and-salon/results/the-speakeasy-and-salon-eat-our-words-p712081

Featured Poem for July 2013 - 'Photograph' by Roger Stevens

"Photograph" by Roger Stevens

(From Roger's forthcoming book called "What Are We Fighting For" (Macmillan) with Brian Moses - a book of poems about WWI and WWII.)

Here’s the photo I took
Last year on the beach
Dad, wearing the tie
I bought him for his birthday
Billy drinking lemonade
The straw up his nose
And Mum, huddled up in her coat
Against the seaside wind

Now Dad’s in France
And our beach is covered in concrete
And tangled barbed wire
And land mines
In case the Germans invade

But on that day
We’d just made
The world’s grandest sandcastle
And watched the tide
Rush in
Filling the moat
Gradually washing
The sandcastle away

© Roger Stevens 2013
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

For further information about Roger Stevens and his work please visit Roger's page here.

Roger's new poetry collection for children 'Off By Heart' has just been published by A & C Black (Bloomsbury). Read our review here and click on the book's cover for further info and to order a copy. 

 

 

 

Free Submissions Invited by Poems Underwater

Mermaids – half fish and half human – have a long cultural history, from the Wild Man of Orford to Hans Christian Andersen and Walt Disney – even Starbucks Coffee.The project has been looking specifically at the mermaid as a figure anchored in two or more communities with its needs met by neither.

 
But Poems Underwater is a collaborative project seeking to explore the figure of the mermaid from as many different creative viewpoints as possible.

We are looking for submissions of new artworks and writing to join the discussion and to be featured in a Poems Underwater zine and exhibition / poetry reading this September. 

Themes could include (but are not limited to):

• queerness
• migration
• crossing borders
• living in two or more places
• feminism
• waterways
• sea creatures
• hybrids
• new versions of mermaid legends
• not feeling at home
• the environment and eco-consciousness
• disability

Contribute writing

Please send no more than 6 previously unpublished pieces as attachments to poemsunderwater@gmail.com by June 1st 2013.

They welcome short stories, flash fiction, poetry and non-fiction. But please do keep short stories under 2000 words, with poems no longer than 40 lines each.

Contribute artworks

As above – please send these as attachments or (if they’re large files) via WeTransfer or similar to poemsunderwater@gmail.com by June 1st 2013.

We welcome artworks across all media, but please do not submit more than 6 pieces.
There is no entry fee for this project. Selected works will be displayed on this website as they come through, but we will let you know if your work has been chosen for inclusion in the Poems Underwater zine by June 20th.

The Poems Underwater launch event and exhibition will be held in London in September 2013.

If you’d like to clarify anything or ask any questions at all, please get in touch at poemsunderwater@gmail.com

 Website: http://poemsunderwater.wordpress.com/contribute/

Tendril Literary Magazine is open to submissions for its first issue ...

Tendril Literary Magazine is an online collection of poetry, short fiction, and other words published with the seasons.


Send your unusually compelling poetry, short fiction under 1,500 words, and/or cover art. They are especially interested in experimental, surrealist, and absurdist work. 

Deadline is June 1st 2013.

Tendril will be published online with the seasons and a yearly anthology of highlights from the online magazine is probable.  

For complete guidelines, visit www.tendrilmag.tumblr.com/guidelines.

Our Pick of Current Poetry Competitions!

Lindfield Arts Festival : Poetry for the People Competition | Closing Date: 31-Mar-13

Details:
Poets are invited to contribute one A4 page of their poetry (one or more poems) to be displayed in the windows of village shops, cafes, restaurants etc. for the public to read and, if they so wish, to rate by a mark out of 10 on voting slips inside the premises. No prizes but exposure of the most popular in local media and a souvenir booklet. See website for full details.
Entry Fee: £0.00 

Contact: The Poetry Organiser, Lindfield Arts Festival, 45 Meadow Drive, Lindfield, West Sussex RH16 2RS

www.lindfieldartsfestival.com/about/festival-activities/poetry-festival/

Poetry-next-the-Sea Competition 2013 | Closing Date: 06-Apr-13

Details:
For poems up to 40 lines. Maximum of three poems per entrant. Judge: Heidi Williamson. First prize, £100; then £50 and £25. Part of the Poetry-next-the-Sea Poetry Festival.
Entry Fee: £2 for 1 poem; £4 for 2 poems and £5 for 3 

Contact: Full details and entry form at: http://www.poetry-next-the-sea.com/pages/competition.html
Send your entries to:
Poetry-next-the-Sea, 93 Queen's Road, Fakenham, NR21 8BU
Cheques payable to: Poetry-next-the-Sea

The SCJ Poetry Award | Closing Date: 30-Apr-13

Details:
Poem up to 40 lines. Themes (which may be broadly interpreted): Childhood. Culture. Education. Prizes: Adults: 1st £1000 2nd £700 3rd £300. Under 18: 1st £250 2nd £150 3rd £100. Commendations (£10 book tokens): five adult, ten under 18. Judges Moniza Alvi and Catherine Smith. An anthology will be published. This competition is in aid of Cardiac Risk in the Young which raises awareness of heart conditions and funds investigations and screening programmes for those at risk of sudden death.
Entry Fee: £0 for under 18s. Adults: £5 for up to 3 poems. 

Contact:
The New Malden Health Centre, 4 Blagdon Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 4AD
Cheques made payable to CRY
www.c-r-y.org.uk/index.htm

Templar Poetry Pamphlet and Collection Awards 2013 | Closing Date: 07-May-13

Details:
Short collections of poetry of between 18 and 24 pages are invited, containing poems of any length or style, provided each page contains no more than forty lines. Submissions should also include Title & Contents information. Winning poets receive publication in a Templar Poetry Pamphlet, a Launch Reading at the 2013 Derwent Poetry Festival and an opportunity to submit a collection for consideration and publication. They also receive a cash prize of £250. Up to 30 runners-up will be published in a Templar anthology. The judge is Alexander McMillen. See website for full details.
Entry Fee: £20 (online); £18 (postal) 

Contact:
www.templarpoetry.com/collections/awards/products/the-templar-poetry-pamphlet-collection-awards-2013

 Please contact the organisers directly with any questions, thank you!

'Hats Off To Our Heroes' Poetry Comp for Notts School Children

Budding writers could be in with a chance to see their poem published in a souvenir programme to commemorate Notts Armed Forces Day.

On Saturday 29th June, Nottingham will play host to the fifth Armed Forces Day National Event - a day to celebrate the outstanding work undertaken by the Servicemen and women who make up our Armed Forces, past and present. 

Organisers are inviting primary and secondary school children in Nottinghamshire aged seven to 18 to take part in a poetry competition on the theme of ‘Hats off to our Heroes'.

Winning entries, no longer than 100 words, will get a £50 voucher and will have their poem published in the official Armed Forces Day souvenir programme.

Entries should be sent on email to jean.jackson@nottinghamcity.gov.uk or posted to Learning, Engagement & Collections Team at Nottingham City Museums & Galleries, c/o Communities Courtyard, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, NG8 2AD by Thursday 28th March.
Source: Worksop Guardian

Rosie Garland reading poems from her collection 'Everything Must Go' are now available

Holland Park Press are very excited to announce that six videos of Rosie Garland reading poems from her collection 'Everything Must Go' are now available.

Rosie Garland, author of 'The Palace of Curiosities', recites ‘Fortune teller’, ‘Moratorium’, ‘So Long’, ‘Good Behaviour’, ‘Donor's Card’ and ‘Dignity’, powerful poems describing her battle with throat cancer.
You can listen to the poems on this page http://hollandparkpress.co.uk/magazine_detail.php?magazine_id=245&language=English or through the Holland Park Press YouTube channel.
Listen and get carried along with Rosie’s story.

Here is our book review of 'Everything Must Go', from August 2012:

‘Everything Must Go’

By Rosie Garland Published by Holland Park Press
RRP £8.99 (paperback)
ISBN 9781907320224


Wow. ‘Everything Must Go’ is breath-taking in its laid-bare honesty. Rosie Garland’s poems tell of her battle with cancer from the moment she’s told until she receives the news its in remission. It’s not a pitiful or melodramatic narration, or even negative – Rosie expresses her experiences; her initial numbness and shock, her hair loss, her sickness, the wanting to disappear, the hospital, the pain and weakness, the treatment, the loss of her feminity – it’s heart-breaking but Rosie is so strong in her poems that’s it’s somewhat uplifting. My personal favourites from the collection are ‘Camouflage’ and ‘Dignity’. Quite stunning and bought a tear to my eye.

Highly recommended

Poetry Book Review of ‘Addressing Anorexia and Treating Myself’ By Marion Lawson

‘Addressing Anorexia and Treating Myself’
By Marion Lawson
Published by Barny Books
RRP £5.00 (paperback)
ISBN 9781906542504

Right from the foreword, this book is raw, emotional and invites us into the very personal journey through illness and recovery of Marion Law.

The poetry is heart-felt and sincere, Marion’s brutally honest, sharing her anxiety, her anguish and her despair alongside her hope, her happiness and her future. I loved ‘Lecturing Me’, my personal highlight of the collection. I am sure anyone in a similar situation will find comfort and solace in Marion’s words, and for anyone else that reads this book, admire Marion’s bravery, honesty and poetry.

Highly recommended

Guest Blog from Leanne Moden, Fenland Poet Laureate 2013

Performance Anxiety

If I could travel back in time and speak to my sixteen-year-old self, no doubt she would be horrified to learn that I perform poetry. In front of other people! On stage! Out loud!

I can see her blushing beetroot-red at the very thought of it.

Like many people, I spent much of my life as a closet poet. I wrote poetry and read poetry and enjoyed watching people perform their own poetry at events. But there was no way I was going to expose my poetry to the light of day. The closest I came to that was the work-shopping sessions in my creative writing group at university. Each Wednesday morning I would walk to class, dizzy with anticipation, knowing that we would be discussing one of my poems. And the thought of reading my work aloud? It made me feel physically sick.

So what changed?

Well, for me, it was a combination of several things: my nan died, I spent a bit of time out of work, and I moved away from home, all within the space of a year or so. This upheaval in my personal life gave me the shot in the arm that I so desperately needed. I decide that if I wanted to have a fulfilling life, I would need to go out and embrace every opportunity.

So I did.

When I was offered a five-minute open mic slot at a poetry cabaret night in Norwich in 2010, I jumped at the chance, even though the thought of getting up in front of people still terrified me. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.

As I read my first poem, I felt so nauseous that I genuinely thought I was going to be sick on my shoes! Perhaps, if that had happened, I could have explained it away as performance art? Who knows.

I've now been performing for two years. I've worked with some incredible people and done some amazing things. I've recited poems in the back rooms of pubs, performed in tents at festivals, and competed in a poetry slam on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden. I worked alongside the likes of Steve Larkin, Richard Tyrone Jones, Hollie McNish, Fay Roberts, Young Dawkins, Mark Niel, and the actor Miriam Margolyes. I've collaborated with some very talented people, worked on fantastic projects, and made some wonderful new friends.

But I still get nervous before every performance.

This year, as Fenland Poet Laureate, I'm hoping to give other closet poets the opportunity to engage more actively with poetry, through a series of local workshops and events. I want to spread my own enthusiasm for poetry and foster a supportive environment in which local people can experiment with poetry. I really believe that poetry should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their background, education or level of confidence. With the support of Karen Harvey at Atelier East, Poet Laureate Emeritus Elaine Ewart, and David Wright at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, I hope to promote poetry in the Fens and work with other organisations to bring local poetry firmly into the mainstream.

Just as long as my nerves don't get the better of me!

Leanne Moden is the Fenland Poet Laureate 2013.

You can find her on twitter @crimsonebolg and you can check out her blog at www.tenyearstime.blogspot.co.uk

If you would like Leanne to write a poem to celebrate a Fenland community project, or if you are interested in booking her for your own event, please email info@atelier-east.co.uk.

Featured Poem for March 2013 by Mark Grist

'What Frozen Fingers Need' by Mark Grist

‘Ketchup?’ said the first cannibal.
‘Not ketchup, no,’ said Jen.
‘Mustard?' offered the second.
‘Oh no, mustard tastes awful,’ she shivered.
‘Then what should we add?’ they asked,
looking perplexed.

‘How about you don’t add anything?’ said Jen
'How about you don’t eat my fingers at all?'
The cannibals looked at each other.
‘We are being referenced to as first and second cannibal,’
said the first cannibal.
‘It would be a little strange if we didn’t eat you,’ agreed the second.
‘That doesn’t mean anything,’ said Jen. 'This isn’t really even a poem.
It’s just a conversation
That's been given unnecessary line breaks.’

'Screw you,' said The Poet. And they ate her up.

© Mark Grist 2013
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.
 

 

For further information about Mark Grist and his work please visit Mark's page here.

You can find out more about the Dead Poets here.

 

Featured Poem January 2013 - ‘The Dragon Who Hates Poetry’ by Dominic Berry

‘The Dragon Who Hates Poetry’

The dragon who hates poetry is feared throughout the land.
This brutal beast won't back down until all poetry's banned.
Now every poet’s bullied by his cruel and crazed command;
"FORGET YOUR RHYMING GAME!"
bellows the fiend of fire and flame.

There is no dragon scarier in any earthly place.
His face looks like his bottom and his bottom like his face.
He'll sneeze out snot as big as rocks - you'd better clear some space – (Splat!)
"TREMBLE AT MY NAME!"
demands the fiend of fire and flame.

Oh dragon flame! Oh dragon flame!
His face and bum, they look the same.
He rips verse raw, leaves limericks lame
and poets curse the day he came.

Reciting rhymes to roses was a rhyme lover called Rick.
The dragon sneezed all over him! It hit him like a brick.
A face of boiling bogeys left poor Rick feeling quite sick.
"I AM A PERFECT AIM!"
boasted the fiend of fire and flame.

So poor old Rick stopped reading books, he said, “Why take the chance?
Instead, I’ll stitch my verse into spare pairs of underpants.”
But dragon saw his washing line. Without a second glance,
"YOUR WORDS I'LL MAUL AND MAIM!"
he roared. Rick’s pants went up in flame.
 
Then Suzie Sue the farmer, she just felt so sad and blue.
To whisper verse in horse’s ears seemed a safe thing to do.
When dragon bawled she fainted, fell face-first into...
into...
into...
pony poo.
"JUST GOT YOURSELF TO BLAME!"
chuckled the fiend of fire and flame.

Oh dragon flame! Oh dragon flame!
Leaves poets feeling fear and shame.
Is there nobody who can tame
this flagrant fiend of fire and flame?

One person stands with outstretched hands, calls out to any friend,
"Our poems, rhymes and lyrics, these are things we must defend!
Who here will join me now? Help bring this menace to an end?
Success will find us fame.
We'll stop this fiend of fire and flame.

Oh dragon flame! Oh dragon flame!
My rhyming comrades, I proclaim
we WILL succeed, earn high acclaim.
The poet's path we WILL reclaim!
We'll stop this fiend of fire... and flame... ... ..."

 

© Dominic Berry 2012
Please do not use without the poet’s permission



For further information about Dominic Berry and his work please visit Book a Poet.

BBC Commission new trailer featuring poetry!

A few weeks ago Book a Poet were contacted by a company who research and produce content for the BBC. They wanted Alison Chisholm to advise them about poetry, in particular poems that covered certain themes as they wanted to use a poem in their new trailer for BBC, to air on Boxing Day.

Alison worked with the team both from her home and visiting the team in London. Alison suggested a Cento - which, in essence, is a 'mash-up' of lines from other poems compiled together to make a new poem. The poem included lines from Alison as well as several other poets; John Keats, Arthur O'Shaughnessy, James Elroy Flecker, Walter Savage Landor, Pecry Bysshe Shelley and Alfred Lord Tennyson.

The finished Cento is:

Much have I travelled in the realms of gold,

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen,

But still I long to learn tales, marvellous tales,

Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest,

How others fought to forge my world.

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What wild ecstasy?

 

We are the music-makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Step forward,

To feel the blood run through the veins and tingle

Where busy thought and blind sensation mingle.

Come, my friends, 'tis not too late,

For we are the movers and shakers

Of the world for ever, it seems;

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.

You can read an exclusive blog by Alison Chisholm at the BBC -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/Celebrating-BBC-Two

You can view the 'Celebrating BBC Two' advert on You Tube - http://youtu.be/cQqLRw8Ja6s - we are sure you'll enjoy it, it's beautifully done and we're very pleased to have been a tiny part of it!  

You can find out more about Alison Chisholm at Book a Poet!

Magma Poetry Competition Closes soon!

Hello Poets,

There are three days left to enter Magma’s poetry competition

Three days to send through your best poems of 11 to 80 lines for Gillian Clarke for the Judge’s Prize.
Three days to send through your best poems of 10 lines or fewer for the Editors’ Prize.
£1,600 of prize money will be shared by 15 winners.
All 15 winners will be published in Magma 55 in 2013.
All 15 winners can read at the Competition Celebration Reading on 18th February 2013.
Closing date 16th December 2012.

Full details can be found here http://magmapoetry.com/competition
Good luck!

Magma Poetry, Registered Office: 23 Pine Walk, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 4ES, UK.

From Magma Poetry.

A Pint of Po-ho-ho-ho-etry and a Dasher of Drama

Come and join us for a festive edition of Pint of Poetry at Charters Bar, Peterborough on the 12th December at 8:30pm.

It'll be choc full of seasonal mirth with a healthy smattering of bah humbug ... and Mark (Grist) assures us that this year he will be wearing full Christmas fancy dress ...

If you would like to perform (seasonal theme is not mandatory) then come along on the 12th and find us (Mark and Summer), we'll be there from 8pm putting together the set list ... we love our performers so we'll be really happy to see you!

We also love our audience, so if you enjoy being entertained you should come and be part of our lovely audience, you'll also get a chance to take part in our Christmas competition to win an incredible Christmas prize ...

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Summer, Richard and Mark,
(The Pint of Poetry Team)

Join them on Facebook!

Guest Blog by Pete 'Cardinal' Cox, Poet

“I was recently able to attend a talk by Sir Jonathan Miller on his life and work, from being a medical student to being part of Beyond the Fringe (at the Edinburg Festival, then London and New York), presenting the BBC arts programme Monitor, directing such TV works as Alice in Wonderland (1966) through to directing opera on stage. Fascinating, though he did claim not to be a polymath. If you get a chance, go listen yourself.

I also appeared on the local radio breakfast show once last month and when wandering through the city centre I was stopped by someone I vaguely recognised from the local pub. Perhaps he heard me, I thought. “You OK?” he asked, “’Cause you were really wasted the last time I saw you.”

Ah, I thought, obviously he didn’t hear me but I guess he remembers me from the pub. “Oh yes?” I said.

“Are you German, ’cause you were swearing away in German?” Now my foreign language skills boil down to two useless phrases in French, and no matter how often you ask them where your aunt’s pen might be, they’ll not tell you it’s on your uncle’s bureau.

“Err, no…”

“What? Haven’t you been in the prison?”

“No, not me…”

“Well there’s a bloke in there who looks the spit of you.”

Poor chap, I thought, in prison and looking like me. That must count as cruel and unusual punishment!

If any poets are looking for a good website to submit to I’d recommend trying The Legendary at www.downdirtyword.com as it publishes top quality work and isn’t limiting when it comes to the space it devotes to the contributors biographies. Look at a few back issues and if there are other poets that you feel an affinity with, check out their bios as to where else they are also being published.

Finally, let me wish all the Book A Poet readers a Merry Christmas and hope you have a productive new year.

© Peter Cox

Guest Blog from Nikki DiGiovanni, Poet

It was autumn 2010 that I entered The Peterborough Poet Laureate Competition. As the theme that year was Chemistry and it was for the city of Peterborough; I did what I always do and checked the dictionary. It said that Chemistry means "the study of the relationship between elements", so I began by listing all the things that made up Peterborough to me. Then I hit the internet and researched the history of Peterborough and intermingled my elements poetically in chronological order to create a poem that reflected the elements and people that have made Peterborough what it is today. 
 
Not since school had I personally entered a competition or even read any of my own poetry to more than one person; so being shortlisted meant I was jangly bag of nervous excitement in the run up to the final.

We had a frantic and fraught journey to Peterborough Library on that Monday evening. Everything look different in the dark and trying to find parking with a car full of edgy people certainly helped to distract me. I dashed into the John Clare Theatre and took my place. Regrettably none of the speaker’s words really penetrated my stupor until the poetry began and then the room lit up.

There ensued a battle of words and rhyme, of metaphor and simile; each poem jousting for applause, for approval and most importantly to win. When we had each read our poems the judges convened in another room to debate and decide who the winner would be and in the meantime the former, ex and past Peterborough Poet Laureate’s ably diverted our minds from the impending doom or delight.
 
When the judges returned and began with the traditional summations of the difficulty of the task, the high standard of entries, all ten finalists were no doubt swinging the emotional pendulum of “it’s great to get this far; to be shortlisted is an honour in itself and swoosh to the other end to “I want to win; I really, really want it, nothing less will feel enough”.

As is traditional they read the top there in reverse order and by this time I had convinced myself that getting third place was more than I could hope for and in itself would have been tremendous. My name was not called, my heart sank and my shoulders slumped; it was not going to be me; it couldn’t be – the other poems and poets were so polished, professional and word perfect. I didn’t even hear them talking after that as I drifted off thinking that this poetry malarkey was obviously not for me. Then I noticed people were looking at me and smiling, their mouths were moving and sounds of congratulations reached my ears as a wave of sound washed over me.

It was my moment, all my fears, anxieties and doubts melted away and my head felt like a champagne cork on the point of release. The rest is a bit of a haze, I read my poem again and the words blurred before me as tears threatened and fell. It’s very rare in life that you have moments of conscious actualisation; where you realise that you where you wanted to be, that what you wished for is now reality.
 
Cliché though it might seem, it was really touching to see myself reflected in the faces of my two boys and my partner who were in the audience. Especially when my youngest son had a mock struggle with the Mixy the outgoing Poet Laureate and then he held aloft the winners' plaque, like a victor's shield after a battle and declared he was the son of Peterborough Poet Laureate.

Click here to read: Peterborough Chemistry

So many lovely people came and congratulated me, it was during this time that Vivien from Poets United invited me to their group which runs on the first Tuesday evening of every month at Peterborough Council for Voluntary Services. Joining the group was like a home coming, they were  so welcoming. A great group of people who are so appreciative of each other’s poetry and the themed nights are great at inspiring and creating impetus for new poems.

 In January 2011 I was asked to write and perform a poem for The Holocaust Memorial Service to be held in Cathedral Square on January 27th 2011. It was a very moving day, beginning with the ceremonial walk from Mayor’s Suite to the Cathedral Square outdoor ceremony. Every seat taken and many people standing and for all of us the biting cold transporting us to the places and people who suffered unimaginable horrors.

My poem Unbreakable was a humble tribute to all people who stand up against tyranny and violence whether that’s in the course of normal life or in times of war.

Click here to read: Unbreakable
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For Comic Relief I was asked to compose and perform a poem for the children of Queens Drive Infant School. The poem was based on the person that might have wielded the famous Peterborough Museum Bronze Aged Sword found in the River Nene, which was subsequently stolen, recovered and returned to the museum. 

Click here to read: BAM - Bronze Aged Man

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The British Red Cross asked me to write a poem for International Day of The Disappeared. After meeting so many of the volunteers at their Peterborough offices together and hearing some of the Tracing Service's stories the poem I ended up writing focused on two stories that haunted my dreams and continue to move me.

Adeela Bainbridge and I agreed that the reading of the poem should have some deeper symbolic meaning so we Terry and Sophie of "My Green Backyard" who agreed to our proposal to have a tree planting ceremony and poetry reading. We had an open invitation which resulted in a lovely group of people attended, many of whom had direct experience of having lost someone.

After reading the poem, a copy was planted beneath one of the two trees and all those attending the ceremony added the soil to complete the planting collectively before sharing cake and their own memories with each other. It was a really special day and I still have my ‘forget me not’ book mark to remind me lest I should forget. 

Click here to read:  Family Tree

My Greenbackyard has been under threat and had a petition this is my poem for it:

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The Peterborough Library has been very supportive during my tenure as Poet Laureate and has encouraged my development as a performer, the highlight of which was the time I was able to perform with signers for an audience that included deaf and hearing impaired audience members.  It took a little preparation to ensure it went smoothly and it was a real privilege to once again present reading challenge awards some of which were to second language readers which in my book is even more impressive.

The signers were a little nervous when I was wielding my sword when performing my poem: ODE TO THE VANQUISHED.pdf . Lots of people who were quite interested in my sword, it is quite heavy and one of a pair (in case you were interested). Over my time as Peterborough Poet Laureate one of the greatest things has been the opportunity to encourage others to pick up a pen, for the first time or again. It’s been a real joy to meet so many other poets and to share mine and their poems with each other.

If you would like to commission Nikki to write or perform a poem for your event please email information including the date and location of the event to: reusegirl@hotmail.co.uk

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© Nikki DiGiovanni 2012