Poetry June 2024 > Likes and Comments

By popular request our next theme week, starting on 24/6/24 is Poetry - of any kind and you can also include prose poetry if that is your wish.

I'd love to hear from you if you are a poet and would like me to feature your work. Message me or leave a note here and I'll be in touch.

And, everyone, start sharpening your recommendations - which poets and poetry do you love and why?:

I love, love, love... and absolutely adore the 'Poetry' of Tony Harrison. I don't think he has published anything new, for quite some time (please correct me if I'm wrong!), but his collected work is stunning. He is now in his late 80's, but I have seen him perform, live, many times in the past... and it is/was always a stupendous occasion. For any working class (or former) poets and would-be poets out there, he is an endless source of inspiration.

DrMama wrote: "I love, love, love... and absolutely adore the 'Poetry' of Tony Harrison. I don't think he has published anything new, for quite some time (please correct me if I'm wrong!), but his collected work ..."

Confess I don't know his poetry but shall check him out

Ian wrote: "By popular request our next theme week, strating on 24/6/24 is Poetry -
Please start with a wonderful, very rural Devonshire poem by Ted Hughes: 'Full Moon and Little Frieda'
It begins: 'A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket . . .' and in a few beautifully economic phrases describes a father with a small child watching cows go up a lane at milking time, and how the child is delighted by the moon. I particularly enjoy Hughes' nature poetry, possibly because it reminds me so much of Britain, but also because he captures something that is difficult to put into words. 'The Thought-Fox' is another favourite.

J.G. wrote: "Ian wrote: "By popular request our next theme week, strating on 24/6/24 is Poetry -
Please start with a wonderful, very rural Devonshire poem by Ted Hughes: 'Full Moon and Little Frieda'
It begins:..."

That is beautiful Jane, thank you. I can't wait to see what people share this week.

Today, I'm launching a poetry theme week. This has been a popular request and it's great to finally carve out the time.

So - if you are a poet, please share your work with us (and contact me if you'd like to be featured) or if you are just a poetry lover what are your favourite poems? What does poetry mean to you?

To kick off the week I am delighted to introduce you to Sophie Bowns, one of our very active community members. I asked Sophie to introduce herself and her work and this is what she said:

"Hello, I’m Sophie and I’ve been publishing narrative poetry since 2018. I have mainly written poetic fairytales (Beastly, Stolen, Fairytales Unpicked and Tales As Old As Time) but I have already penned two original tales which I released this year called Swaddling Curse and Suffer For Art.

I’m passionate about narrative poetry, because unfortunately I feel like it's a dying art form and would love to see it become more popular again.

Stay tuned for my next poetry book which will be out later in the year! "

I very much enjoy reading Sophie's poetry and am looking forward to her new book.

I'm a bit clueless about poetry but we heard the late Michael Donaghy read many years ago and very much enjoyed it. Here's a link to one of my favourites (to make sense of it you have to know that "Shibboleth" was used as a password in a Bible story - the guards could tell if someone was friend or foe by how they pronounced it.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...

Had a broadband problem yesterday so am a bit behind myself but catchingh up today and, as part of our poetry theme week wanted to share with you a wonderful collection, What About Now? : Sixteen Poems Rooted in Mindfulness and Fired By Love by Devon poet and novelist Abigail Yardimci

This fresh and fiery collection of poems spans sixteen key points in Abigail Yardimci's life. Those points have been picked for their fullness, their potency, their sheer attention to that moment - asking in that very breath, ‘What About Now?’

Sit with little Abigail in her favourite crab apple tree; stumble out of a nightclub with teenaged Abigail as she survives a Saturday night out; and hold Abigail’s hand tightly as she enters her thirties and is slammed by the challenges of early motherhood.

Rooted in mindfulness and fired by love, these poems will trip off your lips willingly and cling to your heart a good while longer.

'What About Now?' is Abigail's first collection of poems and much awaited by the readers of her novels.

If you enjoy reading evocative, down-to-earth poems by poets like Hollie McNish or Lisa Olivera, then you'll love this honest, joyful collection by Abigail Yardimci.

Ruth wrote: "I'm a bit clueless about poetry but we heard the late Michael Donaghy read many years ago and very much enjoyed it. Here's a link to one of my favourites (to make sense of it you have to know that ..."

I think it is just all about what you enjoy - thank you for sharing this one.