Dedicated publisher of fiction, poetry and memoir
Dear Readers, As I write today, I feel like a dinosaur. I feel a little silly, and certainly a little antiquated. The reason? I recently entered a poetry competition, which incidentally I didn't win: no sour grapes here, just giving you some context. What concerned me were the judge's comments regarding the capitalisation of the... Continue Reading →
Linguistics is a sexy subjectAnyone who would disagree Should listen to this:LabialDentalPalatalFricativeLabio-velar GIt’s the science of how we speakSo it must have a little to doWith the things that make us tick:It’s easy you seeIt’s all doneWith a flickOf the tongue.I’m British so I’m afraid That’s about as sexy as it’s going to get:Now I’m off to... Continue Reading →
This fortnight's challenge, to write an Elegy, produced some truly moving and heart-wrenching responses, as you might expect given the nature of the Elegy itself. My thanks and congratulations to those who entered; I was moved by your words and impressed by how powerfully you used your response to grief to create art which I... Continue Reading →
Yesterday on the bus my kids sang:‘All day long I’d biddy-biddy BUM!If I were a wealthy MAN.’On the way homeWe passed a man sleeping in a doorway:Better by far to be a rich bumThan a freezing poor Man. Written in response to dVerse: Quadrille #110: Shall we bum around a bit? For some reason, my kids... Continue Reading →
It’s easy to climb:Just don’t look down.It’s easy to leave:Just don’t everCast a glanceOver your shoulder.But easiest of all isTo stay:As easy as sliding down a greased poleInto not-so-quiet desperation. It’s easy to stay but it’s alsoThe hardest of all:Tortured hoursAnd the slow death of the soul. I am posting this, a little late, for dVerse... Continue Reading →
I met you in the food courtOf the shopping-mall, thatCathedral of commercialism, thereWere chintzy flowers on the restaurant wallWhere I saidI would helpYou find a woman, butWhere were the women? Visit FVR for the full text, where this month's theme is 'nightmares and dreams.' This stream-of-consciousness poem is inspired by a dream I had once... Continue Reading →
It was a day to be borne.Sometimes days are like that:Got to be borne,Born to be got through.Sometimes whole stretches of time are like that:One day, then the next dayThen the next day after thatOn and on'Keep on keepin' on'Because they can’t go on without youIn the sweltering heat whichWouldn’t rainComplaints, always and Nothing was good... Continue Reading →
Like the Ode, the Elegy has its origins in Classical literature, where it was characterised by its elegiac metre (alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter). But don't worry, this challenge does not demand such a fixed and complex metre. In English literature, an Elegy is 'a form of poetry in which the poet or... Continue Reading →
We had a great response to this fortnight's challenge: The Ode. There were some truly heartfelt and moving responses. I think being prompted to write a poem about something which moves you deeply is the perfect way to get the creative juices flowing. All of my poems (apart from the silly ones) are about something... Continue Reading →
The Ode as a poetic form dates back to Ancient Greece, where it was devised as a song to be performed by a choir, and accompanied by dance. Wikipedia describes it as: 'an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.' I also found the following definition in... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 