Dedicated publisher of fiction, poetry and memoir
Another exciting announcement! Today, my poem 'Strawberry Picking at Pokljuška Soteska' has been published by Spillwords Press. I found out about Spillwords from a blogging friend, and one of my favourite contemporary poets, Gabriela Marie Milton. If you haven't already done so, please visit her fantastic website where you can find some examples of her... Continue Reading →
Today I'm very proud to announce the publication of another of my poems at Free Verse Revolution. If you haven't visited this site already, it's a must for all poetry lovers. You can also submit your own work for a chance to have your poetry featured on the site. Galaxies If all the World’s a... Continue Reading →
Writing about writing is not something I normally do, but I woke up this morning keen to start work on my first poetry collection. First thing in the morning is, for me, the perfect time to write. Before everyone else gets up and the noise and chaos begins. Not that I don't love the noise... Continue Reading →
One of the few failings of my undergraduate English Literature Course was that the creators of the syllabus interpreted English Literature not as Literature written in English, but as Literature written in England (or Ireland, Scotland and Wales.) To study American Literature written in English, you had to take a separate course in 'American Studies,'... Continue Reading →
The park where my children used to play; My eldest’s school;My youngest’s nursery;The bustling barsAnd sculptures by the sea: All closed. All closed,Abandoned,Cordoned off;As if unloved, un-longed-for, undreamed-ofThrough dark enduring days:All lies. Lies which daily rule our lives;Lies, damned lies and statistics:50% of this group die while70% of that survive,But then againWho lives? Who lives in isolation?Who... Continue Reading →
How can I go onLike thisI sometimes wonderHow can I go onAt allWhen my body Throws me curveballsAnd nobodyCan be asked to understandThe demons that existInside of meThough only temporarilyThey torment me So I lose myselfFor whole days at a timeAnd one day's damageCan’t be easily undoneIn fourteenWhen it begins againWhen seemingly it wins againAgain again so... Continue Reading →
Forget Paris, forget Venice, forget Rome... For me, the most romantic city in the world is Liverpool. Dreams of long-departed emigrants hang in the dockside air; ever expectant; awaiting transportation to the New World. I can almost hear their chatter on the docks. Maybe it's from the many visits to the Maritime Museum as a... Continue Reading →
In today's entry, I take a look at another poem by Seamus Heaney, 'The Blackbird of Glanmore,' and the extended metaphor of the 'house of life' presented therein. It's something I've been thinking about a lot during this strange period of quarantine, with a little time and stillness to reflect upon my life and re-evaluate... Continue Reading →
Do you remember that night, the night we talked? It was a fine and starlit night. Somewhere backstage, a salamander sounded the depths of the night, his mating call a sonar probe, rebounding and marking out the limits of our world. We didn't need a territory greater than this, delineated by his echoing mating call:... Continue Reading →
6 days in, I realise I'm a quarantine rookie. From the moment I wake up, everything is getting on my nerves. Try as I might, I can't seem to get a moment's peace, I can't get on with my work, I don't get my son through all his schoolwork, and I end up being mean... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 