National Poetry Month: I try again

I'm going to make yet another attempt to write thirty poems in the thirty days of April, and as before, I've called for company. Here's the list of who's offered to join me--more are welcome!

1. Hazel Hammond, Bristol

2. John Wheway, Stanton Drew

3. Linda Black, London

4. Lucy Sixsmith, Bath

5. Helen Pizzey, Dorset

6. Claire Crowther, Surrey

7. Zara Preston, Bath

8. Jenny Martin, London

9. J.L. Williams, Edinburgh

10. James MacGregor, Trowbridge

11. Mo Gallacio, London

12. Charles Johnson, Pilton, Somerset

13. Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Gateshead

14. Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Los Angeles

15. Aidan Semmens, Woodbridge, Suffolk

16. Tony Williams, Sheffield

17. Michael Egan, Liverpool

18. Kenny Knight, Plymouth

19. Peter Daniels, London

20. Sarah Wheeler, Bath

21. Kati Rynne, London

22. S.V. Wolfland, Exeter

23. Andrea Porter, The Fens, St Ives

24. Isobel Armstrong, Southampton

25. Charlotte Walker, Manchester

26. Jaime Robles, Exeter

27. Mike Jenkins, Merthyr Tydfil

28. Rob A. Mackenzie, Edinburgh

29. Graham Burchell, Dawlish

30. Diana Gittins, Exeter and Yorkshire

31. Brett Hardman

32. Andrew Bailey, Sussex

33. Sophie Mayer, London

34. Sandra Etter, Normal, Illinois

35. Aisling Tempany, Cardiff

36. Matt Bryden, London

37. Louise Matthias, Joshua Tree, California

38. Catherine Edmunds, Bishop Auckland

39. Fay Baker, Salford

40. Mimi Thebo, Keynsham

41. Susan Taylor, Dartmoor

42. Valeria Melchioretto, London

43. Frank Dullaghan, Dubai

44. Val Roberts, Cheshire

45. Wendy Webb, Norfolk

46. Joanne Limburg, Cambridge

47. Tamar Yoseloff, London

48. Alan Summers, Bradford on Avon

49. Karen Hoy, Bradford on Avon

50. Cat Conway, London

Tomorrow it begins!

Musée Rodin, Paris, 27 March 2010

Please click on the images below to see them in more exquisite detail.

"Eve"

atop "The Gates of Hell"

"The Burghers of Calais"--

the force and individuality of the figures is overwhelming

"Balzac"

"McLean County Highway 39,"

from Divining for Starters, is now up on Michelle McGrane's Peony Moon, at her request. It tries to evoke taking a bike ride through the prairie near where I grew up.

StAnza: Scotland's Poetry Festival, 20 March 2011

My reading in St John's Undercroft, St Andrews

Rob A. Mackenzie and I read out one of each other's poems in each other's accent--one of my favourite moments from the festival. I just wish we'd gone on longer--it was such fun.

Thanks to Kenny Campbell for the photos.

Geoffrey Hill's first lecture as Oxford Professor of Poetry,

"How ill white hairs become a fool and jester," is now available to listen to online here.

BBC Radio 4 on Bob Cobbing

BBC Radio 4 has made a wonderful programme on British sound poet Bob Cobbing, available to listen to online for another twelve days, titled "Make Perhaps This Out Sense Of Can You." Highly recommended.

The ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, Scotland, 21 March 2011

Poetry communities

My post on my own early experiences of poetry communities and what I've learned of the Scottish poetry community are on the blog for StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, at which I'll be reading and giving a talk this weekend.

The Centenary of International Women's Day

is marked by the Guardian with its list of the top 100 women, with 16 in writing and academia. Bath Spa University, where I teach, is in the midst of a week of interesting events, including two Women's Poetry Hours I organised. One will be at Bath Central Library tomorrow at 6 p.m., with myself, Dikra Ridha, Linda Saunders, and Ruth Sharman reading, Nikki Bennett hosting; the second will be held Friday at one p.m. in the Michael Tippett Centre foyer on the Newton Park campus, with a mix of local, MA, and staff poets: Daisy Behagg, Nikki Bennett, Zoe Howarth, Dikra Ridha, and Mimi Thebo, and myself hosting. Both readings are free and open to the public.

My review of Peter Reading's Vendange Tardive,

a book I highly recommend, appears in today's Guardian. At the editor's request, I originally submitted a review nearly twice the length and am happy to share it with anyone interested.

Another splendid review of The Son

appears in Shadowtrain's November/December 2010 issue, written by Rupert M. Loydell. I don't know how I missed it, but I'm glad to have found it in the end.