Wednesday 28 April 2010

Poetry Twentyten

With two new poems today, the first ten poems are now on the poetry twentyten page.

Poems (January-April) were selected from the work of these contributors:

Marja Blom (2)
Pat Jourdan
Evelyn Holloway
Alan Morrison
Rachel Fox
Gordon Mason (2)
Joan Cairns
Pat Thistlethwaite

Don't forget, you too can participate! Details can be found on the poetry twentyten page.

With 10 poems on display we've now completed the ten part of our twentyten theme. But don't forget, we'll be needing twenty more poems between May and the end of the year in order to complete the project.

Good luck, best bardic wishes and many thanks to all Poet-in-Residence visitors and contributors.

song from the coal box

Another small poem for those engaged in the uncertain quest for their daily toke.


song from the coal box

those with the cranberry-eyes
are those with holes
in their crabshells
unable to sleep on their clothes-lines

they came first
through the sidedoors

were undipped in the fonts
at the front

we've shoed our own mules
and sharn't hear the cram!


consonant-
chokers
have keys to the biscuits
and teas

another pull on the bottle
and we'll horsechant our songs
for short
or long as we might

and with an eye to the chance
we'll go on the scran
and not give a shuck
if we're tight
_______
gw 2010

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Plug Ugly

Here's another one dedicated to those without vantage.

Plug Ugly

Plug Ugly's entrenched
And he rides in the owl-cars; his
Best songs were sung
In a strong Pedlar's French
Picked up in the owl-light
On the penniless bench
Where he played off his dust
And ploughed up the air
To come to his point
And give moonshine to mustard
Which he scraped off his catgut
For the world and his wife.

______
gw2010

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Poetry Monthly Press to fold

That spare room poetry press stalwart, Martin Holroyd, in a statement of intent, has announced that Poetry Monthly Press and Poetry Monthly International are "to close down" due to a post-Christmas slump in sales and also for other reasons leading to a lack of enthusiasm; and so, to borrow a song title from Queen, "another one bites the dust".

This means, as far as Poet-in-Residence readers are concerned, that my only book (to date), Genteel Messages, is out of print. Anyone wanting a leftover copy would do well to order it via the Poetry Monthly website (A-Z Links >>>) at the earliest opportunity.

The final edition of Poetry Monthly as an Internet magazine will appear in June 2010.

Any reckless publisher wishing to discuss working with me in the future can e-mail me at gwil(squigglything)aon(dot)at.

But maybe, the chosen few aside, poetry book publishing has had its day?