22/08/24

Lovely to get an acceptance from the quality magazine The Amphibian for my poem CAT LOVE which in a twist portrays cats not as joyful companions but as harbingers of death one of their many folkloric roles

CAT LOVE

A cat knows when it’s going to die and so it was with my Mother.

She was wheeled into the nursing home and turned her face

to the wall. Then as the dementia sweetened, became quite

the old dear, flirting with the nurses and peeing only when told to.

She made friends with the house cat (a species she had hated)

enjoying the warmth that emanated from fur and cat humour, ironic

as she was often called catty and like a scar had worn it proudly.

Then the dreams started like a campaign of bombing, dark nights

lost in a forest of bones, days burning through to ashes. The cat

having seen this all before, abandoned her for another.

Mother couldn’t wait to die, so we arranged it, with words of treason

and a morphine trigger and the cat returned for a day or two

like one of those Dickensian nurses with sly, deep pockets.

I admired the cat for its sense of timing. Mother died and was found

mid-morning, tabby licking her paws and chasing a feather. At least

a cat is all cat until the gig is up; they don’t linger or dream of their demise

it’s not in their nature, to question the one thing that is certain. Neither

did Mother, though she had five years to grieve it, losing her self

to tea cups of sulphur. Cats don’t back down and nor did she.

But once God has a mouse, he has his fun, then kills it.

 https://theamphibianlit.wordpress.com/ 

29/07/24

Extremely happy to have five poems in the Lammas edition of Littoral Magazine It's a nature, spirituality issue which is really up my street; below is a link to a PDF where the new issue is available for free. Littoral also has a publishing arm for any poets seeking publication. Thank you Mervyn.   

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mtb8-LcGsI7tM98fXIPhkt0pjiL68IrW/view?usp=sharing

26/07/24

I've been waiting for this magazine for some time, as the poems were taken by the editor last Summer with the proviso that issue 40 had a long time delay. I agreed as this is a fine long established magazine and I am in the company of some fine poets in this issue. Both poems are about trash and what we do with it; Golden Dustmen has a political point to make.  

19/07/24

Very happy to be in Haiku Avenue 3 with three haiku; the magazine is available at the link below. Something of a departure for me as when I write form poems I tend to write sijo, but concision comes naturally to me so perhaps there will more haiku in my writing. 

https://amzn.eu/d/0iZpJPml

02/05/24

Very happy to be in the eighth issue of the fine magazine The Madrigal with my poem Now It's Been Two Years. Written about the aftermath of my Mother's death I think it has a wry sadness, though others might call it bitter/sweet. Thank you Helen and Tomás.

https://www.themadrigalpress.com/post/now-it-s-been-two-years

NOW IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS

and the frost feathering the windows

is outside

which you always complained about

the house

was too damn hot

and you couldn't catch your breath

the cat

got your worn out tongue, Mother

we kept the rest

in a jar

thinking that if anyone could make a sign

you could

are you now ready as bonemeal

to be spread

to grow a tree in a memorial garden

or feed a hungry fox?

we made you mute (sorry about that)

but I've left the window open a crack

take a deep breathe of dust

emanate

I have a fine mesh net in one hand

in the other a hoover

22/02/24

I'm very pleased to have received my copy of DREICH today which features a couple of my poems, IN THE GARDEN and ON THE ESPLANADE.

Curated by Jack Caradoc this issue is available via the website at hybriddreich.co.uk/ 

02/02/24

I was very pleased to appear at the Poetry Pharmacy in Bishop's Castle, run by the lovely Deb Alma, under the Verbatim poetry banner. A splendid space to perform in and a large, receptive crowd; what could be better for a poet at the end of a dull January, with new books to read from! Great quality of open-micers; I would recommend Verbatim poetry evenings (last Wednesday of each month, if you're in the area)

https://www.poetrypharmacy.co.uk/about 

02/02/24

Very pleased to find earlier this week that I was runner up in the Mid Wales section of the Cambrian Mountain Society with my poem Red Flags which is about the mass evacuation of The Epynt near Brecon during World War 2. There will be a celebration of the prize winning poems on March 2nd at the library in Pontrhydfendigaid from 3pm to 6pm which will also be a celebration of the two languages of Wales. More details on the link below;   

https://www.cambrian-mountains.co.uk/poetry/2023/ 

RED FLAGS

on The Epynt

there are blocks of conifers like sombre mansions

replicating châteaux and schlossen

sylvan war games

from the last century

wooden tanks and inflatable paratroops

we’re all safer for it

though when the bombshell was dropped

by the suave English captain and pretty ATS girl

hedges were still cut

ditches dug and the sabulous fields ploughed

as the war wasn’t going to last forever

sixty odd years later

the war in Cilieni and Gwybedog loiters like a trespasser

and farmhouses have been blasted to wind

for no reason but a soldier’s lesson

the squares of conifers will be harvested

and some profit made from shrapnel

but you can’t put a price on coercion and gunnery dispersal

or our Father’s house

nor a Mother’s hope for her children

the end of all that

came to The Epynt whilst the whole world was raging

shoot the horses

and blow up the chapel

red flags are a threat as well as a warning

13/11/23

I am one of the featured poets in issue nine of Fenland Poetry Journal, with my poem Ty Bach. A renovation project for a building and myself. 

08/11/23

I received my copy of Cake Magazine today (issue 13) which contains three poems of mine; Looking Up, The Green Muse and Frog Spawn on Cefn Cyff. The last poem I was especially pleased to have printed as Cefn Cyff is part of the Brecon Beacons and I'll never forget finding frog spawn at 700m and wondering how it got there. This issue, which is edited by the English and Creative Writing Department at Lancaster University also features an interview with the celebrated poet Paul Muldoon.