Recovering thelastpoet

I have been thelastpoet on Soundcloud for more than 10 years. I am planning now to start using the name and the space. I am negotiating for some time in a local studio. Meanwhile I have uploaded three new pieces. Words only. Rough and ready. Enjoy thelastpoet. thelastpoet · Another story in Ukraine thelastpoet · … Continue reading Recovering thelastpoet

Getting it out there

I was recently asked what I want to do with my poetry. It may once have been self-evident, if only to me. Now it no longer is. What is the point? Why do I do it? To increase empathy: mine and others'. To reduce suffering and increase pleasure. To do this, I make models of … Continue reading Getting it out there

Cafe society

Breakfast at Bannisters. No greasy spoon. Stack of sweet corn fritters (a rare delicacy in Britain) on a bed of baby spinach, no less, served with home made tomato chutney. But the price was nuts. Not unusually so. Just the daily, where cod and chips is now £12. My breakfast with coffee was most of … Continue reading Cafe society

Economic productivity

I have been thinking about "economic productivity". Since retiring (at 67), on a personal level and now on a socio-economic level. It is all over the news. "We must get Britain back to work..." But why? It appears that "economic productivity" has come to mean: working to enrich... who? The already wealthy? If that is … Continue reading Economic productivity

Setting off again: telling stories for love

I do departures. In about six weeks I will set off on a ten-day wilderness (well, Dartmoor) fast, "The Mead of Poetry", led by Tom Hirons and Rozalie (Rozi) Hilton. Before this I have preparation tasks: to complete a day-walk with only water and to write my life story, confidentially. The setting off is formal, … Continue reading Setting off again: telling stories for love

Hard work. Close reading. In translation.

What is translation in poetry? Some poets seem quite translatable: Pablo Neruda; Valérie Rouzeau? I don't know. Hard work. Close reading. In translation. Valérie Rouzeau, Pas Revoir (2003), translated by Susan Wicks as Cold Spring in Winter (2009). With an Introduction by Stephen Romer. Arc Publications, Todmorten, UK, 2009. The poem, or collection of poems … Continue reading Hard work. Close reading. In translation.

Oxford Poetry Library

A crowded evening at This Is Just To Say: spoken word open mic: about 50 people all told: 16 readers + a guest poet, Em Pritchard. Em was great: finely observed, personal and well tuned pieces about life in between. I read last in the first half. In the audience were two of the poets … Continue reading Oxford Poetry Library

Feral Angels: wild

Tom Hirons runs the regular on-line Feral Angels Poetry Cafe. (https://tomhirons.com/events/feral-angels/feral-angels-poetry-cafe-february-26th-2023) This week the theme was: How does wildness exhibit itself in form and use of language - in how we put words on a page? That wildness we are pointing to, we are trying to bring that wildness into our poetry. What wildness? To find it, first ask, where can you be wild in your life?

Small cosmos: virtual hypertext

The magic in poetry is that not only is a poem LIKE a cosmos, it can BE, maybe simply, IS a cosmos of reader, hearer, speaker, writer, words, sounds, spaces, histories, intentions, interpretations, meanings, etc. Every poem carries its shadow and illuminates third spaces. There is a lot of dark matter under and behind and dark energy throughout.

FloPk Open Mic 19 Feb ’23

I had an opportunity to read four poems this afternoon. Alan, who hosted and featured in one of the acts playing Hendrix tunes with his son on drums, said there had been 13 acts. I was the only spoken word.