JOYOUS NEWS!

I don't normally post so soon, preferring to use this blog as an occasional tool for speculation /ramblings about life, and nature and poetry.

BUT I have just heard that I won third Prize in the English Association Fellows' Prize, and I am at this moment a very happy woman!

Even happier because what inspired the poem was an amazing and tiny bird called the club-winged manakin which actually makes an exquisite note using its wing feathers, rather in the manner that the cricket makes music by strumming its legs down its wings.

Every day of my life I find the natural world more astonishing - what a joy to be alive and learn these things!

ZEST!

Last night was the first Zest! Open Floor Poetry Night of the year. At Alexander's Jazztheatre Bar, Rufus Court, Chester. Our guest poet was Andrew Rudd who gave an excellent reading and included one of my favourite poems "The Baker" (from Andrew's collection One Cloud away from the Sky). He also did a wonderful poem about the wall-hanging in Alexander's that glamourises the stage. It features a band in black silhouette on a bright back ground of strong colours; over the years this hanging has got slightly battered, probably by leaping musicians catching their heels in it and tearing away a bit of the applique, but this slight touch of the shabby is what makes Alexander's such a special place: it feels well used and exudes a real atmosphere of "this is the place where it HAPPENS"!, as if so much goes on here (and it does) that there's no time for fripperies. Our audience love it here, and we love it here. The microphones are excellent. The bar staff are excellent. And the lighting is kind, not too bright, nor too dim. You don't feel at all conspicuous which is very helpful to first-time or nervous readers. (Sometimes these are the readers who offer the most amazing poems; we had a fantastic poem about the rhinoceros last night, described as a Zeppelin - wonderful image!)

Yesterday there were 52 people gathered together in Alexander's to read and to listen to poetry - that's not bad, is it?
On our opening night in March 2007 we had a packed house of over 80 people and so far the numbers have never dropped below the 50 mark. I feel that's a very good indication of the value and pleasure to be had from poetry, particularly as we do get a high proportion of people who come simply to listen.

Often at Open Floor nights a theme emerges, or some element of connection: last night we had a fair selection of "list poems" from Adele, Francesca, and Katherine among others. Even Andrew's poem about the wall-hanging was a sort of list poem. Twenty people bravely got up to read their own work. We like to have as an many open floor readers as the night can fit in, on the understanding that it's one poem each. Most accept this quite happily, a few are disgruntled, but we like to give everyone a chance.
Our next Zest! event is Monday June 28th, at 8pm, and our guest poet will be Mandy Coe. If you happen to be in Chester that evening drop in to Alexanders!

IT'S TRULY SPRING, GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING

On the way back from Ellesmere and the heronry we stopped at Erbistock, for the Boat Inn, which is hidden away in the most wonderful spot beside the river Dee. The woods bordering the lane that leads there were full of wood anemones, and the wood sorrel featured here. It is such a delicate plant with graceful stems and flowers and elegantly folded leaves. For me, more than any other flower, the wood sorrel is Spring: I remember it so much from my childhood when every wood was full of it nestling among mosses and leaf mould.

But spring flowers aren't the only things whose blossoming time comes round just now -
a friend and I are setting up a new poetry venture called Poem Catchers. See the new link at the right to our website. It was designed by a very talented young man named Gavin Roberts who works under the name The Design Drop. We're very pleased with what he has produced for us and we are looking forward to all that Poem Catchers will bring!

HERON

Visited Ellesmere in Shropshire last weekend to see the heronry. The Visitor's Centre have cameras trained on the nests and there were 2 nests with three young herons in. It is wonderful watching them, the young are fluffy and strangely ET-like with their long scraggy necks. I was told I could take pictures of the camera images but there were so many reflections from glass, screen, water etc this was the best shot I could get. But I'm posting it even though it's not perfect.
There are five meres in this part of Shropshire and it is known as the Shropshire Lake District. Ellesmere is an excellent place for watching birds: goosander, golden eye and tufted duck, herons, swans, coots, moorhens and mallards. And in Cremorne gardens around the lake which has a lot of woodland and rough clearings I have seen marsh tits.
The lake and gardens were given to the county by Baron Brownlow whose full name was Peregrine Francis Adelbert - isn't that a fantastic name!

LATEST NEWS FROM RED BOTINKI

This Saturday I am running a poetry workshop in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, a gloriously tiny but beautiful town that boasts an excellent bookshop run by the enterprising Anna Dreda, who has put this first ever Much Wenlock Poetry Festival into action.

My workshop will be in the Pinefield Community rooms, from 2pm -4pm on Sat April 10th, and my subject for inspiration is Shoes, remarkably iconic items.

Other poets taking part in the festival include our Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke, Daljit Nagra, Paul Henry, Roz Goddard, Roger McGough, Menna Elfyn, Imtiaz Dharker, Sally Richards and Gladys Mary Coles. Apologies to anyone I've missed.
Plus singer Polly Bolton is giving a live performance of her settings of Housman's "A Shropshire Lad".

Polly runs the Oak Barn Workshops and offers a good programme of singing workshops throughout the year. I will be taking an active role soon on one of Polly's weekends, a song writing weekend in early May on which I am the facilitator for words and short poems which can be turned into a cappella song. Polly Bolton, Gitika Partington and Sue Harris will be the musicians who will do the rest!

But as well as the above I also have the good news that I won a runner-up place in this year's East Riding Open Poetry Competition, judged by Jacob Polley. The awards event will take place on June 12th, as part of the Bridlington Poetry Festival and I hope to be there to read my poem, Snowdrops. It is already displayed on the Bridlington Poetry festival website.

The poem is one of a group of - very unflattering - poems about snowdrops. I seem to have it in for the poor snowdrop since a friend who absolutely loved them took her own life.

But I'm sure that one day I'll be celebrating them again. Although I have to say there is something fascinatingly sinister about them. Another friend, also a passionate galanthophile, told me that snowdrops produce a substance in their leaves that protects them from bitter temperatures and frost, rather like the antifreeze we put in our cars, and that's why they can flower in the depths of winter.
Nature is always a source of surprise....

AND WHAT YOU FIND ELSEWHERE

I like the way the celandines are reflected in the water here - there is nothing like a double dose of spring!

Although just at the moment in England it is so cold it feels as if winter has returned.....