It had to happen eventually – I ran out of reasons to avoid reading one of my poems in public. So there I was at Slader’s Yard in Broadchurch West Bay, clutching my copy of ‘Making Space’ and wishing I could be anywhere else. It’s not that I have any reason to mind speaking in public, as such – after all those classes and staff meetings, not to mention open evenings, it would be very odd if that were the case. Nonetheless, there seemed to me something much more exposing about reading a poem I’ve written than giving a speech. Anyway, it was fine in the end, due in no small part to Charles’s support. I didn’t lose my copy of the poem, my hands didn’t shake as I read from it, people laughed in the right places and no-one looked embarrassed for me. And – yay – they clapped at the end. The odd thing, at least it seems odd to me, is that when I stood up in front of the room it all felt familiar: just like all those times I stood in front of parents and staff.
The poem I read is going to be published on 15th July, on the Atrium site. I’ll have poems on Ink, Sweat and Tears and Words for the Wild in the next couple of months, too. Plus I’m crossing my fingers about another 3 or 4 submissions.
Here are the poems I’ve had published since I last blogged:
‘Tidal Blessing’ and ‘Counterparts’ in the May edition of Three Drops from a Cauldron
‘Poem on a line by Douglas Dunn’ and ‘My mother said’ in the May edition of Snakeskin.
outtograss 