Happy announcement time! A couple months back I submitted three of my poetry project poems to a NZ-based international poetry competition. Last week I got the glad news that "The Platform and the Moon" had been Highly Commended as one of the top 13 poems in the competition out of 411. The award is publication and a $50 cheque. I got a sweet little ( Read more... )

I took a long bike ride this evening into town for the monthly session of the Nelson Live Poets Society. Tonight featured the local community college creative writing students, so I had some hope of better performances and poets closer to my age, which did actually turn out to be the case. The pub was packed and there was a much more energetic ( Read more... )

Last night's poetry reading went much better than last time *relieved sigh* I limited myself to one line of intro per poem and it got me through. Afterwards, I was told multiple times what a lovely Irish accent I have. (kessie, I blame you, because there's nowhere else I could have got it from. I've never even been to Ireland!) Personally, I think they ( Read more... )

To celebrate National Poetry Month (April), Knopf sends a poem a day by e-mail for 30 days to anyone who signs up for it. So far, some of them have really impressed me and some have left me cold, but overall it's been fun to have a poem waiting in my inbox every morning. Today's is great, and applies to a number of us, so I'm posting it here.

( Kingsley Amis )