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04 Friday Apr 2014
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in04 Friday Apr 2014
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in01 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted Publications
inAt the end of last year I posted a piece called “After the Flood” that was inspired by one of the seven mosaics Carl-Henning Pedersen constructed in Ribe Cathedral. I’ve reworked it since, and it has now appeared in the 200th issue of Snakeskin.
Here’s the front page of the issue. Don’t miss George Simmers’ editorial.
27 Friday Jul 2012
Posted Publications, Sonnets
inTags
Facebook, Futures Unknown, George Simmers, I Sing the Sonnet, On Papsie’s 89th Birthday, Snakeskin, The Bad Dancer
Since Snakeskin published my sonnet collection, I Sing the Sonnet, in December I have had a third acrostic aphorism sonnet sequence, “Futures Unknown”, published in Snakeskin in March.
Then in July’s Snakeskin I had a short unrhyming poem (very rare for me), “The Bad Dancer” published. I wrote it in under half a minute, inspired by a fellow poet announcing on Facebook that for Father’s Day she was off to write a poem about how she lacked a father.
And now a third poem, my latest sonnet, called “On Papsie’s 89th Birthday”, which I’ve discussed here, has been published in August’s Snakeskin.
So thank you, George Simmers, editor of Snakeskin!
01 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted Publications, Sonnets
inTags
aphorism acrostics, Expanding Notes, George Simmers, I Sing the Sonnet Collection, Looking for Gold, Snakeskin
The editor of Snakeskin, George Simmers, gave me another great shout-out just recently.
Two days later, yesterday, he published I Sing the Sonnet, a collection of 36 sonnets, Snakeskin, December 2011.
The only sonnets that are previously unpublished are the four aphorism acrostics of the last sequence, “Looking for Gold”, which I have composed in the last six weeks. I don’t normally publish work so soon after composing it, but I’ve made an exception here. They seem to be finished. As with my other sequence of four aphorism acrostics, “Expanding Notes”, I haven’t composed music for these as yet.
Quite serendipitously, I published the last of the others that was unpublished last Thursday. I had no idea before a week ago that he was going to publish my collection, and it was only with his blog post that I was alerted to its immediate publication.
It can be printed off and made into a pamphlet.
I’ll be taking a time-out to celebrate. I hope to see you again in the New Year.
07 Friday Oct 2011
Posted Publications, Sonnets
inTags
composition habits, Eratosphere, Expanding Notes, George Simmers, My Master Sonnet. Patrick Gillespie, Snakeskin, The Sonnet Board
The editor of Snakeskin gave me a great shout-out prior to the publication of my four-sonnet sequence, “Expanding Notes”, recently.
There’s a weird kind of freedom that arises from taking on this kind of project. Standing on the shoulders of the writers I quoted, I found I had a view I wouldn’t normally have. I was allowed to express sentiments in collaboration with them, sentiments I would not normally have considered expressing myself.
“Expanding Notes” was published in Snakeskin #179, August/September 2011.
I haven’t yet composed any music for these sonnets. They are assembled in the order they were written between August and October last year. As has often been the case over the last six years, I have been given valuable assistance in editing these on an online poetry workshop, Eratosphere. Another online poetry workshop which has been very useful is The Sonnet Board.
Patrick Gillespie has seen this as an example of good contemporary verse written in rhyme and metre.
Here’s another acrostic sonnet. Apart from the acrostic being exact with regard to capital letters and small letters there are two other unusual patterns. See if you can find them!
My Master Sonnet
My master sonnet is the soul of wit,
yet explication needs a beady eye.
My yen to write is at the heart of it;
all sentimental aspirations lie
sequestered as I see I am inclined
to forge a kind of metrical device
exactly showing what is on my mind:
reward arises if you read it twice.
So I have planted equal rows of fun,
observant of the laws of sonnetry,
not in the hope of winning any fame;
no, concentrated, I designed a game,
easy to play – note that it comes free –
the perfect gift for poets. Anyone?