Skeleton Architecture

  Hello! Thought I'd give you a wee update on how things are going in my world! Little Gods came out with Roswell Press at the end of September 2023 and I was really busy for the first bit of October, reading poems from the new book at various local events. I'm really grateful for all the books people bought, but there's still copies available, either online via Amazon  for Kindle or in paperback, or you can get in touch with me at caralmckee (at) gmail (dot) com to get a signed copy of Little Gods and/or First Kiss sent to you in the post! After my reading frenzy at the beginning of October I took a little break for a birthday celebration frenzy (it's still going on, there's a lot to celebrate). I've been meaning to read a couple of poems online too, but I'm having a flare of trigeminal neuralgia which is triggered by talking, so that will come when it comes. I'm hoping to read at the Scottish Writer's Centre launch of their new Mountain & Glen

  My second chapbook, Little Gods, is out now with Roswell Publishing and it's blooming gorgeous. It's been such a pleasant experience working with Rae at Roswell Publishing to bring this little book into the world. I love the cover art by Hansuan Fabregas, and it looks gorgeous inside as well! The Kindle version is available right now, and the Paperback will be available in the next few days. Find them here on Amazon. Here's a wee sample for you, the first poem from the chapbook, The Island. The Island I lived on an island once which was sometimes surrounded by sea. Sometimes though the island’s god would decide the island was enough and wrap us up in a soft grey-white cloak  of frost and feathers, take us far away. That’s the thing that no-one tells you: that islands can just go away. I don’t know where they go. It’s not something I’ve read in the physics books, I don’t care, except it’s hard sometimes putting up with the other islanders. At least we can laugh together at

  Great news today as I'm working on a new chapbook coming soon with Roswell Publishing. This is all I'm going to show you right now - my beautiful notebook, picked up at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, on my last ever day out with my Mum. This notebook is full of mostly glued in, revised, scribbled on and annotated poems, some of which are going in to the new wee collection with Roswell. Why did I want to work with Roswell Publishing for this collection? I was following Rae on Instagram because I'd seen her pop up in some other writerly stuff I was interested in, and she seemed to be working with a load of writers I am currently obsessed with - like Claire Askew, Kate Garrett, and Alice Tarbuck for example, so when I saw she was calling for submissions, I went for it. She's been such a joy to work with so far, and I look forward to being able to tell you more about my second chapbook! Find out more about Roswell Publishing on their website , or head over to the

It was lovely to be invited to do an interview with the marvellous Gutter magazine in the light of my poem, Bending to Nightbreak , being published (in fabulous company) in issue 27. Here's a couple of pics they shared on Instagram from it - a picture of me, and a quote. You can find the whole interview, and one with Simon Wade too, here . 

 I must admit that I've been trying to get into Under the Radar, an excellent poetry magazine, beautifully produced by Nine Arches Press, for years, and so I am particularly delighted to have my poem, God was here , a no-loaves and fishes tale of social distancing in issue 30: The Food Issue. You can get Under the Radar from Nine Arches Press in their shop . While you're there if you fancy buying some poetry, I would highly recommend these three: Be Feared by Jane Burn All my Mad Mothers by Jacqueline Saphra, and  There is (Still) Love Here by Dean Atta

I only discovered Clare Shaw this year, and while I wish I'd discovered their work earlier, I am freaking delighted that I get to discover a poet who is busy doing lots of events and has a sumptuous back catalogue. Clare has immediately joined the ranks of poets I'm obsessed with (like Jacqueline Saphra and Terrance Hayes). Clare has four poetry collections published with Bloodaxe, the latest of which is Towards a General Theory of Love which came out this year (2022). They have been nominated for and won various prizes and do lots of training around poetry and around mental health, and they stay in Yorkshire and have a lovely Burnley accent with a touch of Yorkshire to it. I highly recommend you look them up on YouTube to hear them reading their own poetry, or search for them on Spotify to find an interview. Towards a General Theory of Love is a good looking book with the cover using part of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Early Delights. In it Clare explores love, with t