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February update!

 


Hello! Please see above for a screenshot (not sure who the photo is by) from the lovely Fragmented Voices website which has my poem, Escaping Pheasants, as their featured poem today. This poem is inspired by the pheasants which are brought in to our local country house for people who are that way inclined to shoot. Sometimes I see them flapping down from the estate wall and on to the busy road, making a break for it toward the moors. Good luck pheasants.

Escaping Pheasants also features in my book, Little Gods, published by the marvellous Roswell Publishing and available from booksellers and Amazon, or get in touch to get a signed copy from me.

Other recent successes include two poems in Obsessed with Pipework #105, a Haiku in Coin Operated Press' Haiku Zine, The Libraries came out in Culture Matters' Bread & Roses Anthology, and, as I mentioned last time, When you slow a bit you can see the way, another poem from Little Gods, came out in Butcher's Dog #19.

I have been meaning to do more stuff, but the Trigeminal Neuralgia is being a beast this winter, last week I couldn't speak, and then I thought I was better and I was going to read Escaping Pheasants for the socials, but today it's back and it sucks and I hate it and the pain is unnecessarily hard work so I'm tired and full of self loathing. Meh. Anyway, it is better enough that I'll be able to go back to work tomorrow, and hopefully talking won't be too bad. Fingers crossed!

So, while lying around feeling sorry for myself here's what I've been doing:
  • Playing The Sims. Always love The Sims, still the same family. I've started destroying headstones if I don't remember who they were so I couldn't tell you what generation we're on, or what the Sim I'm currently playing's exact name is...? This means I'm probably a god (a little one)
  • Watching Doctor Who. I have a kid who hadn't watched any. We started at Christopher Eccleston, we're up to Peter Capaldi.
  • Watching The Traitors, UK & Australia. UK is best.
  • Reading Matt Haig's The Comfort Book. I'm giving up now though. This is not good. Maggie Smith does it so very much better in Keep Moving.
  • Reading poetry by geniuses, aren't we lucky! Go buy them all!:
    • The Air Year by Caroline Bird
    • All the Men I Never Married by Kim Moore, and
    • The World May be the Same  by Hannah Lavery & Marjorie Lotfi.
  • And finally enjoying The Phantomwise Tarot from Erin Morgenstern, the author of one of my favourite ever novels, The Starless Sea.
I should celebrate all this stuff more. 

The sun will stay up for longer, my face will stop hurting and we'll get rid of the Tories and more poetry will be written which is awesome. Take care lovelies.



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