I was talking to someone about writing the other day, and mentioned how vital a good First Reader was. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained – the first person I show a new piece of writing to, for honest (often "brutal") feedback and comment. I'd always assumed the term …
Five Gifts for my Grandmother – poem in progress
Once again I find myself indebted to the Guardian Unlimited Poetry Workshops. This time, to Matthew Francis's Sensual Imagery exercise. Like all good exercises, it starts with a bit of stretching, a bit of limbering up, then sets you to the task at a nicely measured pace. We begin by writing: When I think of summer, …
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micro-review: The Nudist on the Late Shift
The Nudist on the Late Shift, Po Bronson (Secker & Warburg, 1999) ISBN: 0436204770 First, the confession: I didn't finish the book. It sounds interesting, and the introduction is well written, witty and intriguing. But the book itself quickly turns into a series of self-congratulatory soundbites, that read half way between a screenplay for a …
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Love; Tim Love
Doing some research for a workshop I'm giving this weekend, I renewed my acquaintance with Tim Love's excellent website. There are heaps of things here – links, lists of exercises, articles, reviews. Some of them – much of the workshop section, for example – are really just notes (possibly useful if you're good at workshops, …
Another day, another blog
As you can see, things have changed again. If you came here looking for The Long Road Home (my haibun blog), you can find it here. This site will now become the site of my general poetry blog, A Dark Feathered Heart. It used to live on Blogger, but hey, I like WordPress better. It …
A Dark Feathered Art 