Today I took possession of Helen Bacand’s books and poetry files. It was a difficult thing, and I had to have a few moments of sitting in the car, staring at the the windscreen wipers before I was able to pull myself together enough to drive safely. The papers were hard, but the thing that …
The trouble with … giving feedback
One of the things that people ask me quite often in workshops is Why don’t editors give feedback (more often)? And it’s a peril of editing that I feel inclined to waffle about today. But first, a quote to put us all in the right frame of mind: The only thing to do with good advice …
Takahē poetry comp closing soon!
Just a quick reminder to everyone that the takahē poetry competition closes at the end of this month, so you need to get your poems in soon! The judge for this year is the delightful Riemke Ensing, who will be awarding a first place ($250!), a second place ($100!) and two runners-up (a year’s subscription to takahē …
A Good First Line (and Hard Work)
A few years ago (too many to be able to track down the source again, curses!) I came across a reference to writing a decent poem essentially coming down to “a good first line, plus hard work”. An interesting assertion, and the focus of today’s waffle. Lets begin with some definitions, courtesy of Wikipedia: “Incipit” is a Latin word meaning …
And Isabelle Hudson makes three
To prove that deaths are of a jamais deux sans trois persuasion, I’ve just heard of another loss to the Canterbury poetry community – the seemingly indomitable Isabelle Hudson died on Saturday (May 30), at the ripe old age of 94. I didn’t know Isabelle well, but I always enjoyed talking with her. She loved poetry, and …
A Dark Feathered Art 