A new dawn?

                                                     

I've long since given up on New Year resolutions! In fact "The Photo I Didn't Take" has a poem in it about my singular lack of success with them - they've inevitably "gone AWOL - out with the empties" by mid-January. But I do look forward with good intentions at the start of the year - and a stunning dawn sky gets me off to a very positive start. I was fortunate to be have both a poetry collection and a prose volume published in 2024 but in other ways it proved a difficult year - as it did in the wider world for so very many people, for some in catastrophic ways. But perhaps the dawning of 2025 could offer hope of better things to come. Here's too a peaceful, healthy, happy and productive one for us all.

Celebrating Jennie Farley

 A lovely event earlier this week - a lunchtime celebration in Cheltenham of the work and influence of the poet Jennie Farley. In the past, a few friends and I were privileged to attend workshops in her beautiful cottage (once frequented by Lewis Carroll); over a period of a four or five years we used to meet with her monthly and benefited enormously from her wisdom and wide poetic experience. She has guided many a fledgling poet, run many spoken word events, judged many competitions - and, of course, written and published extensively. Her poetry is always so sensual, so vibrant. One piece of advice she offered me which I've never forgotten was "No - not that old chestnut 'write what you know' - write what you imagine!" Jennie certainly has a fertile imagination!

Thirty seven poets contributed poems to a unique anthology "Poems For Jennie", which was presented to her by Howard Timms on Monday. Some of those contributors weren't able to join us at the event at the Langton but all sent her messages of thanks and appreciation. Long may she continue writing - and helping to give a voice to those following in her footsteps.

Looking forwards, looking back

I can't say that November was too frantic to be posting anything because of NaNoWriMo, other writing commitments or indeed anything major - just yet more boring health and family issues! It's all too easy to become thoroughly downcast when things don't go to plan and projects don't steam ahead as we might have hoped. But sometimes I think we need to look at what we have achieved despite life doing its best to derail us - and to celebrate those achievements too.

Whilst the travel side of my pilgrimage project has been considerably hampered by circumstance, I've been able to do a lot of armchair research, modify some plans, make provision for others. I've also been able to get to grips with some of the outstanding admin aspects of a writing life - not the most exciting but sadly necessary! And there have been one or two interesting outings - to support a Society of Authors local branch in fundraising for the charity Bees for Development, to an unexpectedly fascinating talk on Medieval Women Writers (just look them up if you can't think of any!), to give a presentation to a U3A group on Digging Up The Family (which is currently enjoying renewed interest - and sales!).

Getting towards the end of 2024 - not an untroubled year - inevitably leads to some retrospection, some weighing up of things. But 2025 is less than a month off now, we'll soon be past the shortest day and the buds on the magnolia outside my study are as anxious for spring as I am. I've had several applications for the next course of Writing Our Lives sessions that I'm facilitating and I'm very much looking forward to those. And, fingers and all else crossed, to resuming my pilgrim ways!

Ann Drysdale

 It was a real privilege to attend the funeral earlier this week of the poet Ann Drysdale. Ann, who sadly died very suddenly in August, was tremendously supportive to me when I was preparing my first collection. When I first met her, I was in complete awe of her and quite intimidated by her fierce intellect, but I grew to know her better and to appreciate her in many ways. I interviewed her for a radio programme on National Poetry Day a few years ago on which she was both entertaining and erudite. Her readings, locally here in South Wales and further afield, always had very appreciative receptions. Her collections have a special place on my bookshelf. She leaves a legacy of so much poetry, and also prose - and many other writers and poets owe her considerable debts too. Rest in peace, Ann.

Paintings and poems

 I had a very interesting afternoon on Saturday visiting the Ceridwen and Gwion Bach exhibition at Y Gaer in Brecon. The artist Tim Rossiter is exhibiting a series of his paintings there, completed over fifteen years, based on the Welsh myth that tells of the impregnation of the enchantress Ceridwen by Gwion Bach. If you don't know the story, do look it up - it's one of the oldest and the best known of all Welsh stories. The child that results from the bizarre union (and who, rather like Moses, is set to sea in a leather bag) is reputed to become Taliesin, the renowned sixth century bard. 

The paintings themselves were fascinating but I was particularly interested to hear the poetry that had been written in response to some of Taliesin's work. Two poets - Graham Harthill and Ric Hool - read; a third, Frank Olding, who was to have read in Welsh was unfortunately unwell. I enjoyed the readings very much but couldn't help thinking how masculine the poets' takes on the story perhaps were - indeed, Graham Harthill himself acknowledged them as such. I'm sure many women would find very different meanings in the myth - but then, what resonates in each of us when looking at any story will depend on many factors, not simply gender of course. A lot to ponder on there!

Appropriate timing!

On Sunday the Gloucestershire poet, my friend and ex-colleague Iris Anne Lewis shared a lovely afternoon with me as we launched our two new poetry collections. Coming in the same week as National Poetry Day - today, October 3rd - it could not have had more auspicious timing. We were fortunate to have the use of the Friend's Meeting House in Cirencester, a seventeenth century building with a beautiful panelled library that just lends itself to spoken word presentations. And we were lucky indeed to have Angela France, senior lecturer in poetry at the University of Gloucestershire, and Anna Saunders, the Director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, reading alongside us. Another Welsh poet, my friend and mentor Rona Laycock, very ably chaired the afternoon and we had a very attentive and appreciative audience. Many thanks to everyone who came and helped to make it such a memorable occasion.

So, after another lengthy gestation, The Photo I Didn't Take has finally made it out into the world. When I despair of the mishaps and the health problems of the last few months, I can now comfort myself with the knowledge that I have brought out both a prose and poetry publication this year! Time to move on now though and get stuck in again with the pilgrimage project that was relegated to the back burner with so many adverse things going on. 

If you happen to be in the lower Wye Valley area during October - do drop into the Wye Valley Craft Association centre at Abbey Mill in Tintern. Amongst the beautiful pottery, jewellery, woodwork and glassware you'll find a display of books by local authors - novelists, poets, children's writers, memoirists. So many great ideas for those Christmas presents you've promised yourself you'll get early this year! To say nothing of those you can treat yourself to ...

On a different note

Writing about things "heading in the right direction" must be tempting fate - so I'll take another tack! But despite the present writing project taking a very circuitous route, some minor surgery in the offing this week and one or two other unexpected diversions, there have been some interesting and positive features over the last month and my new poetry collection "The Photo I Didn't Take" is going to be launched on the 29th. It's going to be a joint launch with the poet Iris Anne Lewis (whose new collection, Amber, is also with Graffiti Books) at The Friends Meeting House in Cirencester - a beautiful setting for readings and afternoon tea.

And I'm very much enjoying facilitating a short series of sessions on Writing Our lives at Monmouth Library. Life writing is such a fascinating genre and people bring so much to these sessions - such varied life stories and so many hopes and plans for telling those stories in some very innovative ways. It was the Shakespearean actor, Sir Antony Sher, who said that "Nothing is more interesting than human lives" and I couldn't agree more with him. It's a real privilege to be party to them in a writing environment.