Lockjaw Magazine

My poem 13 ways of Looking at Beetles was in the first volume of Lockjaw Magazine a couple of years ago. It’s an online magazine, one I really like, and it’s still happening (though not open to submissions at this precise moment in time). They have an archive of interesting editions. Here is that inaugural one:

Click to access Lockjaw-Vol-I-pdf-screen.pdf

Forgotten Conflict

Trying to gather together my ‘publishing history’ I came across a couple of  my poems ‘Bully’ and Crossbow’ in  Here Comes Everyone Magazine. It’s a great bi-annual literary magazine, in print, that’s still going strong,  PDF versions can be read for free. Here’s a link to the PDF of the Conflict edition, December 2014.

Click to access ConflictHQ.pdf

Picaroon Poetry

Here’s a link to Picaroon Poetry’s  Pushcart Prize nominations. Best of all, you get links to some issues of the magazine, all in one place, for free 🙂

https://t.co/nKl9ZNnV6v

Do Not Disturb

Crazy Teeth and Noodles gets his Bed

Chicken has been turfed out of Noodle’s new bed. She wasn’t happy…

Noodle’s New Bed

I bought Noodle’s a new bed…..so here’s a couple of photos of Chicken enjoying it……

My Assistant has Fallen Asleep

After failing to dig a comfy hole in my Editor’s Chair, my assistant has moved over and fallen asleep on the job. You just can’t get the staff these days….

The Feed Me Stare of an Optimistic Dog

Progress to Date

Sixty-four poems remain in the folder I’ve confidently sharpie-penned ‘1st Collection’
It has found a title, which I’m keeping under wraps. Five or six poems are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and will probably be weeded out during the next ruthless round of decision making. I have been very ruthless to date: many a ‘favourite’ has been unceremoniously dumped because it isn’t what this particular book is about. Discovering what the book is about is a big step for me, as I’ve not thought about it while writing individual poems. I’ve never looked at them as a group before and wondered what my obsessions are outside the confines of the poem I’ve been working on. I realise that isn’t how it is for many writers: they write to a theme when working towards a collection. But it hadn’t occurred to me I was……..

I’ve been Thinking (unedited)

I’ve been thinking how discovering one tiny thing, one obvious to anyone who has done it all before, can make a huge difference. Yesterday I had several files of poems (the physical kind, in poly-pockets. I like things physical) lurking, filed by date, 2012 to the present. I submit poems quite frequently, so the published ones are all highlighted so I don’t send them elsewhere; I note down where and when published, because that’s useful. But, now I’m getting a collection together, (it already has a home, so it’s a matter of deciding the order, chucking out or grabbing back others if I realise they don’t work together.)

So, the small but mind blowing  discovery? Collate the poems like a book. Have them face each other, find where they are happy to partner up with another poem. So damn obvious, but what a difference it’s made 🙂