Heading for the coast and some poems on the internet.

I’m looking forward to visiting the Aldeburgh poetry festival on Saturday. It actually starts tomorrow but I’ll be traveling down after work and staying with family nearby before rolling up on Saturday morning. I’ve been once before, in 2010, and I had a great time, meeting Alison Brackenbury for the first time hearing some brilliant poets read.

I’m particularly looking forward to seeing Kathleen Jamie reading in the evening, and to walking on the beach and to bumping into friends and acquaintances and maybe even saying hello to people I only know through social media. Speaking of social media, I’ve added a Twitter feed at the bottom of this page for those who are interested. I’m not on there every day, but dip in and out.

I have a few poems online at the moment. After my poem ‘Made in Dagenham’ , originally published in Matter magazine, was featured on The Stares Nest  , I was contacted by Peter Raynard of Proletarian Poetry. Peter told me he liked my poem and wondered if I’d like to contribute a poem to his website. I checked it out and liked what I saw so  I sent Peter ‘Meat is Murder’ , a poem previously awarded a prize in the Allan Sillitoe competition. There is also a short film of me speaking the poem in Leicester market which was shot by two students studying at De Montfort university last year.
Peter has introduced the poem, setting it in context and providing some interesting links.

Finally, I have a poem on Hinterland, the very good-looking on line poetry magazine
run by the poet Rebecca Bird.