This is the cover for Inventing truth. The wishbone image is drawn from a poem in the collection and reflects the tenuous, forking routes that hopes take through lives.
Ten pounds gets you a signed copy of The Knives of Villalejo with free p&p!
Endorsement for The Knives of Villalejo
"Matthew Stewart is a poet of consolidation, truth, and freshness, with a mastertful sense of economy. His poems matter, and his first collection has been too long in coming. These poems have the rare quality of resonating a long way beyond their modest physical limits."
I live between Extremadura, Spain, and West Sussex, England. Full collection, The Knives of Villalejo, with Eyewear Publishing. Two pamphlets, both now sold out, with HappenStance Press. You can get in touch with me via e-mail: matthstew@gmail.com.
“The Sword and The Pen” is a collection of poems and short stories. The
poems focus on the aftermath of childhood trauma and what recovery can look
like. T...
It is a great pleasure introducing our guest poet Jean Stevens. We met many
years ago on a poetry residential. Jean’s writing has featured here before:
fiv...
In Cambridge a cafe/performance-area has opened, dedicated to Syd Barrett
of Pink Floyd.
Magdalene college, Cambridge
Coventry cathedral - some stained ...
You’re a writer. It’s what you do. What you’ve always done, as far back as
you can remember anyway when the desire to create something has taken hold.
And ...
I want to try to say something about the beauty of the first stanza of the
poem “Night” in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence: THE sun descending in
the we...
I very much liked Victoria’s Gatehouse’s poems and statement at Plant–Human
Quarterly, here. Ditto re Chris Edgoose’s brilliant essay on one of the
UK’s fi...
Before we set off now whatever this particular journey involves, fare thee
well, Douglas Dunn, who sadly died yesterday. I appear to have mislaid* my
copy ...
maybe I’ll call gillian anderson (Broken Sleep Books, 2025), a pamphlet by
the award-winning Welsh poet Rhian Elizabeth, is a candid and
psychologically as...
There is space here and no need for ghostsin this thin strip of life we
walk throughtoday, temporary as bees and butterflies between celandine and
thistle ...
I went for a swim with Julie the other day. It was cool and blissful -
about the same water temperature as the day in spring when I took a call
from phot...
Riverside Scuffle, Peter Dent, Kaleidikon, 2026 Fly-By-Night Detail, Peter
Dent, Offline Press, 2026 (if you’re interested in getting a copy of
either, ple...
Jon Dressel, who died in 2024 just after finishing this collection, was an
American poet who spent many years living in Wales. From the foreword, it
see...
I have a proof copy of Reznikoff, *Testimony*. It’s the size of a good
brick, the kind you might want to throw through the plate-glass window of
an inves...
One of the things that seems to have happened in the poetry world over the
last few years is the adoption of religious and liturgical forms and ideas
for a...
I was delighted to find that fellow poet, Neil Leadbeater, had brought out
another collection, shared this time with Lori Levy (interviewed by Neil
h...
Lovely to have a haiku selected for the BHS Museum of Haiku Literature
Award. I’m honoured, and a bit overawed, to have my poem in such good
company. The w...
Faber, 2015, pp. 341 In this sun, swords and sandals summer of Hellenic
excess, now is the perfect time to revisit Christopher Logue’s War Music
but, if yo...
Do you remember the first stories you heard? Perhaps they were told by the
person looking after you, or they were read to you from books your parents
had l...
Do you remember the first stories you heard? Perhaps they were told by the
person looking after you, or they were read to you from books your parents
had l...
The Wombwell Rainbow is putting out a call for unpublished poems and short
prose on your local neglected water courses. What history, geology,
industry has...
Here’s something I wrote around that time, beautifully performed by the
amazing actor Nichole Bird for Live Canon Poetry (it was shortlisted in
their open ...
I counteach step, each breath, each pull, or lift, or hold;I countin sets
of twoor four, of five or eight or ten.Quantifying movement,we measure the
time c...
Wow! It's been a while since I've posted in here!
In this modern age of Substacks, Bluesky, Insta ect etc the humble blog
seems incredibly retro. I s...
My blog has been rather neglected of late, in part because of my low energy
levels, followed by cataract surgery and then a nasty chest infection, but
I am...
We’ve been away for a holiday – and a good rest after a turbulent time in
the last eighteen months, and on our way home, I achieved a life-goal (as
my youn...
I've a new essay over at the *North Sea Poets* substack, addressing the
decline of reviewing culture, the rise of the poetry prizes, artistic
standards a...
Little SongFirst year: words left, like Gods returning to the underworld.In
the second, I lived as if I we both were dead.The words returned around
year th...
Today is National Poetry Day in the UK, and this year's theme is 'Refuge'.
On a global scale, the world is experiencing the highest levels of
displaceme...
Generally Speaking (about Bookshops) Although there is undoubtedly a few
collections of poetry that are criminally bad, you wouldn’t head to the
crime se...
The concept of poetic ecological collapse has been widely discussed, and so
I add here only a few additional notes of personal reflection. Readers will
kno...
It’s been a while since I did once of these, but maybe there’s something
here to tempt you. Christmas is just around the corner… If you’re
interested in an...
I thought I'd posted this a couple of weeks back, and realise now that I
didn't, but better late than never – this is an excellent tribute to the
poet Ma...
No comments:
Post a Comment