The first review of The Knives of Villalejo is now out! Liz Lefroy has posted a beautifully written, appreciative piece on her blog, which you can read by following this link.
Greetings from Provence! I recently began writing my twentieth book which is proceeding painfully slowly. Congratulations on Liz Lefroy's review but you still need some more on Amazon. How about shaking up a few of your poetry pals?
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.
There’s a delightful quickness of fantasy in early Yeats. When I was a boy,
critics seemed to enjoy disparaging his ‘Celtic twilight’ poems as – I
suppose ...
THE MEMORY OF LARISSA EVELYN GOLAC (1929-2012) Look, there she is, in the
upstairs window. She must move away sometimes, but you wouldn’t know it. —
She’s ...
Sydney Welnick introduces her collection by stating “i think we’ve
diminished the feeling of what it means to be heartbroken. we convince each
other and ou...
I’ve had a grand total of nine haiku and senryu published this year, which
is pitifully few compared to my heyday, but nonetheless represents an
increase o...
Here's a list of this year's blog reviews, with links to each. For me, this
year's standout was Ferdia Lennon's novel, *Glorious Exploits*.
*Poetry* *The...
This week’s announcement of the award of the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry
to George Szirtes gives me the opportunity to re-post a long and detailed
review ...
Those who have read Shash Trevett’s debut pamphlet, From a Borrowed Land,
will recognise a number of the poems in her debut full collection, The
Naming of ...
Rachel Davies and Hilary Robinson have been friends for over 20 years.
Friends call them the ‘poetry twins’. They are both accomplished poets and
you can f...
Like many people I’ve been humming and haaing about moving from Twitter/X
to Bluesky. This week it finally seemed to be the right time. So I secured
my nam...
… literally, if you’re my friend Julie. Here's her bed. We built it
together last week because it’s easier to wrestle larger self-assembly
things into b...
This is Ed Tapper’s second collection from Cutty Dyer Press and follows on
in its exploration of the local environment as well as forays into wider
regions...
After a year of living in London **cough* years ago, the company I worked
for moved down the road from Holborn to Farringdon Road, and we ended up in
an of...
Living in such a visual world, our most accessible sense, sight, can become
tired and jaded. Annie Ellis’ Tempo of Colour (Beechwood Press, 2024) is
the pe...
Paul Bailey, who published his first novel in 1967 and was twice
Booker-shortlisted, has died. *Guardian* obituary here. He lived local:
generous, funny,...
A few months ago, I had a meltdown. Societal and political discourse – not
only where I live, but everywhere – has become so troubled, so vitriolic,
so ang...
On Zoom, on Thursday 28th November, @19:30-20:30 UK-time, I shall be
reading a short set of poems. My distinguished fellow readers will be
Alison Hramiak, ...
Apologies for not having blogged for quite a while but after taking up the
guitar five years ago, I decided I wanted a new challenge. So, I went out
and bo...
This will probably be my last post here, and quite likely my last post as
burnedthumb. My web dev daughter and I have just launched my new website,
Elizabe...
Today, I’m sharing my poem ‘Six’, and its Spanish translation by Lorena
Pino Montilla, ‘Seis’, from my zine Six Poems, written to accompany
‘Borderland’ (W...
'McCready is an intensely physical and embodied writer with a forensic gaze
on the world around her'
'a very feminine collection, centring on the exp...
Mini anthology: 'Exhibition Cards for Imaginary Paintings' - see here
These stylish Little Black Books arrived in the post today as my
contributor c...
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...
My poetry pen has to be set aside for a while after a book comes out, or
allowed to rest under whatever I’m reading, listening to, looking at. This
happens...
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...
John’s family would like to notify you all of the funeral service which is
being held to celebrate his life.This will be held at 10.00 on Friday 14th
July,...
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...
If poems are like other people’s photographs in which we recognise
ourselves, David Harsent’s writing catches us at our most vulnerable,
vicious and unn...
Ravenna Diagram, Henry Gould, Dos Madres, 2018, ISBN 978-1-939929-92-1,
$25.00 Henry Gould’s Ravenna Diagram is, to quote the introduction, ‘a long
poem wh...
When my phone buzzed on that July morning, its screen read SOMETHING’S
HAPPENED. DON’T WORRY. I’M OK. The brevity of text messages usually adds to
their th...
Dear Matthew
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Provence! I recently began writing my twentieth book which is proceeding painfully slowly. Congratulations on Liz Lefroy's review but you still need some more on Amazon. How about shaking up a few of your poetry pals?
Best wishes from Simon R Gladdish