The title of my first full collection, due out on 21st June with Eyewear Publishing, is The Knives of Villalejo. A launch and several readings are already scheduled. More details in due course...
Good title. I think that titles are very important. We can't all get away with calling our collections 'North'! The other day I googled one of my books called 'Original Cliches'. I found it alright but most of the pages referred to a poetry volume not by me. An Australian poet had pinched my title without the slightest hint of an acknowledgement. Are fewer poets blogging this year or is that a false impression?
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.
I liked the Poetry Society's Free Verse event on April 25th, where dozens
of small press publishers had stalls. One of the talks was "AI in Poetry
and Tr...
How Culhwch Won Olwen, Liam Guilar (trans.), Shearsman Books, 2026, ISBN:
9781837380121, £12.95 Book of Inversions, Kit Fryatt & Harry Gilonis
(trans.), Ve...
GPH27 Inside The Arcade MO27 FHP27 GPH27 In the Noise, You Anchor Me The
lights strobe trying to outshout my heartbeat, all neon teeth and clatter,
a carou...
Based on a true, local to me story, Sarah Fitzgerald’s novella explores the
facts through fiction. In January 1569, Agnes Bowker gave birth to a feline
in ...
I am proud to share news of the publication of a lyric essay that I have
co-authored with my colleague and friend Patricia Debney (also a survivor
of child...
I am proud to share news of the publication of a lyric essay that I have
co-authored with my colleague and friend Patricia Debney (also a survivor
of child...
[This morning’s attempts to make sense of it all.] THE JUGGLER It’s a
curse. I can’t escape it. I juggle.(Some who remember yearn to forget.)A
scientist ha...
Readers of the April edition of The Candyman’s Trumpet, edited by the
remarkable Sanjeev Sethi, will have been reminded of the rich seam of
poetry and abun...
Humpbacks off the starboard bow, blowing and blowing.
One breaches for the sheer joy of it
(“Stellwagen bank and a god’s breath”)
This is one of your ...
There’s a long piece (6,759 words) by Sarah Resnick in the new issue of the
*LRB* on Ágota Kristóf, following the publication by Penguin last year of
Kri...
Not long now until my 50th birthday…The last few weekends have seen (and
the next few will see) a swathe of 50th birthday celebrations. Despite the
insanit...
As much as the first cuckoo ever was, the (almost) annual brouhaha over the
choice of winner of the UK’s National Poetry Competition (NPC) is a sure
indica...
It is a great pleasure introducing guest poet Kate Noakes. The four poems
are from her new collection Sublime Lungs, published this month by Two
Rivers Pre...
Just a quick plug for Livi Michael’s new book , Elizabeth and Ruth (Salt
Publishing 2026). Livi was my supervisor when I was studying at Sheffield
Hallam a...
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...
Rishi Dastidar has always been an accessible and entertaining poet, with
asides in satire and political comment. Since his last book, however, he
seems to ...
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...
Here…
...and it was so beautiful. Imagine!
There are landscapes I’ve never been in before, and this was one. A high
lake in Sweden, frozen to 40-50 cm ...
Today is World Book Day 2026, and while the day is primarily intended for
children and young people, it seems sense to broaden the boundaries.
The co...
This review – or a shortened version of it – first appeared in The Times
Literary Supplement, 25th December 2025. Many thanks to Camille Ralphs for
commiss...
Roads go ever on and on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never
sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter
sown, A...
Since my last post about the huge spike in this site’s visitors and views
(up over 500%) I’m pretty sure that it’s not my content but another, more
malicio...
I’ve never warmed to Shelley as a man, and when I’ve tried reading his
poetry in bulk I’ve found the process curiously unsatisfying. This is odd:
his writi...
Perhaps it is my southern hemisphere background, but I find it hard not to
feel gloomy in the cold, dark, dreary months of northern winter. This
December h...
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...
Dear Matthew
ReplyDeleteGood title. I think that titles are very important. We can't all get away with calling our collections 'North'! The other day I googled one of my books called 'Original Cliches'. I found it alright but most of the pages referred to a poetry volume not by me. An Australian poet had pinched my title without the slightest hint of an acknowledgement. Are fewer poets blogging this year or is that a false impression?
Best wishes from Simon R Gladdish