A poem and a review

This is just a quick post to point you in the direction of a couple of pieces I've had published over the past few days. On the one hand, the Poem of the Week at the Mary Evans Picture Library is Home Comforts from The Knives of Villalejo, my first full collection. You can read it here. On the other hand, meanwhile, my OPOI review of Liz Lefroy's new pamphlet, Great Master/small boy (Fair Acre Press, 2021) is up at Sphinx (see here)...

Mary Evans Picture Library: Poems and Pictures Part II

Back in January this year, the Mary Evans Picture Library featured one of my pieces, Milko, on their Poems and Pictures blog, accompanied by a complementary picture from their archive. Since then, I've been a keen follower of their posts, and recent featured poets have included the likes of Ian Duhig, Abegail Morley and Stephanie Conn.

I was consequently delighted when the organiser of this excellent blog, Gill Stoker, approached me with a view to using another of my poems. This time, it's "Roast Chicken", taken from my full collection, The Knives of Villalejo. You can read it, alongside its chosen photo, by following this link.

Mary Evans Picture Library: Poems and Pictures

The publication of my poems feels like the wait for a bus: I stand alone, shivering, gloveless and miserable for what seems like an age until, all of a sudden, a whole load of them come along at the same time.

Following my four poems on Clear Poetry and two pieces at Good Dadhood earlier this week, I'm very happy to find the Mary Evans Picture Library are today featuring my poem Milko (first published in London Magazine) alongside a highly appropriate photo that reminds me of my suburban childhood.

My work has been published on their Poems and Pictures blog, which also houses a superb archive of verse by the likes of Pippa Little, Lorraine Mariner and Tamar Yoseloff, among many others, all combined in each case with a complementary picture. I'm grateful to Gill Stoker for her invitation to take part, but it's worth mentioning that this excellent project invites unsolicited submissions...