Diary: May 2024

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news and poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity. 

Hey all, going to keep this intro brief as I’m spinning plates. Am writing and reworking furiously, I say that much of the time I’m able to maintain a state of what the Taoists call Wu Wei, or effortless activity, this is great progress and leads to good flow if I remember to eat… Our XR Rebel Library feature, What We’re Reading is out now go to https://rebellibrary.com/may-2024/ this month we look at “the ethics of mass-producing and consuming our fellow-creatures as our theme” entitled Blood, Bone and Gore and featuring the stunning poem Dry Spell by Rebecca Hawkes

First the poetry and writing stuff upfront then some comments on the growing Gaza Solidarity Camps which have been referred to as the “USA intifada” now global, and Freedom Flotilla for Gaza.

OUT NOW

Two new titles from Bloodaxe that look absolutely fascinating and are on my shopping list, burgeoning bookcase permitting, are 

May Swim by Katie Donovan and Fantastic Voyage by Amanda Dalton

Release date: 23rd May 2024

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more info: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/new_titles/comingsoon

COMING UP

Sunday 12th May Poets for the Planet are making waves with an appearance at the Tunbridge Litfest.  Festival programme here

NURTURING YOUR PRACTICE 

For those wanting to take a leap this Carol Ann Duffy’s WRITING POETRY might appeal, with 25 video lessons and 88-page course notes it’s a steal at £79

You can learn at your own pace with deadlines. I’ve not personally taken this course but how often do you get to work with a former Poet Laureate? 

https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/carol-ann-duffy/writing-poetry

IN OTHER NEWS

Is This the Third Intifada? 

Intifada translates as uprising/ shaking

While the atrocities in Gaza continue and are relentless it would seem there has been an upswing in peace protests, swelled by celebrations of international workers day. Video from Reel News of the London protest on May 1st here

In the past few months there has been a growing number of solidarity camps for Gaza in universities calling for a ceasefire and divestment from companies linked to Israel mostly in the USA, “66 Universities (56 in US, 4 in UK, 2 in France, 2 in Australia and 1 in Canada) Last revised on April 28th.” Video footage here

Following vicious attacks by police on protests calling for a ceasefire at campuses in California and the most recently, from what I can make out, at Columbia University New York on Tuesday https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/30/new-york-police-columbia-university-student-protests protests are now spreading globally. 

The Washington Post reported yesterday, “From Kuwait to Lebanon, in Egypt and Ramallah, students have occupied central locations on campuses and on Monday and Tuesday waved placards calling for an end to the war in Gaza and divestment by their universities from companies that do business with Israel.

Similar protests have taken place at Sorbonne University in Paris and elsewhere, including Italy, Britain, Canada and Australia, as the global student demographic piles pressure on administrators and governments almost seven months into the war. Some of those protesting said they were directly inspired by U.S. students.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/30/college-protest-middle-east-gaza

Meanwhile support for the student protests is growing. Al Jazeera report, “Nearly 190 advocacy organisations laud students’ ‘courage’ amid ongoing crackdown on encampments across US universities.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/29/us-advocacy-groups-back-palestine-solidarity-campus-protests-amid-gaza-war

While the Middle East Monitor note “UN rights chief ‘troubled’ by ‘heavy-handed’ suppression of US student protests”

UN rights chief ‘troubled’ by ‘heavy-handed’ suppression of US student protests

Meanwhile the Freedom Flotilla carrying 5 500 tonnes of aid to Gaza including three ambulances and a fire engine is battling bureaucracy in order to set sail. There are over 1000 people aiming to sail on the flotilla of three ships from 36 nations, funded by donations from four million people across the world. For updates and how to support go to https://freedomflotilla.org/i-want-to-help/

A year ago a friend in Mexico sent me a meme which translated to “great changes always come with a great shaking. It’s not the end of the world it’s the beginning of a new one. A year on we find ourselves in the midst of a great shaking. I Have no doubt what we are living through is historic. 

While we must not forget the horrors that have caused this, a genocide live streamed on our screens, I am certain we will look back on this time the same way we do on the time of the Occupy Movement which coincided with the Arab Spring. And comparisons are being made in the US press to the anti war protests during the American War in Vietnam which coincided with world shaking and revolutionary events in 1968 across the world. I could go on. What is not certain is the shape of the world on the other side of this. 

Our movements are connected like never before, our banners call for dignity, peace, respect, beauty, love, freedom, a sustainable earth. 

Let’s stand firm as the world shakes, let our rage become compassion, let our grief become our reason for living, let our love become the ship on which we sail to the new world. Love is what we must hold onto at this time above all else. All hands on deck! 

#Love and #Solidarity know no borders

Image: “A Massachusetts Institute of Technology student hangs a sign on a barricade surrounding a protest encampment in support of Palestinians on April 28, 2024 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States” [Amanda Sabga/Reuters]

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: September 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

Am in the midst of a long overdue break however here’s a few pointers to the events in the poetry world this month. I’m going to be away for a while on a combined research trip/ yoga holiday hoping to return enthused, strong and rested before embarking on my MA in Writing Poetry at the Poetry School later in the month. 

OUT NOW

indiom by Daljit Nagra

Publisher: Faber & Faber

“Daljit Nagra’s mock epic scrutinises the legacies of Empire and issues such as power and status, casteism and colourism, mimicry and mockery. What is Britishness now? How can humour help us survive hardship? The result is a capacious ‘talkie’/poem/play of resistance and redress whose ludic structures defy boundaries: a story of intertextual and misplaced identities, gods and miracles, celluloid tragedy and blushing romantic desire amid an awkwardly rolling cricket ball and rioting poodles.”

COMING UP LONDON

An innovative youth event that asks 

Who is AI, what is AI, is AI a friend or an enemy?

Come down for a special Poetry Luv showcase as part of Science Gallery London’s current season AI: Who’s Looking After Me? Science Gallery, to January 20, 2024

New work created by the poets that was written as part of a short residency at Science Gallery London. During the residency, the spoken word artists met with AI researchers at King’s College London to debate topics ranging from how AI will affect our justice, healthcare and education systems, to questioning whether it’s possible to fix bias in AI.

The event will kick-off with Poetry Luv’s usual open-mic slot, before leading into the AI: Who’s Looking After Me? poems and discussion.

POETRY LUV is a poetry and spoken word platform for up and coming artists. @poetryluv

INDIGO YOUTH is a not for profit organisation set up to deliver projects for disadvantaged young people in Lambeth and neighbouring London Boroughs. Projects focus on music, creative arts, mentorship and enterprise. @indigoyouthltd

This collaboration is part of Science Gallery London’s Creative Project Grants programme for local 18 – 25s and King’s students.

FREE entry

Science Gallery London is a place to grow new ideas across art, science and health. It is King’s College London’s unique public space that brings together academics, researchers, students, artists and local communities. Science Gallery London presents exhibitions, events, performances, live experiments, open discussions and festivals.

EXHIBITION

A timely exhibition as we see fire and flood across Greece and beyond from Gideon Mendel, entitled Fire / Flood

© Gideon Mendel

Since 2007, award-winning South African photographer Gideon Mendel has been travelling around the world photographing the devastating impact of climate catastrophes, focusing on flooding and wildfires. Over the past 15 years, he’s made 20 trips to flooded areas, most recently spending time in Nigeria and Pakistan.

Mendel said: “My subjects… are showing the world the calamity that has befallen them. They are not victims in this exchange: the camera records their dignity and resilience. They bear witness to the brutal reality that the poorest people on the planet almost always suffer the most from climate change.” The Photographers’ Gallery, to September 30; thephotographersgallery.org.uk

NURTURING YOUR PRACTICE

From Poets for the Planet

Workshop Sunday 17th September 

Campaign Sunday 24th September 

All details in the link. 

http://poetsfortheplanet.org.uk/ecopoems-for-world-rivers-day/?fbclid=IwAR2G-YZHn82a3CqD-lh9zMmP0wTYJXXSjxahwQmEQ3kFM4Jmc5rx3EyZPHU_aem_AWEMaTaO2mBdctUWmaI-zRDVRfMCN6bLxNUlky6BTcHRrO_-G4CefXnvFl5s8xmqVYs

#StopTheSewage #ClimateEmergency #WorldRiversDay 

From the Poetry Society

Catch the last month of Feedback on your poems: Poetry 1-2-1 Sessions, July – September 2023 from the Poetry Society 

Saturday 1 July 2023, 8:00 am – Saturday 30 September 2023, 5:00 pm

£10.00 – £72.00

“A one-to-one feedback session with an established poet offers a relaxed but in-depth analysis of up to 150 lines of your poetry.

It’s a unique opportunity to identify strategies for further developing your writing, discuss problems you may be experiencing and look at strategies for taking your work forward. There will be plenty time to talk about all those things you need to know about writing, revising and submitting your work.

Most feedback sessions take place online. Now Covid restrictions have lifted, some poets are offering in-person sessions again. These have a £10 supplementary fee to cover poets’ travel time and costs. Maggie Sawkins offers in-person sessions in the Isle of Wight, Carole Bromley in central York, J C Niala in Oxford, Judy Brown in London and Alison Chisholm within a 25 mile radius of Stockport.

When you have booked a session, The Poetry Society will put you directly in touch with the poet to arrange a mutually convenient date, time and (if relevant) place. Please note that this will entail swapping your email address with the poet.” 

Details about poets running feedback sessions are here.

Please contact info@poetrysociety.org.uk with any queries.

A HEADS-UP 

This year’s National Poetry Day is on Thursday 5 October 2023. The theme for National Poetry Day 2023 is Refuge.

If you’re a teacher, inviting a poet into your school is one of the best ways to celebrate National Poetry Day. We’d love to find you the perfect poet for your students through our Poets in Schools service: make an enquiry today.

The Poetry Society’s Stanza competition, open to all Stanza members who are also members of The Poetry Society, is on the theme of ‘Refuge’ and the winners will be announced on National Poetry Day. The competition is judged by Gwyneth Lewis, and the deadline is Monday 4 September.

#amwriting about smoke and air

#amreading about wildfires and it’s not for the faint hearted believe me

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: June 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

Some thoughts on the present time then poetry news follows… Have had a month rocked by waves I don’t really understand. I’ve come to this conclusion; minds want to meet, the body yearns for touch, the heart wants to love, the soul wants to connect. This is true intimacy I guess. When faced with this potential or just the hint of it, it’s hard not to run for the hills. For me in any case. Genuine intimacy is scary. Easier to avoid, sabotage, resist. We’ll see what part in me wins, the wounded child, the fearless young adult, the wounded adult or perhaps a more mature being that is still finding its feet. 

I wonder that the earth itself is rocking us with the tremendous uncertainty we all face at this time. Reports suggest a dire situation with regard to polar ice while the smoke from wildfires in Canada reaches all the way down to Florida. Here in June in the U.K. temperatures bounced from 16 degrees Centigrade to 32 in ten days. This is not normal, I thoroughly resist the phrase “new normal”, by the way. Time to pray for the crops, biodiversity and natural carbon sinks, time to reuse, recycle, repair, reclaim and rebel! 

I wonder that the reluctance to fully embrace the reality of the climate emergency, which we all do on some level, I know I do, is also a factor of avoiding our intimate connection with the earth itself, our vulnerability in the face of that fact. As unevolved humans we seek control over the earth, we think somehow we are separate from nature not part of it. 

Perhaps it’s the avoidance of the deep contradiction that if we become fully human; connect with what I’ve heard described as our Christ consciousness or Buddha nature, all that we can be, it means recognising our mightiness yet simultaneously our smallness in the sight of everything, surrendering with awe and humility to the wonder of nature. I’ll leave it there as I’ve not fully thought it through yet. 

OUT NOW

Having struggled with my mental health most of my adult life and navigated much loss and pain am very much looking forward to reading this Define Hope by Evrah Rose Verve Poetry Press

“Define Hope is an intimate glimpse into the journey and thought process of a poet navigating debilitating chronic ill health, grief, loss and pain. From the darkness of losing faith, the bitterness of grieving her former self to the light she often found during her most trying times. Define Hope is a reflection of the extremes of emotion we each face – the exhausting and unpredictable shifts of anger, hopelessness and sadness and their relationship to our mental health and self belief. Evrah exposes herself and her conflict with the world in an unflinching look into her life since her last release.”

COMING UP 

Flaming Poetry!

An eco-poetry workshop among Poets for the Planet on the theme of fire.

Bring a prompt and your fiery imagination: Saturday 8 July 2023 on Zoom at 10am UK time. This is part of a series of workshops exploring the elements, beginning with fire.

More more details tbc soon but in the meantime, keep an eye out for updates on the Facebook page and website and register your interest by email poetsfortheplanet@gmail.com

Coming up online on Sunday 25th June, 6-7pm  –  Red Door Poets Mary Mulholland, Chris Hardy & Lesley Sharpe will be reading with special guests Clare Shaw, Gareth Writer-Davies & Dave Wakely. Tickets free on eventbrite 

This also grabbed my interest; Illusionaries Presents: Memories of a Dead Poet, directed and animated by resident artist Arash Irandoust, June 22nd to September 24th

Tickets are on sale at www.illusionaries.com

“Immerse yourself in the first-of-its-kind, story-based immersive art experience in London, where a mind-bending fusion of art and technology promises to redefine your perception of reality.

Embark on a captivating 40-minute journey through a triptych of multisensory immersion spectacles, meticulously crafted to engage your senses and challenge your intellect.

Arash Irandoust is far from your typical artist. A storyteller who views art through a philosophical lens, he defies societal norms with his creations. His art establishes a deep connection with the inner self, eliciting emotions that go beyond intellectual comprehension.”

#amwriting or rather rewriting and reworking poems addressing the climate emergency and the devastation in vulnerable areas of our home, the earth

#amreading Dear Life: an emerging young writer’s anthology 

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: May 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

Finally getting some down time! Well, that was after two weeks of playing catch up with a poetry admin backlog! So not much to say though my garden is blooming and I can report I got along to the XR Writers Rebel and Poets for the Planet “peoples picket” at 55 Tufton Street at the end of last month.

The sun came out after a burst of torrential rain, I’d say there was perhaps a few hundreds of people there and our love and rage in the air. Here is Zadie Smith on why we were there

Full transcript here

OUT NOW

Catch Me When I Fall: Poems of Mother Loss and Healing by Donna Stoneham

“A moving collection of poems and letters, this collection tells the story of grief, healing, and love between an adult daughter and her elderly mother. Four years of conversations are chronicled in this collection to contextualize the author’s grief after the loss of her mother. This transformational and transcendent collection shows the power of love and relationships to help us transform into our authentic selves.”

COMING UP 

Monday 5th June 7.00pm 

The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, London, W1W 7JD

The second Scarlett Sabet Curates event featuring Salena Godden, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Yomi Ṣode, Oakley Flanagan, Rishi Dastidar and Scarlett herself.

Doors open 7.00pm with readings commencing at 7.30. Pamphlets and publications from the performing poets will be available to purchase on the night. The Social welcomes anyone who may have accessibility needs, however they are unfortunately unable to host wheelchairs users in the downstairs venue space.

#amreading The Thirteenth Angel by Philip Gross and Say it With Me by Vanessa Lampert

#amwriting lists, plans, spider diagrams, excel sheet of plausible poems 

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: April 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

At the end of this month I’m off to a writing retreat in Wales organised by The Writing School called Journey to the Centre of the Poem with poet Vanessa Lambert. Very much looking forward to this. I’m hoping it will help with that tricky question of what is the poem doing? Hannah Lowe referred to this as “finding the nub of a poem,” in this interesting article.

I’ve booked the trains, now the dilemma is what to pack? Tee-shirts and shades or umbrella and woolies. A very British problem at all times, the only answer is both, though right now this situation is exacerbated by an inclement weather system produced by, you’ve guessed it, climate change.  Some poetry news follows but first a reflection on this phenomenon.

This time three years ago I was sitting outside my flat reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in balmy Mediterranean temperatures that whole month. I can’t help think of the contrast with this year where temperatures struggle to limp above ten degrees, feeling like six with the wind chill factor.

It’s all down to the Polar Jet Stream I hear, fast moving air currents at high altitude which form at the boundary of two different air masses. To the north cold polar air, to the south warm tropical air. By is very nature it fluctuates, it meanders, but this much? According to this article this is a direct consequence of climate change. 

“Even a slight change in the “waviness” of the polar or the subtropical jet stream can lead to dramatic weather changes in mid-latitude regions, from northern California to Moscow… In the past 30 years, scientists have observed an intensification of the waves, coinciding with increased global warming. More waviness in the jet stream means that rain and wind remain in a region longer than if the jet stream simply traveled due east with no detours.”

So there you have it. Thirty years of research yet still the deniers clamour.

The Jet Steam 15th April 2023

COMING UP

Friday 21st April 12.00-2.00pm

Poets for the Planet will be joining Writers Rebel on the first day of XR’s four days of mass non-violent protest organised by XR in partnership with more than 70 other organisations including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. 

We will holding a picket outside “the home of fossil fuel dark money”, the home of lobbyists and think tanks linked to climate denial, at 55 Tufton Street with speeches from Rupert Read, Juliet Stevenson, Jay Griffiths, Baroness Rosie Boycott and other leading campaigning writers and poetry readings.

The day itself is part of the People’s Picket happening across London by XR, as part of The Big One. XR are picketing numerous government offices along with Tufton Street that day. Writers Rebel won’t be the only group picketing Tufton Street. We will be joined by a 200 strong samba band XR Rhythms, The Dirty Scrubbers, XR Merseyside, XR Plymouth, XR Buddhists and other groups.

Thursday 27th Apr 7.00- 8.30pm 

The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London WC2 0DT hosts the launch of Neptune’s Projects by Rishi Dastidar.

Rishi will be joined in a conversation through their work by fellow poets Jessica Mookherjee and Tania Hershman for an evening of maritime-themed poetry. More info here.

Neptune’s Projects is published by Nine Arches Press who write, “What do you do when you are a god – but powerless to prevent one of your favourite species from their insatiable, accelerating death wish? Such is the dilemma that underpins Rishi Dastidar’s third poetry collection, Neptune’s Project, a reshaping of mythology for the climate crisis era.”

“There has always been an intersection between poetry and the natural world. Now here comes Rishi Dastidar’s Neptune to add wit, postmodern panache and mythic irony to the tradition of the open sea. A richly rewarding read.”

– Roger Robinson

£14 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Neptune’s Projects (RRP £10.99) / £8 General Admission

#amwriting Have discovered the Japanese form Zuihitsu just days after coming across an old draft of of poem which approximates that form so playing with that. 

#amreading What Poets Used to Know: Poetics § Mythopoesis § Metaphysics by Charles Upton

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: March 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

Apparently there’s an anonymous saying in the U.K. “When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb.” Feels to me like it came in like a lamb so what does that mean for us? The Cressingham crocuses, see February diary post, have all but shrivelled up. In this time between winter and spring, with the the push and pull of seasons, like a tug of war of the gods, it feels some days like winter is winning. 

Do we feel it and respond? I reckon we do. Today was the first day since forever I woke feeling fresh and energised in contrast to (according the new mental health monitoring system: making notes of waking state) “aching all over”, “slept baaaaad,” “in groggsville!” or “mood on the floor” and “brain fog til 5pm”

Yet then I notice the “bad days” are less frequent than I thought and actually what I thought was just bouncing off the bottom for months is more like a gradual bumpety, bumpety rise; so don’t be wondering if it’s time to call in the mental health team. Though I am a week late with this…

March the 8th was of course international women’s day, always an uplifting moment. I made this. It might make its was into insta if I can find the time and energy because in all seriousness the last few months have been a struggle. Not sure what this is? Collage? Montage? Visual poem? You decide.

That evening pulled on big boots, new latex black kecks and a frock and attended Dis-Ordered Minds with marvellous readings from Sue Johns and Sara Levy. It took place just up the road in Camberwell. T’was a night when wind whipped umbrellas inside out and the rain pooled in the gutters but there was a full house. A tribute to the talent of these writers’ who presented work from their MA Writing Poetry portfolios.

Sooooo what else is coming up in my poetry world this month? Actually more like this week as I feel woefully behind with everything. A quick round up. 

Tuesday 21st March Corrupted Poetry launch their anthology of visual verse Living With Other People 7.00pm at Chener Books 7.00- 9.00pm 14 Lordship Lane London SE22

Wednesday 22nd March Loose Muse returns —for one night only— featuring: Agnes Meadows, Sue Johns, Joolz Sparkes, Hilaire, Racheal Joseph and Charlotte Ansell at The Sun, 21 Drury Lane, Covent Garden WC2 7.00- 10.00pm

If that’s not enough excitement…

Saturday 25th March Poets for the Planet hold Candle Write for Earth Hour at 8.30-9.30pm and warmly invite you to take part by writing an ecopoem by candlelight during Earth Hour. There are prompts on the website and a series of short workshops between 8.00pm and 8.30pm, with each workshop followed by an hour of writing by candlelight. Register for workshops on the website. 

More info here:

Candle Write for Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a global event organised by the World Wildlife Fund. They are calling on people do anything for the planet during this hour. They write, “Earth Hour is your time to switch off from distractions and focus on our world… to reset, recharge and re-evaluate how we can continue standing up for our world every day.” We can all be part of this. More info here: https://www.wwf.org.uk/earth-hour

Events are taking place across the world from China to Bolivia, here’s the list: https://www.earthhour.org/take-part/events

#amwriting some pretty dark stuff based on childhood memories, it’s less writing as therapy as writing to create a healthy detachment and acceptance 

#amreading a whole bunch of poetry collections most recently The Room Between Us by Denise Saul and No more Fairy Tales: stories to save our planet – an anthology from Habitat Press edited by D.A. Baden

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: November 2022

This month is special as I’m continuing to participate in Cath Drakes Climate of Change Challenge and joining the Poets for the Planet COPlet campaign.

What’s a COPlet? You might ask. “A COPlet is a rhyming couplet – two lines of poetry about the environmental issues being covered at COP (or not!) that matter to you. You could write one (or more) for each day and post it on Twitter.”

This kinda thing and find everything else you need to know about COPlets here

November is always a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally with the anniversary of the departure from this world of a couple of dear friends and my dad in 2008 and the highly traumatic events that followed that leaving me with glandular fever.

I had this debilitating illness as I child of ten and when the GP told me, after receiving the blood results, I said, no that’s not possible I’ve had it before. She told me it can come back, news to me! In true yin yang fashion (I guess) November is blessed with a raft of good friends birthdays too. 

That said strong emotions like this can be destabilising for someone diagnosed with bipolar. I seem to have avoided this with my “meds;” meditation and medication and a new regime based on what I call old fashioned values; early to bed, early to rise, fresh air and exercise and regular meals. 

In fact I’ve found over the past few years no amount of “meds” can achieve any semblance of balance without the “old fashioned values.” 

And it occurs to me try to be kind to yourself and to others because you don’t know, at this time in particular, who is just hanging by a thread and in my experience meanness doesn’t just affect peoples mental health but their physical health, I am witness to this and it’s well documented here

The month concludes with a special event from the Climate of Change Challenge in which a selection of poets from across UK & Europe will join feature reader, Craig Santos Perez and read poems generated during the challenge. 

About our feature reader, Craig Santos Perez is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, where he teaches creative writing, eco-poetry, and Pacific literature. He’s an indigenous Chamoru (Chamorro) from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam), an award winning poet, editor, publisher, essayist, critic, book reviewer, artist, environmentalist and political activist. 

Craig has forged new ways to write about the climate crisis and His latest book is ‘Habitat Threshold’.

“Craig Santos Perez is a writer I seriously watch. He includes a variety of environmentally important writing, seamlessly combined with history, politics, and the familial.” –Linda Hogan, Indigenous Writer and Environmentalist

Other readers are Cath Drake, Kate Potts, Patricia Foster McKenley , Karina Fiorini , Bell Selkie Lovelock , Ness Owen , Suzanne Iuppa, Janet Harper, Clementine E Burnley, Linda Goulden, Joe Mishan, Shalini Pattabiraman, Katrina Dybzynska and myself. 

Tickets are FREE but you must register to attend here

#amwriting poems about climate all month, even in my sleep I suspect…

#amreading The Hidden Life’s of Trees by Peter Wohlleben 

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Diary: October 2021

It’s the end of October already! The year has slid past and yet at the same time stretches out. My birthday picnic in the park in early June seems a lifetime ago while it’s already two months, almost to the day, since the onset of the shingles encounter. Though some symptoms remain that seems like ancient history too. 

Still somewhat in recovery mode though. Hardly have energy to go out. Feeling a bit split; yesterday as excited as a child who has caught a butterfly to discover the essays of Denise Levertov on poetics. Today find myself asking why poetry? Is is my soul yearning or just a box I’ve carved myself into where I’m holding myself prisoner? 

I started reading Ben Okri’s The Famished Road recently I can’t believe it’s sat on my bookshelves untouched for so long. I find it’s so rich in imagery I can only manage a few chapters at a time. Sometimes only one. I find I have to put it down and digest it slowly. 

Some poetry news follows but first some reflections on my writing process, my identity as a human on this planet and and our role at this time. Why do writers write? Why do I write? Recently I wrote on a neon pink post it, “because it makes my soul sing.” It joins others that read, “may I know the joy of living,” “it’s about the journey,” “it takes as long as it takes” and a counter to debilitating perfectionism, “80% is good enough.” 

My writing process, closely aligned to the state of my mental health, has changed as I find myself more stable. I used to only really scribble in a state of manic frenzy then subsequently tried, and more often failed, to craft the scribbles into, into what, into something.

These days have a modicum of discipline. Generally words still tumble out fairly swiftly and I feel merely the witness. This is an example. Though for your sakes I correct the spelling,  typos and confusing syntax. There’s always a shadow of a fear this might all just stop. And then what? When I’ve pinned my identity to this? In general I prefer as description; human, or female bodied soul ( after Dom Bury) or child of god (after Marianne Williamson.) 

Some days I’m not even sure about human. As a child I felt so other. I remember when everyone was out ransacking the bureau at home. (A piece of furniture the size and shape of an upright piano with a writing desk which opened out.) It was where mum and dad kept stationary and documents. I was looking for my birth certificate. I figured I may have been adopted. When I found nothing I concluded I must therefore be an alien. 

A bit of a leap on reflection. It may well have been influenced by my fascination with The Unexplained – a magazine I subscribed to – the 1970’s equivalent of the X Files and an enchantment with Star Trek and The Sky at Night; the latter hosted by the monocled Sir Patrick Moore. That said, the feeling of otherness is rarely far away. 

I wonder if this is what makes an artist? Being somewhat outside holding a tension between wanting to fit in and stand out? I always felt at home with Poets Know it and by extension my Brixton family —perhaps as we all in individual ways were or are a bit other. One night many moons ago a group of us round a table in the Prince Albert shared how we were all the last to be (reluctantly) chosen for the team on the school sports fields. 

Possibly this otherness feeling is a symptom an inner non-acceptance of self or aspects of the self. In meditation the other day a strong image came to me. In my lap lay my perfect baby self. Meanwhile I extended my arms outward and embraced other parts of myself; present were at least the harsh critic, the driver, the fearful saboteur. And the alien? 

So it occurs to me The Way/ the road less traveled/ the spiritual path, whatever you want to call it, is as much a journey to God/ the source/ a higher power, as a journey back to the self.  

Nothing less than an acceptance of the muddled, flawed, damaged selves that we all are. How can we not be when we live in and emerge from a traumatised world shaped by wars, inequality, injustice, poverty and untold human suffering, (ironically in this state move into the climate emergency.)

I still have to confess to not feeling unlike Okri’s narrator who feels he is here on earth as a kind of penance or mistake, reluctantly. Though part of me feels – what a time to be alive!  We have the very real opportunity in the heat of the climate emergency to forge this world anew. I believe it will not change in a just and permanent way unless we all act together. 

I believe even the smallest change to behaviour by any of us is a radical repositioning towards the planet. Logically, in our individual and collective action, as we take action not only does it necessitate and demonstrate a change in consciousness it invites the possibility of transforming our relationship to each other, to non human species and to the earthy and watery aspects of this planet. This is my hope. 

So there’s a whole bunch of stuff coming up in the poetry world

Find Poets for the Planet at COP 26 at

Also worth checking out 

Human Impact on Nature, Landscape and Climate kicks off via Zoom on Sunday 7th Nov from 12-1pm and of course takes place during #cop26 

This event brings together four poets all exploring in their own way our human relationship with nature, landscape and climate, conscious of our footprint, and the impact of our lives on our environment. With Sarah Westcott, Steph Morris, Anna Saunders & Dom Bury 

Book your FREE ticket here https://www.poetryinaldeburgh.org/festival-programme 

Also the Forward Prize and Booker Prize will be awarded at the Southbank some time in November. Info here https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/london-literature-festival?type=literature-poetry

Special mention Malika’s Poetry Kitchen Friends and Family are at the Southbank Centre for the London Literature Festival in on Saturday 30^th October at 1pm Presenting poems and in conversation with Malika Booker and Nick Makoha, Katie Griffiths and Kostya Tsolakis, Yomi Sode and Kareem Parkins-Brown.

Here’s the link for info: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/malikas-poetry-kitchen-friends-and-family

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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