One of the fabulous things about the modern poetry scene is the hatred of ‘self-publishing’ as somehow amateur or not professional…a opinion reinforced by those with most to lose i.e. the publishers. GRASS CLOUDS contains everything I have written as ‘poetry’ since I arrived in Nottingham in 2002 so about 20 years worth Contains 80…
poetry
No Substitute: New poems…
The planned new poems in a volume called substitute was held back as I had another year’s teaching contract to complete. I am now officially retired from Nottingham College so can concentrate a tad more on the written word. To date I have written a baker’s dozen of new poems since last year’s reading and…
Coppard returns…
Like a bad penny this story never dies and after I had this photograph taken yesterday I thought similar and did some more digging and found two new articles on ‘Flynn’ and for those less squeamish that comes from the saying ‘in like Flynn’ about Errol Flynn’s legendary bedding of women. the full story in…
Organ Grinder Reading
My Back Pages
A selection of published and self-published volumes 1992-2022…30 years! I will be reading poems from these various collections tonight at The Organ Grinder with Neil Fulwood. Here my CV 🙂 A NEW YEAR GREETING ****(poem here) Addenda: What I am not. Shaun Belcher is the author of one out of print slim volume that disappeared…
THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
After twenty years chez Nottingham I finally been invited to share my thoughts at a reading. So if you wish to listen to a couple of bolshy poets tearing down the walls of heartache now’s your chance… Neil Fulwood been around a bit has some books and generally a good egg…. He will be promoting…
GRASS CLOUDS : 20 years on the poetry bench.
I will be offering this as a free download from this evening as it Bastille day.GRASS CLOUDS contains everything I have written as ‘poetry’ since I arrived in Nottingham in 2002 so about 20 years worth Contains 80 poems and some illustrations. I will be reading from it on Tuesday August 2nd at the Organ…
PRIVILEGE: Thames Valley Texas
Privilege Is mine and always will be it is my birth-rightI am born to this and never shall let it slipI am the world king and God’s chosen oneTo let go of power is to betray you all I will make the problems disappearAll it takes is character as my masters told meDrilled with a…
My Back Pages: Collateral
COLLATERAL (for D.D.) Windows shake, tyres screech Litter blows across the estate Gunshots ricochet as sound The Divis Flats, Brixton Market Beirut, Jerusalem, Sarajevo A baby cries, a baby cries The broadcast stops, the helicopter hovers There’s a smell of cordite, a cold wind A face you have seen before on the news Starting to…
SUBSTITUTE
A poem about a true story. I do not know if anybody still alive would remember it. I have a vague memory as a child. The match was organised by Ernie Butler who was then working as a driver at Smiths Crisps on the Trading Estate Station Road in Didcot and the club was the…