Competition
The Oldie
Article
Competition
Jul 27, 2022
IN COMPETITION NO 282 you were invited to write a poem with the title Unpacking. Basil Ransome-Davies, in a poem on the wars between sonic (pretty-sounding) and confessional poets, made me laugh with the couplet ‘Confessionals unpack their hearts, /
2 min read
Competition
The Oldie
Article
Competition
Feb 8, 2023
IN COMPETITION No 289 you were invited to write a poem called The Hobby-Horse. I was surprised by how many of you took for a subject the folklore creature, often represented in mumming performances by a horse’s skull. The children’s stick-horse and t
2 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
May 3, 2023
IN COMPETITION No 292 you were invited to write a poem called The Walk. How good and numerous were your entries. Congratulations to those printed below, each of whom wins £25, with the bonus prize of The Chambers Dictionary going to Anthony Young. I'
2 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
Feb 9, 2022
IN COMPETITION No 276, you were invited to write a poem called The Carpet. Dan Rubinstein told of a rock band’s drummer stopping on a tour to buy some carpet to stop his bass drum wandering. Dorothy Pope’s poem was about being ‘coventrated’, carpet-b
2 min read
A Refusal To Mourn The Deaths, By Gunfire, Of Three Men In Brooklyn
The American Poetry Review
Article
A Refusal To Mourn The Deaths, By Gunfire, Of Three Men In Brooklyn
Jan 1, 2019
And at times, didn’t the whole countrytry to break his skin?—Tim Seibles You strike your one good match to watch its bloomand jook, a swan song just before a nightwind comes to snuff it. That’s the kind of dayit’s been. Your Black & Mild, now, useles
7 min read
Two Poems by Joseph Brodsky
Literary Hub
Article
Two Poems by Joseph Brodsky
May 12, 2020
7 min read
Until The Sea Closed Over Us And The Light Was Gone
The American Poetry Review
Article
Until The Sea Closed Over Us And The Light Was Gone
Jul 1, 2020
—Dante, Canto XXVI But if the truth is dreamed of toward the morning—El Paso Although it was really last summer’s song,all this summer Despacito played on as slower then I turned myself to gazeupon Juarez. The summer everything hurts my eyes, a dozen
6 min read
Goatherd, Storyteller, Master
The Paris Review
Article
Goatherd, Storyteller, Master
Nov 22, 2019
4 min read
Four Poems
The American Poetry Review
Article
Four Poems
Mar 1, 2022
I met the Bishop on the roadand much said he—same old porridgeI heard as a child, my little bodya “foul sty.” “Love has pitched his mansion.” MaybeLove pitched her silken tent.Love has raised its dwelling inthe place of reproduction, which can be fit
3 min read
Sifting And Sorting With Joy
Home
Article
Sifting And Sorting With Joy
Jul 20, 2020
Friend Jan phones to ask if I’d like to buy his grandmother’s old pump organ. He is scaling down big time, he explains, moving house one last time. Actually, he corrects himself, it’s the penultimate move, the last one being the ABF (absolute bloody
3 min read
On Celtic Storytelling, From the Bardic to the Mythic
Literary Hub
Article
On Celtic Storytelling, From the Bardic to the Mythic
Jul 17, 2020
4 min read
HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work
The Paris Review
Article
HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work
Dec 15, 2018
6 min read
Poem Of The Week: Poetry For Supper By RS Thomas
The Guardian
Article
Poem Of The Week: Poetry For Supper By RS Thomas
Oct 31, 2022
‘Listen, now, verse should be as naturalAs the small tuber that feeds on muck And grows slowly from obtuse soil To the white flower of immortal beauty.’ ‘Natural, hell! What was it Chaucer Said once about the long toil That goes like blood to the poe
3 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
Jul 26, 2023
IN COMPETITION No 295 you were invited to write a poem called Roots. Cherry MacGregor started off in medias res: ‘Has the vine died? My husband had asked,/ As we enjoyed lunch in the garden.’ Another excellent opening came from DM Davis: ‘Roots, oh m
2 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
Nov 17, 2021
IN COMPETITION No 273, you were invited to write a poem called Bags. Your least-favourite kind of bag was the ‘bag for life’, which did not live up to its name. But Adrian Fry’s narrator embraced life in bags: ‘I keep my life in placky bags:/Bus tick
2 min read
Ellie Harrison
BBC Countryfile Magazine
Article
Ellie Harrison
Nov 12, 2020
2 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
Feb 7, 2024
IN COMPETITION No 302 you were invited to write a poem called The Doormat. Most of your doormats were metaphorical, but instead of a Welcome doormat, Jenny Jones’s narrator concluded, ‘What I need’s a mat to shout: / “Go Away”, “Be Off”, “Keep Out”!’
2 min read
Tales from Titchmarsh
BBC Gardeners' World
Article
Tales from Titchmarsh
Nov 17, 2022
3 min read
Typewriter
HELLO magazine
Article
Typewriter
Aug 2, 2021
Chère Madame. Vous ne vous rappelleriez pas de moi, mais de ma part… Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap… She flicks the return bar – PING – and her fingers fall back into rhythm. Catherine’s French comes as naturally as the movement of her
5 min read
Three Poems
The American Poetry Review
Article
Three Poems
Sep 1, 2023
Unlike the churning shit-show-roar of whateverthat was we just left behind, this year, onlinechatter tells me, will be one of contemplationand hope. Maybe. Right now, I’m holding stillthe best I can, having followed once again thissame path to this s
4 min read
Must-Read Poetry: March 2021
The Millions
Article
Must-Read Poetry: March 2021
Mar 4, 2021
Our own Nick Ripatrazone takes a look at six new poetry titles from the likes of Adrienne Su, Dennis James Sweeney, and Karen Fish. The post Must-Read Poetry: March 2021 appeared first on The Millions.
6 min read
Tessa Castro
The Oldie
Article
Tessa Castro
Jun 30, 2021
IN COMPETITION No 268, you were invited to write a poem with the title The Writing on the Wall. Anthony Young observed of the makers of those great spray-paint tags that we see from trains, ‘They paint their aims with aerosol,/Abiding to the protocol
2 min read
Jan Morris
The Paris Review
Article
Jan Morris
Jun 15, 2018
I have always rather envied the poet Ovid, who was banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus, you may remember, to a remote place called Tomis on the shores of the Black Sea. There he died, ten years later, and his exile has gone into legend and int
17 min read
Competition
The Oldie
Article
Competition
Mar 8, 2023
IN COMPETITION No 290 you were invited to write a poem, Spring Cleaning, as an acrostic with the first letter of each line spelling out the title. I don't know if the extra requirement made the poems better, but rhyme and metre usually do. Tony Bartl
2 min read
Selected Sentences from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi
The Paris Review
Article
Selected Sentences from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi
May 9, 2018
6 min read
A Narrow Escape
Practical Boat Owner
Article
A Narrow Escape
Aug 3, 2023
2 min read
Wide Open
Writing Magazine
Article
Wide Open
May 7, 2020
5 min read
What Ray Charles Says
The American Poetry Review
Article
What Ray Charles Says
Mar 1, 2024
The nighttime is the right time to be with the one you love, says Ray,but according to Hamlet, it’s when “churchyards yawn and hell itselfbreathes out contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood,”says Hamlet, “and do such bitter business as
2 min read
Comprtition
The Oldie
Article
Comprtition
Apr 3, 2024
IN COMPETITION No 304 you were invited to write a poem called Balm. Soothed sensibilities led some to write poetic lines of excessive length untroubled by rhyme. Yet, without striving for metre and rhyme, Maggie Cobbett's short poem was rather sweet:
2 min read
DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows
Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens
Article
DULCE DOMUM From The Wind In The Willows
Nov 1, 2022
11 min read