Saturday, June 21, 2014

Poem: 'Midsummer at Clent'


This poem was written a few years ago, after watching the sun go down on the summer solstice at Clent (pictured above, today). It was published in my pamphlet The Body in the Well (HappenStance, 2007).


Midsummer at Clent

The year was bleeding across the sky
and we were there, perhaps, to celebrate.
I had no voice to give, nothing left
to say anything close to the truth until
I saw the kestrel nailed to the air,
aimed at the sun, holding her zenith
taut on the giddy fulcrum of the earth.
Held up like a lens to a blinding eye,
her feathers suspended in amber.
She stayed near me, as if she were
a periscope over the false horizon.
She stayed until the breath of winter
blew out of the western grave,
freezing a word on the lips of my praise.


Friday, June 20, 2014

'Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy & the Transubstantiation of the Senses', 26-27 June 2014, School of Art, Birmingham City University

Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the transubstantiation of the Senses


I'm delighted to be 'poet in residence' at this fascinating conference, taking place 26-27 June 2014 at the School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham. 

It is hosted by my colleagues at the Centre for Fine Art Research, the School of Art, Birmingham City University.

I'll be reading a selection of my poems that touch upon the conference's themes, across several of Thursday's panels.

I can only be there on the Thursday - but Friday has a full schedule of papers too.

It promises to be a stimulating event...