Fly, My Pretties

I'd wanted a big brass lectern with an eagle on it for the launch of my poetry collection, 'Communion', but they cost over £4,000, so I had to settle for a plain oak one off eBay for 50 quid. However, Dru Marland brought a  chirrupy little robin along instead, and under his tutelage, my poems teetered out onto the branch and jumped.  

The evening went as well as I could have hoped, with a packed room despite the filthy weather. (At one point, as I was unloading the car over a torrent of water pouring down the road, I thought I'd be reading to thin air, but lots of people made a big effort to be there, including poets Dónall Dempsey and Jan Windle from Guildford, my sister from Nottingham, and a couple of people I'd only been friends with over Facebook/My Space up until now.)  

Thank you to everyone who braved the elements to support me.   Also, thank you to Nila, the manager of the Halo Café Bar; Reg Meuross who played and sang valiantly despite his inflamed pharynges; to Dru, Alana Farrell, John Terry and Liza Sylvian who read some of the poems which needed more than one voice; to Hazel Hammond, who opened and closed the proceedings with aplomb; and to David Bosankoe who recorded them.

 

'Communion' is published by Indigo Dreams, and is available from their website, or from Amazon.co.uk and .com, W H Smith online, or good independent bookshops, price £6.99 (or less).   To read some of my poems, click here.