Flying the Albatross

With the launch of my new collection approaching at pace, it was good to have a mini dress-rehearsal at Riff Corner Poetry Open Mic Night in Clevedon at the beginning of September, despite it taking me nearly an hour to drive the short distance home from my place of work through extensive roadworks, and then a return journey via Tickenham Hill and Failand in mist that was verging on fog. All hail autumn. 

Nevertheless, it was an interesting evening in good company. Open mic-ers currently get a little longer to read than at your average open mic session, and it was good to hear two or three poems, rather than the usual swift single, although this might have to change at some point as the evening was well attended and is clearly gaining in popularity. Thanks to Tim Burroughs for inviting me to read there, and for the above photo. 

Thanks are due also to Ben Banyard for asking me to read at Portishead's wildly successful ArtPort festival at the end of September. We'd been due to read alongside Bob Walton, but as he was still convalescing, Sue Hill, the other half of The Write Box, stepped into the breach. It was a lovely event, again well-attended and one I hope will be repeated next year.

 

 

My journey to Trowbridge Stanza on the first weekend in October was eventful, as someone drove into the back of my car by the Downs in Bristol. I was a bit shaken, but managed to complete the journey without further incident, and thoroughly enjoyed reading on the same  bill as Saili Katebe. We'd been due to read alongside each other back in 2020, as part of the Bristol Lyra Poetry Festival, which had been cancelled at the start of the pandemic, so it felt right and good to finally do that.

My penultimate autumn gig was in Bristol, as part of the Ten Bristol Poets event running at the Bristol Literary Film Festival in aid of St Peter's Hospice. It was a privilege to read alongside the following poets: 

TOP  1. Tim Burroughs  2. Jan Swann  3. Charles Thompson  4. Kaz Michael  5. Martin Rieser

BOTTOM:  6.  Helen Sheppard  7. David Punter  8. Me  9. Bob Walton  10. Melanie Branton

I enjoyed the opportunity of reading a few of my Bristol poems, from my collection 'Learning Finity', for a change, including one about my grandmother, who died in the care of the staff of St Peter's Hospice. Here's an earlier recording of it: 

 

My last autumn gig is Sunday 24th November and it's not necessary to leave the comfort of your own home to hear it, because I'm guest poet on West Wilts Radio's The Poetry Place at 3pm or any time you please, as it's streamable worldwide here.
 

Finally, it was great to have a poem from Love the Albatross in the latest issue of IDP's The Dawntreader ...

and also here, in the issue 4 of The Fig Tree.

Reviews of Love the Albatross can be found in Ink Sweat & Tears, London Grip and Tim Fellows' Substack.

A Road Trip to Portishead

The Northerner's phone needed fixing and all the Apple shops are shut, but he came across someone who could repair it in Portishead, and suddenly we were going on a road trip and packed the dog, so we could have a walk along the coast path and she could have her first glimpse of what you might laughingly call 'the sea'. 

These days you have to take what you can get. 

But it was a mild and dry day, the light was lovely, and the path we walked very sheltered, judging by the size and shape of the trees that line it. 

Upstream, the new Severn bridge was visible, and just beyond I could make out the pylons of the Aust Severn powerline crossing, but the beautiful older bridge was invisible in mist.

I haven't been able to find out the name of this cove we passed, so maybe it's regarded as the far end of Sugar Loaf beach. Anyhow, I really liked it, with its neat tideline of bladderwrack.

Shortly afterwards we reached our destination, Black Nore lighthouse, which was built in 1894 and decommissioned in 2010. 

By now storm clouds were sweeping up the Channel, and although it was darker on the Welsh side, we decided nevertheless that we should probably head back to the car. 

We did pause for a bit at Sugar Loaf Beach proper to wander down the slipway and show Cwtch 'the sea', but to be honest, she didn't much care for the mud. 

A brief postscript this morning, in the shape of a return visit to retrieve the phone, now in full working order, and the chance of a wander up to Battery Point. Cwtch enjoyed exploring the warth in weather that wouldn't have disgraced late April.   

Battery Point lighthouse is still in use, although its two-tonne fog bell was removed in 1998 for fear it might cause the structure to collapse. 

The Severn bridges were even harder to make out than yesterday ... 

... though it was interesting to glimpse Avonmouth from a different angle ...  

... and Denny Island, midway between England and Wales and marking the boundary between the two, looked positively Mediterranean. Roll on spring and summer.