Interview by Zoë Brigley That’s how a lot of my poems start really, a flimsy reference or a bad joke Noontime Newtown Easy girl easy the harbourmaster told me like he thought I was his horse or stoppable what are you doing running in this heat why’ve you come this way at such low tide…
Author: Zoë Brigely
Editor of Poetry Wales
Zoë Brigley is an award-winning poet, editor and academic. As well as editing Poetry Wales, she shares the role of Poetry Editor for Seren Books with Rhian Edwards, and is an Assistant Professor in English at Ohio State University.
Charlie Baylis: How I Wrote ‘i’m still looking for the perfect lover’
Interview by George Sandifer-Smith Some people like to articulate why things are good or bad, but I don’t think it is as fun as writing or reading poetry, so I’ll leave that to people with grand ideas/ more time/ on their / hands i’m still looking for the perfect lover for julia it’s like when…
Cheryl Moskowitz: How I Wrote ‘This Pot of Earth’
Interview by Zoë Brigley Nearly all my poems begin as scrawled notes in a notebook, often so messy I can barely read my own writing. This Pot of Earth I do not know why I keep watering this pot of earth with no bloom, except that nothing that thirsts should be left to go dry….
Steve Griffiths : How I Wrote ‘We need a definite programme’
Interview by Zoë Brigley [W]ith every first draft, there are things that need sharpening and shaping, and things that will not fly, and their removal improves it We need a definite programme Small birds from several continents sing beneath a high safety net. Soon we must make a move. We need a house, a child,…
Katy Evans-Bush : How I Wrote ‘From Lines by Kenneth Patchen #13’
Interview by Zoë Brigley I write largely by ear. In my teens I was obsessed with Mozart, and folk music… and I’m absolutely sure that both of these taught me about pacing and register and the tonal possibilities of form. From Lines by Kenneth Patchen #13 It wasn’t much of a summer. You could as…
Jane Burn: How I Wrote ‘Translation / Acts’
An essay by Jane Burn “Choosing the form for a poem is a process built from endless negotiations” Note: Due to the formatting style of this poem, we have had to embed it as an image rather than as text as we usually do. To read a plain text version, please see this file: On…
Gareth Writer-Davies: How I Wrote ‘A Voyage Round The Moon’
Interview by Zoë Brigley I wanted to emphasise the tradition of voyaging of slipping over the horizon to end up God-knows-where and white space was important for adding drama A Voyage Round The Moon After John Gohorry and as the voices crackled then died the craft disappeared on the far side all contact lost the…
Kostya Tsolakis: How I wrote ‘Marble bf’
Interview by Zoë Brigley I kept thinking of the block of marble – tall and narrow, I imagined – the Charioteer of Motya was carved out of… My voice, its pace, was then guided by this tall and narrow form Marble Bf But a Greek would never think of a charioteer like this. – Historian…
Amanda Rackstraw: How I Wrote ‘Rewrite’
I can be an editing bully. I believe in making words know why they are there. Rewrite In the script he sees his mother age with dignity. There’s a slowing down; then he finds her, elegant, wisdom pooling in her eyes. _____ A mollusc hauls itself across the ward, catheter swinging from Zimmer, chicken feet…