Photo credit: Adrian Bullers | Interview by Zoë Brigley The Roman poet Horace was right to recommend holding back your work for several years before publishing it. You get a better sense of its value… Sea Urchins Cape Ann, Massachusetts We have trampled those delicate eggs of the night, the sea urchins, fragments of a…
Category: Interviews
Introducing Our New Reviews Editor: George Sandifer-Smith, How I Wrote ‘Sandwich inspector’
Poetry Wales is delighted to announce the appointment of our new Reviews Editor, George Sandifer-Smith. By way of introduction, George explains the process behind writing his poem ‘Sandwich inspector’ as well as his hopes and plans for reviews… Sandwich inspector Lunchtime is vital. Waft of delivered bread slowing into crouton fodder two aisles away as…
Stephanie Green: How I Wrote ‘To a Humpback Whale’
Interview by Zoë Brigley So the first few stanzas grew to a joyous Hallelujah, a dramatic climax describing the breach. And then things went horribly wrong. To a Humpback Whale Húsavík, Iceland) After Cal Freeman Dear blubber, glorious obesity, your tubercles like hairy warts. Dear blur on the sea’s surface and downward curve of your…
Dr Rhea Seren Phillips: How I Wrote ‘The Book of Plants and Insults’
Interview by Zoë Brigley “I take the position of observer, and my creative practise then unleashes an energy which has its own personality. I wouldn’t trust it with a butter knife, let alone anything else“ The Book of Plants and Insults Abide tranquillity, boy. Must not seize coiling phlox to classify Πανδώρα. chocolate-eyed merch dives…
Kate North: How I Wrote ‘Blood-Children-Prayer’
Interview by Zoë Brigley Upon reflection, I took [inspiration for a verse] from one of those sonic memories that we all have buried deep in our neurological pathways. I think I use them a lot in my writing. Blood-Children-Prayer I remember the day our whole house came on its period, including the men who were…
Kandace Siobhan Walker: How I wrote ’16 The Academy’
Interviewed by Zoe Brigley Every year I try to write a sonnet, and every year I succeed at writing something else. 16 The Academy Capitalism is natural—healthy, actually. We had too many rainforests, we needed more upmarket cafés. We needed austerities like food deserts and mandatory minimums, retirement ages vanishing behind the Earth’s curvature. What…
Liz Anastasiadis: “How I wrote Phases”
Interviewed by Zoe Brigley “I think what is so captivating about the moon to poets is that it’s this gleaming beacon in the sky. What do we do when we think deeply? Oftentimes people look to the sky for answers, especially clear night skies. It’s a process that’s deeply emotional and yet scientific… We as human beings…
Laura Chalar: “How I wrote ‘The infanta walks her poodle after a sandstorm'”
“When that moment arrives, a verse or a phrase will come into my head, and that will be the start of the process. Once I have those few words in my mind, I know that I have a poem, no matter how long it takes for it to take shape.”
Andrew Neilson: How I wrote ‘The Hustler’
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was a missing ingredient when I was trying and failing to write poetry as a young man.“ The Hustler We know we can’t finesse what’s been Michael Donaghy I met him twice. Once in my local, where suited he sat with a half of Guinness, his cue in its case like an…