“[When] I write poetry I always have an image in my mind. Even if the starting point is an emotion or a vague idea, I try to visualise it. Whether I include this initial trigger right away in the poem or I save it for later on is something I decide along the writing process”
Category: Poems
Elvire Roberts and Rachel Goodman: How We Wrote ‘Methods of Thirteen and Female (iii)’
“The notion of sole authorship is inherently political; there is an accepted hierarchy to the question ‘who wrote it?’ and we challenge that by writing from the body, and from the lived space between us”
Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana: How I Wrote ‘The names of things’
“I guess I listen and steal from what is going on around me. Sometimes I hear something hilarious or outrageous and think that has to go in a poem! I want to record and share it”
JP Seabright: How I Wrote ‘Mamgu’
“I guess it was an attempt to convey on the page the way the mind and memory works combining the known past (my mother reciting the town name), the unknown past (how my grandmother died and why my mum never spoke of her) and the in media res present”
Denni Turp: How I Wrote ‘How It Is’
“It’s a funny thing with writing, as so much of the time I find I don’t really know where I’m going to end up with a poem… I guess what I’m trying to say is sometimes it does happen ‘organically’ and sometimes it’s more purposeful”
Caleb Nichols: How I Wrote ‘BUS STOP, GWYNEDD’
“Sometimes a short poem or phrase feels a little like a gift: it arrives almost fully formed and I get the sense that adding too much deflates the impact of the image and sound of the poem.”
Wales Poetry Award 2022 | Winners Announced
On 12th May 2023, the online Awarding Ceremony for Wales Poetry Award 2022 (sponsored by Literature Wales) was held, hosted by judge Gwyneth Lewis and Poetry Wales editor Zoë Brigley. If you were able to join us on the evening, thank you so much for your attendance, and for making the event such a special…
Jim Lloyd: How I Wrote ‘The Mistle Thrush’
“This poem was unusual for me in that it was written very quickly. Although I experimented with different stanza lengths, this version is close to the very first sketched out draft which was in couplets”
Taylor Edmonds: How I Wrote ‘I Am’
“When I’m writing something new, I tend to let it splurge out however it lands, without thinking about form too much, as this holds me back during this initial draft. Then I curate the form more carefully when editing.”