“The best way to write a poem is underwater. The sounds of the world, of other people are muffled. Only their underbellies and limbs ripple through the water.” Geometric lines repeat themselves along the bottom of the pool or if you’re lucky enough to be in a clear sea shy fish suddenly appear from behind…
Hanan Issa on how she writes a poem
“Poetry is the ultimate language ‘glow up’ and it is where I go to try and make sense of the storm” Dragon-taming? I started writing about dragons. Not the friendly creatures that let you ride on their backs. I wrote them as wild monsters with blood-stained teeth and fiery tempers. They definitely ate…
40% off standard subscriptions to Poetry Wales TODAY ONLY
As of September 2019, every first Friday of the month, we’ll be giving you a discount on subscriptions to Poetry Wales from midnight to midnight. Why? Because we want to give our most loyal followers a chance to enjoy Poetry Wales. Our most recent polls on Twitter and Facebook revealed that money was the primary…
Andrew Spragg on how he writes a poem
“If you are not reading likely you are not writing.” Be wary of others’ methods or manifestos. Any sort of declaration. Two degrees, ten books and less sure than ever. It happens rarely every day. A few things resonate more than others – Tom Raworth’s Earn Your Milk (especially ‘Letters from Yaddo’ and ‘Letter to Martin Stannard’);…
10 Unmissable Poems Free Digital Download! (Part 5 of 5)
Read the final two of our top ten unmissable poems published in Poetry Wales from the last 5 years. To celebrate 55 years of publishing poetry, every Friday for the past four weeks we’ve released two poems from the list. As our final post, we’re including a free digital downloadable edition of the full list. Click…
Mike Jenkins on how he writes a poem
“All poems are journeys without a known destination, but none more so than those which derive from an inspirational moment.” There are no rules. No self-help guides and no course which can tell you definitively the way. Each poet must find their own method, or lack of one. For me, different kinds of poems generally…
10 Unmissable Poems from the last 5 years (Part 4 of 5)
Read part four of our top ten unmissable poems published in Poetry Wales from the last 5 years. To celebrate 55 years of publishing poetry, every Friday we’ll be releasing two poems from the list, with our final post including a downloadable PDF edition of the poems. The ten poems in this short collection were selected…
Poetry Wales launches new international poetry competition: Wales Poetry Award
A national competition to discover the very best international poetry. This competition is open to English-language submissions from poets aged 17 and above, from Wales and beyond.
Wales Poetry Award 2021 sponsored by Literature Wales. Judge: Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch
“Wales Poetry Award, a national competition to discover the very best international contemporary poetry.” After 56 years of publishing contemporary poetry in 200 issues (and counting) of its magazine, Poetry Wales hosts its third year of Wales Poetry Award, a national competition to discover the very best international contemporary poetry. Wales Poetry Award is open…