Other Lives

I am delighted to be able to post two poems from Alan Morrison's latest book, Captive Dragons/ The Shadow Thorns - Poems from the Mill View Residency 2008-11 by Alan Morrison. This book incorporates an epic poem on the subject of mental illness and its perception throughout the ages, tackling thorny issues such as psychosis and suicide through a series of 35 Cantos exploring different periods, persons and approaches to the psychiatric and social treatment of mental illness. A Laingian sensibility drives towards some uncomfortable speculations as to 'mental illness' as, in part, a socio-political construct. The Shadow Thorns ( from which these poems are taken) is a sequence of smaller poems, each a study of composites of various inpatients encountered by the author during his three year voluntary poetry workshop residency at Mill View psychiatric hospital in Hove. Flo of the solitudes Flo’s patron of the moment’s immersion, Timelessly lit in a pool of her own Out-pouring, h...

Here it is, my Waterloo Press collection, beautifully designed by Matilda Persson. It went to print last week and because of its inclusion in the PBS Bulletin will now be released on 1st July. It will be available then from Waterloo Press via their website at: http://www.waterloopress.co.uk/

I've just heard from Naomi Foyle at Waterloo Press that my collection is going to print tomorrow. She also passed on the good news that it has been mentioned in this quarter's Poetry Book Society Bulletin. Copies will be available from Waterloo Press via their website from the start of July. Pre-orders may be taken a few weeks before if anyone feels they can't wait!

Waterloo Press has been in touch to confirm it's aiming to get 'Waiting for the Sky to Fall' out 'by 7 June'. After unavoidable delays it will be a relief just to have it published. Some of the poems in the collection were written more than ten years ago so it has felt like a long process with a long overdue conclusion. The collection also contains more recent work, but once it's out I'll be pleased to leave it behind to concentrate on another collection that reflects more accurately the sort of work I've been doing in recent years. There are however plenty of off-cuts - the length of the book means that I can't include everything publishable written in the past 15 years. I'll look forward to seeing if they can fit into a second collection alongside more recent work that is noticeably less in the short set-piece lyrical tradition. What's left to do now, it seems, is to confirm the design of the book. Waterloo Press chooses beautiful colours f...

For anyone who doesn't read this blog on my Facebook page, you might be interested to know that Waterloo Press is now on Facebook. In the last few years Waterloo Press has emerged as one of the U.K.'s most interesting and prolific small presses. Just send them a friend request if you would like to keep up with events and publications and whatever else the impressive range of poets decide to share. There is also a news and views section to follow or contribute to.

This afternoon I delivered three printed copies of my manuscript 'Waiting for the Sky to Fall' to Waterloo Press to be submitted to the Poetry Book Society for its quarterly round up. Of course I'll be pleased if it gets a mention ahead of publication, but what pleases me most is how the PBS is now actively promoting the work of less well-known poets publishing with small press publishers. Given the amount of good work out there, and the frustratingly limited opportunities provided by the four or five big publishers, this is a welcome development.