Poem of the month
Gill Learner
About the Olden Days
Tell me how water magnified the surfaces of leaves
or skittered off. How it spilled from tiles, gargled
along gutters, dropped into echoing butts.
How earth absorbed and hoarded it in lightless caves,
returned it at springs where women left offerings.
Talk about cumulus, cirrus, stratus,
and watching thunderheads approach: how light
thickened from gold to green; how water felt
slipping down cheeks to dusty lips; of cycling
in a yellow oilskin tent, head bent against the sting.
Describe brollies, wellies, puddles and the smell
of dampened soil; how you would hunt for newts,
pick meadow-sweet, try to spot sundew trapping flies.
Explain drizzle, scattered showers, cats-and-dogs.
Please, before we burn, tell me about rain.
Winner of the Hamish Canham Poetry Prize 2008
© Gill Learner. Used by permission.
More poems on this site.
Poetry Society events
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Poetry Society podcasts
In the final installment of our Under The Influence series, Yang Lian will talk about how Ezra Pound's poetry gripped a whole generation of Chinese poets. Listen to him in conversation about Pound's effect on his poetry.
Poetry Unplugged is London's premier open mic night. We asked the host of the event, Niall O'Sullivan to interview the performers and the original host, John Citizen. You can listen to the readings and interviews here.
"If I could touch one percent of the hearts that the Liverpool poets have touched, then I'd be doing alright" , says Lemn Sissay. Hear him talk about the influence that Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten have had on his life as a writer.
On 22 May, as part of the 'Under the Influence' series 2008, Robert Minhinnick looked at the influence that Derek Walcott's Sea Grapes had on him as a young writer. Hear Minhinnick in conversation, prior to the event.
Listen to Sinéad Morrissey read her winning poem 'Through the Square Window', as well as other highlights of the National Poetry Competition 2007 prizegiving, which took place on 27 March 2008, at the October Gallery.
You can now watch Nikola Mijović's film about the Poetry Day at Buckingham Palace, featuring 28 poets, almost 200 schoolchildren from around London and the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.
For more podcasts visit our Audio Archives...
Poetry in the news
7 July
Poet Dannie Abse has won the Wales Book of the Year Award for his memoir, The Presence (Hutchinson).
30 June
Gill Learner has won the Hamish Canham Poetry Prize 2008 for the best members' poem to be published in Poetry News.
30
June
The poet Elizabeth Bartlett has died aged 84. She published her first collection of poetry in her mid-fifties, and her most recent, Mrs Perkins and Oedipus (Bloodaxe), on her eightieth birthday. An obituary appears in The Telegraph.
24
June
John Burnside, David Harsent, John Greening and Sarah Maguire have been awarded Cholmondeley Awards, worth £2000 each, by the Society of Authors. In the same awards ceremony, Emily Berry, Rhiannon Hooson, James Midgley, Adam O’Riordan and Heather Phillipson received Eric Gregory Awards, given for a collection of poems by a poet under the age of 30.
20
June
The Edge of Love, a film about Dylan Thomas's relationship with two women, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys (who plays Thomas), opens tomorrow.
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