Heather Moulson

Poetry advent 17

Well, Poetry Lovers, the computer has really shut me out. This is all from my phone. It seems you can’t just go to PC World (Brentford) and buy an iPad thing. You have to order it.

I expected to come out that shop triumphantly holding a nice carrier bag full of expensive goods! I mean, call me old-fashioned!

So the poetry advent calendar has to be abandoned. My biggest project to date!

Meanwhile, here’s some more test cards..
I’ve put on some groovy music in the background…..

Sob! Bye bye Poetry Advent Calendar 2020. Like the rest of this year, you took a dive.

I’ll be back, PLs, as soon as I can sort something out!

I have really been looking forward to this window. We have opened number 16 to Trainspotters by Greg Freeman. A neat and moving collection published by Indigo Dreams in 2015.

Tender pieces, such as in The 21.53 – an interaction between strangers on a train and the poignant A Job on the Railways, a moving account of the poet’s father. These very personal accounts are neither sentimental nor mawkish. The reader can also warm to the reminiscent The Clackety-Clack and the human situation of The Late Shift.

My personal favourite however is Dance On, so poignant, absurd and engulfing with its bitter-sweetness.

We’re awaiting that next collection, Greg.

Most of you will know Greg Freeman co-runs Write Out Loud Woking, now on Zoom. Do check out the site

http://www.writeoutloud.net

There’s also a great interview with Greg on
https://heathermoulsonpoet.com/2020/08/10/interview-4/

Thanks for tuning in, Poetry Lovers. Tune in tomorrow for window 16……

Poetry Advent Calender – window 15

Hello Poetry Lovers

And what a lovely window we have today – Spools of Thread by Angi Holden, published by the now sadly defunct Mother’s Milk Books.

This kind of fell into my lap as much as I had to buy one of their books to enter their competition last year. I didn’t win but I got some fantastic feedback.

This is a neat and intimate collection with warmth, humour and tenderly crafted words. I Measure My Mother’s Love is one of my favourites, plus Christmas Day 1941. Full of unforgettable words on youth, mother’s, and relationships.

I can’t tell you to order it because they’re no longer there, but if it also falls into your lap, then hold onto it.

Thanks for looking in, PL’s. Tune in tomorrow for window 16 – same time, same channel….

Test Card

Hello Poetry Lovers

Computer absolutely shot. Lost my pictures, everything. So today, Instead of window 14, you’re getting a test card.

Many of us here will remember the excitement of a test card on TV – especially the little girl with a blackboard on BBC2. So I’m going to take you back down memory lane and give you a poetry one.

Thank you for watching, Poetry Lovers. What you have to do is put some groovy music in the background and sit there and watch it for a few hours before a programme comes on…..

Luckily, I have window 15 in the draft section, so tune in tomorrow – same time, same channel

Poetry Advent Calender – window 13

Hello Poetry Lovers,

Welcome to window 13 –

And what can I say about this great collection called Boring The Arse Off Young People by the wonderful Martin Figura. Published by Nasty Little Press in 2010, this is the first poetry book I ever bought. And off the great man himself! At the Roundhouse

I suppose I’ve seen Martin Figura a few times now and he just gets better…. However, I never forget the very first time on a freezing November night upstairs at the Fox pub in Twickenham – now a restaurant!!

Despite being miserable about working a rugby match the next day, Martin and his ‘gang’, including the marvelous Luke Wright, opened my eyes to a whole new world of vibrant words and performance. Who would have thought I’d be penning these things myself six years later…?

So, Boring The Arse Off Young People is razor sharp, witty, so so poignant and clever. My favourite is (The Trouble With) Middle-aged People which incorporates the unforgettable title of the book.

Martin at the moment does wonderful Zoom poetry on the first Sunday of every month, called Live from The Butchery with wonderful readers. It’s on Facebook – so like their page now!

Well, PL’s, I hope you enjoyed that impartial mini-review. Tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel for more advent action! Thanks for stopping by…….

Poetry Advent Calender – window 12

Hello Poetry Lovers! Window 12!

Everything was wiped away from my laptop but we may just make it to the end…….

And what can I say about this poet? And Family Values?

When I saw Wendy Cope at The Richmond Literature Festival in 2016, poetry was a new door for me then and I’d only tentatively pushed it open. After seeing Wendy, I went through that door and didn’t look back.

Wendy Cope’s work is endearing, deceptively gentle with an underlying steel grip. I like that she writes about everyday things that are right under our noses, and makes such valid points. Her observations are sharp, witty and very British and though tending to be middle class, the poet takes a stand on this. A great example is my favourite Uncle Bill – poignant, sweet and sad.

Get on the case now!

One of my favourites there. Tune in tomorrow for Advent Window 13 for something completely different!

Poetry Advent Calender – window 10

Hello Poetry Lovers, window 10!! Not bad going – eh? I had all sorts of technical problems yesterday but today we have opened the window to a beauty.

As you know, Patric Cunnane runs the wonderful DoDo Modern Poets above the King & Queen pub in the West End. I’ve known great afternoons of poetry there. So I jumped at the chance of buying Patric’s enigmatic The Ghost of Franz Kafka, published by Palewell Press in 2018. The distinctive style is disturbing, sharp, clever and humorous. I particularly love Keys, No More Superheroes and When You Hang a Poet.

However, one of my absolute favourite poems of all time is The Old Office. It reflects our offices of yesteryear with the reek of fags and fry-ups and being paid in a brown envelope. So many memories overwhelmed me that my eyes misted up. I was such a part of that structure once. An era that’s gone forever. Poignant to the point of painful.

Thank you for that, Patric, miss you and Peter so much. Let’s hope we get those afternoons back soon.

However, DoDo Poets do a great live webpage every month. Have a look, some good recordings of poets on there

http://dodovidpoets.blogspot.com/2020/11/virtualdodo-4-november-2020.html

https://dodovidpoets.blogspot.com/2020/11/virtualdodo-4-november-2020.html

Great window! Think I’m going to have to lie down after that!

I see Dobby’s just walked in, so I’d better sign off. Tune in same time, same place tomorrow.

Memory Corner – Chip’s Speakeasy

Hello, Poetry Lovers, I was engulfed by a quick memory, which I’ll share with you before going on with the poetry advent calender…..

Now I’ve got to stop getting so emotional about these memory corners. I simply took them on board early in lockdown – but now they bring a lump to my throat.

These are good times remembered, not good times lost. I have to realise that. Hands up who’s found this later lockdown harder!

Anyway, me mate’s got her Reliant up and running, so hop in for memory corner – this time it’s 16th December 2019. Chip’s Speakeasy at Mortimer House.

We were on the top floor in this amazing sunken room in this sumptuous central London location. These images don’t really do it justice but it was an incredible square space. The wonderful and innovative Chip Martin is sitting there, who brought all this magical experience about. Amazing man and poet.

This is Chip on the left. A talented and enigmatic American young man, there’s moi in the centre – such a splendid balcony, and the last is me with the cheeky and stunning Dino Mahoney. A great poet – try and hear his work (I know… I know…).

However, the following picture is closest to my heart ….

Well, what can I say about these heroes? They’ve been life-changing to me. Directly in the front, leaning on Dino’s knee is the stunning Angus Strachan. A handsome Australian brimming with wonderful words and talent. This follows on with Dino next to me, then the beautiful, stunning poet, Barney and his lovely, lovely partner Gianni. Angus and Barney founded Soho Poets (along with that brilliant Mark Chamberlain who couldn’t be there) – what an institution!

Anyway, I read my poem The Queue, and the lovely Polly Bull and other great poets read fantastic pieces. What a night that was.

Forgive me, I can’t show that photo enough.

Well, I can see Dobby’s bored so I’d best be off. Lets hope more of those nights will come.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s, poetry advent — see below for window 8 of the poetry advent calender….

A wonderful and brutal pamphlet from V Press – get reading….!

Poetry Advent Calender – window 7

Hello PL’s

Welcome to day 7 of the poetry advent calender. I am delighted to open the window to Ex Situ by the wonderful M. E. Muir, a poet I have come to love and have the pleasure of knowing.

I was swept away by this elegant collection bound by the fetching blue cover. The simplicity of it is so striking and works well with content that truly delivers. Published by the great Dempsey & Windle, this is a definite find!

Vivid and sensitive, there are three significant sections – Listen, Next and Celebrate. These poems have such a definitive love of nature and places. Extraordinarily well voiced with real environmental issues and concerns, and pieces that are conveyed with passion. My International Family of Trees and In Loch na Droma Buidhe are my personal favourites.

Treat yourself. Available from http://dempseyandwindle.com

I hope you enjoyed that one, Poetry Lovers. Now it’s off to cater to Dobby’s every whim!

See you tomorrow for window 8!!

Poetry Advent Calender – window 6

Welcome to window 6 of the poetry advent calender, PL’s.

Now I swooned over this poet in Guildford and Cranleigh, and I was thrilled I could buy this copy from the man himself. This being Ian McLachlan, a superb and intelligent poet.

This wry pamphlet, Confronting the Danger of Art, illustrated by Phil Cooper, is extraordinarily clever. Issuing a safety manual to warn the public of the harzards of art and artists. Divided into three hilarious sections – threat assessment, health & saftety and criminal detection – we can be protected against this terrible thing!

A really witty notion. Keep it with you at all times!

Ian also took some very good poetry classes at Wembley Library last year. Hopefully these can be resurrected soon. Worth going along, I got a lot out of it.