I quite like hearing from the author, about their experience and intentions, but I don't think I would want it annotation style in a body of work.

I don't see any of those goals as unattainable! With the right strategies, you'll nail the first two - and the third doesn't need to be a massive goal, move at a pace you're comfortable with. Hope the movie was good 😊

My plans for 2024 include: * editing and publishing my current WiP collection * starting my second collection * establishing a healthy writing routine * to read more poetry I also want to work on one of my novels, perhaps by joining a writing group.

Censorship in classic poetry: After seeing the discourse around censoring the likes of Roald Dahl, I wondered, how do we as poets feel about retroactively censoring poetry to fit a contemporary audience? Are we ensuring that poetry is inclusive, or sanitising the artform?

He's an unsigned independent so hopefully copyright wouldn't be an issue! Watching the new video now 😊

YES!

Following on from the chat on the last livestream, I'm going to recommend a livestream reaction to Hi Ren by Ren. I think it'd be an interesting link to the topic of performance in poetry, and also truth as it's based on his life experienes.

Just went to fill it out but it says the form is coming up as closed - you might need to reopen it for submissions.

What I lack in self belief, I make up for with self doubt 🤣

They will forever have a spot in my melancholic heart 😉🖤 Embarrassingly, I'm not well read in American poets, including Bukowski, but that one has caught my interest! I feel a deep dive coming on 🤣

Thanku Adam!!! 😊😊

In lockdown I realised I could actually write poems that people would consider poetry, but I still don't feel like a proper poet, which is why I haven't published anything yet. Imposter syndrome at its finest I suppose 🤣

It's more about a historic place (Hampton Court Palace) than a historical event, though the Tudors reign is arguably an event in itself. I've always enjoyed 'A Spellbound Palace' by Thomas Hardy. On this kindly yellow day of mild low-travelling winter sun The stirless depths of the yews Are vague with misty blues: Across the spacious pathways stretching spires of shadow run, And the wind-gnawed walls of ancient brick are fired vermilion. Two or three early sanguine finches tune Some tentative strains, to be enlarged by May or June: From a thrush or blackbird Comes now and then a word, While an enfeebled fountain somewhere within is heard. Our footsteps wait awhile, Then draw beneath the pile, When an inner court outspreads As ’twere History’s own asile, Where the now-visioned fountain its attenuate crystal sheds In passive lapse that seems to ignore the yon world’s clamorous clutch, And lays an insistent numbness on the place, like a cold hand’s touch. And there swaggers the Shade of a straddling King, plumed, sworded, with sensual face, And lo, too, that of his Minister, at a bold self-centred pace: Sheer in the sun they pass; and thereupon all is still, Save the mindless fountain tinkling on with thin enfeebled will.

I don't know why, but the Hughes line 'A cauldron of daffodils, boiling gently' has always stuck with me. I think it's the kind of wordsmithery I would like to achieve. I find lyrics stuck with me more. Like 'you call me up again just to break me like a promise' or 'What it meant to me will eventually be A memory of a time when I tried so hard' and 'When my mind stops thinking, My eyes stop blinking, I hope Somebodys there. And my heart stops beating And my lungs stop breathing In air, I hope somebody cares,'

I have discovered a love of gardening, specifically growing things from seed. There's something about forced patience that has really helped with my anxiety and racing thoughts. I also make 12 scale miniatures out of recycled materials. Again this was something I started to help with my mental ill health, but I'm now looking to make items to sell, so I guess that's no longer a hobby? I watch US court live streams. It began with the Jodie Arias case, but I see a lot more people doing it since the Depp-Heard case. It started as character studies for my books, but found the legal process fascinating, and have learnt so much. Poetry is also a hobby for me, I dip in and out of it when inspiration strikes, and regularly toy with the idea of putting out a collection, but consider it's all so autobiographical, I kind of wonder who would want to read or care 🤣

I don't tend to get writer's block with poetry, but I have been empty for years when it comes to my fiction wips. I think it's probably because I don't take the poetry as seriously as my books. I feel like often writers block is a symptom of too much pressure or expectation to produce content, which conflicts with the person's natural creativity. Art shouldn't be a production line.

I think the best comment I've got is when someone says 'I could feel how you felt in that moment' I felt like I'd achieved what I set out to. I've spent years critiquing in writing circles (fiction) and I'm a big fan of the bs sandwich approach - in the sense that you start and end with a positive, and try and be more constructive than destructive.

The meet up sounds great! I'll have to check the date and get back to you! 😊

I call my poetry style 'diaristic' (I'm aware this isn't a real thing😂) I generally only write about my own experiences and memories. In terms of structure style, I like to play with sentence structure, so the end of one line can be the beginning of, or contradict the next. I'm sure there's a term for it, I just don't know it. A lot of the metaphors etc I use come from past careers, or areas I'm interested in. And my poem titles are often obscure references that you'll only figure out by looking up the word - or if you were privvy to the experience being discussed.

I have way more but didn't want to spam the thread! 🤣