I just can't keep away from Brigit Pegeen Kelly's The Orchard. I've been reading widely over the last few months but always find myself coming back to Kelly's work. The experience of reading her poems aloud is incredible - such wondrous, otherworldly and yet dark and gritty poems. And always something new in every read - her work is so dense! I will definitely need to order her other collections.

I've been enjoying working on tree and flower poems over the last while but starting to feel the stirrings of a bigger project on the horizon - no idea what yet! Today I slaved over a rhododendron poem, I wrestled with it all day but think now I have a good first draft!

I was interested to hear Carol Ann Duffy read in Dunoon last week. When I heard her read at StAnza a number of years ago I assumed she was having a bad day i.e. she read morosely and looked miserable. But now having heard her read in exactly the same manner here in Dunoon I see that's just the way she is as a reader!

It's a real pleasure when a poem written in the solitude of me and my laptop travels so much further than I could have expected.
I was happy to receive my contributor copy of Poetry Ireland Review with my Moniack Mhor poem - it was the poem I had stuck in at the end of my submission to bolster it and the one, I assumed, would be least likely to be taken.

Last week I received a lovely email to ask if the poem could be featured on Poetry Daily and of course I said yes so today it's up on the website - here.
Also I'm happy to have my March Snow poem in now up on the London Grip which can be read here.

It's been beautiful weather here in Argyll over the last month, I'm sure we haven't had such a warm spell for at least three years! I've been working on some orange tree poems from my notes from Spain. And thinking about counselling / therapy as I come towards the end of my counselling skills course - it's been a transformative year for me and I now know without a doubt that I want to continue training to become a counsellor. I'm interested to see how it will impact my writing in terms of themes and focus.