Month: December 2023
A Handsel: New and Collected Poems by Liz Lochhead (Polygon)
#NotAdvent Day Eight. Enjoy the poetry of Annest Gwilym. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Eighth Day.
Diego Delso, delso.photo, License CC-BY-SA
Annest Gwilym
Bios and Links
Annest Gwilym
Author of three books of poetry: Surfacing (2018) and What the Owl Taught Me (2020), both published by Lapwing Publications. What the Owl Taught Me was Poetry Kit’s Book of the Month in June 2020 and one of North of Oxford’s summer reading recommendations in 2020. Annest has been widely published in literary journals and anthologies, both online and in print, and placed in several writing competitions, winning one. She was the editor of the webzine Nine Muses Poetry from 2018-2020. She was a nominee for Best of the Net 2021. Her third book of poetry – Seasons in the Sun – was published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch on 15 September 2023 and was Poetry Kit’s Book of the Month in November 2023 as well as being one of their Christmas reading recommendations. She has been nominated for the Wales Book of the Year Award 2024/Gwobr Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2024. Seasons in the Sun is available from: https://carreg-gwalch.cymru/seasons-in-the-sun-3008-p.asp, Amazon and other places. It is also available from all bookshops in Wales.
Patricia’s Pen Launch Feature – Alan Parry
#NotAdvent Day Seven. Enjoy the poetry and prose of Ivor Daniel. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Seventh Day.
Bio And Links
#NotAdvent Day Six. Enjoy the poetry of Lesley Curwen. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Sixth Day.
Lesley Curwen
Bios and Links
Lesley Curwen
is a poet and broadcaster who writes about the sea, loss and hope. She has been Highly Commended in the Poetry Wales Award and has a collaborative pamphlet with Nine Pens and a Silver Branch feature with Black Bough. She is on X as @elcurwen and blogs at http://www.lesleycurwenpoet.com.
In the New Year I am having a go at running an online poetry and flash fiction magazine based on Substack. It will be called The Starbeck Orion, be 25 creative works long, and be published seven times a year. Please contribute via the Gmail address TheStarbeckOrion@gmail.com Send three unpublished poems or flash fictions (1,500 words, or less) in Word.doc. in Times New Roman, 11pt. Make sure you put your name in the title of the Word.doc so I can find it. As this is a new venture I need your PATIENCE, above all. Publication will be on the 25th of every other month. So first issue will be posted on 25th February 2024, next one 25th April, and so on. Each issue will be themed: First issue theme is “New Life” or, just send your best three works. Contributions, I prefer that term to submissions, are open now.
#NotAdvent Day Five. Enjoy the poetry of Ronnie Smith. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Fourth Day.. Enjoy the poetry of Louise Longson. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Fifth Day.
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ierh/Gallery/Zaire%201Lg.jpg 
Bio and Links
Ronnie Smith
was born in Glasgow, Scotland and now lives in the south of Francehaving travelled widely. He is a ‘Pushcart Prize’ and ‘Best of the Net’ nominee andpublishes poetry and articles on Politics and Culture whenever and wherever he can.
Twitter – @FrewSmith
#NotAdvent Day Four. Enjoy the poetry of Louise Longson. For December go against the flow with me, instead of an Advent Calendar I am having an online Disappearance poetry calendar. Thinking of Extinction events, disappearing wildlife, disappearing homes due to war, thinking of the missing during Christmas. Fourth Day.
Note: In 2016, Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, the home of the Kermode or Spirit Bear, finally achieved protection status for 85% of the forest after decades of deforestation. Yet, despite actions and campaigns, it is predicted that, by 2030, there may be only 10% of the world’s rainforests left. It is estimated that only 400 spirit bears now exist.
Bios and Links
Late-blooming poet Louise Longson started writing ‘with intent’ in 2020. Now aged 60, she has been widely published both in print and online. She is the author of the chapbooks Hanging Fire (Dreich Publications, 2021) and Songs from the Witch Bottle (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). She works from her home in a small rural village on the fringes of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire offering a listening service to people whose physical and emotional distress is caused by loneliness and historic trauma and abuse. Her poems are inspired by bringing together her personal and work experiences, often seen through the twin prisms of myth and nature.
Twitter @LouisePoetical
The Wombwell Rainbow 
