TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Lucy Heuschen

is a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of two chapbooks and a forthcoming collection. Lucy’s poems appear in Dream Catcher, The Orphic Review, Lighthouse, Obsessed With Pipework, The High Window, Skylight 47, The Storms and Ink Sweat & Tears. She was commended in the Poetry Society’s Stanza Competition 2024.

BlueSky: @PetiteCreature1.bsky.social
Website: http://www.lucyheuschen.co.uk

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I wrote pieces especially for this brief rather than selecting from existing drafts. Since I worked closely with Alan on my chapbook “Loggerheads”, which won The Broken Spine Chapbook Competition and was published by The Broken Spine earlier in 2024, I had a good idea of the kind of work he might find appealing. Also, the brief Alan gave his poets for this project was brilliant. To be bold and uninhibited, to break the rules and explore what lies beyond – an irresistible invitation for any poet!

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

I tend to write fairly short poems of one page or less. I enjoy form and do write poems in strict form sometimes, if that serves the poem. For this project, I focused on intensity and atmosphere over any particular form or structure.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I used the whiteness to convey the water in which the mysterious goddess Aerfen lurks. As the poem progresses, the water intrudes more, becoming more aggressive, consuming the human element (the words). The girl is stranded in the final lines – an offering of desperation into the whiteness / the water / the void.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

That was easy, because it was all about the goddess Aerfen. She is the heart of it. It is said that in Roman times, people would make sacrifices to Aerfen in the River Dee ahead of a battle, hoping to ensure victory.
5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

The narrative of the poem is very simple, which enabled me to focus on strong word choices and imagery.

What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I wasn’t expecting my poem to be first up so it was a surprise when I opened the manuscript! It is an honour to kick off this remarkable project. I hope it is a striking introduction to the collection and sets the scene for the anthology.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

Maybe an appreciation of the dangers our girls and women still face as they move through this world of ours.

TWT Wave 2 may be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Damien B. Donnelly

is the author of 2 pamphlets, a micro-collection and full collection, Enough! published by Hedgehog. He’s the host/producer of Eat the Storms, poetry podcast, and editor-in-chief of The Storms journal. His work appears in various anthologies. His 2nd collection was published in 2024 with Turas Press.

X @deuxiemepeau Bluesky @eatthestorms.com Instagram @damiboy

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I picked the ones that challenged me the most to write. The ask was to be untamed, in both content and creation. This wasn’t a process of flow, it was a journey into the dig, digging into the theme and digging into how I write. I wanted to push myself into a place of discomfort, a place unfamiliar and see how I could write my way through it.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

It was free form and it had to be. The poem is, in its essence, beyond restraint, a chorus of coincidence instead of curated notes. It is based on an actual walk through a wood in County Monaghan, in Ireland, in November. It was a place where sound betrayed logic, I heard the sea in the rustle of leaves still holding on, snakes hissed under the rusting of fallen leaves, crisp under foot but I was nowhere near the sea and far from a single snake, thanks to St. Patrick! There was a lake, a shimmer of light in place of sound, hotel-sheet still, and I wanted some of the lines to have that quality, pulled so tight while others felt cracked, submerged. I wanted it to feel as random as the wild.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I hope the whiteness allows the poem to spread itself snake-like across the page, it twists at its own will, it has breaks, things missing, broken bits nature had already digested and other spaces to regurgitate them later. The white spaces also become the route the wind takes through the words. You can look down on the page itself as if you are looking down on the wood from above, lines of trees next to open spaces where others have been felled, have fallen, have refused to grown to man’s plan. You can plant the seed but the wood is forever unwilling to be tamed. I wanted it to be something big, heavy, clunky.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

The poem is a song of the wild, a song of a wild thing so there is nothing gentle to the title, it has its own crunch but there is also a playfulness to it as it falls from the tongue with its use of alliteration while I hope the onomatopoeia in the poem itself brings to life the sound of the wind, its snake-like hissing. It was an orchestration of both, though the conductor, nature itself, carved the narrative.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

The poem is loaded with images but I realise, however detailed I become with the image, the reader will make their own visions, that’s the journey into a poem or a story, when the author hands over the ownership and the reader builds their own scenes in which it all takes place. As the writer, I see it, but it is my vision. A piece of writing, when read by many, finds itself forming its own world in the minds of many consciousnesses and none of these worlds are truly alike.

6 What do you think  of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I am in awe of all my fellow contributors as much as I was in awe of all who made Wave 1 so remarkable. To be anywhere in here, with these names, with these writers, is an honour. The curation tells a story from beginning to end, it is an anthology but it has its threads and I love how Jen’s ‘trees whisper’ into mine and how the final ‘Fall’ of my poem blends seamlessly into the ‘washed greens’ of the next, how the crunch of mine rubs against the ‘brutal cleave of salt’ of Lesley’s Earth’s Gift.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

To go out and listen, to hear nature, to fall into its harmonies and tremble at the breath of its roar. The world, even when sleeping, is never silent, even the lake, at point of freezing, can be heard almost shuffling itself into solid structure, as if it never knew the flow of liquid. And we are losing it, every day, more and more. This is not the place of permanence we once imagined. Catch it before it falls from grasp.

TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Lesley Curwen

is a poet, broadcaster and sailor from Plymouth. She won the Molecules Unlimited poetry competition, and in 2024, Hedgehog Press published her pamphlet Rescue Lines, and Dreich published an eco-chapbook, Sticky with Miles. She has been nominated for Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. @elcurwen, X and Insta @elcurwen.bskyb.social http://www.lesleycurwenpoet.com

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I looked at the many poems I have written about nature and environmental decline, and chose one which asks for the reader to think differently about something very humble and common, sand, how it is formed and what it has been through before we carelessly walk on it. The poem contrasts the desirable seaglass that catches beachcombers’ eyes, either the simple beauty of pebbles and sand.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

It started out as a shapeless mass of ideas, then gained a kind of momentum as the story of sand’s beginnings took off. I ended up putting it in tercets with a final couplet and suddenly it was a sonnet, though the volta comes very early in the poem.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I suppose the poem could have been a block of text, a sonnet with no white space, but as the poem is an argument against the easy and heterodox view, the uneasy, restless shape of the tercet worked better, and the last two lines seemed to belong on their own, to give them the final word. Having said that, I always torture myself that my endings are too obvious and wrapped-up, a hangover from a lifetime as a reporter where it was a requirement of the job.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

It took a while- there were some titles that mentioned seaglass. But in the end it seemed that the key thought was that even the humblest stuff beneath our feet has its own history, is a gift from nature, to be perceived and appreciated.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

The first line came first, about the attraction of seaglass, which I confess, I do collect myself. After that, the narrative and it’s momentum was intensely important. The rest of the imagery folded around it.

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

It is in the middle, which is fine with me, though I suspect my poem will be overshadowed by the work before and after it, from my hugely talented colleagues.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A new perception every time they visit a beach, thinking of the untamed crash and thunder of waves which once beat stone and cliff to the softness of sand they walk on.

TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

James McConachie

Writing from rural Spain, James has poetry published by Iambapoet, Black Bough, Eat the Storms, The Madrid Review, Modron Magazine and essays/short stories for the Dark Mountain Project. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart prize and Best of the Net. His debut collection, ‘Consolamentum’ was published in October 2024 by Black Bough Poetry.

Bluesky: @jamesmcconachie1.bsky.socialX:@jamesmcconachi1Instagram: @jaimemacabeoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/12Bw2pTLCeR/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I actually wrote the poem in response to the prompt/concept of untamed nature.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

Like much of my poetry it has a formless form, if that makes any sense. I tend to use lots of internal rhyme which I always think of as like a spring, coiled up through the poem to hold it under a kind of tension. In this poem, like many others, I ended on a couplet with slant rhyme at the end. I know this is unfashionable, but I always come back to Heaney’s ‘Mid- Term Break: ‘No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear./A four-foot box, a foot for every year.’ which is some finely delivered poetic wallop, something I admire and aspire to produce. I once described this as ‘The hammer that knocks the nail in’ with someone who disagreed, suggesting it was a form of lyrical comfort for the reader in contrast to the disconsolate theme. I’m going with the hammer.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

Hmmm. I didn’t really, beyond two stanzas of 9 lines. The break between stanzas isn’t clear as it runs on with an enjambment.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

I never overthink titles, which might be lazy of me, as I often use a Spanish word, or in this case the Catalan word for an almond orchard. I suppose it reflects my ‘lived reality’, as they say.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

I really wanted to convey the speed with which nature reclaims neglected farmland here and how magical that can be, so I was trying, with images, to conjure up a great, beguiling density of life.

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

Another thing I try not to over think. It sits nicely between slightly contrasting poems, I think.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

Well, it’s an optimistic poem, when so many of mine are not, so I hope it transmits that. It might be ephemeral, but the power of nature to quickly reinhabit human spaces is an optimistic observation, I hope.

Romina Ramos

is a Portuguese poet, whose work mostly examines complicated familial relationships, and interrogates themes of identity, belonging and dislocation. They’ve been shortlisted for the #Merky Books New Writer’s Prize and The Bridport prize for poetry, and won the Carcanet prize for poetry. They are editor in chief for Worktown Words, Live From Worktown’s creative writing magazine and co-founder and host of Natter, a monthly night providing a platform for creatives of all levels to share their work in a warm and supportive environment.

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

Some I wrote specifically one was edited to fit theme. 2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

I don’t tend to play with form too much unless it serves a meaningful purpose to the poem, in the case of these submissions I wrote mainly in short stanzas.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I didn’t.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

My titles usually come from a word or feeling within the poem.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

Both, I think one serves the other. Effective imagery can help drive the narrative forward. 

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I think it has married well with the other surrounding poems.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

For some maybe nostalgia, for others maybe curiosity.

You can purchase TWT Wave 2, here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

“It was a joyful, enriching experience and an honor to appear in your beautiful Wombwell Rainbow alongside such talented artists and poets. I’m grateful to Paul & participating artists & poets for inspiring me out of a writing slump…”

“I was struck by how often we mirrored each other, like Matisse & Picasso painting uncannily similar subjects despite being separated by geography & war. I’ve loved the collective energy!”

George Sandifer-Smith

is a Welsh writer. He has published two collections, Empty Trains (Broken Sleep Books) and Nights Travel at the Right Speed (Infinity Books).

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I started a couple of coastal poems – I grew up in South Pembrokeshire and spent a lot of time growing up enjoying the savagery of those cliffs, the walk to Barafundle, the roaring waves around St Govan’s chapel. But eventually the sink hole poem had to win through – they’re terrifying, truly nature untamed.


2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

I’m a regular user of free verse so initially chose it in order to, well, get into my comfort zone. But then I decided to break down that comfort from within – to take the ‘I’ out of it and emphasise the destruction.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

Carefully! The ends of each verse are chosen with purpose – the first ends on ‘dancing to death’, the second on ‘cold and raw’ – to create cliffhangers.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

The title was difficult as titles always are – I decided to look at how sink holes are formed in cliffs and then present it as a ‘gift’.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

Imagery for this one – the coast is so rich with it. I like it!

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

Nice to be on stage early – means you can relax for everyone else’s set, so to speak.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A vivid image that’s a bit terrifying.

You can purchase TWT Wave 2 here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Perry Gasteiger (they/them)

is a non-binary Canadian poet who focuses on the mundanity of existence through a lens of empathetic consideration. Bringing attention to the extraordinary nature of life and pain, they juxtapose the beautiful and the deformed, the congruent and the discordant, and the comfortable and the anxious. @sunshinedaisybaby (Instagram)

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I wrote each poem specifically for these collections. I took time to think about the themes and wrote around the ideas that came out of that.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

Delineated free verse because that’s what I’m used to and I’m lazy 

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I did not (or at least not intentionally)

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

Threw spaghetti at the wall until something stuck.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

Imagery tends to be the central focus of my poems, and letting the space between and among the images create a scaffolding for the reader to assign their own narrative meaning

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I haven’t thought about it very hard

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A bit of existential dread and maybe some new ideas

TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Jen Feroze

lives by the sea in Essex. Her work has appeared in publications including Under the Radar, Butcher’s Dog, Magma, Okay Donkey, Berlin Lit, And Other Poems and Black Iris. She won the 2024 Poetry Business International Book and Pamphlet Competition and her pamphlet, Tiny Bright Thorns, was published by Nine Pens in 2024. She likes cold water swimming, turquoise things, and cheese you can eat with a spoon. Instagram: @jenferoze x:@jenlareine

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

The ‘Untamed’ brief took me to a place of folklore and wildness. I wanted something that felt ageless, and allowed me to write from the perspective of inhabiting something in nature.

The Corn Dolly and the traditions around it seemed to fit the bill beautifully, with that mix of the bucolic and the slightly sinister.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

Free verse – as most of my work is. But I wanted to keep the lines fairly short and staccato, and I played around with the line breaks a lot to get the pace I wanted and the feel of the speaker of the poem being something otherworldly.

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

The last three lines use the white space to mimic the scattering of the Corn Dolly after its burning.

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

For once I didn’t overthink it! I’m often someone who tries umpteen titles to see what fits, but here I went clear and simple

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

I knew I needed to take us from the end of the harvest through to the following spring, so narrative probably came first. But I always find it hard to dissociate one from the other, to be honest, I need both!

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I love this question but my answer would be the same regardless of where the poem was placed: I trust Alan and his editorial skills to build a collection that has just the right ebb and flow and rhythm and punch in the way the poems come together.

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A gentle wistfulness for the corn dolly speaker of the poem.

TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn

Barney Ashton-Bullock

is the poet / librettist in the ‘Andy Bell is Torsten’ theatre-poetry collective. He narrates his own verse on ‘Downes Braide Association’ albums. He has poetry internationally published in a range of cult poetry journals, and his recent books include ‘Café Kaput!’ (Broken Sleep, 2020) and ‘Cul-de-Sacrilege!’ (Polari Press. 2022).

Facebook : Barney Ashton-Bullock

X : @barney_poet

Instagram : barneyashtonbullock

Threads : barneyashtonbullock

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

Nature was the theme and I chose works about the forest and the sea. My formative years were either in seaside towns of living on the Dorset Coast Path. 

2. What poetic form did it take, and why?

The freeform of the poem selected, ‘Channel Light Vassals’, resulted from the sound it made when read aloud. There was a definite flow to my ears and much tinkering to achieve the through-force.

3. How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

As the poem gains momentum, the syllabic count and line lengths in the centre of the poem increase. It gives, I think, a momentum and ultimately the pointed shape of the poem evidences this ‘tension’ and ‘release’. 

4. How did you decide on the title of your poem?

Through a play on the word ‘Vessels’ – a Channel Light Vessel being, in short, lighthouse mounted on a boat to guide shipping – notably Second World War ‘convoys’ – I thought of the word ‘vassals’ being empty spaces, perhaps empty hearts adrift on the sea-lanes of love and lust.

5. Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

I think in that particular work, imagery and narrative meld equally. I am, though, also acutely aware of the sound of the words, which is, perhaps, an equal consideration in my work.

6. What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

The position of my poem in the collection is great. The whole collection has these gear changes between differing styles of poetry and different takes on ‘nature’.

7. Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A kind of resolve to grab at the fleeting moments of happiness that alight upon us, sometimes by chance, and a realisation that though one may, from time to time, ‘make do’ – it is best to have one’s sights on the horizon and to re-orientate / re-motivate as needs must.

You can buy TWT wave 2 here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whiskey-Tree-Untamed-Nature-Wave/dp/B0DSBF9S7C/ref=sr_1_1?crid=187XS3E25B50Q&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kcB4pzwtl-keTksr-ViF2TmyByEwf2VFYojbOvdqP-0.apOiWAprSbh_1Ik8qWLopriJd5-22Aa5LVhAcfJs95I&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+whiskey+tree+untamed+nature&qid=1738492961&sprefix=the+whiskey+tree%2Caps%2C372&sr=8-1