Frank MCmahon

lives n Cirencester,  married with two children and six grandchildren.
His  professional career was in Social Work/ Welfare.
He he has two books of poems, At The Storm’s Edge and A Different Land, published by Palewell Press, the second in July this year. He recently won the Gloucestershire Writers Network first prize for poetry. he has also just been published in Acumen and have had more work accepted by Indigo Dreams.
Previous work has appeared in The Cannon’s Mouth, Riggwelter, Morphrog, Brittlestar,The Curlew, Makarelle, Writeresque, Erbacce, I am not a Silent Poet, Fly on the Wall, Voices for the Silent.
In 2021, he read at Cheltenham Poetry Festival and 2022 Cheltenham Literary Festival.
Twitter handle;@FrankMc80155611

My hopes and plans for 2023 are to develop the range and depth of my work, experiment with recognised forms; read at Cheltenham poetry Festival and share my work with other groups and readings; work towards a third volume; read and study more poetry. Carry on contributing to my two writing groups.

 

My second book of poems, A Different Land was published by Palewell Press in July.

Two days later, I learned that I had won the Gloucestershire Writers Network  First Prize for Poetry with The War Against Speech, which I read later at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

I have also had work published in Sarasvati, Acumen and Dialect Writers 2022 Anthology and am working on a new collection..

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a moth like a glasses cupboard?

What mundane task would a living moth do in a home?

How would a glasses cupboard be rewilded?

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a kingfisher like a mop and bucket

What mundane task would a living kingfisher do in a home?

How would a mop and bucket be rewilded?

Rhona Greene is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer from Dublin and an avid poetry fan. She is published in several Black Bough Poetry editions, was shortlisted in the Dai Fry Mystical Award contest and her poem in Afterfeather gave the edition its name, making her one of the anthology’s featured writers. She is also featured in Sarah Connor’s Advent poems and has read for Annick Yerem’s Advent project and Eat The Storms Poetry Podcast. Twitter & Instagram: Rhona_Greene

This year has been full of such wonderful poetry experiences and surprises, things a year or two ago I could never have imagined happening and every day poetry continues to be a constant source of joy and comfort to me. I am so grateful for the very special community of poets I have come to know and love and for the amazing encouragement, support and opportunities that have come my way in the short time I have been writing.

This year in July I submitted a poem for the first time to @TopTweetTuesday at Black Bough Poetry for an event hosted by Briony Collins and I was thrilled my poem was selected to be included in the anthology Briony was curating from selected submissions. Then to my great surprise, honour and delight my poem ‘The Sky Road Home’ was placed as the opening poem in the anthology – which was named ‘Afterfeather’ inspired by a word in my poem! I did my very first poetry reading as one of the featured poets at the anthology’s zoom launch and it was both the most nerve wrecking and thrilling experience all at once. And then to top it all off this poem has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize! I am totally astonished and so excited. What a wonderful adventure this little poem has taken me on and I am so grateful for all the support it has received and I am still pinching myself that any of this has really happened.

Link to Afterfeather edition:
https://www.blackboughpoetry.com/afterfeather-edition

Link to Pushcart Nomination tweet for The Sky Road Home: https://twitter.com/TopTweetTuesday/status/1597482657986011137?s=20&t=rq4Lm-HPwwUzObiHV4Ol-A

Link to all Pushcart Nominations from @TopTweetTuesday

It was a real joy and privilege to be asked to be involved in Black Bough Poetry Best of the Net selection process helping to choose poets for nomination from their Silver Branch Project.

Link to the Black Bough Poetry SilverBranch Best of the Net Nominations:

Link to the selection team:

I wrote my second poetry review for Black Bough’s September Book of the Month feature celebrating Louise Mather’s wonderful poetry in ‘The Dredging of Rituals’

Link to my review of The Dredging of Rituals by Louise Mather: https://www.blackboughpoetry.com/book-reviews-june-dec-22

I submitted a poem to the Dai Fry Award for Mystical Poetry contest with Black Bough Poetry and was stunned and overjoyed to find myself on the longlist and then the shortlist and my poem ‘Shiny Distant Thing’ is published in their wonderful anthology ‘Sun-Tipped Pillars of our Hearts’ which takes its lovely name from Lauren Thomas’s exquisite winning poem ‘Stone Circle’. This was such a special project and a real honour to be included in this way and I was delighted to read my poem at the very special launch event in October.
Link to ‘Sun-Tipped Pillar Of Our Hearts’ edition:
https://www.blackboughpoetry.com/about-6

Link to shortlist for the Dai Fry Award:

Link to my poem ‘Shiny Distant Thing’

In December I recorded two poems for Annick Yerem’s gorgeous #AdventWithAnnick project: the first was @seagoatscreams/Ankh Spice’s hauntingly beautiful poem ‘березы (Birch trees)’

Link to my reading of ‘березы (Birch trees)’ by Ankh Spice

and the second way my own poem ‘Secret Code’ which I originally wrote for Sarah Connors 2021 Advent feature.

Link to me reading my poem ‘Secret Code’: https://twitter.com/missyerem/status/1602919451124539393?s=20&t=ZLVe9E7mH3pPTxbpRv0KzA
Link to Sarah Connors 2021 Advent series where Secret Code was first featured:
https://fmmewritespoems.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/day-22-the-spice-drawer/

I hosted @TopTweetTuesday for my second time in the middle of December and it is just the most exhilarating joyful experience to spend time immersed in glorious poems by poets all over the world.

My poetry year has ended on a complete high with Part II of my piece ‘Little Crosses’ published in Black Bough Poetry’s super Christmas/Winter edition Vol.3 (Part I is in Vol.2) and I was bowled over with the invitation to be the feature reader at the book’s zoom launch, reading Little Crosses Parts 1 and II and I am still buzzing from the joy of that magical night.

Link to Black Bough Poetry’s Christmas-Winter edition Vol.3:
https://www.blackboughpoetry.com/christmas-winter-edition-3

Link to text of Little Crosses Part II: https://twitter.com/blackboughpoems/status/1607784013426757633?s=20&t=DUmVqAed8sZ9uBz2WpUp-w

I hope to continue to enjoy reading poetry and supporting and celebrating the wonderful poets and small independent presses who create such exciting work and to hopefully write a little bit more too.

Happy New Year to all, may 2023 be kind to you.
Rhona Greene

Beth Brooke

is a Dorset-based poet and her writing is grounded in the Wessex landscape and history. Her debut pamphlet, A Landscape With Birds was published by Hedgehog Poetry in July 2022. Her second pamphlet, Transformations, will be published by Hedgehog next year. The poems are all inspired by the work of Dame Elisabeth Frink, the sculptor and artist.

My hope for next year:
I am looking forward to seeing my poems inspired by the work of Elisabeth Frink. I will be running workshops in the Artists’ Gallery at the Dorset Museum in May 2023 as part of their events celebrating their major exhibition about her life and work.

I am waiting on the outcome of another pamphlet submission. I know it’s made the shortlist so fingers crossed!

I hope I can continue to develop my writing and continue to engage with the poetry community who have given me so much.

Obviously I am also hoping for world peace but I guess that’s a given.

It’s been a great year for my poetry and I love the supportive and exciting poetry community that I have found. Here’s some of my highlights in no particular order:

Dawntreader edition 57 and edition 60 published by Indigo Dreams
Poetry Bus 10: Special Anniversary Edition
Close Up – an anthology of poems about cancer, grief, hope and healing published by Orchard Lea
Demos Rising published by Fly On The Wall
Dreich season 4 issue 11
Cerasus Journal issue 7
Eat The Storms issue 1
A Duet Of Ghosts published by Blackbough
Blackbough Christmas & Winter vol III
Steel Jackdaws e-journal issue 8
https://boatsagainstthecurrent.org/poetry/woodpecker-speaks-to-me-by-beth-brooke

And finally, my debut pamphlet, A Landscape With Birds, published in July 2022 by Hedgehog Poetry Press

 

 

 

 

 

Leftfield Questions

How is a grass snake like garden tools?

What mundane task would a living grass snake do in a home?

How would garden tools be rewilded?

SPRIHA KANT (Poetess and Book Reviewer)

Spriha Kant is a poetess and book reviewer. She was born in Indore (India) and lives with her parents there. She is currently perusing M. Tech in Structural Engineering from IPS Academy.

She developed an interest in poetries at a very tender age. She has inherited this interest from her parents. She is also fond of calligraphy, photography, and paintings and is an intense music lover.

In November 2023, her poetries will be included in a book published by “Move Me Poetry” and she wishes this anthology book to be read by many people.

To know about her literary contributions and achievements, kindly refer to the table and links below:

Anthologies including poetries of Spriha Kant	Sing, Do The Birds of Spring
	Hard Rain Poetry: Forever Dylan
	Bare Bones Writing Issue 1: Fevers of the Mind
	A Whisper Of Your Love
Book Reviews done by Spriha Kant	The Keeper of Aeons by Matthew MC Smith
	Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow
	Washed Away: A Collection of Fragments by Shiksha Dheda
	Spaces by Clive Gresswell
	Silence From the Shadows by Stuart Matthews
Poetry Collaboration	“The Doorsteps Series” with David L O’ Nan
Participation in Events	Celebration for the launch of the debut poetry book “Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow” by Jeff Flesch
	Celebration for the launch of the poetry chapbook “As FolkTaleTeller” by Paul Brookes
Featured Work(s) of Spriha Kant	Seventh Synergy in “SYNERGY: CALLING ALL WRITERS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS”
Interview Features of Spriha Kant	“Quick-9 Interview” on feversofthemind.com
	“#Broken Asides with Spriha Kant” thebrokenspine.co.uk
Digitally published poetry/poetries	“The Seashell” on Imaginary Land Stories

The following are the links to the interview features of Spriha Kant:

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/09/13/a-fevers-of-the-mind-quick-9-interview-with-poetess-spriha-kant/

https://thebrokenspine.co.uk/2022/12/07/brokenasides-with-spriha-kant/

The following are the links to the book reviews done by Spriha Kant:

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/11/22/a-book-review-of-the-keeper-of-aeons-by-matthew-mc-smith-review-from-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/11/02/poetry-book-review-of-nature-speaks-of-love-and-sorrow-by-jeff-flesch-reviewed-by-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/12/a-book-review-for-washed-away-a-collection-of-fragments-by-shiksha-dheda-review-by-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/06/a-book-review-of-spaces-by-clive-gresswell-reviewed-by-spriha-kant/

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/09/14/a-book-review-of-silence-from-the-shadows-by-stuart-matthews-review-from-spriha-kant/

Links to the other featured works of Spriha Kant are:

NEW FEATURE: SYNERGY: CALLING ALL WRITERS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS I will feature your work photos and writing individually on the Wombwell Rainbow. A special feature for you alone. Please DM/message me if you’re interested. Photo essays are great, poems should accompany one of your images that inspired them. Poems within the photos are also great, such a haiku, and so forth. Any theme you choose, at the moment. May get more specific as time goes by. Experimental work most welcome. Our seventh Synergy is from Spriha Kant.

#TheWombwellRainbow #PoeticFormChallenge #Alphabetpoem was last week’s chosen form. Robert Frede Kenter, Jane Dougherty, Tim Fellows, Jane Dougherty, Spriha Kant, Sheryl Lynch, and myself.

#TheWombwellRainbow #PoeticFormChallenge #ACROSTIC was last week’s chosen form. Robert Frede Kenter, Alice Stainer, Tim Fellows, Jane Dougherty, Spriha Kant, Samantha Terrell and myself

Celebrate #NationalPoetryDay today October 6th. Join Neal Zetter, Samantha Terrell, Spriha Kant, Francis Powell, Peter Gaskell, Kevin Sealby, and I. I will feature the best environmental poems that you feel you have written. Please email them to me, including a short third person bio. You may need to follow me first so I can DM you details . Will feature more throughout the day, but be absent from 14:30-20:30 on my supermarket shift.

World Suicide Prevention Day

Celebrate #WorldSmileDay I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about smiling, or that features a smile. Please include a short third person bio in your email to me.

Mark #WorldMenopauseDay2022 I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about the menopause. Please include a short third person bio.

https://www.imaginarylandstories.com/contest/the-seashell/

Links to the Poetry Collaborations are:

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/10/24/poetry-collaboration-with-spriha-kant-and-david-l-onan-the-doorsteps-series/

https://jeffflesch.com/2022/10/11/naturespeaks-30-poems-in-30-days-day-18-stay-away-by-spriha-kant/