river suite

You know how it is when you have masses you want to write but the demands of the world are pressing in on you? – Like that. My fingers have been itching to come back here and blog, but my conscience tells me there's too much other stuff to do first.

Gearing up for a workshop on the moor on Sunday, then at the end of the week a long long drive up north to lead courses in the Highlands and the Islands. Logistical problems to sort before that, and far far too much correspondence to get through first!

But I'm completely delighted to tell you that finally, three or four years after we first started talking about it, my long poem sequence, River Suite, has finally come out as a beautiful limited edition book (300 copies) with the water photos of Vikky Minette – and they are truly stunning. I'm so pleased with it.

River Suite was originally commissioned in 1999 as a long poem sequence by Devon Arts in Schools Initiative. I was selected from many applicants (sorry for the boast) to be the poet on the project working with nine schools to focus on the unique aspects of the Devon landscape.

My brief was to write a long poem that five-year-olds and A-level students alike might relate to, and which also had to appeal to adults. The pupils took aspects of the poem and worked on versions of them with three musicians – a contemporary classical composer, a folk-rock guy, and a jazz musician. The schools then performed their pieces to music they'd helped compose to three adult audiences throughout Devon.

Since then I've spoken the poem over harp, cello and keyboards in public performances.

And now here it is. I can't work out how to upload a sample pdf to blogger, but if you email me via my website contact I can email you one (email problems, though, have also been the order of the day for a couple of weeks now, dammit).

Should you wish to order a copy, you can do so on the Paypal button on the right (and anyone coming north for the courses in Scotland, yes I'll have some with me).

NB I'm away from 12th April to 5th May, so any copies ordered then won't arrive till after I'm back.