If you find yourself in Walsall town centre over the next six weeks, you’ll notice that previously empty shop windows are now filled with glorious art. It’s all part of the Re:Ignite arts festival (with financial support from the National…
Well, it’s all a bit different here, isn’t it? And yes, you’re right, it had needed doing for a while, but wasn’t it worth the wait? So far this weekend I’m spending far more time than is healthy scrolling through…
A couple of days ago, my poem ‘this is the best pub in the world’ was released as the latest in a series of ‘Winter Warmers’ celebrating the wonders of our local boozers. It’s one of seven poems commissioned by…
Late last year, after reading one too many online diatribes from conspiracy theorists who think M&S have put 5G in their underwear, and wondering how to best reply to such nonsense, I sat down and started writing. What I ended…
This blog is, first and foremost, a reminder for me. It’s reminder for those future days when the old imposter syndrome sides up and whispers nonsense in my ear, it’s a reminder for the days to come when finding any…
Earlier this autumn, I was asked by Mid Wales Art Centre to be one of six poets commissioned to write pieces in response to sculptures they had on show. To add to the challenge, as Wales was under lockdown at…
Commissioned poems. The very thought of them used to put the fear of god into me. I suspect a large part of that came down to imposter syndrome – the sneaking suspicion that as soon as someone asked me to…
The ‘One Ring To Bind Them’ project is drawing to a close. It’s been quite a year to run a project, and it’ll probably come as no surprise to hear that the arrival of a global pandemic took my eye…
They’d have you believe it’s a dog-eat-dog world, where everyone’s out for themselves, and only the strong survive. One look at our supposedly glorious leaders (there where they are because of the good fortune of birth rather than any appreciable…
Yesterday lunchtime, in response to seeing this government ad, I wrote a poem. By teatime, it had gone viral. By the end of the evening, it had been shared over 1000 times. I woke this morning to discover it had…
Making a living as an artist isn’t always easy. At a time when the world is in flux, it’s even trickier. And it’s highly unlikely that any one of us has all the answers of how to get by, which…
Last Saturday, after six months where the only poetry gigs I’ve done have been online via Zoom, I got back up on a stage in front of an audience who were – unbelievably – in the same room. Dear reader,…