Category Archives: Poetry

Gorse, Whin, Furze – a shared love in Irish, Ulster Scots, Scots & English

Blog, Poetry

Recently I had a poem about gorse on the Pendemic.ie site which describes itself as, ‘Not a literary magazine for ordinary times, but journaling the extraordinary.’ in these COVID-19 times. My poem describes the gorse that flowers copiously in Ireland in Spring.

I had many  responses on Twitter, sharing a love of gorse and of poetry inspired by it, old and new.  I’d like to bring some of them together here to share that pleasure further, as a simple record. This is a mere fraction of the gorse-related poetry one might find. Continue reading Gorse, Whin, Furze – a shared love in Irish, Ulster Scots, Scots & English →

Poem for Nedim Türfent – PEN International on Poetry Day

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Nedim Türfent, Kurdish-Turkish, journalist

Nedim Türfent is serving an eight-year-and-nine- month prison sentence on trumped-up terrorism charges following an unfair trial, during which scores of witnesses said they had been tortured into testifying against him. He spent almost two years in solitary confinement in harrowing detention conditions. Determined to keep writing, he started composing poetry while detained. (PEN International) Continue reading Poem for Nedim Türfent – PEN International on Poetry Day →

Poem in PENDEMIC – A Gardener Imagines Death…

Poetry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint

A GARDENER IMAGINES DEATH DURING THE PANDEMIC, 2020

Is this what I will see:

against a haze of blue a yellow iris

− spear among green blades −

calling me upwards from my final stumble;

no time to name them, each one

and everything I’ve loved, but a yellow

that is all that yellow is

assuming me? Or

eyes behind a visor, summoning me

towards all that human is?

http://pendemic.ie/a-gardener-imagine-death-during-the-pandemic-2020-a-poem-by-angela-graham/

Pendemic.ie is a great platform for sharing work during the pandemic.

Online Festival promos NORTH STAR by N. Irish Women Writers

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Once again the dynamic group of women writers, Women Aloud Northern Ireland have demonstrated their vitality and commitment by using the global lockdown to fuel a powerhouse of literary creativity.

The writers of WANI are publishing North Star – an Anthology of Literature by Northern Irish Women.

I’m delighted to have 2 poems in the book.

Not content with merely print, they are also staging an online literary festival, bringing their sparkling storytelling to audiences they would usually be entertaining through workshops, readings and other events, were it not for the worldwide restrictions on their movements.

The Facebook Live Weekend Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26th, using the social media platform’s live facility to bring a diverse programme of fiction, prose and poetry to audiences in their homes with members reading live at 11am, 3pm and 8.30pm on both days. Continue reading Online Festival promos NORTH STAR by N. Irish Women Writers →

Poem in Shamrocks and Shells

Poetry

As my friend, Stephen McCormick was about to set off to walk the Camino to Santiago de Compostela a send-off  was arranged. I couldn’t get to it so I wrote a poem to wish him well. I’m so pleased that he has included it in his

Reflections on the Camino del Norte

‘Compostela’ means ‘field of stars’ and it made me think of a photograph that I looked at often during a period where I was feeling low. The camera’s eye was deep under the surface of a pond, looking up along the slender column of a water plant’s stalk, to the underside of the flower;  up through the water to a new and intriguing  sky. Continue reading Poem in Shamrocks and Shells →

Poem in Wales Arts Review Digithon

Blog, Poetry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint

I was delighted to take part on Sunday 29th March in

https://www.walesartsreview.org/digithon-lit-arcade-poets/

Poetry In The Arcades is a project which puts poetry onto the walls in one of the busiest areas in Wales’s capital city – its network of Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades which are a distinctive feature of Cardiff, the ‘City of Arcades‘.

The project commissioned several poets to write poems and later launched a competition to elicit more poems on the theme. The winning poem will be put on display. Continue reading Poem in Wales Arts Review Digithon →

2 Poems in The Lonely Crowd #12

Poetry, Portfolio, PortfolioPrint

I am very pleased that two of my poems will be published in issue 12 of

The Lonely Crowd

They are from a series of poems on iconoclasm, the destruction of expressions of ideology other than one’s own. Thanks to Madeleine Gray for the photograph from Llanfair, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold.

One of the poems appears in ‘Heartland’, the anthology of the PENfro Festival Competition published by Parthian Books.

Heartland: PENfro Anthology