Eyewear is very glad to feature British poet Julia Bird this sunny June Friday (pictured in a colder season). Bird grew up in Gloucestershire and now lives in London. She studied English Language and Literature at Reading University and has an MA in Creative Writing and Education from the University of Sussex. She moved to London in 1997 to work for the Poetry Book Society where she stayed for eight years before moving to the Poetry School part-time and also setting up a small independent literature promotion company, Jaybird. As a freelancer, she has managed UK-wide author tours for the British Council and for the Poetry Translation Centre (Afghan, Indian, Indonesian, Mexican, Somali and Sudanese poets). Hannah and the Monk was her debut from Salt.
Bird is one of the best of the young generation of British poets redefining what happens over here. Her energy, enthusiasm, and talent is evident in all she does, and, not least of her virtues is that everyone likes her, because she's helpful and fun. A good egg. And a good poet. A perfect poet for the summer, then.
It Strikes Me Thus
The Bluffer’s Guide
not the PhD thesis,
the hotdog ad
not the feature film.
The flashlight
not the blue moon’s phases,
the can of pop
not the Veuve ’59.
The ringtone
not the massed choral voices,
the cat on your lap
not the dog on your tomb.
poem by Julia Bird
Comments
I liked your poem. My dad, Ken Gladdish, was professor of politics at Reading University and had several good friends in the English department like John Pilling.
Best wishes from Simon