E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Speaking of awards ceremonies, a good friend of mine, poet Giles Goodland , has just won a major poetry prize - £5000, first place, for best poem in the Cardiff International Poetry Competition.  I am very pleased to see this news.  Goodland is one of the best and most significant of contemporary English poets, and hopefully this will bring his work to an ever-wider readership.  I am currently reading his Oystercatcher pamphlet.

Hammersmith, June The sadness of England. The coming storm. The exodus from Tesco. The death by flu. The disused factory. The walk under the rail bridge. The can of lager in the hand. The silence of certain streets. The man smoking by the nursery. The internet in the video store. The broken espresso machine. The 11.30 Mass. The sunbathers on the Green. The uneven footing. The broken pavement. The methadone clinic. The shelves outside the shop. The closed inquiry. The rain at five to six. The word path. The hot and cold. The end of the class. The poets of promise. The ground floor flat. The geraniums in the box. The sense of an ending. The slow growth for another year. The fear of the impending. The autumn after the summer. The unsigned contract. The request for information. The loss of nerve. The godfather agreement. The leukaemia email. The post on the floor. The revolutions elsewhere. The rubber band left untouched. The locks on the door. The friends over after dinner. The bra being ...