Conjuring Sunlight: 2018

Monday, December 17, 2018

In print

Oh my goodness I'm in print! Along with other poets! An anthology! And for sale on Amazon! Terrifying! I'm sorry! And I'm on the cover!

Here's a link

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Poetry Reading - The Troubadour 265 Old Brompton Road, Earls Court. 10 December 8.00

I'm going to be one of about 50 poets invited to read at The Troubadour in Earls Court, London on the 10 December. The reading starts at 8.00. The theme is 'snow'. Entry is £7.00 I think. It'll be a great evening of poetry. Come along and join the party.

Click here for details

Monday, November 12, 2018

Poetry reading Friday 12 November The cornerHouse 116 Douglas Road Surbiton 8.00

I'm one of several poets reading at the cornerHouse Arts Centre in Surbiton

116 Douglas Road, Surbiton, KT6 7SB

on Friday 16 November

The bar is open from 7.00

The reading begins at 8.00

Tickets are £4.00

The themes for the evening are horses, holiday and blue

If you've got poems on any of these themes, then come, sign up and read.

Click here for a link to the event

It will be an informal, friendly and poetry filled evening.

Come and join us

Friday, November 09, 2018

Poetry Reading - The Voyage Out. The Troubadour. 263 - 267 Old Brompton Road. Earls Court. SW9 5JA

Hello there. So I'm one of 21 poets invited to read a commissioned poem in the first half of the poetry evening; The Voyage Out. In the second half of the evening, Anne-Marie Fyfe will be reading from her collection The Voyage Out. It starts at 8.00. £7.00 entry.

In The Voyage Out Anne-Marie "presents her sequence on writers and the sea, with selections from favourite novelists, travel-writers & poets, from the constant, recurring presence of the sea in her first five collections of poetry, & from her new writing project combining poetry & prose memories, of growing up, of life by the sea in Cushendall, and of other coastal locations she’s experienced on her travels."

Monday, June 25, 2018

A Responsibility to Awe

I came across this video some time ago. I might have shared it then.

The beginning of a summer holiday seems a good time to share it now.

Enjoy.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Listen by David Loffman at The Troubadour June 2018

Here's a photograph of us all upstairs at The Troubadour restaurant before we descend into the dark humid cellar for a dazzling night of poetry.

Here's a photograph of me during the actual performance.

Below is a video of the poem I read.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Poetry Reading at The Troubadour Monday 25 June

I've been invited to read a poem at the end of season Troubadour summer party. It's going to be hot. It's going to be full of wine and poetry and music and prizes as well as a warm and inviting atmosphere.

This year's theme is sound and silence.

Come and join us.

Beyond the Border

It's been almost a week since we returned from the Beyond the Border festival in South Wales. And I've still not quite recovered.

It was a fantastic weekend.

We've been coming to the festival since Iona and Arran were 4 years old. They're now 23. Iona bought her boyfriend and some friends to help her celebrate her birthday. I think we celebrated it in style.

Below is a video giving a flavour of the festival.

Two performances that will really stick with me were Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden's Odyssey on Saturday evening. On Sunday was Beyond the Border's 25th birthday celebration. There was music, poetry and story.
David Ambrose performed Dylan Thomas's, Poem in October to end the evening. Absolutely spellbinding.

I feel so much of my life is lived in straight lines. There isn't a straight line at Beyond the Border. It's good to remember that there are other ways to live.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Rain on the sun

This looks incredible. Thought you might like it.

Click here to the Astronomy Picture of the Day post.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180527.html

Video Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, SVS, GSFC, NASA; Music: Thunderbolt by Lars Leonhard

Explanation: Does it rain on the Sun? Yes, although what falls is not water but extremely hot plasma. An example occurred in mid-July 2012 after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a Coronal Mass Ejection and a moderate solar flare. What was more unusual, however, was what happened next. Plasma in the nearby solar corona was imaged cooling and falling back, a phenomenon known as coronal rain. Because they are electrically charged, electrons, protons, and ions in the rain were gracefully channeled along existing magnetic loops near the Sun's surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional sourceless waterfall. The resulting surprisingly-serene spectacle is shown in ultraviolet light and highlights matter glowing at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. Each second in the featured time lapse video takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire coronal rain sequence lasted about 10 hours. Recent observations have confirmed that that coronal rain can also occur in smaller loops for as long as 30 hours.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Poetry Reading, The Lighthouse, Deal, Kent on Thursday 26 April

Here's a couple of photographs taken at the Soundlines Poetry evening on 26 April. The first one's of the readers taken at The Lighthouse in Deal. It's actually the last regular Soundlines poetry event at the pub and I was honoured to be one of two special feature poets of the evening.Thank you to Gary and Jeff for inviting me to read. Thanks also to Soundlines and the audience for the warm, relaxed and welcoming atmosphere on the evening.