The Midnight Heart

Poems on Stieglitz’s pictures of O’Keeffe

August 20, 2016 by zbthompson

This month, I have some poems up on Compass Magazine based on the art and life of Georgia O’Keeffe. They draw on her paintings, her letters to her lover Alfred Stieglitz, his photographs of her, and descriptions of O’Keeffe by critics like Waldo Frank.It is in part inspired by the Tate Modern’s current major exhibition of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work. Years ago, when I was a teenager, I had as a Christmas present (probably from my mother) a book of postcards titled The Best Photographs of […]

Categories: Art and Photography, Writing about Poems

The Usual Rape Myths in the Case of Stanford Swimmer

June 8, 2016 by zbthompson

The Stanford swimmer rape case is hugely infuriating, because it reveals the rape myths that still police men and women, and have an enormous influence on how crimes are perceived. This comes as no surprise to me, as someone who devotes much of their time to debunking these myths, but let’s lay it out, and see what exactly is going on. Myth 1: The Lives of Young, White Men are More Important than the Women They Violate From the beginning, the […]

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Bowie, Rape Culture, and Survival

May 5, 2016 by zbthompson

When I heard that David Bowie had died, the first thing I did was pull up YouTube. I focused on hearing the songs again, and let the chaos of the morning at our house – plastic spoons, bibs and Tonka trucks – unfurl around me. When I first listened to ‘Life On Mars,’ I just heard a great song: the children started wailing along to ‘Sailors fighting in the dance hall’, spinning round the kitchen, and swinging to the beat. […]

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Marilynne Robinson and her sons James and Joseph

Motherhood and creativity: some thoughts on time

April 30, 2016 by zbthompson

One of the most positive things that has come from motherhood for me is the sense of time and ritual. Before kids, my life worked on the principle of spontaneity – whatever I wanted to do in a particular moment I did. No timetables for me. But as a mother, I have found a new appreciation and mindfulness of time: the seasons, and days passing. I’m not talking about the obsessive scheduling of afterschool classes, but the joy that children take […]

Categories: Creativity, Motherhood

Motherhood is Valuable for the Creative Life

April 20, 2016 by zbthompson

Whatever way you look at it motherhood entails sacrifice. While the all-sacrificing mother is a reductive and unhelpful stereotype, it is a fact that as a mother you have to give up time, space, and energy for your children. This could mean stopping what you are doing every few hours to breastfeed. It could mean being interrupted by a steaming diaper. Or it could be the funneling of creative energy into fort-building, cookie baking, imagining games, and planning adventures. Having […]

Categories: Creativity, Motherhood

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Self-portrait as Woman and Parasol

December 15, 2015 by zbthompson

As 2015 comes to a close, I am reminded of a poem that was posted as part of a poetry calendar to celebrate University of Warwick’s 50th anniversary. The poem is called ‘Self-portrait as Woman and Parasol’ and you can find me reading it via audio file and the poem itself at this page: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/about/warwick50/blog/50thpoetry/self-portrait The poem was recorded at Oranjudio Studios in Columbus, and we had a great time recording it:

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New article out on Alun Lewis’ letters in Poetry Wales…

December 15, 2015 by zbthompson

I have a new article out in the most recent Poetry Wales and it is on the letter-poems and poem-letters of the Welsh poet Alun Lewis: http://www.poetrywales.co.uk

Categories: Wales, Writing about Poems

Writing an Artist Spotlight on the Poet Jamaal May

August 20, 2015 by zbthompson

Jamaal May is a Detroit-raised poet who has been described as a ‘rising star’ of American poetry. His debut collection, HUM, has won numerous awards and Jamaal received the Spirit of Detroit Award in 2014. He also co-directs Organic Weapon Arts, a press that publishes a superb range of poetry collections and creates poetry films. For any UK-based readers looking to get into American poetry (or for any American readers who haven’t heard him yet), May’s work is a real treat. And, experienced live, more than […]

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Writing about Motherhood, Miscarriage and my Expat Life for Motherland

August 20, 2015 by zbthompson

“Originally from the Welsh Valleys, poet and mother-of-two Zoe Brigley Thompson reflects on life in Pennsylvania – from miscarriage to skimming stones in the forest, and the terrifyingly competitive “momhood” culture”. http://motherland.net/travel/my-expat-life-12/

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