& The Midnight Heart Blog
I forgot to mention a poem published in Poetry Ireland Review recently titled 'Ravishment.' It was an incredible issue, and I highly recommend it. Vona Groarke's final issue as editor, it included work by Simon Armitage, Sinéad Morrissey, Colette Bryce, Paul Muldoon, Sean O'Brien and Caitríona O'Reilly. Books reviewed include new work from Derek Mahon, Bernard O'Donoghue, [...]
I just had an article out in The Manifest Station, which is about the idea of repeat victimisation. Domestic violence is still so badly understood, and unless you have studied the subject, it can be difficult to understand why abusive relationships unfold the way they do. It was important to me to get these thoughts [...]
This is a transcription of the speech given at the reception of The Little Cage of Ellis Bell. The past is another country. They do things differently there. These words from L. P. Hartley' The Gobetween are probably a cliché now, and the idea that the past is a faraway country is certainly challenged by [...]
The Little Cage of Ellis Bell A Week-long Exhibit in the Hopkins Hall Gallery Summer Series 12th – 16th June This project presents the work of British artists Victoria Brookland (art) and Zoë Brigley Thompson (poetry), alongside historic garments from the Ohio State Historic Costumes and Textiles Collection. In juxtaposition, the paintings, poems, and [...]
I heard today that some of my poems are going to be included in the anthology The Edge of Necessary: Welsh innovative poetry 1966-2016. I started thinking about the particular kind of experimentation that I enjoy, and where that urge comes from. It put in my mind a particular moment. In 1985, when I was 4 [...]
I am much indebted to the incredibly talented Claire Trevien who has just posted today a videopoem based on my poem 'Stanford, California.' The poem is part of a sequence 'Beatitudes for the Women' on the subject of violence against women. This one is a found poem that recycles real testimony from the Stanford letter, [...]
As as writing for their website, I have had two poems recently in Planet: The Welsh Internationalist: The Promise of Happiness, and Post Colonial. I really admire what Emily Trahair is doing with the magazine, and I recommend checking out the website. http://www.planetmagazine.org.uk
Planet, the Welsh Internationalist just published this article on life in Ohio after the US election and the recent attack at the Ohio State University: http://www.planetmagazine.org.uk/planet_extra/notes-swing-state
2016 has been a year of the unexpected. Brexit is underway. Trump is the new president. Many of us, me included, have been left reeling at the huge upheavals that have taken place, often instigated by people seeming to vote against their own interests – like (white) women voting for Trump, in spite of [...]
Just recently, I wrote up an article about a TV historian's comments on Wales, and I mapped out how those comments were so very reminiscent of English colonialism in Wales. You can find it here on Wales Online. In the late nineties when I started university, there were such changes in Wales regarding devolution and [...]
