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roguestrands.bsky.social
Weaving ways through poetry. Second full collection, ‘Whatever You Do, Just Don’t’, a Poetry Society Book of the Year 2023, available from HappenStance Press.
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Not prizes, not awards, not traded favours. Not sales figures (22 books over the course of three readings last week if you're asking!), but people, individuals who engage. Readers readers, readers. They're all that matter.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Which poems work in public and which fall flat, which work on the page but not when read aloud. And how to introduce them: not too much, not too little, not a paraphrasing or spoiling of the poem as a whole but just enough info to facilitate entry when the audience hears it...

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

Rogue Strands on relearning the collection... "Once a book's been published and the poet starts giving readings from it, a whole new process begins, in which they have to relearn the collection from the perspective of different audiences..." roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/03/rele...

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

Which poems work in public and which fall flat, which work on the page but not when read aloud. And how to introduce them: not too much, not too little, not a paraphrasing or spoiling of the poem as a whole but just enough info to facilitate entry when the audience hears it...

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

Rogue Strands on relearning the collection... "Once a book's been published and the poet starts giving readings from it, a whole new process begins, in which they have to relearn the collection from the perspective of different audiences..." roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/03/rele...

submitted 5 hours ago • 0 comments

Not prizes, not awards, not traded favours. Not sales figures (22 books over the course of three readings last week if you're asking!), but people, individuals who engage. Readers readers, readers. They're all that matter.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

As parents, we're supposed to remember the first time we did stuff with our kids, but the last time is equally as significant, if not more. This poem is from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...

submitted 77 days ago • 10 comments

Thanks to @roguestrands.bsky.social for coming to Cowden Pound for a great night of poetry.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Tonight's the night...!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The freshly elderly form a neat queue, updated versions of my Mum and Dad...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

So this is what happened yesterday...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

The freshly elderly form a neat queue, updated versions of my Mum and Dad...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

So this is what happened yesterday...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Faversham Literary Festival yesterday. It was ace to share my poems and see members of the audience then taking them on new journeys... Thanks to Rosie Johnston for the intros, this pic, and her own excellent reading from her forthcoming collection.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Faversham Literary Festival yesterday. It was ace to share my poems and see members of the audience then taking them on new journeys... Thanks to Rosie Johnston for the intros, this pic, and her own excellent reading from her forthcoming collection.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I have never known where to start with Cortázar, but this article in @madridlitmag.bsky.social by @roguestrands.bsky.social has encouraged me to try his poetry.

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

Poetry comes alive when it's shared. That's why I'm so excited by my upcoming events in the next few days in Faversham, Chichester and Cowden Pound, by letting my poems change in so many different ways as they cease to belong to me and find their readers...

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

Poetry comes alive when it's shared. That's why I'm so excited by my upcoming events in the next few days in Faversham, Chichester and Cowden Pound, by letting my poems change in so many different ways as they cease to belong to me and find their readers...

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

Here's my article on Julio Cortázar's poetry from issue 3 of The Madrid Review @madridlitmag.bsky.social. Shared with the kind permission of James Hartley, the editor...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Looking forward to welcoming @roguestrands.bsky.social to Cowden Pound on Thursday February 27.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

If you love the fiction of #juliocortázar why not investigate the poetry? In Issue 3, prizewinning poet Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social guides you to gold #poetry #selectedpoems #cortázar #poet #bestof #article

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Cortázar took the concept of invented truth (i.e. a truth far beyond mere facts), as previously invoked by Clarice Lispector, and turned it into a driving force behind his poetry...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Cortázar took the concept of invented truth (i.e. a truth far beyond mere facts), as previously invoked by Clarice Lispector, and turned it into a driving force behind his poetry...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Here's my article on Julio Cortázar's poetry from issue 3 of The Madrid Review @madridlitmag.bsky.social. Shared with the kind permission of James Hartley, the editor...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Really looking forward to being the guest poet in Cowden Pound on Thursday 27th Feb. Thanks to Kevin for the invite!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Really looking forward to being the guest poet in Cowden Pound on Thursday 27th Feb. Thanks to Kevin for the invite!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

This is so true! More significant I would say.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Mum would have been chuffed to see this in the local paper... www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/chiches...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Mum would have been chuffed to see this in the local paper... www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/chiches...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Page vs. Stage: at @favlit.org Where does poetry live its best life, between the covers or on the boards? Join in with a lively panel discussion, then take the mic yourself! Open mic slots available (first come, first served). Sat 1 Mar, 12:30pm @ The Arden Theatre. £10.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Libraries are transformative. In fact, Farnham Library saved me. Kept me afloat when I was being bullied at South Farnham Middle School in the 1980s. This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't is my homage to it... www.yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Poem...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Right, so I was going to suggest you might fancy coming to my reading at Faversham Literary Festival next week, but their website indicates it's sold out... www.favershamliteraryfestival.org/programme/fl...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment