one day I take you to the sea

two pence coins perch
like seagulls

dive into copper-green
ocean

a child
in this moment

richer
than we will ever be

*

we pinch clean
a dressed crab

slide our last pennies
in its shell

toss a wish
to the tides

Ryan Van Winkle talks to me about his stunning, prize-winning collection Tomorrow, We Will Live Here:

I had the great pleasure to catch up with Ryan Van Winkle yesterday, at the Phoenix Artist Club, to celebrate the launch of his Crashaw Prize winning debut collection, Tomorrow, We Will Live Here. (Buy it NOW, with 20% off.)

I’m delighted to be the first stop on Ryan’s Virtual Book Tour, which promises to be a series of lively, provoking, silly and serious interviews, hosted by these excellent blogs:

12 November 2010:  leesmithwriter 

14 November 2010: Our sweet old etcetera… 

16 November 2010: G.P.S. Global Poetry System 

18 November 2010: Surroundings – Rob A. Mackenzie’s blog 

20 November 2010: Robin Grey 

24 November 2010: Scottish Book Trust 

26 November 2010: Flotsam 

28 November 2010: Molossus 

30 November 2010: Dan Meth

Tomorrow, We Will Live Here
ISBN 9781844717897  £9.99 

Plain spoken narrators as diverse as the America they inhabit – a pastor’s son, the lonely night nurse and fat boy – are all ill at ease. Through road kill, September 11th and death row characters address their own bitter faults with noir-like melancholy, seeking redemption and absolution. What you will find here is the grist of life – death, love, sex, departure – honed by a poet focused on the gravity, fear and humour of living.

Buy a copy of the book from Salt’s online store here, and you get 20% off.

Watch highlights from the Crashaw launch event here.

Stride Magazine have reviewed Away from the City. In a round-up that also includes Elaine Feinstein’s Cities and Kristiina Ehin’s The Scent of Your Shadow, Angela Topping discusses the theme of travelling:

‘The poet’s eyes watch people and give us terse notes on their lives, taking us right inside the city through its inhabitants … The sequences are full of small subtle links, like graphic matches transformed to words … These are three wonderful collections and they are recommended, particularly for travelling, whether on a plane, train or in your armchair.’

Click here for the review in full.

…don’t forget to wipe your shoes before you step inside. It’s rainy out there.

Big thanks to James Shedden, another beautiful design.

Call for submissions for Forest Publications - This Next One Goes Out To

Forest Publications want poetry, biographical accounts, musical journalism, essays, photography and artwork inspired by a particular song. Whether it was a tune that drove you to tears, then to the page; a melody that can transport you to a different time and place, or a debaucherous adventure centred around a killer gig, they’d like to present your work as an homage to the relationship between literature and music.

Submissions less than 5000 words to:submissions@forpub.com

Send photos and artwork as high-res images

Deadline: October 30, 2010

For more information, go here and here.