BurnedThumb

Website of poet Elizabeth Rimmer


Events


  • And Real Life Resumes

    gooseberry beeI’ve been so busy this year that in the scramble to get everything done, that the week’s designated task (ie get this week’s herb in) has been as much as I could manage, far too often. But although the herbs project is enormously interesting, and it’s expanding in directions I didn’t expect, and then had to be reined in again, it’s not the only, nor even the biggest thing in my writing life.

    The third issue of Stravaig is now on-line. The theme we chose was ‘geopoetics in practice’ and it resulted in the widest selection of work we’ve ever had – essays, poems, travel, life-writing and artwork. Go look, and maybe dig  into some of the earlier issues. Or send something for next time – the closing date is the 1st October, and the designated theme is ‘intellectual nomads’ – writers who travelled, made connections, found new ways of thinking because of their questioning of the settled culture. We’ve had a few submissions already. Rimbaud is a strong presence, but there’s also Robert Louis Stevenson, Brendan, Thoreau – and of course Kenneth White.

    You can find my poem Walking the Territory towards the end, which was the first poem to come out of that project – but also the one that took the longest to write, (and rewrite, and rewrite again). I’m hoping it will be the title-poem in one section of The Territory of Rain, which I’m revising furiously and welding into a proper shape and form. I’m using a phrase I’ve lifted from David Morley ‘imaginative inhabitation’ to describe what I’m after in this book, as everything began to fall into place when he used it in a workshop.

    I’ve also been to a number of launches of some very exciting new poetry collections.  I missed J L Williams (Locust and Marlin from Shearsman) and Marion McCready (Tree Language from Eyewear), but I did see Niall Campbell (Moontide from Bloodaxe) and Gerrie Fellowes (The Body in Space from Shearsman). And still to come are Richie McCaffery’s Cairn from Nine Arches, and Brian Johnstones Drystone Work from Arc. I’m hoping to review some of these here, later in the year.

    Also, I’ve been assisting Anne Connolly,  to judge the Vernal Equinox poetry competition of the Federation of Writers (Scotland). You can find a list of the winners here.We’ll be at the award ceremony in Glasgow next month which should be a good night!

    It’s been a busy few months, but full  of interest, and new adventures – and as far as I can see, life is only going to get more interesting as we go into summer.


  • Wenlock Poetry Festival

    This is the lovely venue – Wenlock Pottery – where four Dark Mountain poets, Sophie McKeand, George Roberts, Susan Richardson and myself, introduced by Nick Hunt showcased some varied, original often innovative poetry, and frankly, had a ball. The venue was packed and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

    The day was also wonderful for me because I got to a workshop led by David Morley, in the grounds of the ruined Abbey. I’m a bit blase about abbeys – there’s one almost at the bottom of the garden, after all, but it was a good one – a bit more romantic than ours, and very pretty. And I went later to a reading from his latest book The Gypsy and the Poet. I had enjoyed his previous work, Enchantment, which I reviewed here, but these new poems seem much freer and looser, (though many of them are sonnets, which adds structure and direction) and have more energy – although maybe I feel like that, because his readings are so extraverted and lively.

    Also I was able to meet up with the Dark Mountaineers I’d only met by email, and Jean Atkin, whose residency at Logan Garden I’d followed on line last summer, and to reunite with Susan, Cora Greenhill and Emily Wilkinson, whom I’d met at a Dark Mounatin weekend in scotland last year. Emily lives in Much Wenlock at the moment and is lucky enough to have a residency here

    20140430-163322This is Wenlock Books, which must be the most beautiful bookshop on the planet – though the Watermill at Aberfeldy would give it a run for its money. And there is also a second hand bookshop Much More Books, where I got a copy of Richard Mabey’s Flora Brittanica – a book so big and so lavishly produced I never thought I’d be able to own it.

    The Wenlock Festival isn’t as big as StAnza, but there was the same buzz about it, lots of helpful and welcoming volunteers, and a lovely Poetry Cafe. Many thanks are due to Antonia Beck, the Festival Producer, and her team who made the whole thing happen.


  • Dark Mountain Showcase at Wenlock Poetry Festival

    On Saturday  26th April I will be taking part in this event:

    Dark Mountain Showcase

    The Dark Mountain Project is an international network of writers and artists with a radical vision, offering up stories for an age of environmental and social crisis.  This event, chaired by Nick Hunt and presenting Elizabeth Rimmer, Susan Richardson, Sophie McKeand and George Roberts, brings together poets from the annual Dark Mountain anthologies for an hour of readings, conversation and inspiration.
    Wenlock Pottery
    3:00 pm – 3:45 pm £5.50 / £4.50
    I hope to see you there!

  • Podcast

    Some time ago at an event known as Junk Jam, I met a young singer-songwriter called Neil Stewart. He was very kind about my poetry, and talked about interviewing me for a podcast.

    Some time passed. Neil is a prolific song-writer, and has been busy recording his own music, producing work for other artists, designing artwork for his own albums, writing plays and interviewing people. So it is only now that I can share the podcast we made in Corrieri’s cafe one wet Wednesday morning. Here it is.

    Neil is also responsible for the new photo on my home page. It’s rare that anyone ever gets a photo of me that doesn’t look as if I’m in front of a firing squad, so I was really pleased to have it! You can hear more of Neil’s work here: https://soundcloud.com/endofneil

    The site includes not only samples of his own music, but an interview with a mutual friend, the poet Richie McCaffery, whose impressive first collection Cairn will be published by Nine Arches Press later this year. An interview well worth listening to!


  • April 2014

    On Saturday 5th April I will be reading at Platform Poetry at the Off the Rails Art Centre in Ladybank, Fife. Off the Rails is a delightful innovative use for the old Stationmaster’s house alongside the railway, but it’s a small room, so please book early.

    On 26th April at 3:00pm I will be taking part in a Dark Mountain showcase at the Wenlock Poetry Festival


  • News

     

    The lovely people at the Read Raw website which promotes creative writing in Scotland have included me as the new featured poet. You can find my page here.


  • The Point of Waking

    This weekend I was at the launch of Cora Greenhill’s new book, The Point of Waking, published by Oversteps press. It took place in The Outside Shop cafe, Hathersage, which is in Hope Valley, Derbyshire – one of the most lovely places I’ve been in for ages – and was a fantastic occasion, very well attended, and included music from Clare Turner on mbiri and
    gyil, and from Cora’s neighbours  Cathy and Helmut Rheingans who played concertina and an instrument of Helmut’s own invention called a bansitar. Cora had generously asked four other poets to read a poem each, and then we had a great sample of the book.

    I read Cora’s first book Deep in Time, after I met her at the Dark Mountain weekend at Wiston Lodge earlier this year, and liked it enormously, so I was very excited to hear that Oversteps had accepted the next one (I said so on the back cover!). I can assure you it was worth the wait. Cora writes a lot about Crete, where she has a house, but also about Derbyshire, about feminist and earth-based spirituality, about love and death and creativity, and about landcapes and travel. I won’t review it as I’m hardly unbiassed, but please do look at her blog The Poetry Pile, where you can see for yourself.

    New book by Cora Greenhill

  • News

    My poem, Naming the Autumn, is now featured on the Stirling Makar’s Poem of the Month page for November on the website of Stirling Council. You can see it here.


  • Call for Submissions Stravaig Issue #3

    Geopoetics is a concept first developed by the poet Kenneth White, and is a way of looking at art, philosophy and culture based on contact with the earth and encourages cross-disciplinary and collaborative work in any medium. To find out more about Geopoetics, you can click on my essay  or on the website of The Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, where you will also find issues 1 and 2 of the on-line journal, Stravaig.

    Issue 3 of Stravaig will be published in April 2014 and we are looking for submissions of poetry, prose, essays or artwork on the theme of Geopoetics in Practice. Pieces for inclusion should be sent as word.doc or jpg. attachments in an email.

    to burnedthumb@gmail.com,

    cc to Norman Bissell normanbissell@btinternet.com

    by 1st December 2013


  • In and About Stirling

    I’m going to be doing a couple of readings in September. The first will be at the Friends of Neil Jam on Thursday 5th, in Nicky Tam’s Bar 29 Baker Street, Stirling FK8 1BJ.

    From Friday 6th – Sunday 8th September I’ll be at the fabulous Callander Poetry Weekend, hosted by Sally Evans and her husband Ian King at The Callander Bookshop in Main Street. There will be great poetry and music, and generous hospitality, and I’ll be reading on Saturday afternoon in the Kirk Hall – Main Street, opposite the shop.



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