The Poetry School has moved online at http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d407d4ea7f3986f5ab1bdddb9&id=45a8a73271. Dedicated to the art of writing poetry, they have teamed up with Pighog Press to run a Poetry Pamphlet Competition. The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over writing poetry in English anywhere in the world. Initially entrants are invited to submit ten poems (or ten sides of poetry on A4, not more than 30 lines per side) for consideration by the judges.

First Prize: Publication by Pighog Press and 40 copies of the pamphlet

4 Runners up: a free place on a Poetry School activity

Judges: Julia Bird and Brendan Cleary

Closing date for initial entries: 31 January 2013

The judges will select a shortlist of up to twelve poets by 22 February 2013. Short-listed poets will be asked to submit complete pamphlet collections by 28 March 2013 for final judging. Shortlisted poets will also be invited to read at an event in Brighton in May 2013, when the winner will be announced.  For more details go to http://www.poetryschool.com/pamphletcompetition.php

For many people, their potential interest in poetry died at school. Matthew Arnold and Alexander Pope were the killers of my early interest in poetic form. Too young to understand the transient nature of language, I thought all poetry had to be like Sohrab and Rustum or the Rape of the Lock.  It’s like struggling with Shakespeare when you’re too young to access the layers beneath the words. Art always repays revisiting in later life.  Today the National Curriculum recognises more accessible poets like Carol Ann Duffy, Benjamin Zephaniah and Simon Armitage but poetry still seems low on many people profiles.

Or maybe we just don’t like to admit it. Is poetry in the closet?

We live in a digital age of user generated content where it’s never been easier to self promote as a writer or poet. Online there is a world of self-publishing without borders or boundaries which includes a mass of aspirant poetry. The questions raised by this epublishing phenomena are universal ones. What makes a poem? What turns a collection of words into poetry? The Alphabet Dances is a reflective place to explore questions like these.

Today poetry plays a larger role in my life.  I like word play. Alliteration is fun and constructing rhymes and rhythms is amusing. Recently I’ve discovered there’s poetry out there which works for me. I don’t have any answers to the question what makes a poem but there are some ideas I’m working on and Alphabet Dances is a place to bring them all together.

TV advertisements are effective conduits of culture. Tunes from the opera or peices of classical music have been immortalised by their associations with everyday products and places. Poems are used less often but one exception was  Leisure by William Henry Davies (1871 – 1940).

It began with the couplet ‘What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.’

The poem was used to advertise a holiday experience but could just as well describe the process of poetry. It takes time to access poetry but it’s a shame not to invest in the occupation of poets. Poetry is individual and what makes a certain combination of words resonate for one person yet mean nothing to someone else is a mystery. But when it works it’s worth it.

Something for everyone with a heart…