Today is National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom and in Ireland. To celebrate, I decided to read a little poetry when I went out to photograph nature today at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and brought along with me three poetry collections that were all published during the past two months in the United Kingdom by The Hedgehog Poetry Press (https://www.hedgehogpress.co.uk/).
I am most familiar with Eat the Storms by Damien B. Donnelly, an Irish poet whose blog I have followed for quite some time. One of the highlights of my stay in Paris last November was having a chance to meet Damien in person, shortly before his return to Ireland—check out my blog posting Paris Portraits: Damien. Damien is amazingly creative and has done video versions of a number of his poems that he has featured on YouTube and even on TikTok. The poems in this collection, his first, are full of references to colors that characterize both the physical and psychological landscape, including some steps of his personal journey. Be sure to check out his blog at deuxiemepeaupoetry.com and his newly-created Eat the Storms podcast that features Damien and a host of poets from around the world. The podcast can be found at https://anchor.fm/damieneatsthestorms as well as on Spotify.
The second collection here, Venus in pink marble, was written by Belfast-based Gaynor Kane. I was introduced to her when she did a joint poetry launch video with Damien that was published on YouTube and was entitled “Venus Eats the Storms, A Poetry Launch of two Poets, Gaynor Kane and Damien B. Donnelly.” Both of them are energetic, funny, and engaging as they talk about their individual stories and read selections of their poetry. They apparently had so much fun recording the video that they decided to post an outtake video that is hilarious and can be seen by clicking this link.
The final poetry collection is called Seasons and was written by Katie Proctor, a young poet from Yorkshire, England. I encountered Katie during a Zoom launch presentation in mid-September that presented a “Prickle of Hedgehogs,” with readings from poets, including Katie, whose collections had been published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press. You can learn more about her at her webpage or on Twitter.
You might have had bad experiences from being forced to read and analyze poetry when in school, but I encourage you to give it another shot. The poems by these three poets help me to see and experience the world in different ways, through different eyes. I encourage you to listen to a podcast or two or check out the websites for which I have provided links.
All of these poetry collections are available from Amazon, but I encourage you to order them directly from the poets for two reasons. First of all, it helps to support them more. Secondly, the quality of the books is not the same. I was so anxious to get a copy of Eat the Storms that I ordered one from Amazon and one from Damien. Not surprisingly the one from Amazon arrived first. It was printed in the USA and the paper is of lower quality and is off-white, rather than white like the “original.” The Amazon version also lacks the inner flap photo and biographic information that is found in the UK version.
Let me end with Damien’s standard closing, “Stay Bloody Poetic.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Thanks for this! I’ll read and listen as time allows.
As one of those children forced to read and analyze poetry in high school, including Beowulf long before I was ready or willing, I learned to avoid all poetry. Thankfully I’ve “re-discovered” poetry more recently and as you say, it often offers new ways to see and understand the world.
Still, I’m not ready to read Beowulf again. Not sure I ever will be.
These are all a whole lot shorter and easier to understand and appreciate that those long epic poems. If you listen to the podcasts, I can almost guarantee that you too will be enchanted by Damien’s wonderful Irish accent. 🙂
Thank you Mike for these shares. When I first began teaching I’d read a lot of poetry to children (think Shel Silverstein). Here recently, in pursuing my own writing goals, I’ve been drawn more to poetry. I follow several on WP. It’s magical. I love hearing them read aloud and will certainly enjoy the accent.
How lovey are you for this post- not that we didn’t know that already- certainly Gaynor and I have spoken about you in glorious terms. Thanks for the support and cheers and for reading and sharing and embracing these wonderful poets. You support and energetic and encouragement and comments mean the world. Thank you Michael. Maybe one day we will stroll through Paris again 🙏👏☘️💚
If not, Paris, perhaps it will be Dublin. The restrictions and pressures of this pandemic have worn me down in some ways, Damien, and your poetry, podcast, and shenanigans on TikTok and YouTube have been bright spots for me as you have introduced me to your colorful cast of fellow poets. I just got in my “lucky bag ” selection of poetry books from Hedgehog Poetry Press that will introduce me to the works of additional Hoglets including Sarah Thomson, Lucy Crispin, Trish Bennett, Vicky Allen, Leung Rachel Ka Yin, and Kristin Garth. Your creative energy and enthusiasm are so contagious that you threaten to infect us all, which would be a good thing.