Author Archives: MW Bewick

Here’s an hour’s watch on the New York School of poets, featuring John Ashbery, Charles Bernstein, Jordan Davis, Jane Freilicher, Hettie Jones, Kenneth Koch, David Lehman, Alfred Leslie, Bill Morgan and Larry Rivers. Yep, this 2001 documentary film by Lars Movin, Niels Plenge and Thomas Thurah has only 362 views at the time of writingContinue reading “Something Wonderful May Happen: New York School of Poets – and Beyond”

“Of course you wouldn’t start from here” First line of ‘Itiner-y of a Pilgrimage’, the first poem in Pomes Flixus. So where should we start? Where do we expect to start? From the beginning? The beginning of what? From whose point of view? Disorientation is a key feature of many of the poems that interestContinue reading “A Poetry of Looking”

Where to start. Maybe with an ending. My first collection, Scarecrow, went out into the world and then there was a space. I had nothing to say, or felt that way. I had used too many words. Maybe with a beginning. I am listening to Charles Ives’s Holidays Symphony. Between strings and brass, wind, theContinue reading “Towards a new collection”

I’ve mostly taken a break from social media during the start of this year. But I have been working/writing/editing. In fact, I’m almost finished with a new collection of poetry. All will start to be revealed soon. So what happens during this late-stage writing process? Well, the manuscript has left the building and flown offContinue reading “Readings: Poetry Cafe and Essex Book Festival”

At almost the end of the year, a moment of reflection and a few thank yous. In 2019, I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few poems make their way into anthologies, journals, magazines and websites. Thank you to everyone at The Blue Nib, Coast to Coast to Coast, The Cormorant, Greenteeth Press, TheContinue reading “Work in progress”

One thing I’m looking forward to over the summer is seeing some of my recent poems appear in journals and anthologies. It’s always a thrill, even after all these years, to have my writing published – whether it’s features for magazines, short stories or poetry. However, getting published, after all this time, can still feelContinue reading “Poetry submissions: a cautionary tale”

There were workmen, drilling, maybe not all the time. There were blue tits and robins nesting, a blackbird singing. We identified many of the plants in the border. The dogwood should have been cut back harder. In six months everything will be different. The present moment lends itself well to excitement. It also informs ourContinue reading “Stop: obtain permission to proceed”

Bit of a Prokofiev day today, after this morning’s Building a Library on R3. Apparently he once said, “[Russia] has no use for music at the moment.” Turbulent times back then, of course, but it’s not like we’re currently living in an age of wine and roses. Swap ‘Party diktat’ for ‘market diktat’ and manyContinue reading “Poetry and market apparatus”