Autumn is possibly the best time to go out searching for mosses and lichens. As bushes and hedgerows shed their leaves, and damper weather arrives, these organisms become vibrant and increasingly more noticeable. But remember to carry your ‘moss-coloured glasses’ with you, and you can spot mosses and lichens all year around – even in the most unexpected of places. Here’s my year in mosses (and lichen).
Continue reading “My year in mosses”Here is the next page in my virtual scrapbook: a round up of the last month’s moments.
Continue reading “Scrapbook: Page 6”
Since my last post, my zine has returned from the printers, several batches of resin pendants have been made, and around seventy copies of ‘Miniature Worlds’ have been packaged up in biodegradable cellophane and sent out to readers. The wider underGROWTH project has come to a close, and an archive of all of the micro-residencies has gone live online. Here is the final closing chapter on what has been a really enjoyable and fruitful project.
Continue reading “underGROWTH: Free Zine!”
You might remember, a little while ago, I posted about an exciting project I was invited to be a part of. ‘Poetry on the Shakespeare Line’ paired a poet with each station from Birmingham Moor Street to Stratford-upon-Avon, a train line named after the region’s most famous resident. I was paired with the idyllic, rural stop of Danzey. The resulting poem, titled ‘A Light’, was a joy to work on and create, and is now live for people to enjoy. Audio of me reading the poem can be downloaded on the Overhear app when travelling on the Line, and the text will feature on posters on platforms in the near future.
When I feel comfortable and have reason to travel on the Shakespeare Line once again, I will take some photos of this lovely station, and post about the inspiration behind my poem and process of writing it. But until then, here’s the press release, which explains the outcome and response to this project.
Continue reading “Poetry on the Shakespeare Line”Here is the next page in my virtual scrapbook: a round up of the last couple of weeks’ moments.
Continue reading “Scrapbook: Page 5”
A spring bloom I’ve been really drawn to this year is violets. A few months ago, I would have struggled to identify these plant from any other purple flowers I spotted in a verge. But now I know what to look for, I am spotting them everywhere!
Recently, I have had a go at foraging these flowers, and crafting them into a sweet violet syrup. It’s also been a while since I’ve written a Folkdays post, so I will be combining the process I followed with the folklore of these flowers in this post.
A wonderful milestone was reached in my residency for the underGROWTH project. The zine I have been creating has been sent to the printers, the proof has been approved, and soon I will be receiving a small print run through the post! I’ve enjoyed every moment as this project has come together: from the research, to painting the illustrations and having conversations, to writing the small number of new poems which will appear in the zine. This last aspect will be focus of today’s blog post.
Continue reading “underGROWTH: Doctrine of Signatures”Here is an (overlooked) page for my virtual scrapbook: one I had drafted but forgotten to post! A round up of moments from a month or so ago. Look out for a more up-to-date scrapbook page soon.
Continue reading “Scrapbook: Page 5 (The Lost Page)”
I’ve had a busy few weeks, but my project for underGROWTH is coming along apace! In my last post, I wrote about the research process: reading, amongst other things, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss, and learning to see through ‘moss coloured glasses’. In this post, I’m going to focus on the content creation for the zine: taking photographs, making illustrations, and conducting interviews.
Continue reading “underGROWTH: Creating a Zine”I am delighted to share that I am going to be a part of an exciting new poetry project. ‘People’s Poetry on the Shakespeare Line’ is organised by Black Country collective Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists, in partnership with West Midlands Railway. Eighteen poets, including myself, have been commissioned to write poems for each of the stations between Birmingham Moor Street and Stratford-upon-Avon Stations – a route known as the Shakespeare Line.
Continue reading “A Platform for Poetry”