poetry archive – Richard Williams Poetry

The Poetry Archive – Obsidian Collection

By Richard | June 28, 2022June 26, 2022 by Richard

A quick mention today for the Poetry Archives collaboration with the Obsidian Foundation The collection is a collaboration which aims to recognise the importance of the inspirations, stories and social and cultural commentary that British Black Poets bring to the UK’s poetry landscape. All the poems featured in this collection have been selected by the poets themselves. https://poetryarchive.org/keystones/obsidian-collection/ It’s a permanent feature of the site, and one that those behind the Archive are adding to…

Poetry

Poetry Recordings – Jackie Kay – Old Tongue

By Richard | June 22, 2021 by Richard

This week’s poetry recording is by Jackie Kay, who had two brilliant poems in the anthology I wrote about on Sunday. It’s a wonderful poem about dialect, about the loss of language and the loss of sense of place that happens when we move. It happens to us all that move. I’ve lost most of my Somerset dialect since I moved away, though I still call a wasp by it’s proper name, ‘jasper’. I wonder…

Poetry

Poetry Recordings – Kathleen Jamie – White-sided Dolphins

By Richard | June 8, 2021 by Richard

Something for World Oceans Day. This poem captures the experience so well. We used to go on holiday as a family to the Pembrokeshire coast, and it was the third, or fourth time that we went out that we finally managed to encounter a pod of dolphins. Truly magical. You don’t need to travel halfway around the world to experience something special in nature. I hope you enjoy the recording.

Poetry

From my Poetry Bookshelf – John Glenday – Selected Poems

By Richard | June 6, 2021 by Richard

A bit later than normal, this week’s from my poetry bookshelf post is a (brief) introduction to the work of John Glenday. John Glenday was born in Broughty Ferry in 1952. He has said in interview that his mother was a reader, his father not at all. She gave him the words, his father the silences, a Glenday-like formulation. His ambition to be a poet was first fired in his teens. ‘A lot of people…

Poetry

Poetry Recordings – Alfred, Lord Tennyson – The Charge of the Light Brigade

By Richard | June 1, 2021June 1, 2021 by Richard

If you haven’t heard this yet then it’s well worth a listen. Recorded on wax cylinders in 1890, it may be the oldest recording in the Poetry Archive. Yes it’s crackly, but you can hear the cadence and power of Tennyson’s diction. I bet he would have done pretty well at a poetry slam if such events had existed in late victorian England! I’ve shared the poem below the audio link in case you want…

Poetry

Poetry Recordings – Charles Causley – Eden Rock

By Richard | May 25, 2021May 25, 2021 by Richard

I thought I would start delving into the marvellous poetry archive of audio recordings. Something to share regularly on a Tuesday night perhaps? If so, let me know your favourites, and I’ll share them here to this blog’s gradually widening audience. Here’s Charles Causley reading Eden Rock. That last line. Phew. https://poetryarchive.org/poem/eden-rock/ Charles Causley (1917-2003) was born and brought up in Launceston, Cornwall and lived there for most of his life. When he was only…