The meaning of woods

What have you written in a wood or after visiting one? As an exercise I would recommend sitting in a wood listening and reflecting and writing then or after. Or sleeping in a wood. Possibly not under a rookery like Roger Deacon. But then again...

The Woodland Trust have a new mini-site dedicated to sharing people's creative interaction with woods. Take a look. Visit your imaginary forest. Make your own journey through trees.

You can find out more here http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/take-part-in-visitwoods/Pages/as-an-individual.aspx#.UMxMMeS6euI.

Winter poem: win competition

Short sell-by date on this free to enter competition for Winter poems. (And they don't have to be snowy...)

And you could win a hundred pounds of Amazon vouchers for the New Year. Hurry up though as the deadline is first thing 28th December 2012. Better than sales shopping...

Find out more here http://www.printexpress.co.uk/blog/2011/10/17/the-print-express-poetry-competition.

A history of poetry performance in the UK

40 years of British poetry under a virtual roof.

"This sample of British poetry readings...reveals a diverse range of voicing styles, which make distinct use of cadence, intonation and pace - acoustic devices which can develop or even transform the semantics of a poem."

Highlights in this archive hosted by the University of Southampton include:

• Hugh MacDiarmid
• Jackie Kay (go and see her live too)
• Attila the Stockbroker
• Patience Agbabi

You can find out more here: http://poetry.eprints.org/

Poet of the year etc.

After the success of our inaugural p&g poetry competition won by Stella Pye, we are now looking for nominations for a poet who has done great things in 2012.

It is that time of year.

Really we are looking for any good stuff and our taste is obviously for excellent poetry and nerdy background information but happy to pass on outlandish anecdotes too.

Your nominations: get in touch at the usual address.

Aurélia Lassaque 12th December 2012 Oxford England

Lassaque is a contemporary Occitan poet and she will read with Lucile Deslignères, Sabine Chaouche and Claire Trévien in Occitan, French and English. Music is provided by gaita piper Mano Panforreteio.

This event runs from 7pm until 9pm at the beautiful Albion Beatnik Bookstore on Walton Street in Jericho Oxford (another former haunt of p&g). You will need to pay £2 to get in but that will be worth it for the music alone.

Aurélia Lassaque is a poet writing in French and Occitan. She is interested in the interconnections between poetry and the visual arts and has worked with Robert Lobet and other artists. She is based near Albi in south-western France.

Read about more here http://www.francisboutle.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=98 and here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/bookshop/view/recommendation/3018.

You're going to die: poetry...4th December 2012 San Francisco USA

Not in Bugarach. (Co-incidentally the peak of which poetandgeek climbed some years ago right up and through la fenêtre).

You can perform although there are featured readers too. The organisers state the following - with admirable honesty -


"Please don’t perform anything with a setup that takes much more time than the time it takes for you to walk onstage. Honestly, plugging things in endlessly is boring."

Anyway this event is in San Francisco from 20:00 until 23:00 in PST and it is tonight.

Go to Viracocha 998 Valencia Street and enjoy. (It is worth going to Viracocha anyway.)

More details here http://www.facebook.com/events/164635857012092/


And by the way thank you to Thierry Strub for the use of this beautiful picture of the Pic de Bugarach.

Un peu de magie

En savoir plus - http://cathygarcia.hautetfort.com/