Podcast: Des Mannay

On this episode Newport poet Des Mannay looks back on an amazing year in which he has been placed in three competitions and had poems in numerous publications. He shares some of his poetry and offers tips on boosting your chances of success in competitions.
He challenges listeners to write a poem about your final message when you have three minutes left to live and offers a couple of pieces of work for inspiration: And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Dylan Thomas and Galliano - 57th minute of the 23rd hour. Share your responses in the comments or to info@patrickwiddess.co.uk. 
You can hear poems by myself and Des in response to John Eliot's baby's shoes prompt from the last podcast and a poem by Clive Oseman.
You can read more of Des's poems via the following links: 

I Am Not A Silent Poet - https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/tag/des-mannay/ 
Proletarian Poetry - http://proletarianpoetry.com/2015/09/21/and-the-dead-shall-rise-by-des-mannay/ The 'Rethinkyourmind' shop - https://rethinkyourmind.co.uk/our-shop/ 
The 2015 Creative Future Literary Awards Anthology - http://www.cfliteraryawards.org.uk/2015-clfa-anthology-impossible-things-out-now/ 
Disability Arts Cymru Poetry Competition Free Download Anthology - http://www.disabilityartscymru.co.uk/literature/dac-poetry-competition-ibook/

Music by Suhov and Zyxz 

Des Mannay by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: John Eliot

John Eliot talks about poetry's power to tell stories and connect with people if they let it in. He shares some of his favourite lines of TS Eliot and Seamus Heaney and reads some of his own work. He sets listeners a challenge to write a poem about a pair of baby's shoes like the one's from Ernest Hemingway's six-word story and there are a couple of responses to Christina Thatcher's call for mundane poems which are anything but.

To share your poems email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk

John Eliot by Headstand on Mixcloud