Podcast: A poet's life in Borth with Rychard Carrington

This podcast comes from Borth, home of poet Rychard Carrington. Rychard explains why he decided to leave Cambridge, his home for 30 years, and live in a village on the coast of west Wales. Rychard explains how this small community has become a haven for many artists, nestled between mountains and the sea in a remote and beautiful part of the country.

"There's all sorts of artists but it isn't like there's an elite or underground. The artists are very much a part of the mainstream of the village culture."

Rychard shares some of his poems and sets a prompt to write a poem about another poet. There are also poems on Dave Daggers' prompt from the last show to write about an inflatable Elvis Presley.

Scroll down to read a poem by Rychard

Albion My Way

Of all one hundred and ninety-six countries in the world
You were allocated to me
So when the team called England scores a goal
I'm supposed to shout 'whoopee'

I ate your chips until eventually
I came to hate the word 'quintessentially'
Tomato ketchup, HP sauce
Custard for the second course
Pork scratchings for the morris dance
William the Conqueror go back to France
When Queen Victoria finally dies
I'll admit I prefer French fries

Convert your feet into Shakespeare's meter
Sherlock Holmes, Geoffrey Boycott, Blue Peter
Kenneth Williams, Sting, Boadicea
Arthur Scargill, Charles I, Edward Lear
English breakfast, there's bones in your kipper
Union Jack, Jack Tar, Jack The Ripper

We live in hope but few true glories
Half of us vote for the fucking Tories
There's great scenery in England
And in other countries too
There are good people in England
And in other countries too
All the depression and mediocrity and crime
I've witnessed have been in England, each time

What I have taken I now give back to you
And no damn foreigner is going to spoil it
Plant a flag in my patriotic deposit
English shit in an English toilet

God save the Queen and the English Band
Captain Birdseye and the ship he sails
Enough merry stiff upper lip England
I don't believe your old wives' tales
Adieu boo sucks to you dear England
I am going to live in Wales

Rychard Carrington

Poetry Non-stop out now

My new book Poetry Non-stop is now available on Amazon. It's a guide for poets of all levels to writing a poem a day for 30 days coming out ahead of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) in April.

The book includes:

• Techniques for quickly generating ideas for poems on any topic
• Forms that can be employed to turn any idea or flash of inspiration into a poem
• Daily writing prompts to complete the 30 poems in 30 days challenge
• More than 30 original poems written using the prompts and techniques in the book to entertain and inspire
• Advice on redrafting and developing poems to a publishable standard
• Useful resources for reading, writing and publishing poetry

I've put the price as low as I can for the first few days, so grab it now and get ready for a creative month. I can't wait to see what poems you come up with!

Podcast: Mark Curtis

Mark Curtis reads some poems and discusses his life-long passion for writing. There are responses to Des Mannay's poetry prompt and Mark invites you to write poems on balance. Share your responses in the comments below or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.

Podcast: Jonathan Edwards

Winner of the 2014 Costa Poetry Award Jonathan Edwards joins me in conversation and reads from his collection My Family and Other Superheroes. He also sets two writing prompts:

1) A sonnet with a twist – See the poem below for inspiration.
2) Observe people, places and animals. Use your pen as a camera and write a poem from your observations. This technique produced many of the poems in Jonathan's collection which you can buy here.

Share your poems in the comments below or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.

Brothers

You know the sort: they borrow each other’s t-shirts,
wear each other’s sweat under their armpits.
In the pub, you swear you hear one’s voice and turn
to find the other chatting up your girl,
or else you catch one, curling up his lip,
as if he’s trying on his brother’s smile,
or you go to the bar and they both show up.
One has a knackered Transit, the other jump leads.
They’ve one gym membership and their own bodies,
tell the punch lines to each other’s jokes
and if you’re fool enough to bother one,
you’ll find yourself outside with both of them.
You know the sort: the elder has a child
who’s got her mother’s mouth, her uncle’s eyes.

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards by Headstand on Mixcloud