Speaking of Poetry ...

My dissertation poems are done, bar a final bit of proofing and maybe a couple of minor edits. As of today I have 22 days to write my reflective essay and submit my dissertation! Actually that’s not strictly true ... the reflective essay needs to be broadly finished so I can send it to my supervisor in time to discuss it in my last supervision meeting in around two weeks’ time. So I thought I'd share a couple of pieces of disability poetry news with you :)

Selected Poems

In February 2019 I reviewed a book of poems, The Writer’s Pen, by Kevin Morris for Ink Pantry. Kevin and I crossed paths in 1991/92 when we were both students at Swansea University, he studying for an MSC, me for a BSc. Kevin was blind and I, at the time, was not. I'm delighted to pass on news about the publication of his Selected Works:

This book encompasses poems composed between 2013-19. The poems included here have been selected from Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind, My Old Clock I Wind and Other Poems, The Writer’s Pen and Other Poems, Dalliance; a Collection of Poetry and Prose, Refractions, and The Girl who Wasn’t There.
In addition, a number of previously unpublished poems are included in this book.
The poems range from those dealing with nature to others, which touch on the passage of time and mortality.
(Kevin Stephen Morris)

Kevin’s book is available in a range of formats and each link takes you to the relevant amazon page which will open in a new window:

• UK Kindle edition
• US Kindle edition
• UK Paperback edition
• US Paperback edition

The Word on the Street

There are two weeks until the submission deadline for Song of Myself, a Poetry Jukebox project for the Belfast International Festival 2019. The Poetry Jukebox was first launched in 2017 and for this call for submissions they are seeking poems by disabled poets.

International and critically acclaimed poets Alice McCullough and Maria McManus co-curate an international edition of first-class contemporary poetry for our favourite on-street audio installation, Poetry Jukebox. This edition, drawn from a world-wide call for submissions, features the work of first-class poets who self-identify as disabled.
In 2017, Belfast International Festival launched the very first Poetry Jukebox on the island of Ireland. We’re back with a world first: this curation will also launch the latest Poetry Jukebox that integrates specific features to enhance disability access for deaf people and wheelchair users. Launching 16thOctober 2019 and sited at CS Lewis Square for the duration of the Belfast International Festival 2019, the poems on the new jukebox are available 24 hours a day.
(from song of Myself call for submission)

See the website link above for the submission criteria. Audio format is preferred since it is an audio jukebox project but text versions can be submitted and arrangements will be made to record the poem if it is successful.

#Blindness #Disabilities