- ‘Mistletoe Prayer’ by FRP member Anthony Watts was awarded a Special Commendation in the Magma Editor’s Prize Competition.
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Cristina Newton Cristina Newton read on 7th May. Read about Cristina.
Mark Totterdell was our guest poet on 5th March 2015. Mark grew up near Taunton and now lives in Exeter. Many of his poems are inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of the South-West. He has been published in magazines such as Agenda, Ambit, Stand and The Interpreters House. He came first in the Poems Please Me Prize 2014. Other prizes include a first in the 2012 Fire River Poets competition. He is a member of Moor Poets, based around Dartmoor, and reads regularly at Uncut Poets in Exeter.
Hilary Menos at FRPHilary Menos read from her latest collection, Red Devon, at the Creative Innovation Centre on Thursday 5 June 2014. The event was the fifth in the season of readings, open mics and poetry cafes organised by Fire River Poets. Hilary was praised by audience members for her clarity, wit and unblinking realism in poetry that surveyed the ups and downs of farm life (admittedly in Devon but you can’t have everything).Hilary is relatively new to the poetry circuit and John Stammers has said ‘She is sure to make an immediate impact’. Correct, John. She did! It was a great evening. – report by John Stuart
- Alien winner. A short poem by Anthony Watts, ‘The Alien’, was a runner-up in the Thynks In Memoriam Poetry Competition and was due to appear in their anthology.
- Writing for Children. FRP member Anthony Watts received a ‘highly commended’ for his portfolio of five poems entered for the Manchester Writing for Children Prize. One was Writer’s block – like others, picked from his exisiting poems, but selected as appealing to children.
Writer’s block
I’m all at sea
I’m a stingless bee
I’m a pulled-up weed
I’m an unsown seed
I’m a bow without an arrow
I’m a hawk without a sparrow
I’m a cat without a mouse
I’m a boarded-up house
I’m a glove without a hand
I’m a brassed-off band
I’m a derailed carriage
I’m a broken marriage
I’m a north without a south
I’m a toothless, tongueless mouth.
- FRP member on BBC’s Today news programme FRP member Anthony Watts read his poem Flood on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme – on Somerset floods – Sat 8 Feb 2014.
