Here’s the first poem from my new collection, Enough Light to See the Dark.

Bride

after Frida Kahlo

Each evening now your pain goes out

and sits in a bar

with a drink the colour of the sun.

Your body has become a canvas.

You create yourself. Remember

how your red dress

would smoke about you.

Such delicate hurt. When your hair’s loose

the moon seems to drown.

You step out like a bride.

So much blood,

petals of it scattered like confetti.

The stars are falling.

They have lost their sticky light.

They are accidents. They shed themselves.

And now

those babies you always wanted

call out in your sleep.

So we wait with our candles –

enough light to see the dark

when it comes.

The full collection may be purchased here: http://www.cinnamonpress.com/enough-light-to-see-the-dark/

I’ve just completed a major re-write of my novel. I’ve deleted about one third of the original – taking virtually the whole back story out. I’m just about to do a final read-through to make sure it holds together.

The good thing is, that I find I still love the main characters, am happy to spend time with them again. That’s got to be a good sign, right?

Let’s hope the publisher who is interested in reading the re-write agrees

I’ll be reading from my collection ‘Enough Light to See the Dark’ and discussing it on the Dubai Eye Talking of Books programme tomorrow at 1pm for about an hour. You can hear it on-line here:

http://dubaieye1038.com/page.php?page_id=3601

April has been classified as Poetry Month by many in the poetry world and I have joined Carrie Etter (US poet living in UK) and other poets in a committment to write a poem a day for this month.

So far I’ve managed to keep to this committment and expect to write something today also. It seemed easy at first but as the days go by, I do begin to wonder where the next idea for a poem will come from. At the moment, I’m picking up on old ideas, items of news and ideas sparked off from other reading. Even if I don’t end off with poems I consider worth sending out to the mags, I do expect to collect some interesting material from which to work in the future. And writing is about re-writing, right?

It’s not too late for you to join in this exercise. Think of it this way – even if you only get one new poem out of it, that’s a poem that would never have been born if you hadn’t decided to pick up the pen.

Click here for Launch Flyer: AI_Enough_Light[1] 

I’m very excited to have my second poetry collection launch in early March. I would love to see as many of you as can make it. I have a lot of catching up to do with old friends. Details are below. Please RSVP my publisher if you can make it.

I will be organising an Irish and a Dubai launch later in the year and will let you know about these as well.

You can order copies of the book from my publisher here: http://www.cinnamonpress.com/enough-light-to-see-the-dark/

Small press publishers need as much support as they can get, so please do buy a book (mine or someone elses) if you can afford to.

All best wishes
Frank

I had the great pleasure of running a poetry workshop for the final years at Greenfield Community School on St Valentine’s Day. The school is large, bright and impressive and I was made very welcome. I was set up in the library where a display showing a picture of me, my book cover and a selection of my poems was used as a backdrop to the proceedings.

Between 25 to 30 children attended together with a number of teachers. I opened with a few exercises to get the right side of the brain engaged – What colour is today and why? Choose an object you know well, if it were to speak to you, what would it say?

We then moved to developing a word/phrase hord for the main exercise. I spoke about the problem of using tired language, of needing to wake it up – not with big words but with words that held a little surprise because of their placing and usage, of the need to slow the passage of the words through the brain of the reader for that milli-second needed for them to take notice of it. I talked about being personal and particular in the writing and spoke about the power of imagery.

For the main exercise I told them a story, taking them with me on a fantasy journey where they were asked to pick up objects in the dark, to hear sounds etc all of which they had to describe. Then, at a certain point, I stopped talking and let them take the journey forward in their own way.

At this point, the whole class was writing, absorbed in the task. One girl had her arm across her body, her hand curled around her tilted head. Another sat with her head on her shoulder, dreaming herself onto the page. Others gazed off into the room, trying to chase down a word or wondering, perhaps, when they could reasonably stop. There was silence – just the shuffle of bodies readjusting themselves to the stiffness of the chairs, pages turning in notebooks, the A/C’s soft howl.

After 20 mins, I released them, brought them out of their hypnotic state, read to them from my book, answered a series of very intelligent questions and then let them go – off into the wild afternoon with their poetry session safe in their schoolbags like the spoils of some great hunt, a kill brought home to their parents with their PE kit and pens.

Oh, an in rememberence of the day and the work done, I was presented with some gifts – including a little red heart-shaped tin of chocolates.

Dubai Poeticians – the spoken word performance group are up and running again, meeting in IBIS Hotel, Trade Centre at 7.30 pm today. I’ll be reading as will a number of my good friends. My wife, Marie, also intends to read this time, for the first time.

 Frank DullaghanInterviewed by Sheenagh Pugh

This is a link to an interview on poet Sheenagh Pugh’s blog made in 2011.