The good, the bad, and the behind
Posted by Adham Smart on 27 April 2010 in
Dear Poms:
As you’ll have realized by now, we’re slightly behind on uploading this edition of your favorite poetry webspace. We’re very behind, actually. A combination of many things (work, work, getting used to the new format, work, volcanoes, work) has meant that we haven’t been able to do stuff as quickly as we should have, which is why it’s about a month late. In the words of everyone’s favorite ex-US Defense Secretary, “Stuff happens”. But rest assured, what we may lack in punctuality, we more than make up for in kick-ass poetry and articles, and it’ll business as usual later today. If you need your poetry fix like an emo kid needs MySpace, why not check out some other sites? Our friends at The Cadaverine, PoetCasting, and everyone on our ‘Resources’ page will be happy to take your traffic for a while.
Loads of love:
Adham and everyone at Pom Towers
National Poetry Competition winners
Posted by Charlotte Geater on 31 March 2010 in
The Poetry Society has announced the winners of this year’s National Poetry Competition! Helen Dunmore’s ‘The Malarkey’ is the winner, with Ian Pindar and John Stammers in second and third place.
You can read the winners and find out more information about the competition here. I’m excited to see Jon Stone get a commendation for his poem ‘Jake Root’ (which you can find here) – it’s a great read! We’ve published Jon ourselves in the past (you can read ‘The Wind Outside’, from issue six, here) and want to congratulate him and all of the other winners and commended poets on their success.
The National Poetry competition runs every year, and the 2010 competition is open from today, the 1st of April, until the 31st of October. Remember the date!
@!$*&%#! - Naughty words
Posted by Adham Smart on 02 March 2010 in
I was just sitting down daydreaming (as I seem to spend most of my time doing nowadays) and I wondered – can swearing ever be used naturally in a poem? Let me put it this way: normally, when I read or hear a poem with a swearword in it, I get distracted. Not necessarily shocked – I think I’m past that stage now – but the use of such an obviously ‘heavy’ word breaks my concentration a little bit. That’s not to say that that’s always a bad thing, and I’m definitely not against swearing in poetry. It just seems to me that swearwords are often used for immediate and temporary effect, sometimes to compensate for a lack of effect in the rest of the poem. Like I said, I don’t think swearwords are bad – they’re just as much part of the language as any other words – but I’d like to see more intelligent and effective use of them in literature. What do you think? If you want to respond, the forum is your oyster. I’d like to see some poems where you think swearing’s been used well, if you know any.
Adham
Poetry Valentines
We’ve just heard about a new poetry-related Valentine’s Day treat – and as we at Pomegranate are soppy old romantics at heart, we had to share it with you! Here’s their press:
“The Poetry Archive and The Times Online have just launched Valentine Voices, a collection of 40 poems to enthrall, entertain and beguile lovers everywhere. Available on The Times Online, Valentine Voices features a list of love poems read by celebrity readers and poets, which can be sent as a gift to your Valentine’s mobile phone.
Those looking to wow their lovers on Valentine’s Day can pay for Jude Law or Keira Knightley to do it on their behalf, with their wonderful recordings of Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Love’s Philosophy. Also included amongst the 40 readings are Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Joanna Lumley, Alan Rickman, Rosamund Pike, James Earl Jones, Stephen Fry, Kenneth Branagh, Patrick Stewart, Ronan Keating and Daniel Radcliffe. Poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and Wendy Cope, who are already featured on the Poetry Archive, also read their own works.
Visitors to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/poetry can browse a list of poems read by well-known names before sending a poem to their beloved’s mobile phone. Each poem will feature a sample recording and, once chosen, can be sent with a personal message from the sender, to arrive on the recipient’s phone on Valentine’s Day.
40 love poems are available for mobile download for just £3 each, and all proceeds to help fund the Poetry Archive.”
Naaaw, isn’t that nice? Check it out!
Image by Sister72
Helen Mort wins PBS Pamphlet Choice
Just heard the news (in this season of prizes) that Helen Mort’s ‘A Pint For The Ghost’ is the PBS pamphlet choice for Spring 2010. The choice is awarded to what the selectors think is the best pamphlet published each quarter. The pamphlet judges were Helen Ivory and Jacob Sam-La Rose.
Helen lives in Cambridge and is a former Foyle Young Poet of the Year. Congratulations, Helen!
Congratulations Philip Gross!
Well done Philip Gross, who won the TS Eliot prize yesterday.
We’re especially pleased and proud because Philip was kind enough to take part in this interview for edition 5 of Pomegranate, with Isobel Norris and Katie Allen, last year. We’re a bit starstruck, really, especially as previous TS Eliot prizewinner Jen Hadfield has also graced the pages of Pom with this article in edition 9.
With a prize of £15,000 for the winner, the TS Eliot is the UK’s most lucrative poetry prize. Keep reading Pomegranate to try and spot next year’s winner!
Here’s the shortlist – all of the books are well worth checking out:
- The Sun-fish by Eiléan Ní Chuilleánain
- Continental Shelf by Fred D’Aguiar
- Over by Jane Draycott
- The Water Table by Philip Gross
- Through the Square Window by Sinéad Morrissey
- One Secret Thing by Sharon Olds
- Weeds & Wild Flowers by Alice Oswald
- A Scattering by Christopher Reid
- The Burning of the Books and Other Poems by George Szirtes
- West End Final by Hugo Williams
The Dawn of a New Age
Pomegranate’s had its hair done. It’s had a nip and tuck. Its legs are waxed and its teeth whitened. In short, its had a bit of a makeover.
Why? Well, it’s two and a half years old now, and we thought it was time for a change. Pom’s been growing and gathering a legion of fans and followers, and we needed more room to accommodate them all – more welcoming arms, perhaps. From now on we’re gonna do what we do better than ever before. For instance, we’ve got a wide and expansive new forum just waiting to be filled up with thrusting debate and poetic chatter, plus a workshop ready to mould shaky new poems into giants of literature. Our submissions procedure has been simplified. Our archives have been overhauled. And you may have noticed that we have a BLOG. That’s right, all the news and tips and advice you could wish for will be relayed through the blog in-between issues, keeping Pom ever-changing.
Anyway, that’s enough of an intro – have a look around! Make yourself at home! There’s tea in the pot.
Welcome to Pomegranate
Posted by Developer on 10 January 2010 in
Hello! This is a free UK-based poetry ezine showcasing young writers through the various media of writing, sound, telepathy, and interpretative dance (we’re kidding about those last two). We also keep you up to date with poetry news through the PomBlog, and when we’ve got a spare minute between cups of tea we have a chat and workshop new poems on the forums. We’re a network, a broadcaster, a lifestyle, a phenomenon. And we’re just getting started: Pomegranate poets, bloggers and writers are all under 30. Get stuck in!
Submission Guidelines
How do I submit?
You can submit to us by email. Send your previously unpublished poems – no more than four per edition, please – using the form on our submissions page. Include your name, the title of your poem and a short third person biography including your age, poetic achievements, interests and anything else you think is worth mentioning. It’s worthwhile keeping your member biography on your profile page up to date. Please submit only one poem at a time and remember no more than four per edition.
N.B. If you don’t use your real name as your username when you submit, then we can’t attribute your published poems to you. Please use your full name when registering. If you don’t want to use your real name on the forums, you can create another account.
By the way, we really do mean it about only four poems – we receive A LOT of submissions, and we need time to eat and sleep, so we’ll stop reading after the fourth. If you have special formatting that you want to preserve then please email us for advice using the form on the contact page.
We shortlist every poem we’re interested in, so it can take us a while to get back to you. We’re really sorry about this, and we are trying to make our response time quicker. If you haven’t heard from us after about two months, feel free to drop us a follow-up email to check how we’re getting on, and we’ll try to update you as soon as we can.
Note: the editors’ decisions are final. We regret we can’t offer feedback on submissions. Oh, and please don’t be angry with us if we don’t accept your work – we’re nice people and we try hard to make everyone happy!
What kind of poetry do you want?
Exciting. Moving. Original. Beyond that we love everything: formal, free, funny, sad… show us what you’ve got. It’s a good idea to have a browse through the site first, just to get a feel for the kind of project we’re running here – and also because the poetry is brilliant and always worth a read!
Issue 11 of Pomegranate will go live in APRIL – the theme is BUST, and we are now accepting submissions.
What kind of poetry DON’T you want?
- Poems written by people over 30. Seriously folks, there’s enough out there for you!
- Poems littered with careless spelling/grammar mistakes. Check it through! Oh, and if it’s a deliberate, arty mistake, we can usually tell.
- Poems about “emotions you can’t describe”. If you can’t describe them, you’re not a poet. Try it! What’s the worst that could happen?
What if I’m submitting an article, not poetry?
We’re always on the look-out for thoughtful and exciting writing about poetry and issues in poetry, as well as reviews and interviews. Submit using the form but choose article from the drop down list. As long as it’s well-argued and interesting, we’d love to hear from you.
I’m not a writer!
If you’re a young artist interested in having your art featured in Pomegranate, either as cover art or alongside the poems, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with the editors – and include a link to some of your work!
What if I’m not in the UK?
The internet knows no national borders. Show us what young poets are doing in other countries! But English-language only, please. Although between us the editorial team can boast a pretty impressive range of languages, we can’t promise that we’ll know your language and we definitely can’t promise that our readers will know it.
Do you pay for submissions?
Afraid not. You did see the bit where we’re students, right? We can barely afford to eat, let alone pay cash for every poem we use, so everything that appears on this site appears pro bono publico – but if you want us to take it down so you can submit it somewhere that might actually give you some money for it, just drop us a line.
The legal stuff:
All submitted pieces of work remain the legal property of the author and the copyright belongs exclusively to the author. We take a dim view of plagiarists.
Ready?
Okay, submit your work to us.
What is this place? Why am I here? Who are you people?
We’re a haven for young poets and exciting new poetry. The Pom editorial team has huge respect for the Poetry Society and the grown up poetry scene here in the UK, but it can get pretty intimidating being the only baby at the party. We believe poetic talent needs to be nurtured while the writers are still bursting with youthful passion and want to change the world. We’re a hub, a country-wide community of young writers – and we know our onions, because we’re all writers under 30 ourselves.
How’s it work?
Everything’s on a shoestring budget. We pay for this site thanks to kind funding from Arts Council England (THANKS GUYS) and out of our own (meagre) funds. Apart from Purple Dogfish, who revamped us and made us look pretty, we run the whole of this joint ourselves, when we’re not sweating over uni work and struggling to find a day job in the recession. We do our best, because we love poetry. The rest is up to you: send us submissions, write us articles, get onto the forums, and tell all your friends.
Okay, I get all that, but why Pomegranate?
We like pomegranates. Don’t you?
Okay then. Introduce yourselves.
How kind of you to ask!
The Pomegranate crew were all winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year (FYP) award in 2006 and met afterwards at the Arvon Centre in Shropshire on the week-long poetry course that was the prize. Credits: