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Since my poem 'No News' was accepted by the exciting US magazine Superpresent, I've been brooding and worrying at a couple of … well, thoughts, for want of a better word. First, I've been thinking about how much has changed since I was last submitting regularly to magazines (probably pre-2010). Submission fees, for instance: when did that start? But while it's a culture shock, to someone old enough to remember having to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for the retur

For a couple of weeks now I've been correcting proofs of the New and Selected. It's a strange experience - especially given that for so many years I couldn't bring myself to think about poems new or old. It takes a bit of an effort, like forcing yourself to look at photographs of yourself in profile, or listening to recordings of your own voice. That's not me. But oh, it very much is... Of course some of what we're talking about are typos, misprints, literals. Mistakes I've m

At yesterday's Music and Mind Festival in Whitehead, the young Belfast poet Zara Meadows read a cento, a poem constructed of lines and phrases from poems by other poets. I’m a massive fan of the found poem in general, usually based on non-literary texts, but the cento isn’t a form I’ve explored. It prompted me to share this, though. A year or so before he died, my friend the artist, musician and designer David Hunter (known online as Speciman Yak) recorded a piece of music wi

I was very pleased to have a poem, 'Lapse', chosen by Helen Ivory for the brilliant Ink, Sweat & Tears last week. If you haven't seen it, have a look here. In her brief intro, Helen describes it as 'a poem born of taking the time to truly unpick something to its roots.' And I've been thinking about that. What was going on in the making of this piece? In the first place I try not to overthink what I'm about in any poem - I've learned the hard way that setting out with a purpo

Two readings in the pipeline. On Saturday August 29 I'll be appearing in the annual poetry fixture in Whitehead's Music and Mind Festival - more on that when I have more info on the other readers. The following week I'll be sharing the stage with Csilla Toldy, Joel Simon, David Davies and Donna Hunter at the monthly Invited to the Mic event at the fantastic American Bar in Belfast. That's on Thursday 3 September at 7pm, and it would be great to see you there. Bonus ball - the

It's been so many years since I was sending poems out into the world that I'd pretty much forgotten the pleasure of having work accepted in unexpected places. Here are four newish poems that have been published in an Indian magazine with a German title: Four Poems by Martin Mooney - Shaheen Foundation Das Literarisch is a print and online title from Shaheen: The Literature Foundation, based in Bihar. Its editor-in-chief, S. M. Yahiya Ibrahim, welcomes poetry and critical and

It’s more than a decade since acclaimed Belfast poet Martin Mooney performed or published his work. He returns to the page (and the stage) to launch Nine Small Things, a Field Edition pamphlet from specimanYak Press. These short poems deal with the nature crisis, the post-human planet, and personal mortality. So, a barrel of laughs! But they’re short, so it’ll all be over quickly… Doors open at the Black Box Green Room at 6.30pm for a 7pm kick-off .