10 Nov 2008
Heads up to the Save as and Conversation Quarterly poets for their monthly poetry event at Orange St Music Club, Canterbury. The event last night featured Canterbury poet of the year, Sue Rose, poets from the Scatterlings collective, guest poet Nancy Charley, music from Steve Antoni, and an open mic for poets. This is followed by a music open mic from 8.30pm, run by CJ and Nick. Poets are also welcome at the later event.Please check out details of the Writers Rendezvous meeting in Rochester, the latest from Conversation Quarterly and news of the Write Now! event at Faversham library.
Please go and see the War and Peace installation at the Polka Dot Art Centre this month. It's a moving, interactive exhibition, where you are encouraged to open drawers and boxes, read letters and handle other wartime memorabilia. It is also hoped that visitors will bring their own memories and memorabilia to add to the exhibition. I brought my poem, Remembrance, along and was invited to read it.
Details on the News and Events page.
7 Nov 2008
With it being Remembrance Day soon, here is a poem I wrote after walking in on a Remembrance Day service in the Civic Centre, Strood, a couple of years ago. The two minutes silence is used so much these days, we are sometimes annoyed by the delay to our day when caught in a supermarket queue, for example, for two minutes silence. Here are my thoughts as the two minutes progressed:Remembrance
‘Men marched on asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, bloodshod.’*
A face freezes by the porthole glass,
barred entry for two minutes,
while we, who have chanced
on the scene, are forced into the service.
Head bowed, attempting reverence
I contemplate my shoelace,
and ponder the meaning of silence –
of how it never is – and think of John Cage
and his four minutes however many seconds.
A song dances in my head.
I cannot remember the dead,
distracted by the cut of women’s skirts,
the design of a man’s glasses,
the leaflets in the lobby
and the fact that the priest
read “et” in the poem incorrectly,
the French way. Then I remember “blood-shod”,
and think of following the wagon with the dead,
and know the folly of the words, however read,
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Maria McCarthy
* From ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfrid Owen.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.
3 Nov 2008
Back from a lovely country walk near my new house, and thinking about the Carol Ann Duffy reading in Deal last night. It's hard not to gush when you you meet your heroes, so I tried to contain myself when I asked Carol Ann Duffy to sign my copy of Rapture. I told her that I read it when I was first in love, two years ago. 'Are you still in love?' she asked. 'Oh yes', I said. 'Long may it last,' she said', and at that point my partner, Bob, came and joined me. 'You look after her', she said to him. He then endured the journey home with me reminding him: 'Carol Ann Duffy said you have to look after me.' Luckily he enjoyed the reading as much as I did. I was delighted to hear 'Prayer', which is one of my favourite poems, and a selection from The World's Wife.
Review in the Frogmore Papers
I was pleased to read the following review, by Alexandra Loske, in the Frogmore Papers, Issue 72:
"Nothing But by Maria McCarthy
Nothing But is a privately printed and distributed pamphlet by an author also known as a writer for BBC's Home Truths programme and, quirkily, her obsession with Led Zeppelin. On her various websites she freely admits to love watching ER and browsing charity shops, but also endearingly informs is that she 'writes in A5 spiral bound notebooks with a well-sharpened pencil'. Her sharp pencil works well in this exquisite pamphlet. Though not all poems transcend the the experimental stage that conjures up unedited scribblings in her A5 notebook, many of them have a freshness, depth and immediacy that makes a good pamphlet so enjoyable. 'Mitchelstown', her sequence of poems dealing with a journey to her father's hometown in Ireland stands out in its roundedness and consistency of imagery. Maggie Drury's woodcuts in the cover are a bonus treat."
read more about the Frogmore Papers on www.frogmorepress.co.uk
1 Nov 2008
There is news of the Your Messages creative writing project taking place in November, an exhibition at the Polka Dot Art Centre, Teynham and the next Poetry night at Orange St Music Club, Canterbury, all on the Events and Readings page.30 October 2008
Hello again. I am back online after two weeks without internet access during my house move. The site will be updated in the next few days. In spite of the move, I have been feeding my muse by attending poetry readings by Moniza Alvi and Marianne Boruch, and I shall be going to see the wonderful Carol Ann Duffy at Deal Town Hall this weekend. I have carved my pumpkin and have my trick or treat sweets ready for any spooky callers. Happy Halloween to you all.Maria
28 September 2008
There is a review of Claire Keegan, Anne Enright and William Trevor at the Small Wonder Short Story Festival on the reviews page.
Also, Split the Lark poets present Carol Ann Duffy, 2 Nov 2008, Deal Town Hall, 7.30p.m. Details of this not to be missed event on the Events and Readings page
12 September 2008News of Applehouse Poetry workshop and the new Mitchelstown International Story Prize are on the Events/readings page.
The Poetry Library
Based at the South Bank Centre in London, the Saison Poetry Library houses the Arts Council Poetry Collection, and hosts an online archive of poetry magazines. I visited the library this week, and met an American poet, Jack Anderson. 'Us poets, we're shameless,' he said, as we both searched for our own poems in the library (his in book form, mine in various poetry magazines). How true... but the joy of finding your work in a library!
3 September 2008
There is a new piece, On Characters and Family, an the reviews/memoir page. This is aimed at writers who are fearful of using real life stories in their fiction. There is also a new poem on the Poems and Stories page, Coats, written in response to the last of my children leaving home.
27 August 2008
News of a poetry reading at Waterstone's Canterbury and of a new prose and poetry competition are on the News and Events page. I am in the process of trying to move house, so I shall post some new material on the site once I am less busy. Medwaymaria will be living in Swale in future. I shan't be changing my name though; you can take a woman out of Medway, but you can't take Medway out of the woman.
9 August 2008
A cheer went up for After the Fire at Matalan... See my poem on the Poems and stories page.
4 August 2008
Read my account of visiting the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth on the Reviews/Memoir page
31 July 2008
I was shocked, but not surprised to hear about the women who were locked away between 1910 and the late '70s because they were typhoid carriers. They were kept in Long Grove hospital, a mental asylum in Epsom, the town where I grew up. They were not mentally ill when they went in, but the prison-like conditions and isolation they suffered sent many of them mad. Some remained lucid and all too aware of how they were being kept. Many of my family members and friends worked in the asylums in Epsom, so I heard stories of people who should never have been locked away. I became used to such tales, but they never fail to sadden me. Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7528045.stm
13 July 2008
Conversation Quarterly - new edition
Issue 4 of the online poetry journal, Conversation Quarterly, is now available at http://conversationpoetry.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/conversation-summer-08.pdf
It features the work of Canterbury and Medway poets, including my poem 'Blithe Spirits.' Submissions for the next edition are now being accepted.
13 July 2008
Free course for people working, or wishing to work, in the creative industries
A new venture has been launched by, amongst others, University of Kent. Some courses are free for a short while. http://www.creativebusinessproject.com/
21 June 2008
Spam, spam, spam, spam…
On 17 June my hotmail account was hacked into, and all the contacts in my address book were sent an email saying that I was stranded in Nigeria and needed them to send me £2000. The phone started ringing and texts bleeping to alert me, including a call from my ex-husband, who I rarely speak to on the phone. My first thought was ‘who’s’ died?’ Each caller thought they were the first to tell me, and whilst it was kind of them, it was exhausting trying to deal with the problem and with the phone calls.
It took me several hours to get back into my account (my password and personal details had been changed), and then there were all the reply emails to deal with: are you really stranded?; I’ve had this hoax email; this doesn’t read like you, the English is too poor.
What did it achieve? Nowhere in the email did it say where to send the money to. Several days later, I am still getting calls and mails about it, and I have changed my email address to a more secure account. It’s taking ages to transfer my addresses.
The funniest thing was my brother-in-law, who lives in Australia, phoned my sister in some distress saying Maria is stranded in Niagara, we need to send her money. Sadly, no one sent me £2000, but it’s not too late…
Swapping books with John Agard
I was really thrilled to meet the poet John Agard at the University of Kent this week. Following his performance I wanted to buy one of his books, and to give him copies of my books. He insisted that we do a straight swap, and that I sign my books for him. What a generous gesture. Thank you, John.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Agard
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth162