Two thirds in at Charles Causley’s house in Launceston, Cornwall on my residency. I’ve been here since the end of September, and I go just before Christmas Eve. This has been a turning point. Every day I have to make the choice to make something, be it stabs at poems ... Read More
ConvoyThis week being Remembrance week got me thinking about Causley’s war poems, apart from everything else… One which has always struck me as packing a particularly visual punch is ‘Convoy’. I just made a preliminary sketch to try and work out some sort of composition. There are lots of decisions ... Read More
There are so many sides to procrastination. I have explored most of them. Eating. Not eating. Bad relationships. Good relationships. Going to the pub. Sleeping. Watching very important things on the internet which then turn into hours of drivel in what I call internet vortexes — leaving nothing finished ... Read More
Does the rain fall differently here? It seems like it does. Yes, it is often horizontal just as in Yorkshire, where I’m from, but there is something else. When I just went out after the rain stopped, there was that fresh smell of clean air, sky still grey but the ... Read More
Our next residency opportunity is for a young writer with strong links to Cornwall. If this sounds like you then start working on an application - you have until Monday 28th November to apply.
My first week here is already over. Seven nights gone during which I’ve established a sort of pygmy evening routine. It is shorter and more to the point than my usual one at home in Bristol, mostly due to the subtraction of family rituals of cooking, clearing, children's’ music practice ... Read More
‘My room is a bright glass cabin'
Saturday: My journey to Cyprus Well has been long and tiring but I arrive to find the afternoon sunlight falling in wide bands across the kitchen.On the table is a vase of blithe spring flowers and in every room a sense ... Read More
In my first week of being the Charles Causley poet-in-residence I wrote about Causley’s study: about the quality of light in the room and the level of attention provoked by its atmosphere. This hasn’t changed throughout my stay. What has changed, however, is the study’s bookshelf. The University of Exeter ... Read More
The entries to the 2015 Charles Causley Poetry Competition were of a very high standard, and in addition to the first, second and third prizes, the judges selected five poets whose work showed particular skill or promise. In addition to a small financial reward, each of these five were offered ... Read More
As we pass signs for Menacuddle and Easy Money I take a moment to question how I’m about to react to these place names. Sitting next to me is Luke, a writer and scholar on Jack Clemo, who is showing me around some of Cornwall by car. Having grown up ... Read More
There’s something striking about a house on a hill. So many stories start with one.With some apprehension, I arrived at Charles Causley’s House on Ridgegrove Hill in the second week of January to take up my place as the next poet-in-residence. Though the house sits on the side of a ... Read More
One of the most striking things about living in Charles Causley’s house is the quality of silence that inhabits it.It is not just the absence of noise that is remarkable, but the density of the quietness, the materiality of it. I can only put this down to the fact that ... Read More