Notes from the Margins #45

or, again, adventures in how this blog never gets updated in a timely fashion.

So – what’s happened since January? Well, lots!

Firstly, I was one of the winners/published poems in the February 2019 Hennessy New Irish Writing, featured and published in The Irish Times here. The sheer number of people that read the Times is staggering and so many people who never spoke to me about poetry said “Oh, I read your poem in the Times!”. It was lovely.

In other news, I had a good few poems published, which is wonderful!
– Circadian in Visual Verse in January
– Ellipsis in Panning for Poems in February (part of PoetryNI)
– College Roommate in The Ekphrastic Review in February
– Bus in Boyne Berries #25 in March (print only, also attended and read at the launch!)
– Discord in HIV Here + Now in April
– 2 Poems in the Wussy #6 (print only) in April
– Apologia in Cordite #91 in May

I’ve also been lucky enough to be featured in some anthologies also, most notable was Raymond Luczak’s Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman, in which I had two poems, one an homage to Thom Gunn and one to John Wieners.

In other news I’ve completed my yearlong (Sep 18 – May 19) mentorship with Nell Regan under Words Ireland’s National Mentorship Scheme which was wonderful, revelatory and thoroughly essential – it changed and deepened my writing in lots of wonderful ways I didn’t expect, and Nell was a wonderful mentor.

Also, after a year of work, and having worked on it at length in the mentorship, I have finished my first full-length collection, Nightlight which I currently have out for consideration with some dream publishers – keep your fingers crossed for me.

Also, the past month or so, I’ve been reading and writing and experimenting with haiku/senryu/tanka etc, which has been very interesting.

Finally, submissions for Issue 6 of Impossible Archetype are open now until 1st August: all LGBTQ+ poets feel free to submit (details here).

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Notes from the Margins #44

More lovely reviews of Circumference!

First, from Jerry L. Wheeler at Out in Print Queer Book Reviews:

“In just a hair over twenty-five pages, Irish poet Mark Ward presents fourteen pieces which form a clear, concise narrative with an emotional ending yet still retain their individuality. In concert, these poems tell the story of a gay man coming home again to comfort his mother at his homophobic father’s deathbed, but he’s also looking for something the old man stole from him. Something vital. The connection between the pieces is always clear, but it never binds them in place. From the shy and charming first date flashback of “Monsters in the Closet” to the four part title poem examining his father’s death, the emotion is always front and center but not always about his father. His mother was as complicit.

…I wonder what story she told/the town when they whispered what happened/to us that night all those years ago./Did she marry me off to some heiress,/some lovely, lonely dowager/in an unspecified state with her own estate/too far away to travel to,/too far to visit?

Ward keeps his images sharp and his meanings clear, whether observing death or remembering how he came to live. This is work that scars as indelibly as the map etched on the skin of the cover model (a beautiful package credited to Inkspiral Designs). Highly recommended.”
[Link to the review, and the rest of their poetry roundup is here]

(!!!)

Secondly, from novelist and poet, Jeff Mann on Amazon:

[Link to the review page here]

(!!!!!)

Wowzer, thanks so much guys! I think I need a lie down after that!

Notes from the Margins #43

or, Further Adventures in how I can never update this blog in a timely fashion.

So, CIRCUMFERENCE is out in the world! [This post is mostly about Circumference, but there’s news and new poems at the end, so stick with it!]

You can get it from the publisher, Amazon US, Amazon UK, The Book Depository and more.

Here’s me seeing the book for the first time:

Here’s some readers with their copies:

It’s dedication:

Here it is, in glorious, Ladybird-esque, hardback:

We had a launch for it this week, and here’s some pix from that:

And finally, here’s two reviews of the book!

First from author ‘Nathan Burgoine (Light, Triad Blood):

[Link to ^this review on Goodreads here.]

And a lovely review from author Deirdre Sullivan (Tangleweed and Brine), who also launched the book:

[Link to the review on Amazon here]

So, regarding Circumference, I think that’s everything.

Other news, I have tentatively started work on book 2 *eee*.
I have a poem in [redacted until I’m allowed to say it] which is wonderful and insane and I can’t wait to share it with you!

I’ve had two poems published recently. Firstly, Mitko Responds in LUNCH in August, and secondly, The Doctors Say in Cordite Review #88: TRANSQUEER, a few days ago. Oh, and I’ll have a new poem, The Lads, in WUSSY next week.

So, I finally blogged. Expect a new update in like six months.

Notes from the Margins #42

I never seem to be able to update this blog in an timely fashion! Grr!

Anyway, news.

Polari was fantastic! It was an honour and a pleasure to share the stage with Hillary, VG, Paul and John! And I was super happy to be able to read the long centre poem from Circumference! Here’s a pic of me from the evening:

In other news, things have been busy. I have two chapbooks, Onslaught and The Brink of Sunlight out for consideration (one with a publisher, the other entered in a competition).

I also recently finished my first short story in a hundred million years. It’s called Envoi and about a gay mental health nurse having to deliver conversion therapy to a gay patient in the 1950’s.

I’ve been writing a lot of new poems. Titles include: 25 Beautiful Homes, Inheritance, Every Time, The Lads, A Poem for Actors and An Avalanche, Interrupted.

I’ve also very recently started putting together my first full-length poetry collection, and you guys, I am super happy with it. It feels like the most book I have ever book-ed.

In other news, I’m still editing Impossible Archetype (currently open for submissions until 1st Aug) and this issue (#4) is going to be huge – we’ve had so many wonderful, wonderful submissions. Can’t wait to put it altogether.

Finally, Circumference will be out in just a few weeks! You can order a copy here (please go do so!)

Notes from the Margins #41

Even more big news:

I’M READING AT ILF DUBLIN! I was ASKED TO! I’m reading on Paul Burston’s Polari evening – a queer literary salon that I’ve always wanted to go to, never mind read at!

Joining me are Hillary McCollum, VG Lee, and JOHN FREAKING BOYNE! I have no words and I am so goddamn excited.

You can book tickets to come see me here.

Also, did I mention that I’m in a festival with Chiamanda Ngozi Adiche, Jamie O’Neill, Roddy Doyle, Ruby Wax, Jennifer Johnston, Michael Ondaatjie, and NEIL FREAKING GAIMAN. (holy hell, I am in excellent company!!)

In other news, I’ve been plugging the hell out of Circumference. My publisher sent me these postcards – so if you get some mail, it’s probably some of these!

Pre-orders for Circumference are still open until May 25th, so if you’re planning to order it, please consider pre-ordering it from the publisher here as it really really helps the book and its print run.

Finally, one of my favourite poems A Life in Pictures is out TODAY in Poetry Ireland Review #124. It’ll be working its way out into the world over the week, and I should get my copy tomorrow. So happy!

Notes from the Margins #40

So, news doesn’t come any bigger than this.

My first chapbook, Circumference, has been accepted by Finishing Line Press. Due for publication in July, it is currently up for pre-order!

OHMYGOD!

So yes, I haven’t updated this in a while but seriously news doesn’t get more exciting! After years of working on the full-length, and then the chap, it’s now ready for the world, and I cannot wait.

So, what’s it about? Well, it’s about a character called Tommy Martin and his teenage years where he grew up gay, and in love with a boy called Mike, in the (real) small town of Pepperell, Massachusetts, and how as a grown man nearly eighteen years later, he returns upon hearing of the death of his father.

And look at the utter gorgeousness of the cover:

This is literally the most beautiful book cover I have ever seen. Thank you so much to Fionn Scott for modelling, to Roscosphotography for the photo, and for Inkspiral Design for giving him map tattoos and making the cover look amazing!

The book is now currently up for pre-order, and you can get it direct from the publisher here. They are a small press so they run a pre-order, and essentially, the more pre-orders it gets, the better for the book and the more they print so PLEASE if you are thinking of ordering the book, don’t wait until it’s on Amazon, B&N or Ingram Book Supply (which it will be post-publication), order it now direct and help a poet out.

Oh, and as well as having the best cover in the world, my book has the best blurb in the world – which absolutely made me cry on public transport when I read it – from author and publisher Bryan Borland:

“Mark Ward has named this slim volume of powerful poems Circumference, an apt title given the geological boundaries imposed on us by blood and heart: those things we run from; those things we run to. Here is the timeline of a life, not linear but circular, and the places and people loved and lost and sometimes found again. Here is the poetry of, if not redemption, then reckoning. Here is an understanding that coming-of-age is a process that never stops; that we all are coming-of-age no matter at which point on the circle we find ourselves. Ward has chronicled something aching and timeless in this collection: the weight of the legacies we carry, and the pull of the lives we invent for ourselves.”
–Bryan Borland, Author of DIG

In short: I have a book, I am very happy, please pre-order it here.

*does happy dance*

Notes from the Margins #39

Good god, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated here! Where does the time go!

So, news.

My poem, “Monsters in the Closet” was published in the premiere issue of new journal, SCAB, which you can read here.
Rather fabulously, I’ll have a further poem, “Signal Deterioration” published in their second issue in the new year, which is lovely!

Secondly, my tipping away at the Irish poetry scene seems to be working a little – my poem “The Pit in Your Stomach” will be featured in the next issue of well-regarded Irish journal Skylight47 (that rather fabulously publishes as a newspaper!).

The BIG NEWS however, which I’m delighted to announce, is that my chapbook, Circumference, is a FINALIST in the 2017 ROBIN BECKER CHAPBOOK PRIZE from SEVEN KITCHENS PRESS! *aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa* To be a finalist is just fecking wonderful – I’m thrilled

Results of the winners should be out any day now also! So keep your fingers crossed!