Showing Tag: "poetry" (Show all posts)

No Rhyme, No Reason

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, April 22, 2024, In : Linguistics 
I always knew there were two camps when it came to poetry. Some people feel that unless it has an obvious rhyme, it isn't a proper poem. Inexact rhymes, they feel, are cheating. Others enjoy the combination of concepts with rhythms and singular language in free verse. If you want to start a debate between them ask whether William Carlos Williams's 'This is Just to Say' is really a poem. In my opinion it is, because of the way it makes you appreciate the sound of the words and the feel of them...
Continue reading ...
 

Poetry Power

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, October 8, 2023, In : Inspiration 
National poetry day took place last week. I never used to regard myself as a poet. I felt my efforts at traditional verse with rhyme and metre came out as contrived or clichéd, and doubted my free verse was much better. Since then, I've been lucky enough to enjoy some success, but even when I thought the results were poor, the process of writing poetry was invaluable.
Distilling my thoughts and ideas into exactly the right words required a balance of focus and freedom that shut out any trivi...
Continue reading ...
 

More Reasons to Be Cheerful

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, October 6, 2019, In : Coming Soon 
In a world that seems to have gone a bit bonkers lately, I have two pieces of good news to share.
The latest Poetry Nook anthology, containing my sonnet 'Eternal Summer' is now available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939832152. 'Eternal Summer' was second in the Northampton Literature Group competition in 2010, and gained an honourable mention and publication online in Poetry Nook's weekly contest in 2016. I hadn't given it much thought since then, and was pleasantly surprised when I heard fr...
Continue reading ...
 

Mother's Day Verse

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, March 11, 2018,
In the UK, it's Mothering Sunday. This is the day when everyone is supposed to worship at their mother church, which is their parish church, or where they were baptised. Traditionally, people in service were allowed a day off to go home, and their mothers baked them a cake! Somehow the day has now become joined with Mother's Day, which was invented in the US to commemorate mothers and the hardship they suffered during the American Civil War, and takes place there in May.
    However it started...
Continue reading ...
 

For the Love of Pancakes

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Wednesday, February 14, 2018,
When was the last time Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day, was followed by St Valentine's Day? I can't remember if it's happened before. It probably isn't a problem for pancake lovers–sweet or savoury, they're free to indulge themselves, but for sweethearts it could mean some difficult choices. That's because the day after Shrove Tuesday is also Ash Wednesday i.e. the first day of Lent. If your loved one is giving up chocolate, cake or alcohol, what are you going to give them to...
Continue reading ...
 

Playing with Words

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, March 8, 2015, In : Competitions 
I was recently sent a copy of Acumen, and I've been dipping into it whenever I've had a free moment this week. It's a literary journal containing mostly poetry and fairly scholarly interviews and reviews. The poetic forms and the content match, following a loose, freer style that fits modern themes. Some of the poems are in a light vein and some cover eternal subjects, but in the issue I've seen there were no traditional forms or classical subjects. Nonetheless, the poems were written with di...
Continue reading ...
 

Poet of the Day

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, April 7, 2014, In : Inspiration 
The literary world is currently celebrating the centenary of William Stafford. This remarkable man wrote a poem every day for more than four decades, including the day he died. Even if a proportion of his prodigious output was duds, his discipline meant that over his life he published more than 22,000 poems in 65 volumes of poetry and prose. 
I'd be happy if I could keep up that regime for even a year. That would be 365 poems instead of my usual handful. As it is, I struggle to create a tweet...
Continue reading ...
 

A Question of Vanity

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, October 6, 2013, In : Competitions 
In the past couple of weeks I've had news of a few successes. I've had a poem short-listed in a competition (the final winner is yet to be decided) and a short story short-listed in another. A poem has been commended in the Thynks competition and another has been long-listed in a fourth competition. Okay, none of them are actually in the prizes (yet), but it's still something to be pleased about, isn't it? The fact is, the organisers of the latter competition offered me an extra opportunity, ...
Continue reading ...
 

Off Subject?

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Sunday, March 3, 2013, In : Reviews 
Yesterday, I received the latest issue of Salopeot, which was a great treat and not only because it has one of my poems in it.  The magazine is packed with more than 60 poems, so I'll be able to spend today reading some thought-provoking and beautiful work.  Isn't that what Sundays are for–taking time to think about what really matters?
I'm not going to review any particular poems, and some people might query why, as I review films in this blog which they might consider have less to do with...
Continue reading ...
 

Competition News

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, August 13, 2012, In : Competitions 
My fingers are still crossed for the competitions in which my work is shortlisted, but I've had news of another competition.
Earlier this year, one of my poems, 'Masters of the Air', came fifth in the Mary Charman-Smith competition, and another, 'DNA', was shortlisted.  The good news is that Mary Charman-Smith is holding another competition for unpublished poetry up to a maximum of 45 lines excluding the title.  The closing date is 15th November 2012, so there's plenty of time to send in your...
Continue reading ...
 
« Back to posts
 

About Me


My writing career began as a freelance feature writer for the local press, businesses and organisations. Now a prize-winning playwright and short story writer, my work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. I write as K. S. Dearsley because it saves having to keep repeating my forename, and specialise in fantasy and other speculative genres.

Blog Archive

Make a free website with Yola