GASP: New North Poets - ‘Pilot’ and other poems

I was overjoyed to be one of five winners of the New North Poets Prize at the 2017 Northern Writers’ Awards.

The five of us completed a year of mentoring with The Poetry School and Clare Pollard, and took two writing retreats in Northumberland.

All of it led to our anthology, GASP, being published in 2018. I have four poems in the anthology, and I also took the cover photo of the dandelion clock, which I’m very proud of!

My crowd favourite ‘Blood ghazal’ first appeared here - I regularly perform this at gigs, exploring my love-hate relationship with blood.

‘Pilot’ is a Petrarchan sonnet that I wrote after reading about a pilot whale that died after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags. I wanted to honour the whale’s memory, while also giving a rallying cry that we need to respect our fellow species.

‘Missing Leo’ is about my time in Spain, birth, and feeling far from home.

‘León’ is about my visit to the titular Spanish city, where I saw the chalice that is regarded by some as being the Holy Grail.

I hope you enjoy this anthology, which is fully available to read online.