S.B. Wright's Blog, page 2

Ali Alizadeh on Poetry Says

Host of Poetry Says - Alice Allan Not much poetry happening on the home front at the moment.  My plans to dedicate myself to a writing regime have well and truly failed.

I did manage to scrawl some words this morning but it's a far cry from what I want to be doing (i.e. immersing myself in poetry - mine and others).

I did come across a very good interview by Alice Allan with poet and philosopher Ali Alizadeh.  You should check it out.

Ep 68. Ali Alizadeh on power, influence, anxiety and hope

I found Alizadeh's polite frankness refreshing and would have liked to have listened to the podcast again (my iPad deleted it after playing it).  What he said about the poetry scene in Australia probably has some truth about it - dominated by personalities, careerist etc. 

Have a listen anyway. I don't think you will be disappointed.



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Great Podcast News - Funding comes through for Lunar Poetry Podcast

A keen fan of the work Dave and Lizzy Turner do at Lunar Poetry Podcasts (and A Poem a Week Podcast).  I just wanted to share the good news, that after much hard work on their behalf, 2018's list of interviews will be supported by an Arts Council England grant.

Podcasting in the Arts is always hard and no doubt runs off the passion of its creators (speaking as an on-hiatus Podcast producer myself).  This funding means better quality audio files and enhances the ability of the Turners to travel for interviews.

Enjoy the latest podcasts below, then download the backlist, it's worth it.

My Post-It Note Poetry 2018 collection

February was difficult in a number areas of my life:  work, with new classes and a new role, recurring back pain and an absence of time or the wherewithal to take advantage of what little time there was.

Still I managed to pen some words, every now and then, to participate in Post-It Note Poetry. 

Here are the collected works in chronological order:





cloud filled sky

 we watch the supermoon 
on youtube

morning sun 
on my shoulders 
the weight of a thousand 

flies



Bundaleer pines

leaning toward the hilltop 

I catch my breath

all nightthe mallee gum tapsand my anxieties 

dance



fire ban days

overhead the steady thrum 

of bees


What a delight it is when snatching      at a chattering 
constellation of words        
one alights, perfectly 
in place.


we grieve again

feed our children
to the tree 
of Liberty



even at Mount Fuji 
I long to see 
Mount Fuji



all day

wanting to write poetry
        - nothing


summer's end 
I toast with a cup 
of Tieguanyin


These of course, were just my efforts: to see the combined Twitter collection please go to the Archive

Salt Publishing relaunching single author collections

Back when I was getting serious about my poetry (2012-2013) I had come across Salt Publishing who were well known for their Best British Poetry series.  They also published single author/poet collections but for financial reasons they began closing down that side of their business, just as I had discovered them.

Publishing can be a strange beast and so I was surprised when Christopher Hamilton-Emery announced that they would open up their list again.

Back in the dark ages of May 2013, I announced that Salt was drawing back from publishing single author collections of poetry to concentrate on our flagship anthology series, Best British Poetry. It was a tough decision, but in some ways an easy one to make as the core publishing continued to lose money and each new title only seemed to contribute to our increasing losses. All arts publishing has its cycles. With some cycles, the wheels fall off. [Read On]

Good luck to them.  I am eager to see who they pick up.

Book Launch and writing update.

Where my profits go.I suppose I had to get around to doing one of these.

A book launch I mean.

The collection has been selling reasonably well (both commercially and through my blog) but I do want to do something a little special to mark the occasion.

So I will be travelling to Gawler Poets in the Pub on Sunday the 25th of March to do a reading and to sell some copies of the collection if you are interested.


In other news I have been spending all my profits on other people's poetry (see the photo above).

I have had sneak peaks at the Zapruder and Stairs and Whispers and would sell an arm to get some time to sit, read and encode them.

I am also still managing(barely) to write short poetry for the Post-It Note Poetry event that has another two weeks to run.

Here's the latest in that project:



we grieve again
feed our children
to the tree
of liberty

More Post-It Note Poems

fire ban days
overhead the steady thrum
of bees





What a delight it is
when snatching


at a chattering
constellation of words
one alights, perfectlyin place.

After Tachibana, Akemi

Magpie Tales Ebook Roll out part 2

As promised, Magpie Tales in eBook form is now available from Kobo & Booktopia for those of you that prefer the epub option.

If you missed the previous post on the Kindle release you can find in on Amazon here.

Post-it Note Poetry Poems 2 & 3

morning sun

on my shoulders the weight

of a thousand

                  flies














Bundaleer pines

leaning toward the hilltop

   I catch my breath

Magpie Tales - Ebook Roll out

My publisher informs me that Kindle versions of my debut poetry collection have gone live.

You may view/purchase it here (for the princely sum of $3.51).


Other retailers should have the ebook soon.

Post-It Note Poetry - Poem 1

cloud filled sky

     we watch the supermoon


on  Youtube












Welcome to the first of my February posts for Post-It Note Poetry 2018.

If you are interested in joining in check out the instructions here.