Breakfast in Bed

I am tempted today to invite people to come and enjoy ‘Breakfast in Bed’ with me, but I’m not that bold, although some of the poems in my new book are quite bold – and I will be reading some of them out at various events over the next few months.

I’m delighted that my second poetry collection, ‘Breakfast in Bed’ is published today by Indigo Dreams Publishing.

The first poem in the book (see below) invites the reader to spend an hour or so adrift …  contemplating and reflecting on many ideas and feelings around the idea of ‘love’.

This is from the back cover:

‘Love arrives in an array of flavours, scents and colours. Taste it in food and nature: in honey, ice-cream-sundae, salt of the sea, fresh ripe strawberries.  Explore the love of a small child for her parents, a mother for a lost baby, a family for their father. Romance and eroticism, love for self, feelings encountered when love is lost, withheld or twisted are here to experience too.’

For more information about the book, including generous endorsements from writing colleagues Maggie Harris and Kaite O’Reilly, see the publisher’s website: https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/jackie-biggs/4594692749

Copies are available mail order from them, or direct from me at readings.  My main launch event is on Wednesday, October 16^th, at The Cellar Bar, Cardigan SA43 1HU. 7.30pm to 9pm. Free entry and delicious nibbles. All welcome.

The new collection begins:

Alone and together

A city that snares

slow rhythms

(Federico Garcia Lorca)

A river flows through

afternoon’s slow heat,

Lorca’s pace

                (together and alone

                juntos y solo)

babble at café tables

rises and drops into shadow

by the waterside

sun falls through trees,

the flicker of fresh leaves

in green spring

                (solo y juntos

                alone and together)

wine is red, time is yellow

the rhythm of the river is ours

for this hour adrift

Not on the map

Not on the map

It wasn’t here in this wood that we walked

that spring

where we wandered aimless

among the overpowering scent of bluebells

kicked up the aromas with our thoughts

startled blackbirds’ warnings

it wasn’t here

we talked of how to find a path

clasped hands

as you helped me across muddy ruts

and then didn’t let go

and we talked about whether we would or would not

could or could not find a way

all the while the purple scents

followed us through the trees

but it wasn’t here

you showed me

how moss makes velvet on tree trunks,

wild roses cascade out of hedgerows

how elderflowers scent the air

how dark it is under the tree canopy

how the sunlight shows through

it wasn’t here

This poem was first published in Picaroon #14 in January. See more here: https://picaroonpoetry.wordpress.com/2019/01/20/picaroon-poetry-issue-14-january-2019/

Alone and together

For my first blog of 2019 let me first wish all followers and readers all the very best wishes for a happy and healthy year.

We are all aware that we live in uncertain times – for the planet and ourselves.  I also know many people who are facing personal difficulties and tragedies. May you all find some peace.

The poem below is the first one in my second poetry collection, Breakfast in Bed, which will be published later in the year by Indigo Dreams Publishing.

I was delighted when I heard in October from the lovely people at Indigo that they wanted to publish my work. They are a great publisher, and I have a number of poetry friends who are already published by them, some of them I first met on Jo Bell’s 52 writing project in 2014 (Write a poem a week for a year). Check out the Indigo Dreams shop here: https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/buy-4-get-1-more/4594495985

I am also pleased to say that several of my poetry colleagues in west Wales will be publishing collections in 2019 too. At least three others from the workshopping  group PENfro Poets (which grew out of the PENfro Book Festival nearly seven years ago) will have new collections out this year. I’ll post about them when their books arrive.

I am grateful to the fabulous website Algebra of Owls -- https://algebraofowls.com/poetry/

 --  for publishing this poem back in November. This is the first poem in my forthcoming collection:

Alone and together

A city that snares

slow rhythms

(Federico Garcia Lorca)

A river flows through

afternoon’s slow heat,

Lorca’s pace

                (together and alone

                juntos y solo)

babble at café tables

rises and drops into shadow

by the waterside

sun falls through trees,

the flicker of fresh leaves

in green spring

                (solo y juntos

                alone and together)

wine is red, time is yellow

the rhythm of the river is ours

for this hour adrift