Slanderous Tongues

The latest edition of New Welsh Review has just appeared in my mailbox. Inside, I've got a longish review of Slanderous Tongues, an essay collection about recent Welsh poetry which is edited by Daniel G. Williams. There are also some poems by Meirion Jordan (surely a bright prospect) and Tim Liardet reviews the latest book by Gwyneth Lewis.

Irish Championships

The Irish Chess Championship has just concluded in Dublin, and I finished in joint fifth place with 5.5/9 - my best performance since coming back to chess in 2006. My most memorable game was actually the one I lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, Alex Lopez from Cork. Apart from the debacle of misremembering the start-time for that game (which I could have forfeited - Alex sportingly agreed to play it out), it was a good event for me. Particularly with the black pieces where I scored 4/5, beating Mark Orr with the Leningrad Dutch and (somewhat fortuitously) winning a double rook endgame when two pawns down against Peter Cafolla.

Eyewear poem

A new poem of mine has gone up on Eyewear. It's one of a series of poems about my experiences as a porter in Oxford.

You can't fax a handshake

I like this expression, which is taken from a New York Times piece about Obama's recent meeting with Wall Street bankers.
On the news this week is disruption in the postal service. On a Radio 5 phone-in, I heard the anchor referring frequently to 'posties' instead of 'postmen' or 'postwomen'. I find 'postie' - a term which appears to have taken root - strangely unpleasant. I also dislike the expression 'toastie', which is used (in Liverpool anyway) for a toasted sandwich.
I shall have to mull this over at the weekend, when I'm making the mostie of my Sunday roastie.

The Poet's Perspective

I've got a poem in The Poet's Perspective, a new book compiled and edited by Gladys Mary Coles. The book matches paintings in Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery to poems by a range of invited poets. My own contribution responds to a portrait of Edward Lear by Holman Hunt. The Walker has a particularly large holding of work by the pre-Raphaelites and these are duly reflected in the anthology. It's out from Headland Press.

Manchester Review

I have four poems in the new online issue of the The Manchester Review. They are all centred on my 1990s sojourn in Oxford, especially my part-time job as a porter. There is even a reference to Eddie Jordan.

John Littlewood

The British chess world is in mourning for John Littlewood, who passed away at the age of 78. I first came across this fine gentleman in his declining years, when he was active in the Merseyside chess league. On the website of my local club, John Carleton, has written a moving tribute.