At Swindon Bus Station I Sat Down and Wept...

Not really! I got on the number 13 and went to the last two days of wonderful Swindon Poetry Festival. And wished I'd been there for more. I loved the Battered Moons prize-winning poems - stand-outs for me were the first prize poem 'If I Say, Flower' by Louise Grieg and Rachel Davies' irresistible commended woodlouse tribute, 'Chiggy Pig' (I've always been a huge woodlouse fan). I mean a very big fan, not a fan of huge woodlice. Although now I think of it... You can go to the linked site to read these two and other great winning poems.
This is me enjoying my first-ever festival performance, encouraged by the warm and responsive Swindon audience. Thanks to Cinnamon Press, I now have a cinnamon-red book to flick through with seeming nonchalance and read from in proper professional poet style.  It was great going first in the set, so I could relax, calm down my blood-pressure, and listen properly to the amazing, brave and beautiful lines that came next from Daniel Sluman, followed by Julia Webb's darkly magical Bird Sisters.

Swindon's a very special place to perform your poems. Most of it happens inside the now-legendary Tent Palace of the Delicious Air. In addition to the starry night you can see here, the tent stretches back into an area with the audience lolling on cushions, Arabian desert-tent-style, or seated on chairs between walls with mandala-like panels, making it feel both intimate and limitless. And then there's Richard Jefferies, the Swindon naturalist who is celebrated at the museum where all this happens (he's the attentive little figure under the  reading stand). I hope he liked my tree poems!

There were so many good people and great poems, it seems unfair to single any out. But look out for a show in development called Mad and Glow,  from Jacqueline Saphra and Tania Hershman. I think it will be appearing at other events throughout the year. Be warned, both jam and Marmite are involved! 

Altogether, Swindon was transformed for me during this weekend, thanks to the inimitable Hilda Sheehan and all who work so hard to make every aspect of the festival (including the late-night toast guzzling sessions!) so delicious.