Myslexia Poetry Competition: Costa award-winning poet Kathleen Jamie is the judge of this year’s Myslexia women’s poetry competition. £7 for up to three poems, the deadline is 17 June. More details available here http://mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/pcomp_active.php here.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition 2013 is now open for all writers and poets to submit entries in either the Poetry or Short Fiction category.  Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted. Deadline: 31 August 2013. Entry is £10 and allows for the entry of two works into any one category. For more information visit the Aesthetica websitewww.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting

The Rialto Nature Poetry competition is open for entries. The theme ‘Nature Poetry’ is a term which ‘will be given a very wide interpretation’ by judge Ruth Padel. £6 per poem and £3 per additional poem, the closing date is 30 September. Further information about submission formats and competition rules available here http://www.therialto.co.uk/pages/the-magazine/nature-poetry-competition-2013/

In spite performance appearing to boost current interest in poetry, Salt independent publishers have given up single author collections. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/24/salt-poetry-market-slump  Director Chris Hamilton-Emery explained in Guardian Poetry “We’ve seen our sales [of single-author collections] decline by over a quarter in the past year, and our sales have halved in the past five years…We have tried to commit to single-author collections by funding them ourselves, but as they have become increasingly unprofitable, we can’t sustain it.”

One positive may be Salt’s decision to focus on poetry anthologies. Increasing the number they produce might also increase opportunities for the new poet voices to be heard, but Salt’s withdrawal restricts the places available to move on to. Why don’t people read poetry collections? Is it because they don’t know they’re there or does poetry on the page holds less interest. Maybe performance is the way to bridge the gap after all.

Poetry on the Underground is a great idea – but don’t stop at the underground and don’t keep it in London.  Let’s have random poetry in public places all over the UK; the sides of buses, in bus stops,  train stations, airports, advertising boards. Maybe start a ‘pick up a poem’ campaign. What happened to poetry in doctors surgeries? I remember Dr Geoff Lowe at Hull University talking about this many years ago. Rarely, has google let me down but all I can find is Geoff’s paper on the Health-related effects of creative and expressive writing http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1537773 and the Poems in the Waiting Room site at http://www.poemsinthewaitingroom.org/index.html They may be connected – maybe not – but both have validity.

All over towns, small doctor’s surgeries are being replaced by corporate, depersonalised Health Centres. Here’s an idea. Alongside the the bland impressionistic pictures of flowers, there could be framed poems on the walls and with the donated magazines, poetry cards. It wouldn’t cost much and if poetry is good for you then it might help us feel better.

The 2012 TS Eliot prize for the best new poetry collection has been won by Sharon Olds,  for Stag’s Leap.  In Sharon Olds wins TS Eliot poetry prize for Stag’s Leap collection on divorce in the Guardian, Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, chair of the final judging panel, said: “This was the book of her career. There is a grace and chivalry in her grief that marks her out as being a world-class poet. I always say that poetry is the music of being human, and in this book she is really singing. Her journey from grief to healing is so beautifully executed.” Sharon Olds is described as pushing the boundaries of writing about emotional life and intimacy. Stag’s Leap was the unanimous choice of the judges.

I don’t find the poetry of Sharon Olds easy although she evokes images which stay. Maybe this is another aspect of the skill of a poet, where the poem is the mechanism for creating resonance; a  gestalt where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  For me, reading her poetry is a process of continually looking for something which defines the words as a poem rather than chopped up prose. I don’t know which one of us is failing.

TS Eliot Prize 2012 Shortlist

• Simon Armitage The Death of King Arthur (Faber)
• Sean Borodale Bee Journal (Jonathan Cape)
• Gillian Clarke Ice (Carcanet)
• Julia Copus The World’s Two Smallest Humans (Faber)
• Paul Farley The Dark Film (Picador)
• Jorie Graham P L A C E (Carcanet)
• Kathleen Jamie The Overhaul (Picador)
• Sharon Olds Stag’s Leap Jonathan (Cape)
• Jacob Polley The Havocs (Picador)
• Deryn Rees-Jones Burying the Wren (Seren)

….