WORLD POETRY DAY giveaway

 
Happy World Poetry Day!

In honour of the day I am giving away a copy of my last collection The Juno Charm (Salmon, 2011). Just leave a comment to go into the draw.

And here's a poem from the book for the day that's in it.

The Writer’s Room

after The Guardian’s photographs

My desk was a present from Margaret Atwood.

After Zen and the Art of Uterus Maintenance

sold its first million, she said I needed a place

to write, other than the local bus-shelter.

My view is of the bare wall, of course;

the window and the street are too distracting

for a mind as relentlessly creative as mine –

the very leaves on the trees inspire me.

I picked up the rug on a trek in Uzbekistan,

and that basque-shaped card is from Madonna –

she just adored my last little offering:

The Sex of a Good Enough Woman.

My chair, as you can see, is a bale of hay.

I will always be a simple farmer’s daughter,

with that need to stay close to natural things;

my oak shelves were salvaged from the Titanic.

My computer is Sony’s latest – trés posh –

but I, of course, prefer paper and ink, then

I bash out a final draft on my Remington,

and let my super editor deal with it all.

Have you bought the new collection yet,

Back-pedalling from Hell on My Menstrual Cycle?

It’s sort of Paul Muldoon meets Wendy Cope,

with a dash of Famous Séamus, for gravitas.

My agent says it will be my biggest book to date,

so I’ve left space on the shelf for a few gongs:

The T.S. Eliot, the Irish Times, the Nobel –

I’ll be content with whatever comes my way.

Yes, it’s in this humble room – where I am

unassailable – that all the magic begins.