WELCOME TO POETRY AND OTHER WRITING BY TONY LUCAS

Some fresh news for the website – which, I have to admit, has been rather neglected over the past year.  (Apologies to anyone who has been looking at it and found no change!)

The principal reason for writing now is to let people know about a new pamphlet collection which has just been issued.   Over the past year or so, which has not been the easiest time, I found myself wanting to write poems that were stripped down as far was possible.   I went back to reading people like William Carlos William and the Black Mountain poets, who have never been a great influence on me.   I took as a kind of paradigm the idea of a water-worn pebble, shaped by the interaction of its own properties with the natural forces that have acted on it.   Not having the polished perfection of a cut jewel stone, but with an aesthetic of its own, for anyone who cared to stop and see.

I finished up with a body of mostly short, spare poems and the majority of them are about the natural world, and awareness of what is all around us.  If there is a kind of spirituality there, it is to do with being open to what stands over against us, though of which we are also a part.   I have put together some two dozen of these poems in a simple booklet, with the overall title PRESENCE.

I have aimed to keep this as affordable as possible, and it is now available to order from me for only £5 (including post & packing).   My email is tonyslucas@btinternet.com.uk or postal address – 23 Clements Road, London SE16 4DW.

As a sample of the work, I have added two of the poems to this site.   Simply click on the Poems link at the top of the page.

OTHER NEWS

Over the past year, I had a number of poems published by the on-line magazine Amethyst Review.   They archive all their material, so it should be possible to find these, if you are interested.  I have also had poems in Dreamcatcher 35 and, currently, in South Bank Poetry 31.  I was also long-listed for the York Festival Competition.

My most recent full collection, Unsettled Accounts, is still available.   It brings together new poems with work that had been in print, in a range of journals, anthologies, magazines, competitions, over the previous decade or so.   Priced at just £8, it is available for order through bookshops, on-line, or direct from http://www.stairwellbooks.co.uk   (ISBN 978-1-939269-38-6)  

“…consistently luminous and observant poetry…reminds us that we all have a span and living is a form of unfinished business…”

SPECIAL OFFER – I will send you a copy of  Presence together with Unsettled Accounts for just £10 inc. p&p.

OTHER BOOKS STILL AVAILABLE

Place Setting – a collection of my poems, paired with pictures by Carolyn. The book is illustrated with full colour pictures and is in landscape format.   Place Setting  is available from us for £12.50 (inc. post & packing), at 23 Clements Road, London SE16 4DW, or tonyslucas@btinternet.com

Waiting for the Comet – “a beautifully sculptured scholarly gem of a book” (Dreamcatcher Magazine).  You will find it listed on Amazon, etc. or available through bookshops (ISBN 978-1-4716-7737-3) or it can be got direct from me for £5.99 (includes post & packing) – on tonyslucas@btinternet.com or from the address above.

ELSEWHERE –

Remember, you can find new material on this site, if you click the Poems tag at the top of the page.