Poetry by Tony Lucas began appearing regularly in small magazines and antholgies during the 1970s. During the following decade he had work in mainstream publications, including Ambit, Encounter, Poetry Review, as well as Outposts, Orbis and Poetry Nottingham, under whose imprint a pamphlet collection, titled A Private Land, was published in 1980.
From the late 1980s his work appeared in book form from Stride Publications, including the collections –
Too Far For Talk, (1990)
Private Cities (1993) (with Joel Lane & Robin Lindsay Wilson)
Rufus At Ocean Beach (1999)
as well as poems in a number of Stride anthologies, notably –
The Least Thing (1989) (ed. Angela Topping)
Voices for Kosovo (1999) (ed. Rupert Loydell)
He has been a contributor to Ambit since 1980 and, during the 1990s, was UK Contributing Editor for South Coast Poetry Journal (California) and appeared regularly in that magazine.
After the publication of Rufus At Ocean Beach, there were several years when pressure of work and other issues limited his output, though there were occasional poems in Magma, Smiths Knoll, Iota as well as pages in Ambit. A major sequence of poems, was included in the 2004 anthology Sounding Heaven and Earth (ed. David Grubb. Canterbury Press).
Since his retirement, after 41 years as an Anglican clergyman, he has been able to return to more active writing and promotion. This included the re-issue, in 2009, of Rufus At Ocean Beach, (whose original distribution had been disrupted), and poems in From Hepworth’s Garden Out, ed. Rupert Loydell (Shearsman 2010). 2012 saw the publication of Waiting For The Comet, subtitled Tales in Verse and Prose, a collection of longer poems mixed with short stories and extracts from other prose works. Issued a year later, Place Setting pairs poems by Tony with sketches and pictures by his wife, Carolyn.
As well as three pages of poems in Ambit 204 with a fine illustration by Michael Foreman, there has been work in South Bank Poetry, Dreamcatcher, and in the California-based magazine Ekphrasis. (including one put forward by them as a nomination for the Pushcart Prize). 2015 saw the gathering up of some of the best of this work, along with other new poems, in the new collection called Unsettled Accounts, published by Stairwell Books.
WORKS CURRENTLY IN PRINT
Available through bookshops or on-line
Unsettled Accounts – Stairwell Books 2015 ISBN 978-1-939269-38-6 £8.
also
Place Setting – by Tony & Carolyn Lucas – Carmelyon 2013
Waiting For The Comet: Tales in Verse and Prose – Carmelyon, publication 2012 ISBN 978-1-4716-7737-3
Rufus At Ocean Beach – Carmelyon reprint 2008 ISBN 978-0-9561521-0-7
Between Prison and Palace: The Parish of St George, Southwark, before the Reformation. Carmelyon reprint 2009 ISBN 978-0-9561521-1-4, Also available as an e-book – ISBN 979-1-4476-5143-7.
(These are also available through the author – contact tonyslucas@btinternet.com )
Sounding Heaven and Earth 17 poems in an Anthology ed. David Grubb. Canterbury Press 2004.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS
Calling Pamphlet from Poetry In North East Surrey 1978
A Private Land Pamphlet from Poetry Nottingham 1980
The Least Thing 10 poems in an Anthology ed, Angela Topping, Stride 1989
Too Far For Talk Solo collection from Stride Publications 1990
Private Cities Collection, with two other poets, Stride 1993
Rufus At Ocean Beach Solo collection from Stride Publications 1999
Poets, Parsons and Prisoners Writings from the Church and Parish of St George the Martyr over Six Centuries. Editor of Anthology. Carmelyon 2005
How do I access a copy of Poets, Parsons & Prisoners? I’m particularly interested in reading the chapter on the late Eric Mathieson.