One Today!

Roses are red


Violets much less


Poetry24 is one today


Happy Birthday to us!

Just over a year ago, fellow blogger Martin Hodges from Square Sunshine made me a proposition: how did I fancy co-editing a new news-related poetry blog?

If I'd stopped to consider the hours involved in setting the project up, promoting it and updating it with submissions from poets around the world on a daily basis, I may have hesitated. But it seemed like a really good idea - and a year ago today we posted our first few poems.

We've kept it going through thick and thin, and you know what? It still seems like a really good idea. I know from all the poetry open mic nights I've been to that poets are often inspired by current events. But so many poetry mags take forever to respond - six months or more, some of them. We reckon Poetry24 is unique in that it only publishes poems on subjects linked to recent news - and does so really quickly - a quarter of the poems we use are published in less than 24hours.


111 poets, 312 poems

subjects covered: Arab Spring to Zanesville Zoo

Breaking News!

I promised you there'd be an announcement here today - and here it is:

BREAKING NEWS: Poetry24 is a brand-new blog for news-related and topical poetry being launched today by myself and Martin Hodges of Square Sunshine.

The aim is simple: to publish news-related or topical poetry that reflects what's happening in the world, or current affairs.

The idea was partly inspired by a response to this poem written by Martin. Blogger, Alan Burnett commented, "I am reading your words and at the same time watching the News24 reports from Cairo and thinking you might have invented Poetry24."

So - do YOU have something to say about current events in the world? Can you say it evocatively, with passion, rage, compassion and/or humour? Can you see things from a wider perspective or go right into the heart of the matter? Check out the submissions guidelines for details.

We've posted four example poems today - one each of our own (mine's here) and a couple today and more in the next few days from blogger poets we had approached earlier. After that, it's all up to poets out there to make it what we envisage - topical, thought-provoking, funny, moving, alarming... sometimes all at the same time!

We're both rather excited (and nervous) about this new project, and we do hope you'll follow the blog - or at least dip in from time to time. And it would be great if you could 'spread the word' about Poetry24 - on your blogs, Twitter, Facebook and even in the real world too!