Summer School 2012

The 8th Tower Poetry Summer School for young poets aged 18-23 will be held in Christ Church, Oxford from 28-31 August 2012. The tutors will be Alan Gillis (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) and Kevin Young (Emory University, Atlanta, USA).

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Poetry Matters

Poetry Matters is an exciting on-line poetry magazine which provides a fresh, dynamic perspective on poetry issues through a mix of news, reviews and comment.

Peter McDonald

At Castlereagh Church

The sun goes out in pink and purple
late on a late Easter Sunday,
while at the gates a courting couple
begin to take their winding way
from church down towards Gilnahirk,
through whin-blossom and blackcurrant
along the hedgerows where they walk:
primroses, docken and wild mint.

My father in his travelling clothes,
my mother in her summer coat:
they feel the chill, and walk in close
to each other on a dropping road
past fields and gardens, weeks before
the clematis will risk a flower.

(from Pastorals, 2004)

About Tower Poetry

Tower Poetry exists to encourage and challenge everyone who reads or writes poetry. Funded by a generous bequest to Christ Church, Oxford, by the late Christopher Tower, the aims of Tower Poetry are clear: to stimulate an enjoyment and critical appreciation of poetry, particularly among young people in education, and to challenge people to write their own poetry. Creative writing should be a central element in literary education, and learning about writing poetry can help students to think about ways of reading poetry.

Publications

The Twelve:

Poems from the 7th Tower Poetry Summer School 2010
Edited by Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott
The Twelve contains 56 poems from the 12 young poets who attended the Summer School.