Poetry Launch

As an obsessive, prolific self-publishing poet I’ve organised a number of poetry launches in my time, many of them enjoyable and memorable. But yesterday’s was something special. Yes, it was remote, on zoom, but with none of the impersonality which that might imply. First of all, it wasn’t just me pushing myself. It was organised by Nadia Kingsley, of Fair Acre press - and publishing my collection “Rescue from the Dark” was very much her idea. And she put together a varied bill of voices and talents - Stella Wulf, John Mills, Emma Purshouse and me - which guaranteed variety within an hour. From the sound of it, people got their money’s worth - though it was actually free - and we all enjoyed being involved. There were fifty of so people there, and it had quite as much sense of occasion as any launch I’ve attended - a special event. Obviously we’d have sold more copies at a live event, and I don’t know what the future promotion pattern will look like, but in these tough times (and much tougher for professional poets rather than leisurely amateurs like me) I was very happy to settle for this.