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Welcome to The Jotter, my blog on books, writing, and culture.
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Books To Go Back To: Robin Robertson’s ‘Swithering’ (Picador, 2006)
"...more recently I've been taking down Swithering and reading it again, and finding more and more to it." 2006 doesn’t seem that long...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 22, 20254 min read
Poetry Primers: 3 Poetry Anthologies to Get You Going
Poetry Primers: 3 Poetry Anthologies to Get You Going
Andrew Jamison
Jun 18, 20252 min read
New Poem - (for paid subscribers)
Against The freezer’s intermittent buzzing back to life, against the pen’s inklessness, against tomorrow, the moulding fruit bowl, the...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 16, 20251 min read
5 Golden Rules for Reading Your Poetry Aloud
"Being able to read your poetry aloud is not simply an add-on to your craft, it's essential..." I’ve been to quite a few poetry readings...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 15, 20254 min read
Meet the Poems: Pet Sounds
I was saddened to hear of the death of Brian Wilson yesterday. I've always loved The Beach Boys, and I think Pet Sounds is a wonder. I...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 12, 20251 min read
3 Elements that Make or Break a Poem
"I’d say I value the following three traits most highly." While I approach all poetry with an open mind , and I’m always willing to...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 12, 20253 min read
5 Top Tips for Submitting to Poetry Competitions (from a Judge)
(For paid subscribers) 5 Top Tips for Entering a Poetry Competition (from a judge) Earlier this year I judged The Poet’s Workshop Poetry Competition. It attracted a large number of entries, so I thought I’d share some of my advice and insights with you. I hope you find them helpful and do leave any comments at the end. Read the guidelines very carefully This might seem really obvious, but you’d be amazed how many entries fall at this first hurdle. Remember that your poem is
Andrew Jamison
Jun 11, 20253 min read
Desert Island Poems: The Lawnmower by Michael Laskey
In this post I share a poem and my thoughts on what makes it so powerful. The Lawnmower by Michael Laskey was published in his 2004 collection Permission to Breathe published by Smith/Doorstep The Lawnmower Irreproachable, the racket of the Qualcast coming and going in the cool of the evening, every so often running on the spot while he empties the grass box. This is the man we’ve given up kneeling in the window watching the gate for. So intent on his stripes that he looks st
Andrew Jamison
Jun 10, 20252 min read
Get to Know My Work: 3 Books in 3 Poems
By way of introduction, in this post I’ve chosen three poems which give a snapshot of the three books I’ve published with Gallery Press. ...
Andrew Jamison
Jun 5, 20251 min read
VIDEO - What I'm Reading - 'Poetry: A Very Short Introduction' by Bernard O'Donoghue
Andrew on Bernard O'Donoghue's 'Poetry: A Very Short Introduction' (OUP, 2019)
Andrew Jamison
Jun 5, 20251 min read
Video: Review of 'Scattered Snows, to the North' by Carl Phillips
(for paid subscribers)
Andrew Jamison
Jun 4, 20251 min read
Desert Island Poems: The Owl by Edward Thomas
(for paid subscribers) In this series of posts I’ll be sharing a poem I love and explaining why. I hope you enjoy the poem and my reflections on it, and if you want to make a comment at the bottom or like it, please do. Thanks, as ever, for subscribing. I’ve always loved poems about animals, and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because we’re all a little fascinated by the resemblance to ourselves we see in animals, maybe it’s just a sense of otherness, maybe it’s just th
Andrew Jamison
May 31, 20253 min read
NEW POEM: The Days
(This poem is exclusive to paid subscribers - thank you for subscribing to The Poetry Jotter!) The Days Four fat birds fill their wings...
Andrew Jamison
May 27, 20251 min read
NEW POEM
Ephemera Muntjac in the morning, muntjac in the evening; silhouette in mist, fleeting being fleeing. Andrew Jamison is a writer and...
Andrew Jamison
Feb 9, 20251 min read
Meet the Poems: Killyleagh Road at Night in Snow
I don't write often about snow (probably because it rarely snows), however this is one taken from my first collection, and as I sit here and write I can see snow gathering on the patio, so I thought I'd share this one. It's a version of a a Pablo Neruda poem, and, I might add, a very loose version. I think it's fair to say that Pablo Neruda never visited the Killyleagh Road (a shame as he might have enjoyed the landscape) and to be honest I can't remember for the life of me w
Andrew Jamison
Jan 5, 20251 min read
NEW POEM: And How Many Hours Did I Desecrate
New Poem from Andrew Jamison, exclusive to members of the website.
Andrew Jamison
Dec 18, 20241 min read
The Star in the Skylight
My first blog post for The Poetry Jotter, reflecting on how and why I write
Andrew Jamison
Dec 18, 20245 min read
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