As parents, we're supposed to remember the first time we did stuff with our kids, but the last time is equally as significant, if not more. This poem is from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...

My editorial for The Madrid Review...

Opening the Box The music box tinkling a final note, its lid opens with a puff of dust. A pair of 5d London bus tickets inside, torn and brittle to the touch. Nobody left to say why they were kept, where they started, where they once headed. Matthew Stewart

No way I can compete with the major poetry publishers who get collections stocked by bricks-and-mortar bookshops But I do have word of mouth and all you wonderful people here on Bluesky, pushing the numbers of readers of Whatever You Do, Just Don't far beyond the sales of the big boys. Thank you!

Poetry publishers will tell you 99% of sales occur within three months of a collection's launch. That's why I'm stunned to find that sales of Whatever You Do, Just Don't have gone through the roof this year, all thanks to Bluesky. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...

As parents, we're supposed to remember the first time we did stuff with our kids, but the last time is equally as significant, if not more. This poem is from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...

Copy by copy, every hard-earned sale of a poetry collection is an act of trust, a contract between the poet and the reader that reaches far beyond cash. This is why I refuse to shy away from reminding you about Whatever You Do, Just Don't. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...

A fine poem!

Thanks, Phil!

Just bought, get on board the poetry train destination, reading.

Yeah but 01 811 8055 was Swapshop, 081 Going Live and 0181 Live & Kicking (-ish, bit of overlap). I can hear Trev & Simon in my head doing the Going Live version. Although come to think of it, Phillipa Forrester doing the Live & Kicking one was memorable for other teenage boy-related reasons :D

A new batch of books has now reached me and they're all itching to find a reader, clamouring for me to slip them into an envelope and post them off, ready to be devoured. Would you like to lend them a helping hand?! 😜 If so, just drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...

If we don't use our small poetry presses, we'll lose them. This is why I refuse to flinch or shy from asking you to purchase a copy of Whatever You Do, Just Don't, my second full collection. Here's a sample poem from the book. Just drop me a DM and I'll sort out a signed copy for you...

Yup - my nan's number went through all three guises.

You can date about 20 years’ worth people by if they use 01, 081 or 0181 in that number.

Yup!

This is a lovely little collection of poetry. Treat yourself.

Thanks for sharing, Kate!

I’ve been drawn to a sense of line and its inherent tensions, to a concise, precise and fresh use of language, to a naturally heightened cadence, to a delving into the universal via the specific, to an emotional awareness of the reader’s role...