Bloom Town

 'Bloom Town', published by Yew Tree Press, is my first collection of serious poetry. I explore a wide variety of aspects of my home county, Shropshire, lifting the lid on some of it's many intriguing secrets.

The overall approach is predominantly pastoral in feel and yet there is an urban flavour to this first volume, hence the title, which is taken from my piece set in Shrewsbury, Shropshire's medieval county town. The poem Bloom Town describes Shrewsbury's park and the sunken garden known as the Dingle (a repurposed quarry pit, often referred to as the Quarry). Some of my earliest childhood memories were formed in this evocative Victorian landscape and I am drawn back there constantly.

Locations covered also include the Iron Bridge Gorge, Lyth Hill, the Long Mynd, Wellington, Dawley, Badger, Wenlock Edge, Acton Scott, Bridgnorth, Uffington, Newport, Allscott, Ludlow, Alberbury, the Wrekin and Wem.

Shropshire like any other county in the UK is a rich vein for the poet, having been historically overwritten many times in terms of landscape, architecture and culture. The area is bisected by the Britain's longest river, the Severn, embracing moorland and peak reaching as high as seventeen hundred feet, and more often than not, crowned with the familiar ring ditch configuration of the enigmatic Celtic hill fort. The plains are equally dramatic, irrigated by rich water ways, meres and mosses -  home to a spectacular population of wildlife.

Bloom Town takes a tour of the landscape, stopping to muse on Shropshire's industrial and literary heritage. There are some famous names; 1930s long distance flyer, Amy Johnson who flew gliders on the Long Mynd, Mary Webb well known for her Hardyesque novels and exquisite poetry, Percy Thrower, the most memorable face of the BBC's Gardener's World program - he was the second presenter from 1969 to 1976, and of course the poet Philip Larkin who spent his first three formative working years at the Walker Street Library in Wellington, a place where I also spent many page thumbing hours as a teenager.

Bloom Town is illustrated with my own pencil sketches, some drawn on location others relying on an ever increasing photographic archive. I've tried to hint at things rather than depict too broadly, zooming in on detail in the same way that I hope the verses do.

This volume has 32 pages, is staple bound in silk finished stiff card and contains 21 poems with 21 accompanying monochrome graphite drawings. The water colour cover design uses a Rampion or Rapunzel flower (campanula rapunculus) as a motif and reflects Shropshire's county colours, Yellow-gold and dark blue.

Bloom Town can be ordered directly from Yew Tree Press (just hit the link on my website) or if you have a UK address, you can request a signed copy via bardsleyart@gmail.com, price £6.50 + £1.20 UK p&p. You can also pay via Paypal to the above email.

The Squatters Cottage, currently re-erected on a new site at the Iron Bridge Gorge museum.

 Squatters

We love to put ourselves there,

stooping over humility’s threshold,

drawn to the fire inside.

It does us good – life on a human scale;

two rooms, an eight out of nine survival rate -

notable for the time.

A family content to survive

beneath stones and boughs,

safe in each others arms,

counting themselves wealthy,

imagining themselves free.

When I Was Young and Foolish

 I came up with the title for my book about childhood (chiefly my own) as a tribute, partly to A.A. Milne and Ernest Shepard, the creators of Winnie the Pooh and who also gave us the delightful children's poetry collections, 'When We Were Very Young' and 'Now We are Six', and partly in memory of my Grandfather who was forever warbling snatches of the 1954 melody, 'Young and Foolish' made popular in the 1950s by the likes of Tony Bennet and Dean Martin.

Many of the poems are based on real events. At least 30 of them are very much the tale of my own childhood and others are ideas that were drifting around or came from other peoples experiences. I suppose I could very easily write another volume purely based on school experiences and one day perhaps I will.

The illustrations were tremendous fun to do and researching for some of the detailed elements such as the Corgi Chipperfield Circus lorry, the Apollo Lunar Module, Spitfire and Action Man, brought fond memories flooding back. The photo albums had to come out as well of course.

Incidentally the Chipperfield circus lorry was a cherished toy that I used to great effect in play ground long distance competitions. Toy company Corgi produced an extensive set of circus vehicles in the 1960s, complete with trailers, accessories, clown, monkey, giraffes, lions, etc. 

The closing verse of 'Chipperfield' laments the fact that my favourite truck had long gone the way of most old toys. I am, however delighted to report that recently its replacement came to light in a Shrewsbury antique shop. It even has virtually the same damage that mine had sustained after many high octane junior school contests.

'When I Was Young and Foolish' is a larger format paperback like it's predecessors 'Animal Poems and 'Dogs' and, like them, is also aimed at families in general. My hope is that parents and children can read together, the way my parents did with me when I was very young.

Copies can be ordered from Amazon, just click the book links on my website or if you are ever in my home town of Shrewsbury in the UK, the Raven Bookshop has signed copies.

If you are in the UK and would like to order signed copies you can do so by request at the email address on my website. The UK price is £14.99 + £2.40 p&p and you will get my free book mark too!