From Post to Page

The Evolution of a Poem

As you may have picked up from my barrage of notes and restacks, I have been happily busy the past couple of weeks with the launch of my collection, A Tentative Gardener’s Guide to the Evening.

As you can imagine, the process of publishing a collection is not quick but it is fascinating. Working with independent publishers Kingdom Anywhere, I was able to get firsthand insights into the process and follow design, layout and printing - so while I was not surprised by the result, the satisfaction of the paper texture and the high-resolution artwork from my friend Agnes Treherne still brought a little excitement to the child within!

All this to say, I have not had much mental space to concentrate on new poems - or editing old ones. However, as a sneak peak into the editing process, I’ve decided to share the official final book version of a poem I published first on Substack a couple of years back, so you can get an insight on how working with talented poets and editors Carrie Chappell and Yann Rousselot transformed works I felt satisfied with into something more polished, and perhaps more original.

Three and a half years ago, I wrote my first Substack post, including a new, untitled poem. This poem ended up being the introductory poem in my collection. I felt its central message was strong - and that it was at once about what I was trying to achieve in life, in relationship to my loved ones and to the earth from which we come, as I learned to tend it, and that also it spoke to the wider malaise of this, our era. However, I realised through the editing process that it was both a little clunky at points (too many words on some lines) and perhaps overwhelmed by my use of the first person. Judge for yourself:

So here is the edited version that opens my collection, which I feel more satisfied with, and which hopefully feels more open to the reader:

You can order the book for postage to France here; you can also pre-order a copy for postage within the UK (mid-late April) via the same link. Please message me directly for postage elsewhere (sometimes international rates can be almost farcical). We are working on getting it into bookshops in France and the UK in coming months, before it becomes available for bookshops to order worldwide (which will simplify the process of getting a copy for readers in other ‘corners’ of the world).

Nowruz mobarak and a peaceful spring to you all.