Writer of all sorts
(written Nov 2020)
2020 is a crust
that has formed over me
and muffles my mind in
a foggy shroud of rising numbers
numbed by tepid tea
and wine poured thick against injustice
and meagre human contact.
I long to share a silence
un-cushioned by a squinting screen
to slough this shushed skin of
semi-sleep
and pierce my body into freezing water fresh with
glass-sharp thoughts
and words that dart around like silver moonlit fish.
© Charlotte Oliver 2020
Yay, my haiku got picked by gorgeous new nature writing journal, Spelt Magazine! Here it is…
I am delighted to discover that my poem, Packing my Sea, went live on One Hand Clapping at some point recently!
Read it here https://www.1handclapping.online/post/charlotte-oliver-a-poem
Really thrilled to have two poems accepted by this project!
Thrilled to have my feature on dry stone walls in this month’s Yorkshire Life, especially as it features one of my oldest friends, waller Tim Jones, and his excellent words about the craft he has made into an art form. What a joy!
I am immensely grateful to the wonderful Not4uCollective for publishing one of my poems in their precious collection of words and images created during the pandemic, From Home. Thank you!
http://tinyurl.com/fromhomezine
And in other news, hero of mine Cerys Matthews has read out 2 (yes 2!) of my poems on her Sunday morning 6music show. I nearly fell over both times. And she said to keep them coming…So I’m going to!
My lovely friend and ace DJ Bek Homer invited me onto her BBC Radio York show to choose my ‘3 by the Sea’ – a place, item and song which remind me of the coast. Being a Scarborian, I naturally chose the patch of beach outside the chalets on North Bay, AKA my happy place. Song was Galveston by Glen Campbell which brings back so many memories of Friday night journeys from South Yorkshire to Filey, listening to my parents’ Country Sundown tape. My object was a hot dog, to represent Hot Dog Thursdays, when we all get into the sea with our dear friends the Cummings, body board until we are frozen then we eat too many hot dogs and drink beer. Happy times!
I had the honour of having a haiku published by the gorgeous Cold Moon Journal last week. Read it here.
https://coldmoonjournal.blogspot.com/2020/10/by-charlotte-oliver.html
Here’s the link for an interview I did for Northern Soul magazine with Cat, the lovely vet from CBBC’s The Pets Factor. Given that my 10 year old is a super-fan as well as aspiring vet, it made sense to involve her and, boy, did she come up with some corking questions?! My personal favourite – ‘What is the strangest thing you’ve pulled out of an animal?’. Anyway, Cat was a delight and daughter is even more firmly fixed on becoming a vet, so an excellent result all round.
It’s been another quiet month of lockdown but I did have a lovely commission from BBC Radio York to write a poem to celebrate their Make a Difference campaign which connects people who need help with the huge numbers of people offering help across North Yorkshire. The launch day involved a chat with the excellent Georgie Spanswick on the Breakfast Show as well as some lovely comments from friends and strangers. You can see it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08g4l2v