Image by Kitty Harrison x Dylan Sauerwein
Dear writers, readers and friends,
Behold: the penultimate issue of Visual Verse. Make your words count this month, dear writers. Some of you have been asking what will happen to the Visual Verse website (https://visualverse.org) after our final issue next month. Rest assured that your words are not going anywhere. We are finalising plans with a brilliant partner who will take over the website and ensure it stays online for the foreseeable future. There are no immediate plans to publish new issues but it is certainly a possibility for the future, under the direction of our successor. More to come on this when we launch our final issue next month.
For now, enjoy this little collage by me, Kristen “Kitty” Harrison, remixing a glorious moon image by photographer Dylan Sauerwein. It could almost be an homage to that rare Blue Supermoon of three nights ago; a moon that came and went behind a fog of Melbourne cloud and thus remains an enigma to me. There are endless stories in the sky, especially at night, and I have created this work to begin the next story with you.
For our featured wordsmiths this month, we have made space for some of our most-published writers from the past decade.
Our lead writer for September is an absolute favourite here at Visual Verse and we could not let it pass without bringing his work to the fore once more. Rishi Dastidar (https://twitter.com/BetaRish?s=20) is a writer and editor whose third collection, Neptune’s Projects (https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/neptune-s-projects) , is published in the UK by Nine Arches Press. He is editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/the-craft) (Nine Arches Press), and co-editor of T (https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/maisie-lawrence/too-young-too-loud-too-different/9781472155054/) oo Young, Too Loud, Too Different: Poems from Malika’s Poetry Kitchen (http://) (Corsair). If you do one thing for your poetry selves, make sure you follow Rishi and his work.
We first published our next writer, Angi Holden (https://twitter.com/josephsyard?s=20) , in 2015 and she has amassed over 40 pieces (https://visualverse.org/writers/angi-holden/) of ekphrastic writing with us. Angi is a retired lecturer whose prose and poetry explores aspects of her identity – wife and mother, academic and teacher, writer, gardener and craftsperson.
Lee Evans has also recently retired, from the Bath Family YMCA. He lives in Bath, Maine (USA) with his wife. With this gift of retirement he is devoting more time to building castles in the air… and putting words on the page. He can continue his legacy with Visual Verse (https://visualverse.org/writers/lee-evans/) which started with his first piece published in 2016.
And finally, Myfanwy Cook (http://myfanwycook.com) , also writing under the name Vanni Cook (https://visualverse.org/writers/vanni-cook/) , is another prolific contributor to Visual Verse with her first piece published in 2014. Myfanwy designs and teaches an eclectic range of creative workshops and is a devotee of words and their power to change lives in a positive way. She currently works with medical students in the U.K. to bridge the communication gap with patients and loves encouraging aspiring writers of all genres to share their work. Her own published work includes poetry, short stories, articles and novels.
While you are writing this month, keep space in your thoughts for poet Gboyega Odubanjo (https://www.gofundme.com/f/gboyega-odubanjo-beloved-son-brother-friend?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer) , for whom the British poetry community is deeply grieving. His death this week has come as a huge shock and there are many questions unanswered. You can show your support by reading and sharing his words (some of which can be found at the Poetry Society (https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/gboyega-obubanjo/) or circulating on social media (https://twitter.com/gisselleyepes/status/1697269661677592717?s=20) ) and donating to his family’s fundraiser (https://www.gofundme.com/f/gboyega-odubanjo-beloved-son-brother-friend?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer) to establish the Gboyega Odubanjo Foundation for low-income Black writers. Our heartfelt sympathies to Gboyega’s family and friends.
So there you have it. You know what to do now: the image is the starting point, the text is up to you. Submissions close 15th September.
With love,
Kristen
(with Preti, Isabel, Lucie, Ashish, Zaynab and Wes)
Find the VV crew on socials:
Visual Verse (https://twitter.com/pretitaneja/)
Kristen Harrison (https://www.instagram.com/kittyharrison/)
Preti Taneja (https://twitter.com/PretiTaneja)
Lucie Stevens (https://twitter.com/LucieStevens_)
Ashish Kumar (https://twitter.com/Ashish_stJude) Singh (https://twitter.com/Ashish_stJude)
Zaynab Bobi (https://twitter.com/ZainabBobi)
Wes White (https://twitter.com/archaeologyBoy)