In case you haven’t noticed…

Snakeskin is back in business, with the June issue now online, and bulging with poems…

Back again

Crisis over – mostly.

Snakeskin has a new webspace provider afte the death of Extendnet. The current issue is back online, plus a very skeletal selection of other files.

Over the next week or so we shall be reassembling the whole archive of twenty-six years of poetry. But as I said earlier, there will be no May issue.

This sort of thing has happened before during our long history. It’s deeply annoying, but is part of the digital life. We’re sort of used to it.

Our correspondent Bruce Bentzman is among those annoyed that there will be no May issue. He has an essay lined up for us, and it is a topical one. So we’ve decided that, instead of keeping it till June, we shall publish it as a post in this blog towards the end of the month. Look out for it.

What’s happened to Snakeskin?

Snakeskin is offline at the moment.

There is a problem with our Internet provider that we hope will be resolved soon.

Snakeskin will be back in business as soon as possible.

UPDATE:
The Internet firm providing us with webspace (Extendnet) seems to have perished. Phone dead, not answering emails, a bulk of negative comment online.

Snakeskin is temporarily homeless. We shall return, but there will be no May issue. If you’ve sent poems, and told they will be considered for May, they will now be considered for the June snakeskin – which will definitely occur.

Meanwhile the editor will be engaged in finding a new home, uploading twenty-five years of back content and getting everything shipshape to welcome everyone again.

Time Snakeskin

Our Time issue went online this morning.

It was a popular subject, and our postbag of submissions was the biggest ever. Many thanks to all who sent their work. We could have filled two issues with good stuff.

What surprised and delighted me was the range of approaches to the subject. Snakeskin poets are good. In fact I think that now, in our twenty-seventh year, they are better than ever.

No more theme issues for a while. But do keep the poems rolling in to the usual address…

Nightingales: an addendum

Mr Bentzman has asked me to add an addendum to his essay this week:

According to my brother-in-law, Malcolm, far wiser than me in British ornithology, as poetic as it might have been to identify the singing birds in my essay as nightingales, these are, unfortunately, on the decline. The birds I heard were almost certainly robins. Indeed, it is very likely that Vera Lynn was actually singing about a robin in Berkeley Square. Robins are drawn to areas where there are street lights.

I have happily made the addition, and am quite happy to acept that the birds Mr B heard were not nightingales. There are not many of them about these days.

Hovever, I must contradict him to insist that Vera Lynn, and even more so Judy Campbell, who first introduced the song, in the revue New Faces, knew exactly what they were singing about. The whole point of Eric Maschwitz’s lyric is that the song of a nightingale in an urban setting is something so rare as to be miraculous – as miraculous as love, in fact. Maschwitz wrote a nightingale and he meant a nightingale.

January Snakeskin

Just a day late, after all.

January Snakeskin is now online. A very full and varied issue.

We’re especially glad to include three poems by Alison Brackenbury, as a preview of her new book Thorpeness, which will be published by Carcanet in February.

January Snakeskin contains a first announcement of the special theme issue planned for March. Fuller details will follow on this blog soon.

‘Breathe’: May Snakeskin is online

Many thanks to Rosie Miles for her work in putting together the May issue.

Twenty-six poems about breathing are now online at the usual address. You’ll also find Rosie’s thoughts on editing, which may give you an insight into the sort of choices that editors have to make. She explains why it’s useful to send editors not just one poem at a time, but three or four. As she says:

Often it’s helpful to send more than one.  As an Editor I want to get a feel for your writing, your style.  That’s not impossible from one poem alone, but that one poem has really got to stand out and do a lot of work to make the shortlist. 

Where I disagre is where she says that it is helpful to send a bio, a note explaining who you are, where you’re from and what you’ve published. Notes like this helped Rosie get an idea of the poets, but for me they get in the way. I’m interested in the poems and only the poems. Where you live, or what age or colour or gender you are don’t really interest me. Nor does a list of your previous publications in magazines, however prestigious. Only the poems ought to count.

Rosie doesn’t quite agree, but that’s the point of having occasional guest-editors. They shake things up a bit, and offer a different perspective. And this month Rosie has done an excellent job.

Another Snakeskin Zoom meeting

The January meeting was most enjoyable, and there will be a new one on Thursday March 18th, at 7.00 p.m. (London time).

Six or seven Snakeskin poets will be reading from their work, so that we can all put faces and voices to the names we see on our screens.

I have sent an email to my list of attendees from the previous meeting. The list may not be complete, though, and maybe others would like to attend. If you have not received an email, and would like to join in, please send a note to simmersgeorge@yahoo.co.uk.

Launched!

Yes, Old and Bookish is now well and truly launched.

A big crowd gathered yesterday evening to join in the celebration (which also acted as Snakeskin’s twenty-fifth birthday party). The editor was especially glad to meet Snakeskin contributors whose work he had enjoyed for years, but whose faces had until now been unknown to him.

The editor also thoroughly enjoyed reading his poems. His inner ham actor hasn’t had enough outings lately, and this was fun.

The congregation’s comments were very positive, and there was considerable support for future events, where other Snakeskin poets will read their work.

Something else that was mooted was a Snakeskin anthology, showcasing the best of our twenty-five years. It’ll be hard work putting this together, but with luck it will hit the bookstores before next Christmas.

Keep an eye on this blog for further details of these two projects.

For more information on Old and Bookish, please click here.

A Zooming Booklaunch

In this month’s Snakeskin we announce a special event. As part of the celebrations of our twenty-fifth anniversary, we are holding a Zooming online launch for the editor’s new collection, ‘ Old and Bookish’. This will be on Thursday January 14th at 7 p.m. (London time).

For details of the collection, click here.

Over its long history, we’ve never had a get-together for Snakeskin poets and supporters before, so this is a
long-overdue opportunity for us all to put faces to names, as well as a chance to celebrate. If you are interested in joining in, please drop an email to simmersgeorge@yahoo.co.uk, and your name will be added to the Zoom invitation list.