Hampshire Poet update: shiny award and first commission

The Thursday meeting to plan my Hampshire Poet year was postponed, but I was still able to pick up the award and get my photo taken for some PR. Here’s the award: I should be grinning with it across a page of the Hampshire Chronicle soon. It’s as clear and sharp as a good metaphor. I also like the fact that it doesn’t have my name on: I may have won it, but I haven’t earned it  yet – by the end of the year, if I’ve done good enough work, maybe I’ll have my name added.

The first of  my commissioned poems is about Lymington, to celebrate Lymington Library’s 10th birthday. It’s got to fit on a postcard because it’s going to be distributed in that format; and the title is to be ‘By Sea and Forest Enchanted’, which is the motto of the town. I don’t know Lymington terribly well, so I’m looking forward to doing the field work: taking a sunny day to drive down there, wander around, eat ice cream, chill by the sea, and write. Now that’s what I call being a writer.