CB1, 5th July 2026 - Ellen Renton

The headliner Ellen Renton comes from Edinburgh with an MA in Creative Writing: Poetry from the University of East Anglia. I liked many of her pieces, including phrases like "there's no chorus to this song, or if there is, the music never reaches it". Among the open-mic contributions there was an Italian poem translated, and some poems translated from an Ethiopian language for which 2 translations are needed: one a plain translation and another conveying the deeper meanings. There was a witty, rhyming poem about bees that I liked. Overall it was one of the most interesting CB1 evenings.

My art attempts

I recently went to an exhibition of work by first year art students. Some brave work, and several pieces I'd happily hang on my wall. I recalled that I've dabbled with art, getting nowhere. Here's just about everything that I didn't throw away. It's all well over 30 years old. I don't recall the titles, some of which may have been better than the pieces themselves ...

I recall trying to make the kink near the top of the male figure on the right look both like a mouth and a neck

Battersea power station

2 pictures (at least one of Venice) interleaved

Bristol, traced from a photo of course

Here's a painting of the same scene

A fired maquette in the style of Henry Moore - a reclining figure

Around Cambridge, UK

I used to borrow from Cambridge University library. I miss it.

Here's where old punts end up, submerged under a bridge on Coe Fen.

The Milton society had a yearly ritual of burning Eliot's works.

The seasonal wheel is caught being half-dismantled.

A sign telling people not to park their bikes.

Until recently the engineering department still used chalk-and-talk - lots of serious maths.

A sign from the engineering department.

Another engineering department sign.

From the Zoology department. Ants communicate using body fluids.

Continuous narrative

This is "Cupid and Psyche" (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) by Jacopo del Sellaio, from about 1473. Fifteen scenes from the same story are merged together, Psyche appearing 11 times. A tree in the foreground of one scene may form the background of another.

Time goes left-to-right along the lower part of the painting. Higher up, more liberties are taken. This style is called 'continuous narrative' - because, I suppose, there are no dividing lines between the different scenes/times.

I think it's an idea that's sometimes replicated in poetry, the same phrase representing a cause in one moment of time, and an effect in another. Recall and foreboding are intermixed with the present.

It's attempted in prose too. I've looked at this in more detail in an article about Molly McCloskey's "A Nuclear Adam and Eve" - a short story that jumps back and forth in time, as hinted by its title.

Face sculptures

I've seen many public artworks that are big heads. I've seen several that are faces (or masks, or even deathmasks I suppose). My favourites are like this one that I saw last weekend in Burghley gardens, with holes instead of eyes.

Here's what goes on behind the mask. Depending on the light conditions you can see another face.

This is in the middle of Krakow. It's called "Eros bound" - the face has bandages around it. Two people can put their faces in the eyeholes and be photographed.

CB1 Poetry, May 2026

The headline act was Lindsay Fursland, a local poet and regular CB1 attendee who won second place in the Bridport Poetry Prize 2025. Why hasn't he had a book/pamphlet published? I think his best pieces tend to be witty and longer than a page, which isn't popular. And maybe the variety of his work makes him difficult to brand/market.

Among the open-mics were first-timers, performance poets, and people like Anne Berkeley and Jane Monson who've had a few books published. I read an old piece which I heavily revised prior to reading it out (and revised again at the venue). I think the modifications have made it a better on-the-page piece.

Verse Festival Poetry Forum, Stamford - self-publishing

2nd May - Poet Ross Ayres, poet Philip Dunkerley, and novelist and short-story writer Helen Claire Gould, plus panel chair columnist and broadcaster Pete (Cardinal) Cox discussed some of the many self-publishing options available. The meeting was in the Art Room, which had an interesting set of drawers - I was tempted to look at the unclaimed pieces.

Philip Dunkerley said that nearly all the poems in his books had been published elsewhere, peer-reviewed. His 80-page books work out at £3.17 each from lulu, PoD. Economies of scale kick in with postage - 50 books cost £15.99 to deliver. Sometimes he sells the books to raise money for charities, getting over £1000/book.

All the writers said that it's difficult to proof-read one's own work. Ross Ayres said that he uses chatgpt to help with his proof-reading.

AI wasn't recommended for creating cover illustrations - the results are never quite right, and little changes require long dialogs.

There was some talk about marketing. The majority of the panel weren't too concerned about selling copies - they produced books so that they had something to give to friends, or take to their readings.