Close Reading

by | Jul 17, 2023 | Poems in The Rialto

From time to time, when I’m reading for The Rialto, I come across poems that I really need to write about. Usually my long running wrestle with procrastination gets in the way, but when I wrote the recent Newsletter I found that I was writing about a poem from Issue...
Crow drop

Crow drop

by | Aug 30, 2022 | Poems in The Rialto

A radio show I sometimes tune into has a long-running feature where listeners write in about objects that have fallen on them from out of the sky – a slice of white bread, an unopened Mars Bar, jar lids and bottle caps, once (or did I imagine it?) a lady’s watch....
On scientists and their poetry

On scientists and their poetry

by | Sep 10, 2019 | Poems in The Rialto

Over the last few weeks I’ve found myself using the phrase ‘think like a poet’ a lot, especially as the final idea I want to leave people with, at the end of beginning to write workshops. It sounds sufficiently exhortatory (especially if I’m windmilling my arms while...
THE RIALTO 91 – WHAT’S IN IT?

THE RIALTO 91 – WHAT’S IN IT?

by | Dec 3, 2018 | Poems in The Rialto

So what’s in the new issue of The Rialto when it eventually escapes from the Babylon of the Royal Mail and gets itself delivered? Does it live up to the old Poet Laureate’s remark, back in the 1980’s, about being ‘very full and varied’? I think it does. There’s a good...
A two poem blog

A two poem blog

by | Aug 28, 2018 | Poems in The Rialto

Here is one of my favourite poems from the current issue (No. 90), of the magazine. CATFORD CYCLING CLUB RACE THROUGH ASHDOWN FOREST The normal fawn-coloured morning is scored through        with a fast-moving artery of red the jerseys of young bearded men on a...
1 Poultry

1 Poultry

by | Dec 15, 2017 | Poems in The Rialto

Shoot up in the fast lift, poke the faux gras with toothpick heels. Late lunch at the Coq d’Argent – accept a drink, plan your exit. After two pm the old religion can be smelt – some urban plague myth – even here, halfway to the holding stacks of City-bound planes....
On Let’s Dance

On Let’s Dance

by | Nov 22, 2017 | Poems in The Rialto

I wanted to write about David Bowie’s Let’s Dance album for the Rialto Cold Fire pamphlet, primarily because it features the song ‘Modern Love’, one of my favourite songs to dance to. Never going to fall for (Modern Love) Walks beside me (Modern Love) Walks on by...
Decompression by William Stephenson

Decompression by William Stephenson

by | Jul 4, 2017 | Poems in The Rialto

Decompression The induction program’s willow pattern eyes and terracotta lips matched those of the woman I married in my first incarnation. She whispered, Just you and me darling me darling – a glitch, surely, A stutter in the software – so make yourself yourself. She...
SEAN WAI KEUNG

SEAN WAI KEUNG

by | Jun 30, 2017 | Poems in The Rialto

‘i think i want to write about race’ really thats really cool can you do that arent you white o so you decided to go full american then will you send me your poems i think thats a good move for you are they going to be performance poems i thought you hated that sort...