Announcement: Bob Dylan Anthology

I'm delighted to announce that I have two poems included in the brand new anthology of poetry inspired by the one and only Bob Dylan, published by Fevers of the Mind.

As for so many people, Bob Dylan has been a hugely important artist in my development as a person, a musician, and a poet. I grew up listening to him, because my dad was a fan. It was at the age of 13, when I first heard Dylan read his poem "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie", the final track on Volume One of his Bootleg Series, that I was first deeply impacted by the power of poetry, and started writing poems of my own. If longevity of career, diversity of output and fanbase, ability to adapt to sociocultural changes, enduring relevance, and ability to inspire new works or art, are measures of a great artist, then Bob Dylan is surely one of the greatest of the last century. And this exciting anthology of poetry inspired by his words and music is a great example of how he continues to inspire new artists and works of art. 

My two poems were written during a COVID lockdown, and in response to the song 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' from his 2nd Studio album. The cold war / nuclear threat protest song strings together deep and tragic apocalyptic images, relentlessly layering them and bringing the listener into both the fears and the resolve of the song. In the documentary 'No Direction Home' Allen Ginsburg describes weeping when he first heard this song, saying he was "knocked out by the eloquence" of particular. The first of my two sonnets reflects on the desire to "go back out 'fore the rain starts a-falling", while witnessing different political games from within a lockdown. The second focuses on the line "I'll Know my song well before I start singing", and reflects on how the relationship between our songs makes each one worth singing.

Buy the anthology on Kindle or paperback to read the poems. All the Amazon links can be found on the Fevers of the Mind page here.

Fevers of the Mind is an exciting poetry Blog / Journal and press that produces a growing number of wonderful anthologies, edited by the poet David L O'Nan. Check them out, support their great work and discover some beautiful poetry!

And Finally, here is a clip of me performing Dylan's "Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather" at la Fête de la Musique in Saint-Gély-du-Fesc, the South of France, this June.