poetry – Helen Laycock | England | Helen Laycock

Autumn for Authors: Operation October

Every year, I get caught out by important dates.

I usually get wind of their significance the day before, by which time more organised writers have scheduled tweets, prepared jpegs and booked themselves in for several talks relevant to the day…

And so it was that on October 1st it came to my attention that National Poetry Day was about to launch itself upon the country on 4th.

As luck would have it, a Twitter post caught my eye for a competition requiring poets to submit ‘flash poetry’ of no more than 20 words, and, even better, up to 10 poems could be submitted (I subbed two). The competition hosts are Caboodle National Book Tokens.

The results are in November and the prize is not only a £100 book token featuring the winner’s poem, but also a glorious £300 worth of poetry books. WOW!

On October 3rd, I scheduled my first tweet using Tweetdeck so that, should I forget all over again about National Poetry Day on 4th, something would be in place.

The theme this year is ‘Change’ and the hashtag to use is #poetryforachange.

I made a jpeg of a poem I wrote many years ago, which was originally titled ‘Uninvited’. As there’s a bit of biology involved, I wasn’t sure that it would be obvious who this visitor was so I added a colon before clarification: ‘The Tumour’. It was written after hearing that someone special had had a breast cancer scare. Thankfully, all turned out well in the end. It’s an example of how change can be sinister and can go unnoticed.

I look forward with enthusiasm each month to the challenge of writing for Visual Verse. More often than not, I come up with poetry, but for this month’s challenge, I wrote a piece of flash. The title is ‘The Third Thing’. The word count can be anything between 50 and 500.

In October I received my contributor’s copy of:

Poets were invited to submit material in a bid to keep open public toilets around London.

This was my effort:

P.S. The editor added ‘Professional Writer’. I LIKE it…

And finally, one of my children’s books, Mandrake’s Plot, was chosen by a Goodreads group as their book of the month. Fingers crossed for more reviews next month…

September Submissions

On the first of each month, look out for the image on Visual Verse. You thenhave an hour to produce between 50-500 words inspired by it. Submissions close on the 15th of each month.

Inspiration doesn’t always immediately strike. Quite often the images are peculiar; September’s prompt easily fitted this category! (The image on the right is not the actual image given. It was far stranger…)

Still, the varied offerings poured in. Just look at the array produced by a host of individual personalities!

My poem, ‘Cadence’ appears there, but you can also see it on the poetry page of this website.

I wrote a story especially for The Caterpillar Short Story Competition. The Caterpillar is a fabulous magazine for children packed with stories and poetry. Although I write short stories for adult readers, writing tiny tales for children wasn’t an area I had much dabbled in; I write books for them instead. However, a recent stint of writing texts for a SATs revision booklet refreshed that part of my brain. Writing to order each week within a limited word count is just the thing to get the creative juices flowing.

The closing date was 30th September.

I had a go at the TSS Flash 400 competition. 400 words is out of my comfort zone, but working to a different word count is just a matter of practice. I wasn’t placed, but I’ll certainly try again.

I came across a call for submissions by Cast Iron Theatre who were looking for ‘Bitter Sweets – Ugly Tales for Beautiful Souls’. I like writing ‘ugly’ so wrote a story which had been sitting like a wet toad in the dark part of my writing brain for some time. Winning entries will be read at the Brighton Horrorfest on Friday 26th October.

I was approached by fellow poet Paul Brookes who asked if he could interview me as part of his Wombwell Rainbow Interviews. I was delighted to repsond. You can read my interview here.

Jogging through June and July

Just where did that time go?

The highlight of June for me was being asked to be one of the four leads on Visual Verse, my favourite website for submitting #poetry and #shortstories. As I have previously mentioned, writers are asked to respond to an image within the hour.

The photograph of a young man(?) dripping in gold paint prompted me to write the following poem (click on link for original photograph):

For the plinth

Memories disperse into mist –

pointillist specks separating

like the universe –

and numb blanks will pixilate your face

and plane your profile…

so breathe slow,

calm in your balmy stupor,

warm in the glow of pagan flames,

as I dip my brush into liquid sun

and gild you in immortal light.

In long strokes, your soles

become golden angel shoes.

I tickle your toes, slipping bristles

between them, and slick your calves,

pushing the brush into tucked-away places.

I glance at your silent face;

it will be the final portrait I paint.

I coat the curve of your buttocks

and the ripples of your spine –

the union of brush and skin our metaphor.

From mound to mound,

my wrist furls and unfurls,

graceful and balletic as your shoulders become orbs.

I am conducting a symphony

where musical notes are lovers’ heartbeats.

My brush drips metallic sobs

as I lift your hair

and coil around your fragile neck like a tightening serpent,

shushing your diminishing gurgle

and reminding you of Tutankhamun.

I replenish my brush and transfer it.

I must caress your draped hand.

Weave fingers.

I anoint your palms and nails with the gold strands,

gliding purposefully now to cover your limp arms.

I plunge both hands into the unctuous ooze,

slide over the crescent of your stomach,

circle your chest. And lock in your heart.

I paint shut your eyelids, sealing in dark moons,

kiss your lips, smooth your face and give you a halo.

I came across a Facebook group called 100-word story where the photo showed a deserted bus station. My piece ‘The Departed’ was published:

The Departed

It was a cliché – eyes meeting across a crowded room, and all that, except it was a cliché with a difference: we were two lone travellers on a bus, and during that three-hour journey, we fell in love.

We exchanged details and kissed before I disembarked; the creepy driver watched in the mirror. I waved as your face against the window became a speck in the distance.

I was distraught not to hear from you again. The news reported you missing.

But I got your message.

It’s dark. I am here, waiting – and wondering why the driver is here instead.

Not original picture

Again on Facebook, a poet friend of mine, SO Fasrus, was asking for very unusual submissions – poems about public conveniences! The reason for this is that many face closure. A party event was planned within a public loo where poetry pamphlets would be distributed. My poem was chosen as one of the included pieces:

Public Inconvenience

Weeing outdoors is a thorn in my side,

not to mention the nettles stinging my hide.

Please don’t proclaim indoor business denied.

A park’s not in lieu of a lav.

Nothing can beat that sigh of relief

when loo paper’s there instead of a leaf,

and a seat, and a door (with no gap underneath).

A privy that’s private I’ll have.

When you’re desperate – and can hardly walk for the pain –

and the only damn option’s to squat on a drain,

you wonder sincerely, ‘Do they have a brain?’

A toilet ‘To let’ shows no sav.

A few years back, a play of mine was shortlisted in Pint-Sized Plays. In June, I stumbled upon ‘Pint-Sized’, a different outfit altogether, although still in search of the elusive shortie. I subbed a funny playlet. News about shortlisted scripts will be announced in September.

I also found Diabolic Shrimp, a great review website run by Joshua Grant for children’s books, and I submitted a few of mine.

Grindstone Literary is a great site for writing competitions. Not only that, they provide feedback. I was delighted with their response to a piece of flash called The Artist. It was ranked as in the top 10% of entries and this was the report sent:

‘Wow. A powerful piece that delivers unexpected conflict and finality that feels poetic and fresh. The description used to describe Kiku’s experience of the oil is visceral and enjoyable – in contrast with the second half of the story. The plot illustrates trust – Kiku knows something isn’t right but continues, trusting Josef. Excellent depth of relationship dynamic there…’

Then there is a word of advice in how to strengthen the piece by providing insight into the establishment of the relationship between the two characters, and it finishes with the words ‘Brilliant flash fiction’.

To have such feedback is rare, but so valuable. I am delighted and will definitely enter other Grindstone competitions.

In July, I was asked by a neuroscientist called Deanna if I would like to contribute excerpts to a website for struggling readers called Magic Ladder. I sent extracts from all of my children’s books. Text to speech is used to help the children read. It can be slowed down, sped up and read in a variety of voices.

I was interviewed by writer and reviewer Connie Huddleston. You can read the interview here.

Connie wrote a lovely 5* review for my children’s book Song of the Moon.

‘British author, Helen Laycock’s Song of the Moon is about a girl named Izzy, who many call a tizzy. Izzy is a character you’ll remember. She is bright, funny, and seriously devoted to whatever she sets her mind to. I found myself involved in Izzy’s story almost immediately and read this book in less than one day, in my spare time. I loved every minute of the story, the characters, and the evolving plot. Few writers can write a book for children that will also appeal to adults. Laycock can. I haven’t read anything else written by Laycock, but already know that I will.’

When three buses come along…

I think that all writers would agree that we do it – writing – purely because we love it, and also, perhaps, because we are a little bit obsessed by it!

However, it’s always an added bonus to get a bit of recognition:

It’s wonderful when someone tells you that they have enjoyed reading the words you have written; it’s fabulous when you find a new review of one of your books, or read an encouraging comment on a writing or social forum… but what especially floats our/my boat is when you/I receive the email that says,

‘We would love to publish your work.’

It doesn’t happen that often, but, like the old bus cliché, I recently had three concurrent publication conversations.

The first was with Rebecca, the editor of The Caterpillar. This is a wonderful magazine for children full of poetry, stories and art.

John Hegley chose The Caterpillar as one of his ‘top ten poetry books’, and many, many big names have been published in it.

The first time I submitted a batch of children’s poems to Will (the other editor) and Rebecca, they weren’t the ‘right fit’, but, encouragingly, they asked me to submit again. By return email, I sent a batch of poems which were different in tone from the first, and they chose ‘Wind’ to be published in the Winter edition. (See earlier blog post)

Spring Edition

Imagine my surprise when Rebecca contacted me again recently to ask if they could use another from the selection I had sent to be included in the Spring edition.

‘Marmite’ has just been published.

A few weeks back, Maverick publishers had put out a call for picture book submissions. This is an area I have never really considered, but I thought I’d send a couple of ‘story poems’, anyway. In all honesty, I expected to hear nothing. Then I received a totally unexpected email:
‘I especially enjoyed reading Turning Up The Heat as I felt your tone, rhyme and humour were all very strong. I love the idea of a dragon who is afraid of fire and I believe the story would lend itself well to illustrations. My only qualm was the end – at the moment it feels very sudden and rushed. It did not give Smoky his moment to shine as a hero and lacked the jubilation of Smoky saving the day, as well as his fear being accepted by the surrounding characters. You are under the word count at the moment so don’t be afraid to expand the ending a bit more to give your story that rounded finish. If you choose to have another look at Turning Up The Heat then I would definitely be interested in seeing a new draft.’

They also gave me an email address to jump the queue…

Well, I reworked the ending and re-sent the poem. It was taken to an editorial meeting, and while they loved the new ending, the outcome was that having a character with a quirk which becomes an asset is a little too predictable. Out of 4000 yearly submissions, they only publish 15… but it was very exciting to be considered.

Coinciding with both of these was another invitation to have a poem published by Popshot Magazine. They had asked for poems written for the theme ‘Future’. This is what Jacob, the editor, wrote:

‘After extensively whittling down the shortlist over the last week, it gives me great pleasure to let you know that your poem — To the unborn — has been chosen for publication in our forthcoming ‘Future’ issue. Thanks so much for sending it in for consideration; it’s an absolute beauty of a piece and we can’t wait to immortalise it in print.‘

My poem is to appear shortly. It has been slightly tweaked from the original which involved a couple of emails to and from Jacob with alterations. Again, I was thrilled to be involved with such a prestigious magazine. Here’s what it’s about:

‘In June 2008, the idea for a poetry & illustration magazine materialised as a result of picking through the literary shelves of the now deceased Borders. There was a feeling that the world of poetry was driving itself into an elitest and fusty no-through road, and we wanted to do something about it. Combining illustration with poetry in a neat and beautifully designed format, in April 2009 the first issue of Popshot launched, thumping its chest and quoting Adrian Mitchell’s ‘Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people’. With black pages, a sans serif typeface, and filled with vibrant illustration work, the magazine didn’t look like a poetry magazine and we were thrilled with it.

Some favourable press swiftly followed with the magazine being picked up by Dazed & Confused, placed on The Observer’s Cool List and named as one of ‘the fresh breed of literary magazines’ by The Independent. Shortly afterwards, Prospect named Popshot as ‘the new face of British poetry’ after it became the first British poetry magazine to achieve major international distribution into 18 countries. With the launch of Issue 7, we started talking about the introduction of short stories and flash fiction into the magazine, as well as poetry. In October 2012, with the arrival of our eighth issue, Popshot relaunched as ‘The Illustrated Magazine of New Writing’ firmly positioning itself as a literary magazine that champions new writing across the globe.

In the years since, that positioning has developed into a strong reputation for quality writing, with Dazed & Confused calling the magazine “a who isn’t yet who of contemporary literature” and The List claiming that “Popshot looks for the best and finds it.”’

For more information about submissions and competitions, you may like to have a look at my ‘other blog‘:

I also have two websites which may be of interest:

Fiction in a Flash

Helen Laycock | Children’s Author

December 2016

I received the winter edition of The Caterpillar.

Here is the children’s poem that they published.

This month I submitted three rhyming stories to Maverick Books. Response time is 6 months!

Update: I had a wonderfully positive response to say that the publishing assistant had particularly enjoyed one of the poems, that the tone, rhyme and humour were very strong, and that it would lend itself well to illustrations. It was suggested that I look again at the ending and that they would be very interested to see a subsequent draft – which I have done. Maverick are a small publisher and only choose a few manuscripts to develop, so I shall keep my fingers crossed and wait to see what happens!

October 2016

I have recently come across The Emma Press (‘small press, big dreams’). What is different about them is that rather than charge a submission fee for entry to their competitions, you just join the Emma Press Club. Membership is easy: just buy one book from The Emma Press’s catalogue and this allows free entry for a year. I chose Rivers Wanted by Rachel Piercey, one of the editors. Should you be lucky enough to have anything accepted and published by them, then you get life membership, and can submit for evermore! Well, the current theme is Kings and Queens, so I wrote a poem especially…. especially early, in fact, as I had received notification that this theme was coming up before it was officially announced. I’m not sure I have entirely met the brief; my poem was about a fictional king and queen, but I think they actually wanted poetry about historical figures. Never mind. It was refreshing to be allowed a line count of 60.

I saved a few links from Facebook, one of which was a competition for Spine-Chilling Fiction prompted by a photograph. I wrote a 1000-word story especially, entitled ‘Broken Angels’.

For a long time, I’d been meaning to submit a few stories to Alfie Dog Fiction and finally I did it. I sent off four different stories to editor Rosemary Kind.

Finally, this month, I wrote a 100-word piece of flash fiction ready for Hallowe’en and submitted it to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt at CafeLit. I’ll let you know how I get on…

Update: Well, here I am a couple of hours later to say that that was the quickest submission to turn around process that I have ever encountered! The new editor is Gill James. My piece is now up on the CafeLit website. You can read it here.

Did I say ‘Finally…’?

Well, it didn’t end there. I had previously submitted a handful of children’s poems to The Caterpillar, a wonderful magazine for children, offspring of The Moth. I had a lovely email from the editor telling me that although what I had sent wasn’t quite the right fit for the magazine, he would like me to send more. So I did.

Update: A poem entitled ‘Wind’ is going to be published in the winter edition of The Caterpillar.

I saw the The Emma Press was calling for submissions again, this time for animal poetry, so I submitted to them for the second time this month.

And, finally (surely), on the last day of October, the closing date for submissions to the Bare Fiction writing competitions, I submitted a short story and a poem. Results are out in January.

January 2016

I am still waiting for a couple of competition results from 2015, but in the meantime,

I have submitted two entries – Boat Child and Numbered Days– for the Reader’s Digest 100-word competition.
Popshot , a wonderful, illustrated literary magazine, is looking for writing on the theme of ‘Adventure’. I have submitted two poems to them – Striking Gold and Hiatus on a Boulder.
I am just about to send off my submission to Writing Magazine‘s Annual Humorous Short Story Competition.
Three Drops from a Cauldron are seeking submissions for a forthcoming anthology on the theme of witches and witchcraft. I have submitted a poem called The Dwelling and a piece of flash fiction called He should have worn a scarf

Update: I was unsuccessful with my Popshots submission, but Three Drops from a Cauldron have accepted my poem called The Dwelling.

In January, too, I was approached by a blogger, Dan Buri, who asked if I would write an article on his blog about marketing for children’s writers. (I am also a children’s author). My article consisted of two parts:

Ten Marketing Tips for Children’s Authors

How to organise your classroom visit

I worked hard to spread the word across social media, and, as a result, Dan told me that my articles has had more hits in three days than any other feature on his blog!

September 2105

In September I received an email to say that a piece of flash fiction entitled Bluebell Wood would be included in The Best of CafeLit 4. I also had several pieces published in the third edition. You can read Bluebell Wood on my page entitled ‘Tasters’, 100-worders.

I also entered three competitions:

The Troubadour International Poetry Prize – The title of my entry is ‘Camera Obscura‘.
The Dominian/Dominion (I’ve seen it written both ways!) Short Story Competition – My story was called ‘Split Decision‘.
The Bare Fiction Poetry Prize – The title of my poem is ‘Ugly Butterfly‘.

May 2015

In May I submitted three pieces to Jotters United Issue 14 for the theme of Hooligans/Youth.

Update: I was lucky enough to have all three accepted, and given a full page spread.

Two’s Company is a piece of flash fiction, The Visitors is a short story and Nostalgia is a poem.

May also saw two of my poems accepted into Silver Linings, an anthology produced to raise money for the victims of violence. Here are my entries, both on the theme of domestic violence:

Daddy’s Home

In a dark corner squat

she is folded,

by the bed,

an upturned, colourless Z,

hair caught on ripped anaglypta,

arms like a metal tie around bread,

black soles like ballet shoes,

and toes so cold they might snap

and clatter like dropped pebbles.

Nibbled nails like fairy plates

in bloody beds with ragged frames

on stubby fingers, sucked thumbs

and clutching fists,

twisting comfort out of fabric.

Shiny eyes, bright with fright,

boring blackness,

strings of hair, straw dolls,

tucked behind little ears –

like sheets, mattress-tight –

to listen.

Breath is silent, sparing, saved;

like disturbed silk,

shoulders rise,

shoulders fall.

A bullet-click.

A creak as discordant as a wail,

the sound of a python-squeeze,

insidious.

Too drawn.

He is coming.

A shape more solid than the dark

walls her in.

She feels the burning trickle;

her sodden shroud hugs, clings to her contours,

and the puddle softly creeps

around her cradle,

gently arcing her heels like a crawling tide,

tickling her crunched toes with its frill

and she fills her mind with wet feet and cotton cloth.

For Better, For Worse

Mummy’s sleeping on her side

in the corner of the kitchen,

all curled up like a cat.

She hasn’t done her make-up very well…

she’s got dabs of purple all round her eye,

like violet petals squeezed dry

and there’s red sponge-painting on her cheek.

I’m not allowed to sponge-paint.

Her lips look juicy;

I think she’s blowing me a kiss.

I’ve been brushing Mummy’s hair

to make it nice.

It feels like golden clouds in my hand.

I collect balls and balls of it

and lay it on the floor ready for the birds.

I do dot-to-dot on her leg – just pretend –

trailing my finger between the little red circles

and I cover Mummy’s legs with her nightie

so she doesn’t get cold,

the way she covers me up and tucks me in.

I wash the dirt off her icy feet

with the dish-cloth

and jiggle on her slippers,

toes first, then, clunk, over the heel.

I think she is very tired.

She’s sleeping and sleeping and sleeping

and I am hungry, hungry, hungry.

Black streaks like little rivers

have run down Mummy’s face.

I think she’s been crying about

the terrible mess

and because she broke her favourite vase.

March 2015

Over the years I have written hundreds of poems, both serious and funny. My serious poems have occasionally had an outing when I have entered the odd poetry competition, but I’ve never published a collection.

Cinnamon Press, a famous name in the world of poetry publication, is running a Poetry Pamphlet Prize this year, where a poet can submit a collection of up to 25 poems.

This was an ideal opportunity for me to put something together. I spent a long time selecting and ordering 25 poems and yesterday I posted them. I had various titles in mind, but having run a small poll with my online writer friends, I finally decided on the title ‘Conjuring Marble into Cloud‘ – which is a line from one of the poems I have included. The results will be out in September…

Update: No. Nothing. Nada. Onward and upward…