‘Goldilocks’ first appeared in Unguarded Gold, an anthology published by Ver Poets in memory of May Badman. ‘A Dryad of the Sacred Wood’ first appeared in an anthology from the Wenlock Poetry Festival. ‘Homecoming’ was written for a poet/artist project with Noel Connor in Manchester Central Library. ‘Four Butterflies’ was written for Shropshire Butterflies, a poetry and art book edited by Nadia Kingsley and published by Fair Acre Press. The poems in ‘The Oldest Script’ were written during a Year of the Artist Residency at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm. The first five are dedicated to the craftsmen who instructed me in the niceties of their craft and the sixth is in memory of an old friend and neighbour. They were first published in Spiked. ‘Mingus – Self-Portrait in Three Colours’ was first broadcast with the John Williams Septet on BBC Midlands Radio. ‘Miles in Paris’ and ‘Miles in New York’ were first performed with John Williams & Friends as part of Music at Leasowes Bank. ‘The Space’ – Richard Beaumond founded the Border Poets and their next anthology will be dedicated to him.

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