Category: Publishing

Publishing

Out of the North – cover reveal

Maytree Press

We are very excited to reveal the cover for Maytree 47.

Out of the North by Tracy Patrick features stunning artwork by Saltaire based artist, Paula Dunn.

An intriguing long poem sequence, Out of the North takes the reader into the horror of the First World War and the life of the Reverend Joseph Johnston who, despite his loyalty to the soldiers he served, condemned the conflict and the failure of society and religion to stop the fighting.

Out of the North will be available from the 20 October 2023.

You can find out more about Tracy here: https://www.tracypatrick.org/

And you can find Paula’s website here: https://pauladunnartist.com/

Publishing

Right of Way – Michael Brown

Maytree Press

It’s been a while but we’re delighted to be back with news of our next publication and details of a very special limited edition of Maytree 001.

Right of Way by Michael Brown will be released on the 29 September 2023 and we can’t wait to share this wonderful collection with you.

The cover features the fabulous work of York based artist Myles Linley who Maytree readers may remember from his wonderful collaboration with Nick Allen for the collection, Between Two rivers.

In Right of Way the poems connect with the ideas of movement/change/journey and childhood to adulthood transits. Migration, the war in Ukraine, covid and anxiety in young people are featured themes in this compelling collection.

In other news, we can now reveal that our very first publication, Swn y Morloi by Hannah Stone will be reissued as a limited edition of 60 copies. Hannah will be taking the book back to Pembrokeshire on tour this autumn and a very limited number will be available to purchase through our online store from the 8 September 2023. Don’t miss out.

Publishing, Two Poems

local universes

Maytree Press

We are thrilled to announce that local universes by Nick Allen is now available online and from our store.

In local universes, Nick describes the poems as the things seen or experienced within walking distance of his house. ‘I guess you could say it began with the first lockdown and the recommendation for an hour’s walk each day in your neighbourhood, combined with Blake’s idea of seeing the world in a grain of sand’.

local universes will be available direct from the author during the following events:

Saltaire Arts Trail, 27 and 29 May 2023 – taking place throughout the village of Saltaire. You can find Nick and a selection of all his books at location number 5 on the village map Open Village 2023 – Saltaire Inspired

Headline launch event 31 May 2023 – Rhubarb at The Triangle, 47 Bradford Road

Headline event – The Purple Room, Ben Rhydding, nr Ilkley on Saturday June 17 from 19.30hrs.

deerform

in the hoarfrost that knits the trees into a forest

a deer builds itself in my gaze a deer building itself

in light arriving with the drysnap of morning

building the light of itself from the sable undergrowth

the wilderness of the creature builds itself across

the soft morning of my gaze our joined breath

the other river above that which flows itself light

over undergrowth sable and deerform my eyes

blink and in that moments unseeing of myself I am gone

ripple

the sun is already down
the sky is not yet dark

when I lob the fallen
branch end over end

cabering into water
the slow river below

a stand of stark trees
and a flicked blanket

of crows lift out of their
almost imperceptible

roosts concentrically
whirling in the gloom

above the pushed air
of the liquid sound

above the slapped
water of the plosion

the grey murder rises
into featureless silence

circling an evening
in search of its echo

Buy local universes now local universes by nick allen – Maytree Press

Publishing

Maytree 42 – cover reveal

Maytree Press

We are delighted to reveal our first cover of 2023.

The Undoing by Elizabeth Stott features the sublime painting, Spooky Action at a Distance by Cumbrian based artist Alison Critchlow.

Elizabeth describes the poems in The Undoing as a diverse selection linked as an exploration of selfhood and our place in the universe.

The Undoing will be released on the 28 April 2023 and we’ll have news of launch events coming very soon.

Knowing

She slips the loose dress right off
when the young doctor comes to examine her.
She wears nothing underneath
and the doctor can see everything.
Coyly, she looks up at him,
knowing he can see her body
with the eyes of a man.

He asks the nurse to help her to dress.
But not before he sees the sores,
the flaps where breasts once swelled,
the pubis bare and purpled, the sagging skin
that seems to have no connection with the bones
that try to shape a woman’s lovely frame
out of the past tense.

Later, he tells his young wife
that she is beautiful,
that he will always love her.

Ladybird

Wait
for him
an afternoon.

Watch
the slow march
of light across the room.
Watch a blank-faced door. Wait.
Read the pamphlet given.

A tea tray rattles.

Glimpse
a polished desk
a row of family portraits in wooden frames:
perhaps – a wife, children.
Read the pamphlet given.

Perhaps, you’ll
notice the blue carpet,
a scattering of biscuit crumbs
a place where the pile is worn.
Read the pamphlet given.

See the little ladybird trapped by the glass,
it wants to go home. It wants to go home.

Elizabeth Stott was born in Kent, and has moved north in stages, settling in Cumbria where she has lived for over 25 years. A physics graduate, she worked in industry before taking time out to raise her family. As an antidote to the domestic, she started writing fiction and poetry, which has developed to include work in varied form and genre. She has published work in magazines, anthologies, for spoken word events and as a Nightjar chapbook and a collection of fiction.

You can find out more at Elizabeth’s blog https://elizabethstott.wordpress.com/about/

Alison Critchlow is a contemporary British painter with a broad, investigative approach. She splits her time between studio practice and educational work- talks, collaborative projects and exhibitions. She is currently researching the work of Hedda Sterne with funding from Arts Council England.

Find out more here: https://www.alisoncritchlow.co.uk/

Publishing

How it will happen

Maytree Press

We are delighted to confirm the release of the winning entry of the 2022 Three Trees Portfolio Award.

How it will happen by Lisa Blackwell was chosen from ten shortlisted entries for its compelling and memorable set of mainly prose poems that explore various formative experiences across several years.

Discussing the poems, guest editor, Roy Marshall, described how the form amplified the intensity of the narrative voice. A collection of emotionally engaging work, giving a sense of deeply felt experience, at various times shocking, brutal, darkly- funny and tender.

A book for our times – don’t miss out.

How it will happen by Lisa Blackwell – Maytree Press

Turquoise swimsuit

You are almost thirteen years old. You are in the 
back garden in your new turquoise swimsuit,         
the material of which stretches and ripples in a new 
way. 

The sun flashes on the ripples of your father’s pond. 
Self-built. The koi carps’ startled lips gape at the  
surface. Their ghostly orange and white forms 
blurred beneath. 

Your father says:
Oh that’s unusual.

He pinches the material of your swimsuit and rolls it 
between his thumb and index finger. 

All of a sudden, he has the electric-shock realisation 
that you, with your new woman body, are in the 
swimsuit. He becomes self-conscious and slightly 
embarrassed and retreats into the house. Mumbling 
something.

You laugh at him. You feel the power of your body 
but also its betrayal. This is not the body to shinny 
up a tree. Or to give your brother a dead arm. 

You begin to wonder if this body is more trouble
than it’s worth.