I received a nice boost last month when I found that a poem of mine, Peacocks Can’t Swim, was longlisted by George Szirtes for this year’s The Plaza Poetry Prize (40 lines max).

You can’t place too much value on prize culture but it’s undoubtedly a boost when your work is recognised in this way. The poem is taken from my forthcoming second collection, which I’m currently in the process of placing!

Huge congratulations to Mark Fiddes on scooping the overall prize, and to everyone else who was listed or placed. The full list of 20 poems is here.