Zoë will be launching her brand new pamphlet Pocket Full of Stones
So we can all get to know Zoë a little better we asked her some questions:
What was the inspiration for Pocket Full of Stones?
The inspiration for this collection was growing up the odd one out, the weird girl. Struggles with depression and the darker side of life.
What is your top tip for editing poetry?
Reading aloud. It helps me to find the parts that stumble and fall short.
What’s the best prose book you’ve read lately?
I really enjoy children’s fiction. At the moment I am enjoying the Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan.
What three other poets (present company excepted) would you want with you on that dreaded desert island?
As someone allergic to most things, including sand, I’d rather be not be stranded in a desert… If I had to be stranded though, I’d absolutely want some of my scouting friends rather than Poets so I could use their skills to survive! If I could pick any three Poets to be trapped with that I might never have a chance to meet otherwise then I’d have to pick Emily Dickinson, Jacques Prevért & Spike Milligan.
What’s your cure for a missing muse?
Movement. A long walk or a train ride helps. Also reading lots of poetry.
There Is A Man At The Foot Of The Bed. Crawling; first on his belly; then flipping, crabwise, upside down. Arcing: belly up, then belly down. First dragging, nose along carpet-edge, snouting through dust-bunnies. Then erect; twisting, thrashing, grinding against the footboard. I know you can see him too, if only out of the corner of your eye. He is parading himself, flashing in and out of our eye line. His contorting body, black oily Lycra – membranous, showing every fibrous muscle cluster, every twitch of nerve. It is a grotesque display; like a dying wasp – yet my eyes keep returning to the spot he inhabits. Peripheral but not quite out of vision. This man I cannot draw attention to, the one I know you see is there – but will not mention.
Zoë is a Poet, Mum & Beaver Leader from Dukinfield with an MA from Bath Spa University. Her first Collection has just been published by Indigo Dreams. She also has two pamphlets: ‘Love is the Way Bark Grows’ with Half Moon Books and ‘I Have Grown Two Hearts’ with Hedgehog Poetry Press. Her work has appeared in Anthologies and Journals and she headlines at spoken word nights as often as possible.
Flight of the dragonfly 