New poem in THE LONG POEM MAGAZINE (and in LITTER); and a blogpost on process

I am pleased to say that I have made another appearance in the excellent The Long Poem Magazine, a periodical I enjoy reading very much. It is interesting to see writers (of quite different kinds) who do something so unpopular as writing poems committing acts that create something even less popular: writing long poems.

 This time it is the first half of a poem called ‘The Palisaded Ditch’ and it is a sort of ‘history of the world in numerous maps’, as I put it. To the readers of the magazine I explained it thus, in the prose introductions that contributors are compelled to write: ‘It is the much-edited result of a process of daily “writing-through” of a deluxe book of the history of maps. I normally name my “sources”, but in this case, my common practice of squinting, misreading, and distorting the material renders this unnecessary. I didn’t know it would result in a poem… But something of the same level tone was maintained throughout these daily engagements and they appeared to accumulate… Reading the poem today it feels uncannily appropriate for a world of “strong men” carving up “spheres of influence”: in particular, the despotic slavering over the map of Greenland.’

The Long Poem Magazine may be read about here: ISSUE 35 – Long Poem Magazine. And purchased here: Shop and subscribe | Long Poem Magazine. 

As I said, this is about half of the poem. Its second half may be read here on Litter magazine:  Robert Sheppard - Poem | Litter. 

Thanks to the editors of the two magazines!

That’ll get you from

 

‘That stretch of wavy grey [which]

is the river,’

 

through to

 

‘Tributaries claw[ing] their ways toward the

greenish patches,’

 

with which it ends.

I ALSO write about the processes I used to write both 'The Palisaded Ditch' and my previous poem in Long Poem Magazine, 'The Area', here: Robert Sheppard: Ark and Archive: description of a process | Long Poem Magazine

I write about that previous appearance in The Long Poem Magazine with my sequence called ‘The Area’ here: Pages: My poem THE AREA is published in The Long Poem Magazine number 30 (background and links), which put me in happy communication with the photographer Tricia Porter.

 

TREV EALES AND ROBERT SHEPPARD: HOLME FELL: a sample of landscapes PUBLISHED NOW!

I’m pleased to say my new book is available. Holme Fell: a sample of landscapes, a collaboration with the photographer Trev Eales, is the most sumptuous and well-designed book of which I have been a part. Hats off to Alec Newman of Knives Forks and Spoons Press for his design and publishing skills. And to Trev for his photographs, of course. It consists of many colour photographs and texts, beautifully presented to enhance the double reading and viewing experience. The images and texts exist in a loose symbiosis, with parallel truths and connecting paths between them.  

Ian McMillan on Bluesky praised the book: ‘So good to experience this meeting of poetry and photography by @robertsheppard.bsky.social and Trev Eales from the always exciting Knives Forks and Spoons Press. “A crackle of purple twiglets/against ice-blue mountains, blue clouds:”’

I’ve found that everyone who has seen the book is deeply impressed, and I’ve sold a number already, particularly on the basis of the full-page colour photographs, and the ‘feel’ of the book in their hands. It’s not quite a coffee-table book so you won’t have to buy a coffee-table to go under it, but it ‘looks superb’. Details here: 

Holme Fell: A Sample of Landscapes: Amazon.co.uk: Sheppard, Robert, Eales, Trev: 9781916590243: Books

(Knives Forks and Spoons sell through Amazon, amongst others, but you can order any KFS book through your local bookseller.) Waterstones:

Holme Fell by Robert Sheppard, Trev Eales | Waterstones

NOTE: The book is retailing for £25. Do not pay more (Amazon as of today has a weirdly inflated price that the publisher is trying to alter!!!!!! 08/06/2026)

Blackwell's has it right too: Holme Fell : Robert Sheppard (author), : 9781916590243 : Blackwell's

Let’s a say a little more about the book as a whole. Holme Fell is a ‘sample of landscapes’ in two senses. Firstly, as a series of photographs of Holme Fell, with a focus on Hodge Close, the old slate quarry, at its centre. The images present the sublimity of the landscape in spectacular weather, but remind us that beauty and post-industrial sites are not mutually exclusive. Secondly, as a sequence of poetry and prose that reacts to the photographs themselves, and through which are also woven some historical accounts of quarrying along with the prose narrative of a contemporary architect escaping her responsibilities but questioning the nature of things as she encounters them. ‘Hodge Close’ poems operate as an inner section of ‘Holme Fell’, landscape within a landscape, a poem within the poem.

You know who I am, but who is Trev Eales? He lives in south Cumbria, and location has long fed his passion for landscape photography. During autumn and winter, if the weather is ‘interesting’, he is often found wandering the Lakeland fells hoping that the changing light and colours will present a photographic opportunity.  He is also a music photographer (and reviewer) who has shot for various festivals and other events, largely in the summer. I have known Trev for over half a century: we were students together at university in Norwich.

I have been posting on this blog some of the images and texts, though they don’t give an impression of the integrated book design. However, I do read some of the poems on video, and one of the posts contains an account of a journey to Holme Fell that is not in the book itself. They begin here: Pages: Trev Eales and Robert Sheppard HOLME FELL: a Sample of Landscapes Number One, with links to the rest, six in all. 

 Here's a parting image that stretches across a folio in the book, as seen in the video!