I’m always happy to read my poems at group meetings or events. I live in Hertfordshire, so London, the South East and Eastern Regions are best for me, but I’m willing to consider travelling further. Please get in touch via the “Contact Me” page.

Forthcoming Events:

Watch this space!

Recent Events:

Ver Poets Ten-Liners Competition 2022 (24 February, 2022)

I joined fellow Ver Poets for an excellent Zoom reading of poems from the 2022 Ten-Liners Competition anthology. I read three poems: “Shun” (joint second prize); “The Right Stuff” (highly commended); and “Albert” (selected). Congratulations to Sylvia Banham, who won first prize, and David Jones, who was joint second, as well as to everyone else. Many thanks to the judge, Ruth Higgins, and Terry Jones, who organised the competition and hosted the event.

Write Out Loud Woking (27 October, 2022)

It was great to be with WOL Woking again for an in-person event at The Lightbox. The reading was held to launch their anthology, Finding Our Voices: Write Out Loud Woking: The First Six Years 2016-22, to which I contributed a poem. The anthology costs £5 and is available from Amazon here.

National Poetry Day at Bishop’s Stortford Library (6 October, 2022)

Delighted to have taken part in this event in Bishop’s Stortford along with members of Enfield Poets. My thanks to Ben Holden for organising it.

Write Out Loud Woking (10 August, 2022)

I was with WOL Woking again on 10 August – for a Zoom meeting this time. They’re invariably fun occasions and the other participants are always very welcoming.

Enfield Poets (4 August, 2022)

Grateful for the very warm welcome that other members of Ver Poets and I received from Enfield Poets. Hannah Hobsbaum, Aidan Baker and I were given headline slots and other Ver poets read during the open-mic session. With luck, we’ll have more of these joint meetings.

1000 Monkeys (2 August, 2022)

You can read a report of the meeting here. It includes a video clip of me reading “Deor”, my response to the Old English poem of the same name.

Write Out Loud Woking (30 June, 2022)

After so many Zoom readings, it was a pleasure to join WOL Woking at their reading in The Lightbox on 30th June. I’m grateful to the hosts, Rodney Wood and Greg Freeman, for making me so welcome. It was Rodney and his wife’s wedding anniversary, so a number of the poets read love poems in tribute. Here I am shamelessly promoting my two pamphlets.

1000 Monkeys (1 March, 2022)

It was good to take part in a Zoom meeting of The 1000 Monkeys, hosted by Janice and Dónall Dempsey. I read three poems, one about my mother, who was Welsh, in honour of St David’s Day. There’s an account of the reading here.

Poetry in the Crossing (13 October, 2021)

I was delighted to read with Dan Simpson and three other poets at his farewell appearance as poet-in-residence at St Albans Cathedral on Wednesday 13 October. Details of the event are here.

Open-mic Readings (June-August, 2021)

I’ve recently taken part in some very enjoyable open-mic readings at Write Out Loud Woking (24 June), Ver Poets Members’ Evening (23 July) and 1000 Monkeys (3 August).

Write Out Loud Woking (27 May, 2021)

I was honoured to have been invited by Write Out Loud Woking to be their featured poet in May. It was a very enjoyable evening. We were joined by a friend from New York State, whom I haven’t seen in years.

Ver Poets Members’ Evening (14 May, 2021)

Pat Francis, Juliet Troy and I read alongside Ver Poets’ President, John Mole. It was a great evening with some fine poems read during the open-mic slots.

Write Out Loud Woking (29 April, 2021)

Greatly enjoyed taking part in WOL Woking’s open-mic event on Zoom. You can see a You Tube video of me reading my two poems, “On the Doorstep” and “The Snapper”, here.

Ver Poets Members’ Evening (20 November, 2020)

This is an annual event, at which members who have published poems during the past year have an opportunity to read from their work. I was pleased to join four other members and read poems from my two pamphlets. There was also an enjoyable open-mic session. You can joint Ver Poets at: https://verpoets.co.uk/membership/. Although based in St Albans, they have a national and international membership and all meetings are currently held via Zoom.

Launch by Dempsey & Windle (4 November, 2020)

This was a very interesting and enjoyable Zoom reading to launch Ranald Barnicot’s lively versions of the shorter poems of Catullus, Friendship, Love, Abuse, etc. I had an opportunity to continue the classical theme by reading the title poem of my pamphlet, The War with Hannibal.

Write Out Loud Woking (23 September, 2020)

I was pleased to have been invited by Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood to take an open mic slot at one of their monthly Zoom meetings. It was a great evening; the featured poet was Michael Cutchey. Greg has posted video clips of the individual readers on WOL Woking’s YouTube channel. You can see me reading the title poems of my two pamphlets at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMiBiYzH8Qg&t=88s.

Dempsey & Windle Showcase (26 August, 2020)

This was a Zoom event, held as a belated launch of publications by David Cooke, Robbie Frazer and me. We were due to have read at the Poetry Café in London earlier in the year, but Covid-19 put a stop to that. As well as two spots (15 and 5 minutes each) for the three main readers, there were excellent poems from a number of guests. I made this video reading of four of the poems shortly after the event, which wasn’t recorded: https://youtu.be/jFde9HY_OE4.

Launches by Dempsey & Windle (22 & 29 July, 2020)

I was delighted to attend the on-line launches of Last of the Cake by Alison Mace and How to Punctuate a Silence by Claudia Court on 22 and 29 July respectively. As well as having the pleasure of listening to these two excellent poets read from their work and of hearing some fine poems by other members of the audience, I was also able to read a few poems from my own pamphlet, The 3-D Clock. Copies of all three publications are available from https://www.dempseyandwindle.com.

Tring U3A, Nora Grace Hall, Tring (19 February, 2020)

On 19 February, I read poems from The War with Hannibal and The 3-D Clock to the poetry group of Tring University of the Third Age. They were most welcoming and I very much enjoyed answering their questions and chatting to them over coffee. My thanks to the group’s leader, Thelma Fisher.

The King’s Arms, Berkhamsted (18 December, 2019)

On 18 December, I launched my Poetry Salzburg pamphlet, The War with Hannibal, with a reading at the King’s Arms in Berkhamsted.