Three Cheers for a cemetery gate
In praise of small things, especially a new cemetery gate.
Sometimes, coming close feels like winning anyway
Ok, I didn’t win, but I’ll happily take Highly Commended in Rialto Nature and Place Competition 2025 thank you very much.
Reinventing New York through the medium of trousers
Some places are so famous, so iconic, it might be said that they visit you long before you return the favour…
Unamerican
There’s a new poem below. I don’t tend to like explaining poems, but I do appreciate a bit of context. Like many others I suspect, not least in the USA itself, I feel profoundly shaken by recent events there. When I was six, I discovered Charlie Brown cartoons, encouraged by an American exchange student assistant…
In search of the remarkably mundane
This article was originally published on Mono Fiction in 2021 – sadly the magazine and site seems to be no more. The approach it outlines still applies to a lot of the posts, which appear on this blog and often my poetry. Guest blogger, Matt Gilbert talks about finding writing inspiration in the seemingly mundane……
Four short poems: The passing comfort of rain, Declaration of a thrush, Belfort and Oaks Avenue.
The poems below were shared on Twitter for Black Bough Poetry’s Top Tweet Tuesday.Recent challenges have been to write very short, imagist poems on a variety of themes – including weather and wonder and birds. All but one were written specially for this – often the night before. Sometimes they work out quite well –…
Three new poems: Brussels to Bruges, Political Donations, No Smoke
Three new poems, recently shared on Twitter as part of Black Bough Poetry’s #toptweettuesday Brussels to Bruges Considered through train carriage windows, agitated rooks and solitary horses twist necks to eye them. They’re everywhere. Squattingby ditch and stream, in tight organic knots – coppiced willows. Stools tracing lines across flat lands. Borders, vertical as much as horizontal. A coiled army…
Calling Home etc: four recent poems
Three of these poems, are short, poem-sketches of moments in time. Brief, lyrical, imagist observations about people and places. The fourth, is an attempt to address wider world events, the drum of bad news, war and death, which, much as I wish I could blithely ignore, I find I cannot. It isn’t pretty in the…
Will You Look At That, In the Museum of Vojvodina, A hollow in the hills and Off season: Four new poems
Four recently written poems, first shared via Blackbough Poetry’s Top Tweet Tuesday. A stunning fungi covered stump, golden Roman helmets, an attack on an iconic tree and a small French town in autumn.
The poem’s the puzzle, or ‘I couldn’t not keep looking’
A very thoughtful, considered review of my poetry collection ‘Street Sailing’ in Briefly Write. Click the link to read it on their site. ‘In ‘Street Sailing’, Matt Gilbert looks anew upon familiar streetscapes. His reader can’t not keep looking’ ‘Street Sailing’ is a puzzle with many readings and many answers. Matt Gilbert is a skilful setter,…
Drop-in feature talking about ‘Seven Sisters’ from ‘Street Sailing’ on poet Nigel Kent’s blog.
Looking for the edge of Zurich.
Where were the bored teenagers, the drunks, shouting kids, people laughing, shouting into mobile phones? Stray cats. Lost dogs. Lost souls. In this city of banks, presumably there must be squads of stressy men and women in tight blue suits pushing through the crowds, busy busy busy? Where was the noise, the random, the edge?
‘Street Sailing’ – Live Launch June 29 Bookseller Crow, Crystal Palace
After a brilliant online launch in May, I’m having a live launch on 29th June at The Bookseller Crow, Crystal Palace.
Guests – Joe Duggan & Matthew M C Smith will both be reading, along with me.
I’ll also be interviewed about the book by Karen McCleod.
Tickets £5 – including a drink.
‘Street Sailing’ makes the local press back in Bristol…
Delighted to have a feature about ‘Street Sailing’ in Bristol 24/7′
Wombwell Rainbow Book Interviews: Street Sailing by Matt Gilbert
Originally posted on The Wombwell Rainbow:
Matt Gilbert is a freelance copywriter, who also writes a blog at richlyevocative.net about place, books, poetry and other distractions. Originally from Bristol, he currently gets his fill of urban hills in South East London. He has had poems published by Atrium, Anthropocene, Finished Creatures and The Storms among…
Street Sailing – my debut poetry book is now out.
My debut poetry book ‘Street Sailing’ is now out in the wild. Cover art by Ben Pearce. Published by Black Bough Poetry.
A thousand nameless noises
Later, up on the high downs, I hope to hear skylarks. I always enjoy the pleasing shock in the contrast between the drab brown looks of these small birds and the piping, apparently overflowing joy of their calls, as they come popping out of long grass, like a choir of demented rubber balls, springing for the stars.
Er, so I have a book of poems coming out…
I have my first poetry book coming out in spring 2023, with Black Bough Poetry. That’s a pretty big and thrilling thing. I get excited enough about individual poems being accepted by a magazine or website, but a book? Bloody hell. It’s especially surprising to me, as I stopped writing poetry in any serious way…
RIP Jonathan Raban
A brief appreciation of Jonathan Raban, upon his death.
The week before midwinter & Space Station Dahlia
A short poetry post, to end my blogging year with. Two short imagist poems recently shared via @toptweettuesday on Twitter. Alongside a wintry Crystal Palace Park, replete with Penge Nessy. I had planned a reading year in review, but am frantically trying to finish Middlemarch, so that’ll become post one of 2023. In the meantime,…
Richly Evocative 