Well as it’s the last weekly entry in The Book Bag of the year, I thought I’d indulge us in a Christmas Party to round off an exceptional year of poetry. So, we’ve got cocktails, a quiz, a playlist that will suit everyone plus some prompts to get stuck into. Oh and I’ve got a poem to share and other bits and pieces. Tear the clingfilm from the vol au vents, and let’s dive in. First, here’s a cocktail from the bar. A Yule Mule. In a tumbler add:A good scoop of crushed ice…

Audition to be part of quarterly poetry journal iamb between the 20th and 27th of September 2025.

So on Sunday (7th September) I attended an open mic via zoom held by Black Bough Poetry. They are always excellent events and Biok Bag alumni Matthew MC Smith is always excellent on hosting duties. This time he was joined by the fabulous Polly Oliver as co-host and this was possibly one of the best Black Bough zoom open mic’s I’ve attended. There were over 20 international poets all with various styles, subjects and voices giving the night a special feeling of anticipation as to what would come next. I read Who We Are in the encore section, my most confident reading of this piece so far.