{"id":10812,"date":"2016-04-19T15:42:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T15:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=10812"},"modified":"2020-12-09T15:04:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T15:04:54","slug":"john-sweets-and-the-heart-a-broken-bell-is-pick-of-the-month-for-march-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/john-sweets-and-the-heart-a-broken-bell-is-pick-of-the-month-for-march-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"john sweet&#8217;s &#8216;\u2026and the heart a broken bell&#8217; is Pick of the Month for March 2016!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Ink Sweat &amp; Tears&#8217; Pick of the Month for March 2016 is &#8216;\u2026and the heart a broken bell&#8217; by john sweet:<\/p>\n<p>b. 1968, a believer in sunlight and surrealism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 opposed to plutocracies posing as democracies and most social media.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 most recent collection is <em>The Century of Dreading Monsters<\/em> (Lummox Press).<\/p>\n<p>john has asked that his \u00a310 prize be donated to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cats.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cats Protection League<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2026and the heart a broken bell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>says she\u2019s tired of being dead and<br \/>\nwhat the hell am i supposed to do?<br \/>\ncan\u2019t have power without money<br \/>\ncan\u2019t have god without the devil<\/p>\n<p>late august sunlight after<br \/>\nfour days of rain and i kiss her<br \/>\nfeet when she asks<br \/>\ni kiss her breasts<\/p>\n<p>lick the tears from her cheeks and<br \/>\nwait for the moment to pass and<br \/>\nwhat we are is finished<br \/>\nbut not quite yet<\/p>\n<p>what the space between us sounds<br \/>\nlike is an unspoken apology<br \/>\nno one wants to talk about the<br \/>\nfuture when it never amounts to<br \/>\nanything more than children<br \/>\nsleeping in a house on fire<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Voters&#8217; comments included:<\/p>\n<p><em>All the poems were moving and powerful (as they always are). However, john sweet&#8217;s was the one I went back to read over and over. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Awesome stuff from a man who isn&#8217;t afraid to be edgy and speak his mind!! <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>It sounds like a couple in love and then has a surprise ending. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Most lucid poet on the net<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Comments on the other shortlisted poets included:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Robert Harper, &#8216;Through a Lens&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><em>it did that thing some good poems do &#8211; distracted me and found a way to get under my skin while I was looking elsewhere, then located a store of un-expired pain and re-activated it. Ouch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Janet Hatherley, &#8216;Ghazal: Trace&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><em>A difficult form to master in English, but this looks effortless, with form and content working so well together.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jane Lovell, &#8216;Two Mountains&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><em>I like the way it has merged the notion of destiny with domestic imagery in a moment of private epiphany.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Marion Oxley, &#8216;A Taxidermist Regenerates Blackburn&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><em>I like the earthiness of it and the way it tugs you through as you read to find out more.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Wilson, &#8216;The Future&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><em>Complex and compelling.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The Ink Sweat &amp; Tears&#8217; Pick of the Month for March 2016 is &#8216;\u2026and the heart a broken bell&#8217; by john sweet: b. 1968, a believer in sunlight and surrealism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 opposed to plutocracies posing as democracies and most social media.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 most recent collection is The Century of Dreading Monsters (Lummox Press). john has asked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-poetry-picks","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10812"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23807,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10812\/revisions\/23807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}