Register |
 
poet image
 

Antony Owen

Email: myfatherseyeswereblue@yahoo.com

Listen to audio sample:

Get Flash to see this player.

View biography

View samples

Last blog entry: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 12:15:29 pm

Profile updated: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:39:45 am

 

Biography

Antony Owen is from Coventry. His first collection of poetry ‘My Father’s Eyes Were Blue,’ was published in May 2009 by Heaventree Press to rave reviews from award winning poets.

Following the 2009 Coventry International Festival of Literature Owen was selected by Heaventree Press as part of a poetry collective to travel throughout Ireland and perform at a number of venues. This tour finally ended with a recorded reading at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University, Belfast.

In June 2010 Owen became runner up in The Shine Journal’s 2010 poetry competition just missing out on nomination to The Pushcart Prize, one of America’s most honoured literary projects.

As part of research for his 2nd collection ‘The Dreaded Boy’ Owen has arranged a remembrance project backed by Falklands Hero, Simon Weston OBE which has inspired other events helping to raise over £12,000 for a small charity.

Apart from his first collection, Owen’s poetry has also been published in Avocado Magazine, Cannon Poets Pamphlet June 2010, Revival Journal (July 2010) Sherb: An Anthology Of River Poems, Message in a bottle (June 2010) and features poetry in Ava Gardner's Bibliography: Touches of Venus by Gilbert Gigliotti (Entasis Press).

***************Book Reviews***************

Owens poems seem to free-fall
conjuring an irresistible sense of unease.

The way he manages tragedy is utterly beautiful &
and the unashamed frailty that meanders through
his collection is very much its strength.

I actually felt some of the poems creeping up on me
as I read them which was wonderfully disconcerting
and I often fell prey to Owens characteristic jack-knives!.

I truly didn’t know where the next page would take me
My Father's Eyes Were Blue has proven that Owen is no one trick pony…
As this collection is underpinned by a brutality
which Owen understates superbly!....

Bernadette Cremin Author of Miming Silence / Perfect Mess / & Speechless

"In his impressive debut collection, My Father's Eyes Were Blue, Antony Owen's approach to the often difficult subject of war is sensitive, dramatic and thoroughly contemporary."

Jacqui Rowe, author of Apollinaire: War poems; re-castings,re-visions.

"An affecting first collection tinged with melancholy and leavened with moments of black humour".

Jonathan Morley: Author of Backra Man & Eric Gregory Award Winner 2006

Antony Owen is a startling new voice in British poetry. Forceful, urgent and sometimes shocking images belie a beguiling tenderness, which is rooted in Owen’s clear admiration for honest, hardworking people. What attracts me most in these poems is the focus Owen gives to not-too-distant history, drawing our attention to hidden stories and characters, and detailing the highs and lows of post-War and post-industrial Britain.

Michael McKimm: Author of ‘Still This Need” & Eric Gregory Award Winner 2007

Owen’s verse can powerfully capture a child’s introduction to nature’s cruelty and a grown man’s painful recognition of the hold the past has on us all.
His images are often stark but always with a humanity that renders the common and uncommon equally new.”

Gilbert Gigliotti: Professor of English, Central Connecticut State University & Author of Frank Sinatra ‘But Buddy I’m a kind of poem’ by Enstasis Press.


"Poetry is like the workings of larvae, the drafts are like chrysalis that holds a butterfly that exists far beyond the moment."

Samples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiF8tKgwBqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SSy7oHJPCM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaoFSiRzNGg&feature=related

The Blooding

Twigs of blackbird trails
thawed to thistle.
A kneel of hills sang
from wolf throat snow,
their yawning Yorkshire moon
in smoky beards
spooled towards a cog of sun
rising with horn foxes.

Hounds scoffed at black jelly
From a vixen spilt like dusk
hat for a redcoats son.
His blooding carved a gentlemen
and a heart pounded with hooves
to a pint of real man’s bitter,
its head foaming down the glass
reflecting a coming of age -
thirteen years old,
with a fox stamped in his retina.

Forgiveness

Courage left you today
your 'real' husband for so long
My wife now a memory
I am married to mirrors of regret.

Forgive me for my weakness.

The times you walked on your own
asking me in laptop grey
I ignored you for a client
that always spelt my name wrong.

Forgive me for my ignorance.

The day of the envelope
when you were different
by being too much the same to me
I was indifferent to you.

Forgive me for my blindness.

The day you lit candles at 10am
stood naked next to them
and asked me if you were beautiful
saying my full name.

Forgive me for shaking.

The day you told me, was a Sunday
later you said you had waited for a frost
just like the first walk we ever took
when their was bonfire and love in my eyes.

Forgive me for hating you.

The day you lost your hair
refusing to wear a headscarf
choosing to wear the elements –
the wind, the rain and when we kissed, a smile.

Forgive me for loving you too much.

The days I stayed with you to the end
I noticed everything I hadn’t done
except for the only thing you wanted
to dance with you to Yared
you went in my arms from the flute.

I’ll never forgive you for that.

I won't go (a poem for Srebrenitsa)

Grief never fasts a widow said
prayers have shaped her bones
like the scythe of communism,
she is Srebrenitsa’s flag half mast
blowing at a name she breastfed.

A cleanliness of human darkness
washed in blood eight thousand times.
The tight knit community was splayed
yarned by clay the kalashnikov kiln
made muslim’s terracotta for paradise.

A widow said they resembled waste paper,
scrunched like the face of Milosevic
defiant in his villa where a pool wrinkled the sun.
The authorities came through teeth of glass
he refused to go like widows who kneel
to enclaves of themselves
at graves of themselves.


The Black Hole

Her hospice bag of ironed squares
still breathes spice from corridors,
where a black hole from his mouth
breathed in worlds he created
to implode upon snowdrops of cancer.

White line hypnosis from Valley Avenue
smeared a black mouth on the windscreen,
silently shape-shifting to hand prints.
This new world I had created
left a ghost gasping in amber.

I wiped away an entity and was haunted,
by the son you thought I was
and the son I knew I was.
Cold as the iron strangled in umbilical,
it's breath folded in storage,
like you Dad

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

Last blog entry

Paolo paints a gypsy

Posted on Thursday 5th August 2010 12:14 pm

June 1928, Leipzig

An artist left a watercolour womb,
his first canvass grief
pressed against her Easel
thirsting milk and
mockingbird.
 
July 1929, Berlin
 
An artist called Adolf
mused the gypsy problem,
answered in rain traveling south.
He jerked to the window mumbling
eagles must fly south to find the
wagtail”
 
January 1952: India
 
Wood and graphite nomads rolled
Romani lead shadows.
Memories made him press lightly
like wagons sketching to Chandigarh.
A hindu danced henna into curlicues,
his artist of 'Stendahl Syndrome'
 
February 2009 – London
 
Paulo thinks of three weeks ago
when beards of slush left shaved pencils
by a blank white canvass titled 'Snow'.
He lit his pipe to dance with hindu's
as a gypsy traveled south down his face,
safe from Eagles in his white beard.
 
January 1941 - Sobibor
 
A letter to Paulo lay folded with gypsies.
A fountain pen wept on a thigh of paper.
Snow thawed to mannequin flesh
where zyklon gowns dressed parent's silver,
their six numbered arms holding moon
how Paulo would hold himself.
 

Previous: The day I never forgot you

 

View or make comments. (4 comments)

Counter: 1142

Do you want to be featured here? Submit your profile.

Comments

stefan wilde

poet image

Thu 5th Aug 2010 18:45

Good evening Anthony-thanks for time and very welcome,kind comment re'Different kind of war'-much obliged-Stef.

 

Rachel Bond

Thu 6th May 2010 20:53

hi antony. thanks for comments on 'ferryman'...wild and unabridged yeh a bit like me then x

 

winston plowes

poet image

Thu 6th May 2010 09:58

It was missed bcause it was the last blog of April. Thanks for searching it out. winston

 

winston plowes

poet image

Thu 6th May 2010 09:57

Hi Anthony. thanks for the detailed observations. This story telling style is not a one I have used much. This was created in a poetry workshop which was refreshing, glad you liked

 

Alison Mary Dunn

poet image

Sun 25th Apr 2010 17:54

Hi Anthony, sorry for a very late reply. I need to log on more. Thanks for describing some of my work as being raw and poignant. I'm touched.

'live beneath the eyelids in your dreams' is a great statement. I appreciate your words very much.

Very Best

Ally

 

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Fri 23rd Apr 2010 19:38

Mr Owen, I have revised extensively. Since you were so kind to 'criticise' before, would you take a quick peek to see if I have improved it? Or not? A simple yes or no will suffice. I do not wish to be a nuisance.

 

andy n

poet image

Fri 23rd Apr 2010 08:19

Hi Anthony - Got that Billy Ramsell book through in the post from Amazon... My brother has nicked it off me until my birthday soon, so I'll let you know what I think then (but am looking forward to it)

 

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Mon 19th Apr 2010 16:01

Thank you so much. I take all your points to heart and will seriously study them. You must have spent considerable time. Just a point, my name is actually Cynthia. Christine Dawson is a great lady with whom you frequently chat. Easy mistake.

 

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Sun 18th Apr 2010 14:11

Mr Owen, I appreciated your gracious comment on Old Woman Waiting for a Bus I. What I would like as well is your input of any kind on the poem itself, or its second version.

 

andy n

poet image

Mon 12th Apr 2010 08:07

Hi Antony; - Cheers for the respond comment... Silence is sometimes a important element in my poem, or the gaps between the silence where I can then look at things that people may miss otherwise.

Cheers for the suggestion over Billy Ramsell. I checked him over the week-end and went and ordered the book. Look forward to recieving this hopefully shortly.

Can you email me where to get your book from? (Didn't know you had a book out until you mentioned it).

Looking forward to my book coming out too, must admit. Oddly enough I have the second book well in hand now which is very different indeed too..

 

kath hewitt

poet image

Sun 11th Apr 2010 02:36

Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on 'looking back'. It's not parental break-up at the core it's sibling break-up and the death of one and whats left over.
Does that make sense?
Regards
kath

 

Max Wallis

poet image

Fri 9th Apr 2010 18:07

Thank you for the kind words Antony - if you want to see more of my work then go to : http://somethingeveryday.tumblr.comwhere I'm creating every day.

Max

 

winston plowes

poet image

Tue 23rd Mar 2010 21:17

Hi Again Anthony. Glad Charlie Pike hit the spot. its a cracking piece. Glad also that you liked the fairy lights! Thanks for reading and keep posting your stuff. winston

 

Cate Greenlees

poet image

Tue 2nd Mar 2010 17:25

Hi Anthony, thanks for your lovely comment on If I could. Much appreciated.
Cate xx

 

Ann Foxglove

poet image

Mon 1st Mar 2010 17:17

Hi Antony, yes I did get your book thanks. I thought I'd emailed you ages ago, maybe I imagined it! I've been too busy lately to give it the time it deserves, so I'm looking forward to reading it asap. xx

 

hanah hewes

poet image

Sat 27th Feb 2010 16:29

Thank you for sharing the poem, I found that although it was written about your wife's experience there were some aspects of it I could relate to, especially these parts
'Affection was an exorcism
ending in a slammed door
and a gap in your life.'

'That lies were shouts
truths were whispers
and children forced to be adults,
dragged across a common
in shoes too small for them
and lives too big for them.'

Fascade was something I wrote about a relationship I was in. You were right with the mentioning of divorce though, because that has consequently always affected my relationships with other people.
And thank you, I would really appreciate that.

 

Francine Louis

poet image

Thu 25th Feb 2010 20:35

I love your poem 'Forgiveness' Antony...
Lines full of incredible imagery:

'I am married to mirrors of regret.'

'when you were different
by being too much the same to me
I was indifferent to you.'

 

Isobel

poet image

Thu 25th Feb 2010 19:41

Just read your Divorced Children poem on Hanah's profile. I found it very touching and sad and beautifully written. There must be billions of children in similar circumstances - my own included - let's hope they all manage to rise above it, like your wife.

 

hanah hewes

poet image

Thu 25th Feb 2010 16:56

Hey Antony, thanks for your comment, just read through your biography and poems and yes, we do! I think your poems are excellent and full of depth, which is exactly what I want and 'try' to add into mine.
I love The Black Hole! Amazing stuff! x

 

Rachel Bond

Thu 25th Feb 2010 08:12

hi antony...sorry im confused about when the Wigan event is on. best check with John Togher.

 

Rachel Bond

Wed 24th Feb 2010 21:44

Wigan is a monthly event.

 

Rachel Bond

Wed 24th Feb 2010 18:46

hi...thanks for little red comments.hoping to read parts 2 and 3 for Saturday at Wigan. Are you going?

 

Cate Greenlees

poet image

Fri 19th Feb 2010 13:39

Hi Anthony, thanks for your comment on Taj. Ive been looking back through your work and think it is excellent. I particularly liked the whale one, you could almost hear the whale music being sung. Lovely! I ll look out for your entries in future.
Cate xx

 

winston plowes

poet image

Fri 12th Feb 2010 09:36

Hi again Antony. Left a comment on your recent blog entry. Thankyou.win

 

Rachel Bond

Thu 11th Feb 2010 18:52

Im really glad I found your work. Ive not commented individually about the poems as I would like to take my time doing that but just to say thay I really admire this body of work. Awesome

 

Ann Foxglove

poet image

Tue 9th Feb 2010 18:45

I would like to buy your book. Can I get it from you? I saw it on Amazon, so could get it there if not.

 

kath hewitt

poet image

Mon 8th Feb 2010 11:07

Hi,
Thanks again for your wonderful comments!! x

 

kath hewitt

poet image

Sat 6th Feb 2010 01:37

Just spotted your comment on Dead Wasp, thank you.
Also, reading poetry? Aloud? In public? Me? noooo not going to happen lol

 

Ann Foxglove

poet image

Fri 5th Feb 2010 20:07

Just read some of your stuff and I am amazed by it. This is the sort of passionate poetry that I love but could never produce. I think you are great! xx You might have inspired me to put a poem that is painful to me on the bloggs. Maybe.

 

kath hewitt

poet image

Fri 5th Feb 2010 19:59

Hi,
Just wanted to say that parenthood is not always that hard, it's fab!!
Good luck x

 

Antony Owen

poet image

Fri 5th Feb 2010 08:44

Hi Paul

Thanks for reading and for your encouragement. I only ever had a message from Fassbinder which was before I posted any samples of work.

All the stuff posted here are drafts for my 2nd collection which I might name 'Upon realizing you were wrong for me'

Off to check you out, wish I had more time to spend on here !

2 new ones posted above

 

Paul

poet image

Fri 5th Feb 2010 08:34

Hi Owen
Not sure why anyone hasn't commented on your work so far but I think it is excellent. The first verse of Black hole is outstanding, imho.

 

If you wish to post a comment you must login.