Rochdale canal’s poet-in-residence, Winston Plowes, is fishing for poems – 92 of them, in fact - and hopes Write Out Loud’s poets can help. Winston is curating a collection of poems – one for every lock – for a towpath poetry trail along the 33-mile length of the Manchester to Sowerby Bridge canal, in time for the Rochdale canal festival from 18-26 August. He said:  “I am requesting poems which have an association with the canal. So that might include subjects like water, boats or the many people who use the towpath such as runners, walkers, dog owners and cyclists. You might work or live near the canal and draw inspiration from your experiences or write about the history or industrial architecture of the Rochdale, or any other canal. Don’t forget the abundance of wildlife on our canal system - plenty of scope for writing I’m sure you will agree.”

Rules are:  1)  previously published poems accepted (please give details of where published); 2) deadline 1 August; 3) max length 30 lines (not including title); 4)  optional biog can appear at the bottom of the poem, max 25 words which may include your website address; 50 you may choose a lock for your poem to be attached to, providing it is not already taken; 6) please submit your work as a word attachment to winstonplowes@googlemail.com; 7) the decision of the Waterways Trust is final.

By coincidence, the Poetry Society is currently featuring a poem by Ian McMillan about canals on its website. You can read it here