A generous and insightful review of my poetry book 'Paint Yourself' by a local St Werburghs Poet Chris Thirlway You can read it on st werburghs community website
Thanks Chris!
Paint Yourself - Poetry by Tom Burgess
Great places for watching the sun set: Narroways, Purdown and even the Community Garden. Tom Burgess invites us to do just that. He hopes that his poems collected in Paint Yourself may inspire us to gain freedom by engaging with 'the regular miracle of sunsets'. His ecstatic response ranges through countries and philosophies, rich images jostling with demanding ideas, colours with movement. The meditation moves through three stages, from Loosening through Breaking to Binding. At the beginning the scene is set with a newly-told myth of the sun's own history while at the end the poet resolves to carve his own path. A Journey into Sunsets inspires us to contemplate rather than just see and so to join its author on his way.
Edson Burton a wonderful poet (+ other things: More on Edson Burton) Reading from Lyrically Justified -Curated by Shaun Clarke, Featuring rappers, songsters and spoken word artists, Lyrically Justified is the UK’s “Streetwise Bible”. The book is available from Arkbound for £6.99
* Scroll down for my simple poem dedicated to all those at Standing Rock and written to Energy Transfer Partners.* I am extremely moved by the grace and power of the Standing Rock action. As though Wakhán Thánka is channelling these traditions and people - reacting to humanity's destabilising presence by sustaining a resurgence of perennial wisdom. Highlighting how disconnected and blind the prevailing status quo in the West is. I am struck by the parallels with the international brigade's in the Spanish civil war, where people from all over the world journeyed to fight fascism. My hope is that Standing Rock is a peaceful and better version of that, a movement in tune with the environment, championing connection and oneness, one that fuses the best of now with the wisdom of ancient truths. The tone is set by the power, resilience and beauty of these people. I do not want to speak for them but I do want to stand with them.
