Recent News

ARTEMISpoetry Issue 2 is now out (See below)

My new collection of poetry: CIRCLING THE CORE is now published by Enitharmon (price £9.95). It is available directly from me or from Enitharmon.

For information about the book click here.

This book opens with a sequence inspired by one of Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures and explores the idea of core from different angles. This theme recurs throughout as Myra Schneider tries to capture the sense of what a bird is, searches out what lies at the heart of memories, fraught contemporary situations, ancient places and dream visions. The same need to investigate underlies poems about women’s experience. These include a narrative, Hotel, and a monologue, Eurydice’s Version which re-interpets the Orpheus myth. The painting on the cover - see below - was done by Mae Holsgrove at a drop in centre in Dumbarton organized by Alzheimer Scotland. This painting inspired a poem, This Rose, which ends the book and is very directly connected with its title. If you would like to pre-order Circling The Core please e-mail Myra myra.sch@ukonline.co.uk

The book includes my poem 'Goulash', which was published in The North www.poetrybusiness.co.uk was shortlisted for the 2007 Forward prize for best single poem. It is included in Circling the Core. Here it is:

GOULASH
for Grevel

A crucial ingredient is the right frame of mind
so abandon all ideas of getting on. Stop pedalling,
dismount, go indoors and give yourself masses of time.
Then begin by heating a pool of oil in a frying pan
and, Mrs. Beeton style, take a dozen onions
even though the space you're working in is smaller
than the scullery in a Victorian mansion. Pull off
the papery wrappings and feel the shiny globes' solidity
before you chop. Fry the segments in three batches.
Don't fuss about weeping eyes, with a wooden spoon
ease the pieces as they turn translucent and gold.
When you've browned but not burnt the cubes of beef
marry meat and onions in a deep pan, bless the mixture
with stock, spoonfuls of paprika, tomato purée
and crushed garlic. Enjoy the Pompeian-red warmth.
Outside, the sun is reddening the pale afternoon
and you'll watch as it sinks behind blurring roofs,
the raised arms of trees, the intrepid viaduct.
In the kitchen's triumph of colour and light the meat
is softening and everything in the pot is seeping
into everything else. By now you're thinking of love:
the merging which bodies long for, the merging
that's more than body. While you're stirring the stew
it dawns on you how much you need darkness.
It lives in the underskirts of thickets where sealed buds
coddle green, where butterflies folded in hibernation,
could be crumpled leaves. It lives in the sky that carries
a deep sense of blue and a thin boat of moon angled
as if it's rocking. It lives in the silent larder and upstairs
in the airing cupboard where a padded heart pumps
heat, in the well of bed where humans lace together.
Time to savour all this as the simmering continues,
as you lay the table and place at its centre a small jug
in which you've put three tentative roses and sprigs
of rosemary. At last you will sit down with friends
and ladle the dark red goulash onto plates bearing
beds of snowhite rice. As you eat the talk will be bright
as the garnets round your neck, as those buried
with an Anglo-Saxon king in a ship at Sutton Hoo,
and the ring of words will carry far into the night.

This is a poem from Circling The Core which was shortlisted for the Forward best short poem prize in 2007.

ARTEMISpoetry

This is a new twice-yearly magazine for poetry by women with essays, articles and a generous review section. It is a development from the newsletter of the Second Light Network of Women Poets. The general editors are Dilys Wood and Anne Stewart.

Issue Two of Artemispoetry includes a splendid selection of poetry chosen by Penelope Shuttle, over twenty reviews, Ruth O' Callaghan interviewing U.A. Fanthorpe and Rose Bailey, 'Writing from The Rough': writing about grief, 'Pain into Poetry': women writing about escaping from persecution, 'The Big Ballads', part one of an essay by Hylda Sims and an an article by me: 'How Long Does It Take To Write A Poem'. This is a major magazine devoted to women's poetry. It can be obtained from Dilys Wood, 9 Greendale Close, London SE22 8TG. Price £5.00 payable to 'Second Light'.

For more information about the magazine and submittiing see: http://www.secondlightlive.co.uk/

For full details about Second Light and submitting please look at the Second Light Live Website. link

There is an in-depth interview with me on the website of poet and academic Lidia Vianu: lidiavianu.scriptmaina.com