Francis H Powell author of Flight of Destiny and other stories
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      • Scottish Poets
      • Jonnie Dalton
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      • Okorie Harrison
      • interview with Meo
      • interview with Mark Blickley
      • interview with Christopher T. Dabrowski
  • Francis H Powell interviews with other authors
    • Interview with J. C. Michael
    • interview with Gavin Hill
    • Interview with Morris E Graham
    • Interview with Wally Runnels
    • interview with John Nicholl
    • interview with Rob Same
    • interview with Elizabeth Oberbrunner
    • Interview with Michael Wilkins
    • Interview with Karina Kantas
    • Interview with Justin Bienvenue
    • interview with James Hershey Jr
    • Interview with Brian Parker
    • interview with Roma Gray
    • interview with Rebecca Reid
    • interview with Samual Friedman
    • interview with Cynthia Vespia
    • Mark Anthony Tierno
    • Spotlight >
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      • Spotlight on LaToya Wilson
    • interview with Jean Lowe Carlson
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  • Tiffany Alpen, Kindred (The Birthrite Series, #2)
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AN INTERVIEW WITH  ALISON BRAKENBURY 

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Tell everybody a little about yourself


I was born in Lincolnshire in 1953, from a long line of servants and skilled farm workers. I won a scholarship to Oxford. After taking my degree, I married. I worked as a librarian, an accounts clerk, and, for over twenty years, as a metal finisher in my husband's tiny family business. I also spent a great deal of time with animals and in the countryside. I've managed to write ten books of poetry and have had poems, and poetry programmes broadcast on national BBC Radio.



I'm very bad at biography - but you'll find more information, and lots of poems, at


https://alisonbrackenbury.wordpress.com/




Was your creativity affected in any way during the lockdown? Did being lockdown make you feel inspired or deflated?


I did feel compelled to write, by the intensity and strangeness of the times. Here is a link to one of my lockdown poems, published on the MMU website 'Write Where We Are Now', set up by Carol Ann Duffy:


https://www.mmu.ac.uk/write/willow-pattern-a-lockdown-walk.php




Was it therapeutic doing creative work during lockdown?


Yes, there is a purity about concentration, which is a great relief!




How did you occupy your time?


I found that it was over-occupied by familiar and unfamiliar demands: organising shopping, coping with a drought-stricken garden, waiting in the vet's car park with a very sick cat...




What was the main thinking behind your poem submitted to Together Behind Four Walls ?


'Flash' draws together brilliant, sometimes distant memories of kingfishers. 'Sunday on the coach' tries to capture one moment, which balances knowledge of the wider world with a smaller sanctuary. 'Before they wake' simply followed the phases of a particularly lovely - and chilly - lockdown sunrise, and all that these suggested to me...


What inspires most of your poems?


I used to say 'Nature and animals, especially horses'. But I think people are finding their way into more and more poems!




Do you have any favourite poems, from all the poems you have written?


Possibly 'Skies', which is the title poem of my last collection, published by Carcanet in 2016. It also appears in my Selected Poems, 'Gallop', published by Carcanet in 2019. You can find extracts from it, and lots of photographs of my country family - and animals - here:


https://carcanetblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/skies-by-alison-brackenbury.html




Do you remember the first poem you ever wrote or one of the first?


It was a short poem about trees. I was six. The ending was terrible! I will not inflict it upon you...




Do you ever think of poems before going to sleep or just after waking up?


I occasionally think of poems late at night. I MUST write these down, or they fall out of my head completely during the hours of darkness! I do find the first part of the day is good for revising, and for plunging into new poems...




Do you hand write poems or go directly on to your computer?


I hand write them, and copy out draft after draft.. all by hand,




Do you ever give up on poems you have started?



From time to time. I am very stubborn.




Do you do any other creative activities?


Nothing that would be classed as art! I am a compulsive gardener. I make cakes elaborately and occasionally...




Do you only focus on poetry or do you also write prose?



I write prose when asked e.g. for reviews. I feel I should, but I find it very hard! Much chocolate and coffee is consumed...




Do you poems ever have strong messages?



Some poems decide that they will speak out in their final lines. If I decide in advance that they should, they never co-operate...




How would you describe the tone of your poems?


I think they are a kind of song, sometimes anxious, sometimes hopeful.




If you had to write a poem about yourself, how would it start?



'Oh dear'...













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  • Home page
  • Anthology for coronavirus
  • Francis H Powell interviewed
  • Images of Flight of Destiny
  • Contact
  • meet the poets of Together Behind Four Walls
    • Andrew Tyler >
      • Interview with Seadeta Osmani
      • Interview with Harry Weiss-Jones.
      • interview with Cynthia Vespia
      • Interview with Josiane Vincent
      • Interview with Laura Mucha
      • Interview with Chris White
      • Interview with Carmina Masoliver
      • Interview with Crysse Morrison
      • Interview with Alan Durant
      • Interview with B the Poet
      • Interview with Arti RAI
      • Interview with Neal Zetter
      • Interview with Andrena Zawinski
      • Interview with Trevor Millum
      • Interview with Alison Brackenbury
      • Interview with Toby Campion US
      • Interview with Hadley James Hoyles
      • Interview with Leela Soma
      • Interview with Bernard Young
      • Interview with Coral Rumble
      • Interview with Sue Hardy -Dawson
      • Interview with Dom Conlon
      • Interview with D.L. Lang
      • Interview with AF Harrold
      • Interview with Monique Tell
      • Interview with Stewart Taylor
      • Interview with Cliff Forshaw
      • Interview with Professor Elemental
      • Interview with Marcus Christopherson
      • Interview with Stephanie Davidson
      • Interview with Brook Fischer
      • Interview with Rita Rana
      • Interview with Rhian Edwards
      • Interview with Josh Louis Lingg
      • Interview with Nina Zivancevic
      • Interview with Armand Ruhlman
      • Interview with Christine De Luca
      • Interview with Hélène Argo
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with Thomas Stockley
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with January L'Angelle
      • Interview with Martin Figura
      • Interview with Dennis Copelan
      • Interview with Laura Zuwa
      • Interview with Iam Thandi
      • Interview with Gail Meath
      • Interview with Alun Robert
      • Scottish Poets
      • Jonnie Dalton
      • Welsh writers
      • Okorie Harrison
      • interview with Meo
      • interview with Mark Blickley
      • interview with Christopher T. Dabrowski
  • Francis H Powell interviews with other authors
    • Interview with J. C. Michael
    • interview with Gavin Hill
    • Interview with Morris E Graham
    • Interview with Wally Runnels
    • interview with John Nicholl
    • interview with Rob Same
    • interview with Elizabeth Oberbrunner
    • Interview with Michael Wilkins
    • Interview with Karina Kantas
    • Interview with Justin Bienvenue
    • interview with James Hershey Jr
    • Interview with Brian Parker
    • interview with Roma Gray
    • interview with Rebecca Reid
    • interview with Samual Friedman
    • interview with Cynthia Vespia
    • Mark Anthony Tierno
    • Spotlight >
      • Spotlight Tiffany Appen
      • Spotlight on LaToya Wilson
    • interview with Jean Lowe Carlson
  • download interview questions for authors
  • Book Reviews
  • Tiffany Alpen, Kindred (The Birthrite Series, #2)
  • Together Behind Four Walls