anthology

The Verse Is All

May 3, 2026 — Leave a comment

Poet In Verse Journal — Now Available on Amazon

I’ve always thought of poetry as something that begins in private.

The act of writing it, at least. Those solitary moments where lines drift in and out of existence within the mind before finally manifesting onto screen or page. This, for me, has been my sole preoccupation in poetry – creating the content, and then sharing wherever I can, which is why creating and editing Poet In Verse Journal has felt like such a step change.

An Unexpected Turn

At the beginning of 2025, I hadn’t set out to found a print journal of poetry.

Yet somewhere along the way, after a series of unrelated occurrences, the idea took hold, and gained momentum.

In reflecting on this, I was reminded that my great-great-great grandfather, Reverend George William Cubitt, once served as a national editor for the Methodist Church in England, though whether that suggests some inherited editorial instinct, I’m not entirely sure—especially given I also descend from a long line of bakers and can’t make a decent scone!

But something about the role did feel intuitive. I had enjoyed self-publishing my series of planetary poems (The Planetary Ennead) two years previously in 2023, and surprisingly, perhaps also the instincts of my work as an archivist: to gather, to organise, to preserve – despite poetry having been a solace to me from my work life, amongst other things, also played their part.

And that is very much how this journal has been approached.

From Writing to Curating

What this project has done, more than anything, is expand my approach to poetry.

Rather than focus solely on my own work, I’ve spent months reading submissions from a wide range of poets. Different voices, different styles, different perspectives—each bringing something distinct to the page.

What surprised me most was the volume of submissions for a fledgling journal, and the range of work submitted.

Not just in subject, but in tone and approach. Some poems are quiet and reflective, others immediate and striking.  Also, to my delight, as I read through them, patterns began to emerge of their own accord – shared concerns, similar questions. Different answers.

This made me feel justified in my decision not to impose a theme.

Life doesn’t organise itself neatly and so poetry, as an abstraction of life, rarely does either. What you’ll find in this inaugural edition is something closer to lived experience in all its variety—moments of joy and grief, humour and gravity, love and introspection.

A Journal Designed To Last

One of the most important decisions for me was to publish this as a print journal.

Not just something to scroll past, but something to hold. To return to. To keep.

In many ways, I’ve approached it as an artefact—something with a degree of permanence. A collection of voices brought together in a form that can sit on a library shelf, be revisited, and perhaps take on new meaning over time.

In aspiring for the journal’s endurance this brought with it an unexpected, yet welcome, sense of responsibility and privilege for the curation of other poets’ work.

A Strong Start

Since launch, Poet In Verse Journal:

  • Reached the Top 20 on Amazon UK in Poetry Anthologies
  • Was a Top New Release on Amazon US/Worldwide in the same category

For a debut annual journal, that’s been incredibly encouraging, and a real reflection of the quality of the work inside.

Available Now (UK & Worldwide)

You can find Poet In Verse Journal on Amazon here:

If you enjoy contemporary poetry, or are simply looking for something thoughtful, varied, and genuinely human, then this is a collection worth spending time with.

Across the collection, this sense of why we write returns again and again:

“I don’t write to leave the world.
I write because it keeps returning to me –
because there are days I would disappear
if I didn’t answer back.”
Ways of Not Disappearing, by May Garner
Poet In Verse Journal, Volume I

A Final Word

Putting this journal together has changed the way I think about and read poetry.

It’s taken something that began as a solitary endeavour, and opened it out into something collaborative.

And that feels like a good new starting point.

Pick up your copy today and discover the voices shaping this first edition.

The Verse Is All!

Sam Bartle
Editor

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The High Wolds Poetry Festival

Apr 30, 2022 — 4 Comments

Last year, on Saturday 2nd October 2021, I recited some of my poetry for the first time in front of a live audience. It was a daunting experience for me; not just because it involved being on a stage, projecting my voice into a microphone in front of people, but because the words being said were my own creative works and I was nervous about whether they’d be accepted by the audience as bona fide poems! I’d only been writing for a few months so I was very much ‘testing the water’.

The High Wolds Poetry Festival, North Dalton, 2021

The occasion was the High Wolds Poetry Festival, held at North Dalton Village Hall, East Yorkshire, and having entered a poem into the Festival, based on its theme of the ‘Poetry Kitchen‘, I felt it would’ve been remiss not to have accepted the customary invitation from Festival Director Julian Woodford, for me to read my culinary piece on the day (even though the thought of doing so was far from a ‘piece of cake’!). Of course, this invitation was extended to all poets entering work into the Festival, as this is the essence of the event: It’s a wonderful opportunity for anyone who writes poems to get together and share their work with each other and the wider community. Everyone is welcomed and given the chance to have a platform, irrespective of how long they’ve been writing, or whether they’ve been published. For me, this was my first chance to share with an audience and gauge their reaction!

Poets take turns to read their work.

It was an all-day event, and my slot was in the last hour between 6-7pm. There were some excellent poems being read, among which were some from seasoned poets with several collections to their name, so as my turn became imminent, I tried very hard to block out the terrifying thought that I was about to read my poems to these people! Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was a foolish terror, as the audience were very supportive; the whole point of the event being to encourage and promote all kinds of poetry, though I imagine my apprehension was probably shared by many others taking to the stage for the first time.

As the venue was North Dalton, on the Yorkshire Wolds, I decided to read the poem I wrote about nearby Millington Dale, called ‘Blue-Sky Refuge‘ and I also threw in my climate change poem ‘On Beautiful Sky‘ for good measure. My main recital however was ‘Lemon Biscuits‘ reflecting the food-related theme of the Festival, and based on an old recipe from the East Yorkshire area, dating back to 1754. I naturally tend to write according to inspiration rather than prescription, so I had to challenge myself to come up with something especially for the event itself. I resolved to base it on my attempts to bake the said ‘lemon biscuits’ during lockdown; a baking adventure with mixed results! To my great relief, all three poems seemed to be well-received and I left the stage thinking: a) “What on earth possessed me to do that in the first place?” and b) “I might just be able to do that again!“.

One of the best aspects of the Festival though, is that all entrants receive publication (in print!) in The High Wolds Poetry Collection. This means that you immediately become a ‘published poet’ in the anthology, and I think it’s a brilliant way of encouraging people (such as myself) to continue writing. My copy now sits proudly on my bookshelf!

The ‘High Wolds Poetry Collection 2021
‘Lemon Biscuits’
‘Lemon Biscuits’ (illustration by Robin Dermond Horspool).

I would highly recommend The High Wolds Poetry Festival to anyone who writes or enjoys reading or hearing poetry, but particularly to budding poets who have just started writing. It’s such a supportive and encouraging community, and a vital cultural outlet for a quiet rural area such as the Yorkshire Wolds.

by Sam Bartle

See the Festival’s instagram for related images: