Somerset In Verse - Exmoor To Levels In Poetry Launch Day: 'Somerset Awaits' & John Clare's Emmonsail's Heath in Winter

Tomorrow, the book comes out. Before that: we go back to where it all began. John Clare's Emmonsail's Heath in Winter—written by a farm labourer watching a heron flap off, a crow swing on a rotten branch, twenty long-tailed tits hang on a twig and start again. Nothing in it performs for him. Nothing waits. His first appearance on the show, and worth the wait. Then Somerset Awaits, the opening poem of the collection—a title that's wrong on purpose. Eighteen lines later, the poem itself says: "Geology holds no intention; it does not wait." A twelve-metre tide, a river that runs above its own fields, water pumped uphill against its own weight, twice a day, for two centuries, just so Somerset can stay dry. This week's discussion—Launch Week: an honest account of what this book actually is, what it cost to write it straight, and three small, no-obligation ways you can help it find readers. Somerset In Verse — Exmoor To Levels In Poetry arrives in paperback on Amazon on 3rd September. No pre-orders—just the date. Enter our competition: Suggest a guest poem by emailing [email protected] for your chance to win a signed copy, sent to you by hand. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don't miss next week's walk.