About John Powls
John Powls is a published poet with five books of his work in print. He is a regular performer of his work at major literary festivals and exhibitions in the UK and America. John often works with in collaboration with composers such as Alan Danson, musicians, painters and, specially, with photographer Carol Ballenger. His work has been broadcast on TV and radio.
Ashide - A Second Nature is a collection of high quality, impressionistic photographs, including innovative panoramas, by Carol Ballenger and related haiku by John, themed around Japanese style gardens in England.
'The Uses Of Poetry'- is a CD of 'Poemusic' as a partner in 2050 with singer songwriter, Hilary Harwood and Alan Danson.
John describes his poetry as English New Romantic - seeking expression through the poetic combination of narrative, landscape and love, in English, respecting and developing from the work and traditions of English Romantic poets.
John and his regular collaborators share interests and inspiration in music and words, both in what they do and in what they appreciate of others' work across the arts that has influenced them. They also share a strong affinity for land and seascape, especially for South Devon and Dartmoor. These have strongly shaped their work.
John is also a football writer, contributing his regular columns to comeonboro.com, Boro Banter and Anthony Vickers’ Untypical Boro Blog. He also broadcasts and podcasts on this topic, focussing on his beloved Boro – Middlesbrough Football Club.
John's Collections
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Publications
- 'Dartmoor Dreams' (with photographer Carol Ballenger) Halsgrove 1995
- 'Dartmoor Dreams' Original lyric string quartet with poetry, composed by Alan Danson and performed with the Rowan Quartet Cassette Halsgrove 1996
- 'Galerie D'Amour' Poetry@MMD 1998
- '28 Phases Of The Moon' & 'A Sea Change' Poetry Pamphlets Poetry To Go 1999
- 'The Year Of The Red Comet' Poetry Pamphlet Poetry@MMD 2000
- 'Stone Universe' (with photographer Carol Ballenger) Halsgrove 2001
- 'a book always open' Poetry@MMD/Dartmoor National Park Publishing 2002
- ‘The Uses Of Poetry’ CD of Poemusic as a partner in 2050 with singer songwriter, Hilary Harwood and composer arranger, Alan Danson. MMD 2006
- ‘Ashide – A Second Nature’ (with Carol Ballenger) ArtsLive 2008
- Plus many single poems in journals, newspapers, magazines and several anthologies; text for artists' monographs (including a translation into Spanish/Menorquan); greetings cards; postcards; featured on a number of websites.
Performances
- Regular at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Ways With Words at Dartington plus other festivals. Many exhibitions/performances either solo or with photographers/visual artists/musicians. Prizewinner in a number of poetry competitions. Many TV and Radio appearances and performances; scripting and producing for radio. Reading tours of California , Chicago and Florida .
Projects
- The Touchstone - the first menhir stone to be raised on Dartmoor for 3,000 years inscribed with one of John's poems to celebrate the millennium.
- Millennium Poet In Residence, Dartmoor National Park - 2000/2001.
- Ashide - A Second Nature John performs the haiku from the collection at exhibitions and other events, working with Mike McInerney an exponent of the shakuhachi Japanese flute.
Partnerships
- John believes strongly that his work should succeed as a product as well as an artistic work. He has worked frequently (for example on 'Galerie D'Amour', 'a book always open' and 'The Use Of Poetry©' CD) with graphic designer and wordsmith Alison Ford of The Em Space (design@empace.co.uk).
- 'Galerie D'Amour' also features original illustrations by internationally renowned artists Richard and Kay Spare (kayart@globalnet.co.uk) and John has also worked extensively with Menorca based Lindsay Mullen, another internationally renowned artist specialising in modern landscape impressionism.
- John is a member of The Poetry Society
Contact John at john@redshoes2050.com