ROGER PHILIP DENNIS - writing
WINNER OF POETRY SOCIETY NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 2014
I started taking myself seriously as a writer and poet when, having never entered any poetry competition before, let alone won one, I found myself, very much to my surprise, winning the top prize for the poem, CORKSCREW HILL PHOTO.
In probably the biggest and most respected international poetry competition, that of The Poetry Society (there were over 13,000 entries that year.) My thanks go to the judges, especially Roddy Lumsden, a great poet who unfortunately has since died untimely.
He said:
"Roger's winning poem is a stunning poem, which mixes sweetness, sentiment, the visual and a touch of the grotesque. It seemed to contain a strange mix of naivety and complexity. Most of all, I couldn't quite grasp what it was about, but in the best of ways - I wanted to reread and make my own story from what was being offered."
CORKSCREW HILL PHOTO
You can hear me reading Corkscrew Hill Photo on the film-poem by James W Norton (commissioned by the Poetry Society) on Vimeo:
It takes a while before you hear the poem, but don't let that put you off, it is a great piece of imaginative photography and film-making; and if Norton, like Lumsden, makes his own story from what the poem offers, rather than what I had in mind, I still - perhaps all the more - very thoroughly recommend it!
INVOCATIONS AND PORTRAITS
My first book. Wylde Publications 2023. A collaboration of paired poems with the poet and musician Steve Day. I designed the cover using one of my sketches
"We decided to present our work together out of common regard. Though our writing is different.... we felt a synergy between each other's intention, precision (or lack of it) and musicality." (Steve)
"Juxtapositions that contrast yet neverthelesss complement each other." (Roger)
FOUR WINDOWS ON THE MALE
Wylde Publications 2025
Four poets contribute twenty or so poems each. On the theme of "the male" or masculinity today.
I designed the cover, using my charcoal and watercolour sketch based on one of Elizabeth Frink's 'Riace Warrior' statues in Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
BETWEEN NEW YEAR AND OLD
My first solo collection of poems.
Wylde Publications 26 October 2024
I designed the cover using one of my photos.
More information on this and other publications (with my cover designs) on
my writing site, www.rogerphilipdennis.co.uk
UNTAMED
An anthology produced and edited by Steve Day, Wylde Publications 2023. Left-hand pages image, right-hand page poetry. I have two poems in the book as well as three artworks.
I designed the cover using a painting by Ric White.
