A former Dorset school teacher turned poet has been nominated for an American poetry award.
Beth Brooke has written a series of poems inspired by the art and life of the sculptor Elisabeth Frink in her collection Transformations.
Her poems, Horses At The Battle Of Philippi and The Green Man from the collection have been nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize.
Beth, who is a former school teacher and lives in Dorchester, talked about what it meant to be nominated.
She said: "Its aim is to honour the best poetry, short fiction and essays published by small presses.
"Each press can nominate up to six pieces out of their year’s output so to have two nominations is no mean feat.
"That’s how good Elisabeth Frink is - to be able to pull out of me two poems that publishers liked that much."
READ: Elisabeth Frink exhibition opens at Dorset Museum
Beth also has one of her poems featured in the Elisabeth Frink exhibition that is currently on display at the Dorset Museum and Art Gallery in Dorchester, where she volunteers and does poetry workshops.
As part of her role at the museum, she was asked to help a group of deaf artists, and created a poem based on one of her poems from 'Transformations'.
She added: "I was asked to help out with a group of people who wanted to develop their own artist skills - which I did.
"It was such a wonderful experience and I learned so much from them and about poetry.
"I wrote a poem after a conversation with a member of the group because I wondered if it was possible to work with someone in the group - it just shows poetry isn't fixed."
The poem is called 'I learn how to say horse in British Sign Language' and is part of a video which is displayed in the community space of the museum.
Beth said Frink has been a huge inspiration to her work over the years.
She said: “I find Frink fascinating, she has such a critical yet compassionate eye, and I love the energy in her work, the connection she had with the environment and the way she viewed our relationship with the animal world.
“She was such an advocate for human rights and her work linked to that theme really resonates with me.”
Beth has also recently published the collection, Chalk Stories, which has been described as ‘love letters to Dorset’, including a quirky account of an elephant bathing at Weymouth beach to an evocation of Worgret Heath.
With over 100 poems already published in more than 20 journals and anthologies, plus regular appearances at open-mic and online events, Beth has emerged as a distinctive new voice.
She has also recently had work accepted by the Poetry Archive and is planning her next collection, which is working under the title ‘Work For Resurrection’ which could feature more of her poems inspired by Frink.
All her books are available from Amazon and can also be purchased from the publishers’ websites.
In addition, Transformations is on sale at The Dorset Museum. For more information about Beth and for links to her other work visit www.bethbrookepoetry.co.uk
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