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My poem "Greta and Me" published in SMEAR, poetry anthology, edited by Greta Bellamacina, published by New River Press 16 Dec 2016

A while ago, I wrote a poem that was different to others I've written recently. It was a love poem dedicated to a friend, my friend Greta Bellamacina. And not so long after I wrote it, I was walking around barefoot in the garden, talking to Greta on the phone. Half an hour in she asked if I had any poems for women because she was putting together an anthology. An anthology for girls, by girls. So it was all serendipitous.

The name of the anthology SMEAR, is enough to make any woman wince slightly. Maybe that's the point. I love Greta for putting this together, published by her and Robert Montgomery's New River Press. I'm honoured to be featured alongside talented ladies I've had the pleasure of getting to know this year, like Greta, Rosalind Jana, and Luisa Le Voguer Couyet. And I look forward to discovering a whole selection of new poetic voices.

In an article on the anthology Dazed and Confused magazine noted that SMEAR is the first time Russian poet Galina Rymbu has been published in English. So it's exciting to be part of it, to have a poem on the inside, and my eyes on the front cover, outside.