RIPON ANTHOLOGY 2025 NOW LAUNCHED (includes 2 of my poems)
Peter Burgham - BURG34
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​Bird's Eye View

From Coast to Coast in Verse
A rollercoaster ride through the British seaside, a wry glance at Britain in (or not in) Europe, and a ramble through the shadowy forests of TV newsrooms and current affairs.

​These three themes join together to form my debut collection Bird's Eye View, a hop on/hop off poetic tour with a lively commentary and not least a smile or two.


   

Recommended by NEW WRITING NORTH
PETER BURGHAM
My debut collection BIRD'S EYE VIEW in 2021 was a revision of an earlier attempt that had been published with impeccable timing right at the start of lockdown in 2020 ! I was delighted when NEW WRITING NORTH reviewed the revised book and added it to their recommended reading list in Autumn 2021.

I tend to like the traditional styles of poetry, with a preference for conciseness  and craftsmanship. Influenced many years ago by the Mersey Poets, I have listed many other influences elsewhere on this website. My works are usually a mixture of
 humorous verse, rhyme, and free verse, along the lines of Roger McGough, Ian McMillan and Brian Bilston for the humour, with my own take on free verse.

I now have 12 collections published, with my most recent one NEXUS available since 3rd Sept 2024 and my railway verses CONNECTIONS launched on 7th Nov 2023.  I also like to create photo-poems, as attested by my PAUSE AND REWIND series, each one
​centred around a different location.  

Website last updated : 14th May 2025.                                                                                                     Picture above: Receding glacier at Jungfraujoch, Switzerland   

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A Million Suns
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They’ve bulbed a million suns

In the grass of Sefton Park,

Assembled, primed, and classified

A weapon of mass construction,

An army of the heart.

                                                           From 'A Million Suns'
                                      highly commended poem, Wirral Festival of Firsts, 2015

 In 1989 the Marie Curie organisation adopted the daffodil nationwide as its symbol after a successful marketing campaign in Liverpool. A year later, working with the City Council, they planted a million daffodils in Sefton Park, and named it ‘The Field of Hope’.   There are now several fields of hope in Liverpool and indeed in other towns and cities of the UK.     

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RIPON ANTHOLOGY 2025

THIS HERE THIS NOW




A delightful anthology of the work of poets ​associated with Ripon and the surrounding area.

I have two poems included:

  Trekking

  The Waiting-Room Mirror





Here is a link to the publisher
Hornblower Press

hornblowerpress.wordpress.com/books/ :





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       PAUSE AND REWIND

      Collection published on 24th May 2021.


      This is the first in a series of books of photo-poems 
      centred on different locations, including York, Liverpool
      and this initial one.  


      This is a light-hearted look in verse at aspects of my
      local village of Haxby, and its close neighbour Wigginton.
       
      Available online at Waterstones and Amazon, and via
      local booksellers, and the author.




       See sample pages from the Pause and Rewind series below...


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MORE SAMPLE POEMS FROM BIRD'S EYE VIEW :



Bird's Eye View

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The seagull easy in his world
Can't understand quite why
These humans cannot manage to do
A simple thing like fly.


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Mersey Royals

'life goes on day after day'

.... in the centre of the dream
a magnolia blazes with light ....


Camomile Tea

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​1st Prize
Buxton Poetry Competition 2017

...we wait for the snowdrops -
we file documents, we tidy our desks...



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 Hang-Gliding

    ... how edges form and blur .....


Poem longlisted (top 17) for Yeovil Prize 2015

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The Putter-Togetherers
... blue-collar knights
​of the pivoted steel ....

Placed 3rd in Southport Writers'
Poetry Competition 2016



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Released in Nov 2023

CONNECTIONS : Railway Verses    

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