Poem Readings

On this new page of Clare’s site, we will share a series of Clare’s readings of individual poems, along with the text.

Showing a portrait of Clare in acrylics by the artist R S Birkett.
Portrait of Clare in acrylics by the artist R S Birkett.

You can also find many of Clare’s works on her Other Poems page – and of course in the books she published: the last being The Mulberry Tree (2021). And you can also find Clare’s readings of her poems for the Waterlight Project at that project’s site.

Crossings 

‘Crossings’ was first published in In Other Words Anthology #2 (Allographic Press, Cambridge) and was included in Clare’s collection The Blue Hour (Shoestring Press, 2017)
Sunflowers 

A poem about a sunflower grower with a farm shop near Cambridge. First published in Scintilla in 2006 and appears in Fen Song, a CD of poems and songs.
Willow  

Willow appeared on the CD Fen Song from 2006.
The Pear Tree

The Pear Tree is taken from a performance of ‘The Pear Tree and other poems’, a poetry and artistic collaboration between Clare Crossman and Victor Manuel Ibanez. 
The Orchard Underground 

The Orchard Underground was published in the anthology for the Haddon Library Poetry Competition, Cambridge University Press, 2006 and subsequently in Clare's collection The Shape of Us (Shoestring Press, 2010).
A Swallow's Flight 

A Swallow’s Flight featured in one of the last performances undertaken by Clare: a presentation of ‘Old water new water’ at Tullie House, Carlisle in November 2019. Clare’s reading is presented as part of a music and poetry project with Phil Furneaux of the Red Stone Trio, a project on the river Gelt in Cumbria where Clare lived for many years.
Cartography

Cartography was first written in 2005. It references sites locally in South Cambridgeshire where Clare moved to in 2000. First published in the literary magazine Chapman in July 2006, it then appeared on the Fen Song CD ‘A Ballad of the Fen’, 2008. 

All poems © Estate of Clare Crossman.