Introducing Plainsong: a poetry cycle of the past

From Anglo-Saxon mischief
to Suffragette struggles
Caedmon, an illiterate cowherd at
7th century Whitby monastery, plucks poems from heaven; a goldsmithing abbot vanishes with royal gemstones; William Wilberforce casts aside earthly pleasures before embarking on his life's mission; and the Suffragette movement's leading family suffer a serious falling out.
Plainsong, a cultural history cycle, is my latest publication, which came out from Broken Sleep Books at New Year 2023-24.
Poems from Plainsong featured on this site are 'Under London'
in the Prize-winning Poems section
and 'Pocahontas Prepares for an Audience at Court'
in the Poetry Collection Prize grouping.
Plainsong is available via Amazon and direct from Broken Sleep Books:
https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/victor-tapner-plainsong
Welcome

I'm Victor Tapner, a British poet, and I'd like to welcome you to this website.
The characters whose narratives fill my poems range from the hunters and farmers of prehistoric East Anglia in the collection Flatlands to titans of the Renaissance and today's victims of urban warfare.
The site presents a selection of published work and prize-winning
poems, including Kalashnikov, Letters from Manuela, and Dancing for Monsieur Degas.
Plainsong and Flatlands
Opening at the dawn of English poetry, Plainsong travels the byways of history through to the industrial era with London's 'Great Stink' and into the political turbulence of the 20th century.
The cycle is a companion to an earlier book, Flatlands (Salt 2010), set in Britain's deep tribal past. That collection seeks to bring to life more than 2,000 years of prehistory, from the late Stone Age up to the Roman invasion. Shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize, it also won the poetry prize in the East Anglian Book Awards and the International Rubery Book Award.
The characters whose narratives fill my poems range from the hunters and farmers of prehistoric East Anglia in the collection Flatlands to titans of the Renaissance and today's victims of urban warfare.
The site presents a selection of published work and prize-winning
poems, including Kalashnikov, Letters from Manuela, and Dancing for Monsieur Degas.
Plainsong and Flatlands
Opening at the dawn of English poetry, Plainsong travels the byways of history through to the industrial era with London's 'Great Stink' and into the political turbulence of the 20th century.
The cycle is a companion to an earlier book, Flatlands (Salt 2010), set in Britain's deep tribal past. That collection seeks to bring to life more than 2,000 years of prehistory, from the late Stone Age up to the Roman invasion. Shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize, it also won the poetry prize in the East Anglian Book Awards and the International Rubery Book Award.

Waiting to Tango
and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness
Waiting to Tango, a Templar Poetry Straid Award collection, and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness, winner of the Munster Literature Centre's international chapbook prize, invite the reader on journeys of exploration: Waiting to Tango through the landscapes of art, music and science, and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness to global destinations, from the imperial Chinese court to the waters of the Dead Sea.
and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness
Waiting to Tango, a Templar Poetry Straid Award collection, and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness, winner of the Munster Literature Centre's international chapbook prize, invite the reader on journeys of exploration: Waiting to Tango through the landscapes of art, music and science, and Banquet in the Hall of Happiness to global destinations, from the imperial Chinese court to the waters of the Dead Sea.

Finding Flatlands
My article 'Finding Flatlands: a journey through prehistory' on the writing of that collection was first published on the Salt website and is republished here.
A number of the Flatlands poems were broadcast on BBC Radio Essex and BBC Suffolk.
An interview by the poet and novelist Sheenagh Pugh that gave me an opportunity to reflect on the background to Flatlands is published on her website:
http://sheenaghpugh.livejournal.com/54967.html
Poem Alone
The 'Poem Alone' slot – a coda to this site – changes from time to time according to whim or weather. At the moment it features 'Twenty Seconds' from Waiting to Tango.
My article 'Finding Flatlands: a journey through prehistory' on the writing of that collection was first published on the Salt website and is republished here.
A number of the Flatlands poems were broadcast on BBC Radio Essex and BBC Suffolk.
An interview by the poet and novelist Sheenagh Pugh that gave me an opportunity to reflect on the background to Flatlands is published on her website:
http://sheenaghpugh.livejournal.com/54967.html
Poem Alone
The 'Poem Alone' slot – a coda to this site – changes from time to time according to whim or weather. At the moment it features 'Twenty Seconds' from Waiting to Tango.