Dawn and Dave Stacey and my poem inspired by their work in Lewes.

Capturing The Moment by Dawn Stacey

I live in the small country town of Lewes, Sussex, in south east England - it's an inspiring to place to have your home. Not only is it a lovely town with a rich history and well preserved architecture, it is also bordered by the wonderful Sussex Downs - we are in England's newest national park.

If that isn't enough to make anyone want to live here, it is also a town full of artists many of whom are also my friends. Two of them, Dawn and David Stacey (Dave to me), have just opened their latest exhibition, Shared Encounters,  round the corner from my house at Lewes' excellent Hop Gallery. It runs until 13th March.

Dawn is a painter and Dave is a photographer and they have collaborated on a show that explores the many moods of the reclaimed Railway Land on the edge of town that is now a twenty acre nature reserve, ten minutes walk from my house. It is an inspiring place to visit but then so is this exhibition.

Emerging Teasels by Dawn Stacey

I have one of Dawn's paintings on my living room wall and I'm lucky to be able to look at it every day. It depicts, in Dawn's very distinctive style, a red dawn in November on the Railway Land Nature Reserve. Dawn's work is an intriguing mixture of landscape and intense close-up which mixes realism and reductionism with near abstraction. It's a style that reveals something new no matter how many times you return to look.

Dawn Stacey's November painting on my living room wall.

When she had a significant birthday last November, I thought I'd mark it with a poem, Red November, and, fortunately, both Dawn and Dave liked it sufficiently to get it framed and they asked if they could include it in the exhibition. I was proud to be part of their show but also thrilled to see poetry up there on the wall in a frame like any other work of art. I'd like to do more of this.

Cow by David Stacey

It's fascinating to see Dawn's railway land work alongside her husband Dave's photography of the same location. Dave's natural melancholy is not often on display when you talk to him but it is often the mood of his work. This cow is not just chewing the cud - things are seldom what they seem in Dave's work. It was this quality, also found in Dawn's paintings, that inspired the tone of my poem. I was very happy to be invited to the gallery on Saturday afternoon to read Red November surrounded by Dawn and Dave's work.  If you can, do go along and take a look before the show ends on 14th March.

Crow 2 by David Stacey

I've always had a thing about crows and I've been very fond of Dave's photograph Crow 2 for some time now. I love the bird's determination but also the way its sinister silhouette contrasts with the reed banks along our Lewes river, the Ouse.

Having my poem up there on the wall with their work, I felt, for a moment or two, like an artist myself but then the realization dawns on me and I remember just how terrible I am with a paintbrush. Maybe that's why I enjoy looking at art so much - I'm no longer tempted to try doing it myself.

With Dawn and Dave Stacey at the Hop Gallery, Lewes.

Stephen Dearsley goes to London along with some of my poetry on an inspiring and truly literary weekend.

I was in London last Friday to read from my book, Stephen Dearsley's Summer Of Love (published by Ward Wood) at the Polari Literary Salon at the Southbank Centre.

As I was walking to Lewes station to catch my train,  a double rainbow formed in the sky above me. I know it has a scientific explanation but, for a moment or two, I allowed myself to see it as a symbol. Traditionally double rainbows are meant to represent a time of transformation where the spiritual and the worldly combine. I don't know about that but it was a wonderful sign of encouragement as I headed off to one of the largest, and most receptive, audiences I have ever had to face.

It certainly felt like a moment of transformation standing there in front of an audience of nearly 300 attentive listeners at the sold out event.

They laughed in all the right places with an ear for any nuanced humour that might appear in my work.

I was reading a chapter from my novel and also some of my poetry which also seemed to hold their attention.

It was a perfect audience and a superbly organised event. My thanks and admiration then to  the inspiring Paul Burston who invited me to perform there with fellow writers Jonathan Broughton,  Musa Okwonga, my friend, the ebullient but hard-hitting Rose Collis and another friend, fellow Ward Wood novelist, the mordantly witty, Vg Lee. It was a terrific night so thanks to everyone who made it so special. Thanks to that double rainbow too.

It turned into a very literary weekend as I was also scheduled to read my poetry at Lewes' Hop Gallery where my friends Dawn and David Stacey have a new exhibition (1 - 13 March) which includes a framed copy of a poem I wrote for Dawn incorporating my impressions of her paintings, one of which I own.

I'll write more about this tomorrow but, if you can get there, do try to see their work.

More of my poetry reached another audience too on Sunday when two of my new Fibonacci poems were published in the seventeenth issue of the Fib Review. If you want to read my new Fibs, here's the link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/index.html

I shall come back to The Fib Review in a blog later this week but I'm thrilled that my Fibonacci poems continue to be published by this splendid American journal.

That double rainbow wasn't joking - it really was a truly transformational weekend.