No pretence - hand on heart: I'm thrilled to have my Fibonacci poem nominated for The Pushcart Prize.

I'm thrilled this week to be told that I've been nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize by American publisher Musepie Press who have been publishing my poetry in two of their journals, Shot Glass Journal and The Fib Review since 2009.

The nominated poem, Visitation, is published with three of my other new Fibonacci poems in the new issue of The Fib Review which has now published 57 of my Fibs, short poems written to a syllable count according to the Hindu-Arabic numerical system introduced to the West by the Medieval mathematician Leonardo Bonacci (c.1170 - c.1250), known as Fibonacci.

Fibonacci's statue in Pisa.

The Fibonacci Sequence finds a pattern in numbers - one that is repeated in nature but which can also be an exacting but satisfying master for short form poetry. It has been my personal passion for some years now discovering how varied the possibilities are in writing within such a tight set of criteria.

My Pushcart nominated poem, Visitation can be found by following this link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/colin_bell1.html

So thank you Musepie Press, on behalf of all Fibonacci poets,  for nominating my poem.

Here is some information about the Pushcart Prize:
'The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America.

Since 1976, hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in our annual collections. Each year most of the writers and many of the presses are new to the series. Every volume contains an index of past selections, plus lists of outstanding presses with addresses.

The Pushcart Prize has been a labor of love and independent spirits since its founding. It is one of the last surviving literary co-ops from the 60's and 70's. Our legacy is assured by donations to our Fellowships endowment.'

Here's the link to the Pushcart Prize website:

http://pushcartprize.com/index.html

The publication of a Fibonacci poem and another poetry anthology brighten my Lewes weekend.

I've had a mini-run on poetry publication over the weekend. I've just received a copy of a new poetry anthology, Tic Toc,  published by the American company Kind Of Hurricane Press and including my poem Over Time. All the poems are, in different ways, "time tunnels" and I'm proud to be included. It was a good weekend because I also heard that I have a new Fibonacci poem, The Kiss,  in #18 of the specialist Fibonacci poetry journal, The Fib Review published by another American publisher, Musepie Press. I'm especially proud of being there because it continues my relationship with this pioneering venture, the World's premier Fibonacci publisher. I have had my Fib poems included in every issue since #5 so this is my lucky thirteenth appearance.   It's great when I'm so involved in my novel writing that poetry keeps encouraging me to keep the poems coming too. Here's the link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/colin_bell1.html

The new anthology is also good news as it adds to the growing number of poetry anthologies to include my work.

If you want to read them, you can find on them using the following links:


Tic Toc published by Kind Of A Hurricane Press:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tic-Toc-Various-Authors/dp/149950196X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404121393&sr=1-1&keywords=Tic+Toc

Reaching Out published by Cinnamon Press:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reaching-Out-Other-Stories-Poems/dp/1907090886/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404121482&sr=1-1&keywords=Reaching+Out+Rowan+B.+Fortune

George Best, Miss World and Me: What better subject for my latest Fibonacci Poem?

George Best and Mary Stävin.

As a youngish man in the early days of my career in television, I had the intriguing and unlikely job of having a breakfast meeting with one of the most talked-about of all British footballers, the legendary George Best. We were scheduled to meet in London at the decidedly posh restaurant in up-market department store, Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly. I arrived as myself, a media type, an unglamorous journo on day-release. He arrived with his current girlfriend, the then Miss World, the very beautiful Swedish actress, Mary Stävin, best known, perhaps, as one of the 'Bond Girls' in the James Bond movie, Octopussy.

Mary Stävin and Roger Moore in the James bond movie,Octopussy.

 The photograph above of George and Mary was taken that year and shows that they were, no exaggeration, a very handsome couple. Not only was I the odd-one out in the glamour stakes but I had no interest either in the Miss World contest or football.

George Best in action.

Strangely, we all got on really well - well enough for me to tell George that I was hoping to get fit and had recently started going to a once-a-week fitness class at the Stretford Leisure Centre in Greater Manchester. OK, I know, not very cool. The rest of the breakfast, when the work had been done, was devoted to this famous and now ( for a time) sober athlete giving me one-to-one advice on my fitness regime. He told me I was wasting my time only taking exercise once a week and, it was thanks to him, that I started the regular fitness regime that I have followed ever since that day. I owe it all to George.

I've been writing a lot of what is known as Fibonacci poetry in the last seven years and, recently, I've been fitting some of my television career memories into this toughly disciplined short form style where each line has to  conform to a strict syllabic count using the arithmetic code popularised in Europe by the medieval Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci. This weekend six of my new poems were published in the specialist Fibonacci journal,  Musepie Press' The Fib Review, and one of them was my poem about George. My thanks, as always to Mary-Jane Grandimetti, the editor of The Fib Review, who has encouraged me since my early days as a poet and who has now published 49 of my Fibs in 16 consecutive issues of her great journal.

Here is the page featuring my George Best poem but, for the rest of my Fibs and for many more by other poets, click on the link below:

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

If you're a real glutton for punishment, click on the writer archive section and you'll find links to all 49 of my Fibonacci poems.

 Meanwhile, I have to start thinking about #21 of The Fib Review hoping to come up with something to send in  next time.