His work has been published in numerous national and international literary journals and magazines. He was Highly Commended in the Yaffle Prize 2025. His collection A Square Peg in a Round World, subtitled A Journey through Verse was published in September 2025 by Black Pear Press: Black Pear Press – Smile! You’re at the best Worcestershire small … Continue reading Clifford Liles – Poet
A Square Peg in a Round World – A Journey in Verse – Initial Feedback
Success! Initial feedback is appearing from those first readers who’ve got back to me in an unsolicited way, saying how much they enjoyed the book. These comments are the thing that really makes all my creative work worthwhile. It also makes it easier to sell when I am confident that buyers will very likely enjoy … Continue reading A Square Peg in a Round World – A Journey in Verse – Initial Feedback
A Square Peg in a Round World – A Journey in Verse
This evocative poetry collection takes you on a global odyssey through both untamed wilderness and urban landscapes. Spanning continents, the poems traverse World Heritage Sites and bustling metropolises across Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, and the USA, before ultimately returning to the tranquillity of an English garden. You are taken trekking, climbing, … Continue reading A Square Peg in a Round World – A Journey in Verse
A Change of Focus
I have been blogging regularly for five years since September 2018. I once heard that on average most bloggers last two years before running out ideas. I have not run out of ideas – it is just that I want to spend my time writing more poems. My reserve of new works was depleted after … Continue reading A Change of Focus
The Thin Veneer – An update
I stand on the shoulders of other poets and peer into the twenty-first century. I regard the enduring human condition and the rapidly changing planet and try to comment on the gulf between them with the words that I have. My first collection, the pamphlet, The Thin Veneer is fast approaching selling out. I’m still … Continue reading The Thin Veneer – An update
Judging a Poetry Competition – Part 2
The Poems Submitted This year I was one of the judges for the Canterbury Festival’s annual Poet of the Year competition. It was a rewarding experience and merits a description of what was involved. In last month's blog, we looked at the process of selection, but here in part two, I ask, what of the … Continue reading Judging a Poetry Competition – Part 2