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Alumni Spotlight: Finding Poetry in Everyday Life - Glenis Moore's Journey to Publication
by Writing Workshops Staff
4 months ago
In the flat lands of the Fens just outside Cambridge, UK, Glenis Moore has discovered something profound: extraordinary poetry lives within the most ordinary moments. Her chapbook Pond Life, published by Boats Against the Current in April 2025, exemplifies this philosophy, beginning with "a small world of dozing pond life" and expanding outward to explore everything in her heart. It's a fitting achievement for a poet who finds her deepest inspiration in everyday life.
The Power of the Ordinary
Glenis's approach to poetry reflects a fundamental truth about creative writing: the most universal themes often emerge from the most personal and mundane experiences.
"My poetry is based on nature and/or family and memories of my childhood," she explains. This grounding in the familiar—the natural world around her Fenland home, family relationships, and childhood memories—provides the foundation for work that resonates far beyond its origins.
Barrett Warner, author of Why Is It So Hard to Kill You?, captures this expansive quality in his praise for Pond Life:
"Glenis Moore's poems go in, and then go out and out and out. She begins with a small world of dozing pond life, and then we learn what's in her heart, what she fears, and what she hates as the lens widens into everything good and everything bad."
This movement from the specific to the universal—from pond life to human life—demonstrates the sophisticated craft behind seemingly simple subject matter.
A Disciplined Creative Practice
One of the most striking aspects of Glenis's approach is her commitment to consistent practice. "I am currently writing a poem a week whenever I can," she shares. This regular engagement with her craft reflects the discipline that underlies successful creative work, even when inspiration comes from spontaneous observation of everyday life.
The combination of daily motivation from ordinary experience and structured writing practice creates the conditions for sustained creative output. Glenis has found a way to balance inspiration with discipline, allowing her natural responsiveness to life around her to flourish within a framework that encourages regular writing.
Workshop Foundation: "Seven Ideas in Seven Days"
Glenis's connection to Writing Workshops centers around a course called "Seven Ideas in Seven Days"—a title that perfectly aligns with her prolific approach to poetry. This workshop experience clearly reinforced her instinct for finding multiple creative possibilities within short timeframes, supporting her current practice of writing regularly and frequently.
The workshop's emphasis on generating ideas quickly and consistently seems tailor-made for a poet who draws inspiration from everyday observations. Rather than waiting for perfect moments or profound subjects, the approach encourages writers to find creative potential in whatever surrounds them.
Learning to Believe in Her Work
The most valuable skill Glenis gained from her Writing Workshops experience was "believing in my work." This psychological shift—from uncertainty to confidence—often represents the crucial difference between writing as a private hobby and pursuing publication and literary community.
For poets working with everyday subject matter, this confidence becomes particularly important. It's one thing to write about dramatic events or exotic experiences; it requires genuine artistic faith to believe that poems about pond life, family memories, and daily observations deserve serious attention from readers and publishers.
The fact that Boats Against the Current selected Pond Life for publication validates this faith, demonstrating how confidence in one's artistic vision can translate into publishing success.
The Gift of Literary Community
What Glenis enjoyed most about her workshop experience was "listening to other poets." This seemingly simple pleasure reflects something essential about creative development: we learn not just from instruction but from witnessing how other writers approach their craft.
Hearing other poets read their work, discuss their processes, and share their creative challenges provides inspiration, perspective, and community that isolated writing cannot offer. For someone motivated by everyday life, exposure to how other writers find meaning in their own ordinary experiences can be particularly valuable.
Life in the Fens
Glenis's biography paints a picture of someone whose life seamlessly integrates creative work with other fulfilling activities: when she is not writing, she reads, makes beaded necklaces, knits, cycles, and runs 10K races slowly. This diverse range of activities—from crafts to athletics to reading—suggests someone who approaches life with the same openness and curiosity that informs her poetry.
Living in the flat lands of the Fens just outside of Cambridge UK with her partner and three rescue cats provides the perfect setting for a poet drawn to everyday observations. The Fens, with their distinctive landscape and wildlife, offer endless opportunities for the kind of nature-based poetry that forms the foundation of her work.
The detail about running "10K races slowly" is particularly charming—it suggests someone who participates fully in life without being driven by competitive pressure, an attitude that likely serves her poetry well.
An International Publishing Record
Beyond Pond Life, Glenis has established an impressive publishing record across "a variety of UK, US and European publications." This international reach demonstrates how poetry rooted in specific local experience can speak to readers across cultural boundaries.
Previous publications in venues like Dust Poetry, The Galway Review, Infinity Wanderers, and Cosmic Daffodil show sustained engagement with the literary community over time. The progression from individual poem placements to chapbook publication represents natural artistic development supported by consistent work and growing recognition.
You can follow Glenis's continued work on her Substack newsletter, where she likely shares both new poems and insights into her creative process.
A Model for Finding Poetry Everywhere
Glenis Moore's story offers inspiration for writers who worry that their ordinary lives don't provide sufficient material for serious creative work. Her success demonstrates that the key isn't having extraordinary experiences—it's bringing extraordinary attention to whatever experiences you do have.
The movement in her work, as Barrett Warner notes, from "dozing pond life" to explorations of fear, love, and human complexity, shows how skilled poets can find infinite depths in the simplest starting points. Combined with the confidence gained through workshop experience and sustained by disciplined practice, this approach has led to publication success and ongoing creative fulfillment.
As she continues writing "a poet a week whenever I can," Glenis exemplifies how everyday inspiration, supported by craft knowledge and artistic confidence, can sustain a thriving creative practice. Her journey from workshop participant to published poet offers a roadmap for any writer seeking to transform ordinary observation into extraordinary art.
Ready to find poetry in your own everyday life? Explore our poetry workshops and discover how skilled instruction can help you develop the confidence and craft to transform ordinary experience into compelling art.
Congratulations to Glenis Moore on the publication of Pond Life!
