Garyswordz

Poetry@ The Shrewsbury Coffee House, Shrewsbury

Posted on September 16, 2012 by garylongden

One of the only downsides of being amongst a very few reviewers of Midlands poetry is that my own performance is rarely commented upon. I am grateful to Liz Lefroy for giving her time in this regard on the occasion when my myself, and David Calcutt, visited Shrewsbury. She reports as follows:

I like living in Shrewsbury, and I like it more since The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse opened. As well as being an excellent café and meeting place, it provides a venue for music and words on a scale which feels democratic and authentic.

The Coffeehouse is located on busy Castle Gates, reported in 2011 as having some of the worst air quality in the country. This is surprising in some ways, as the town, with its medieval and black and white buildings, looping river and self-claimed subtitle: ‘Town of Flowers’, has the feel of a place with kinder air.

On Thursday night, the audience for the monthly Coffeehouse Poetry evening was treated to fine performances from Gary Longden and David Calcutt. It was only the ninth event in what has become a feature of the West Midlands / Borders poetry calendar and it was good to see newcomers in the audience as well as regulars.

Gary, who travelled from Birmingham, opened the evening in style with his unabashed poem, ‘Adultery’ which toys with our expectations and nervousness, describing changes in behaviour which arouse a partner’s suspicions. And the cause? The narrator’s obsessive attendance at poetry readings. I suspect that there is a strong autobiographical element to this poem – Gary’s numerous reviews of poetry events across the Midlands is evidence of his not-so-secret and generous devotion. And he showed the necessary charm, acknowledging both audience and venue by featuring the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse as the backdrop for his next poem, The Moment.

Playfulness was a constant in Gary’s energetic set, delivered with a confidence which enabled the audience to relax and enjoy the words and (often double) meanings. His is a playfulness with a sharply witty edge – the vibrant Dead Pop Stars laments that ‘Rock and Roll death is not what it used to be’ and Going through the Wardrobe was nothing to do with Narnia, but everything to do with all the stereotypes linked to female insecurities about appearance. Whilst my inner feminist was stamping her feet, my outer woman was laughing in recognition as the pile of disappointing, and therefore discarded, clothes grew. And this is one of Gary’s skills – to show us the common ground of assumptions and then to take us beyond them to make us recognise some other truth. This is the case with his more serious poems as well. A particular favourite for me was Loose Change, a tribute to coinage pre-decimalisation, when tanners, farthings and half crowns were ‘always a name, never a number.’ Gary rightly observes that our new coins have acquired no such names.

In all, then, a set which showed a poet with an exceptional range, from beautiful and haunted lines – ‘sometimes swifts lean their heads to listen to the rising tide’ – to the downright colloquial but immaculately placed ‘Say cheese!’ in At the Charles Cotton Hotel. From ironic (I hope it was ironic …) confessions about a crush on Rebekah Brooks, to the sensitive exploration of the language of serious illness, all was delivered at pace and on time.

After the break, David Calcutt took the stage – which is interesting, because there is no stage to take. Unusually, and completely successfully, he began his set sitting down, and performed initially from memory. The Coffeehouse was busy, and in addition to street noises, the sound of cups and chatter from upstairs was a background reality. David created a sense of calm and intensity, a cocoon-like pod of drama. Like Gary, he made the audience feel utterly confident in his performance, and any unsettling occurred through the power of his words. Simile and metaphor leapt into the room as ‘the sun rose like the barrel of a gun’. We were there in woods with him, could visualise Dead Badgers, ‘each one a nail driven flush into my head’. David’s pamphlet Road Kill, co-written with Nadia Kingsley and published by Fair Acre Press, which Nadia runs, is out in December, and I am looking forward to reading these poems, and more.

David Calcutt

Next came two poems inspired by works in Walsall Art Gallery: The Enchanted Forest and Broken Children. The forest has ‘no way in except, perhaps, through the soul’s enchanted eye.’ Poems inspired by other works of art can be difficult to appreciate without the visual image that prompted them, but not in this case. These are stand alone works but nonetheless have made me resolve to make a long overdue visit to the gallery.

David is a playwright, novelist and poet, and has a strong list of publications for young people including Crowboy, Shadowbringer and The Map of Marvels, all published by OUP. His work is powerful and mystical, full of sharp imagery and quick-as-a-flash moments that touch something deeper. David’s view of his work is that its seriousness is best expressed in free verse, and he is right, but the audience enjoyed a poem written the day before which uses rhyme entirely successfully. In contrast to the lighter mood evoked by rhyme was the beautifully wrought She is Trying to Get back to What She Was. Full of strength and stark imagery, not a word is wasted, nothing is easy or explained away; David’s technical skills are impressive.

A consummate performer, David entertained us with two speeches from a recent production of Robin Hood, a script which captures the tradition of Mummers plays but with a contemporary and West Midlands twist. Also produced with a flourish was Sister Dora’s speech from The Alchemist and the Devil, the second of the Bayard’s Colts Mummers Plays for Walsall, due to be performed in the town centre on Saturday 17th November.

Thanks to Gary and David for an enjoyable and inspiring evening – we hope to welcome them back to The Coffeehouse soon.

Next month, Thursday 11th October, is an open mic (slots are currently full, but if you’d like to put your name on the reserve list, or to read in future, please email Liz Lefroy liz.lefroy@btinternet.com). The following month on Thursday 1st November we welcome Emma Purshouse. 7.30 for 7.45pm.

Liz Lefroy teaches at Glyndwr University, Wrexham, where she is a Senior Lecturer in Social Care. She has had two poetry pamphlets published,Pretending the Weather in 2011 , The Gathering in 2012, and won the 2011 Roy Fisher Prize for poetry.

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 3 Comments

Spire Writes, Havana Whites, Chesterfield

Posted on September 12, 2012 by garylongden

Not only was this my first visit to Spire Writes, but also my first visit to Chesterfield. I was sufficiently inspired by Jo Bell’s glowing endorsement of host Helen Mort’s poetic credentials to make the effort to check out Spire Writes, and see what North Derbyshire had to offer. I was not to be disappointed. Havana Whites is a trendy bar in the shadow of Chesterfield’s crooked church spire in the middle of the town, with car parking and the railway station close by. The “locals made good” list of any place always makes for fascinating reading. Chesterfield boasts the likes of Barbera Castle, Olave Baden Powell, wife of Robert, and former butler to Princess Diana, Paul Burrell, as well as page three model Jo Guest, former Motorhead drummer Phil “Filthy Animal “ Taylor, and two of 80’s synth rock stars the Thompson twins. It’s an eclectic mix. Chesterfield throws up some interesting and diverse folk.

Poet, Host, and MC- Helen Mort

The format of the evening was of a headliner performing two sets, and a supporting bill of open mic poets. Helen hosts the night with a light hand on the tiller and quite clearly has poetic pull. A distinguished open mic crowd had assembled. Past guests have included Tony Walsh, next month’s are Helen Ivory and Martin Figura , but this month’s headliner was local hero Matt McAteer whom I was seeing for the first time.

Performing wholly rehearsed , his style is reminiscent of John Cooper Clarke, his acerbic social and political content travelling with Mark E Smith, both of whom he name checked. His presentation and content is strident performance, the composition subtle and nuanced, working a style similar to that of Polar Bear. An interesting quirk was that in several of the pieces, rhymes were not emphasised ,so that aurally the listener was frequently playing catch up as the narrative raced ahead.

Matt McAteer

His first set was a sequence based around modern attitudes to art.”If you say you’re an artist it’s art, if you don’t , it isn’t”. He opened with Charles Bukowski’s damning indictment of the mob, The Genius of the Crowd, a cover version if you like, a brave, confident and successful move, fortunately the proceeding original material was up to the job with Getting Kettled and Autodidact particularly strong. The second set, although not sequenced, displayed an assured local identity ,be it in remembering the defiance of the Clay Cross council in the 1970’s against the government, or most memorably, in a poem which drew together the only person from Chesterfield who fought and died in the Spanish Civil War and an imagined meeting with Alex from A Clockwork Orange. You had to be there!

Stan Skinny

The open mic roster were no makeweights. Stan Skinny runs the Shipping Forecast poetry night in Sheffield. School Disco was a mini overture, an object lesson in how to get the most out of one poem, funny, engaging, and with all present cringing at the accuracy of the observation. Current Derbyshire Poet Laureate Matt Black took inspiration from a taxi rank in an everyman piece that could have been anywhere, yet whose sense of place was a delight. Past Derbyshire Poet Laureate, River Wolton, read of her unexpected meeting with Gok Wan when she was “looking daggy” and “her shame at being ashamed”,which was both poignant, and entertained. However it was Psalm of Those who go Forth on the Day of Redundancy which packed the visceral punch. Both were consummately crafted.

Matt Black

River Wolton

The rest? Dwane Reads railed against cod nationalism, Danny Tooher navigated the bypass, Dave Atrill warned us against the fag man in Sheffield, Alex Webster tackled employment at Remploy, Bob Roberts took us on a road trip through the Czech Republic ,and Adam Morris questioned The Nature of Inspiration. Sadly there was no time for Helen Mort to perform herself.

A little gem of a venue and evening, Spire Writes next meets on Tuesday 9th October at 8pm, free in, with East Anglian luminaries Helen Ivory and Martin Figura topping the bill.

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | Tagged Helen Ivory, Helen Mort, Martin Figura, Matt Black, Matt McAteer, River wolton, Spire Writes, Stan Skinny | Leave a comment

Poetry at the Abbey, Polesworth Abbey, Polesworth

Posted on September 8, 2012 by garylongden

Workshop Leaders – from left, Jo Bell, Jenny Hope, Maeve Clarke, Mal Dewhirst, David Calcutt ,Jacqui Rowe, Matt Merritt. Photo by Janet Jenkins

“What is poetry?” is a question beloved of teachers, lecturers and workshop leaders. It invariably elicits a myriad responses , each one a little less sure than the one just offered. It lies all around us in different forms, guises, and disguises. A great goal at football is sometimes described as poetry, maybe a pop lyric, maybe a line from Tennyson. You know it when you see it, or hear it. It was certainly alive at Polesworth Abbey on Saturday afternoon.

On arrival I was greeted by Fr Philip in full clerical robe and high viz jacket, frankly, you can’t carry much more authority than that. On a blazing late summer’s day The Abbey and grounds were packed with a mixture of crowds who had spilled over from the village carnival, and the many who had come to see the archaeological dig on its final weekend and listen to the poetry, which had been written as a parallel project.

It was a testimony to the emotional commitment that the poetry workshop leaders had to “Dig the Poetry” that all returned to see the climax and denouement of everyone’s efforts. David Calcutt, Jenny Hope, Matt Merritt, Jacqui Rowe, Maeve Clarke, Jo Bell and organiser Mal Dewhirst performed work they had written , as well as bask in the glow of appreciating work which their workshops had inspired. Furthermore, the omnipresent Tim Upson Smith, community archaeologist and tour leader, decided to unleash his own poetry , a clever take on the classification of soil types to show that there was more to him than a shiny trowel and an Indiana Jones inspired hat.

In the grounds, period displays of tile making, stone masonry and medieval firearms engaged a throng soaking up the sun and the atmosphere. Children gambolled, ladies wore floppy hats, and men wore unwise shorts – this is England. It was the dig which had inspired the poetry and it was wholly appropriate that the performance should have been held al fresco with the sights that had inspired the words all around us. Sat down on the lush grass the spoil heaps of disinterred earth overlooked an audience that was part of the physical and poetic landscape.

Thus, for ninty minutes an egalitarian procession of performance unfolded telling the rich story of the dig ,and the responses which it had evoked in the poets. David Calcutt captured the volksseele of the summer with Dig, its opening lines:

“And we are on our knees,
Faces close to the ground,
With earthworms”

an archaeological call to arms, as we surveyed the spoil soil and trenches around us. The eternally neanimporhic Jo Bell closed the day with her customary assured poetic spezzatura. Her poem ,Last, considering what will be left of us after we die, assuming an ethereal spiritual dimension in the shadow of the thousand year old Abbey.In between, a wonderful array of ordinary poets offering extraordinary responses to their surroundings over two months, entertained and enthralled.

“What is poetry?” it lies all around us in different forms.

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 2 Comments

Parole Parlate, Little Venice, Worcester

Posted on September 7, 2012 by garylongden

Parole Parlate will always have a special place in my affections. When I first ventured beyond the Birmingham conurbation poetry scene the organisers were friendly, warm and welcoming, both as an audience member and performer. Two years on that hasn’t changed. I arrived an hour and a quarter early expecting to have a pizza on my own, instead I was greeted with a table full of old friends, and soon to be new ones. It is an ideal setting, the downstairs Italian restaurant so suitable for preprandial chatter with literary minded folk, the upstairs a self contained private area with its own bar and toilets. The bill is always a smorgasbord ( to mix my culinary identities) of literary talent, this evening was no exception.

Lichfield Poet Ian Ward opened proceedings with a gentle, wistful set to ease us out of the summer holidays, neatly rounded off with Perfect Day. Damon Lord of Worcester Writer’s Circle read a very strong Notional Health Service and The Kid which I enjoyed despite the panning which he claimed some had previously given it,sometimes writers need to have the courage of their convictions. Euginia Herlihy‘s thoughtful spiritual poems clearly had substance, which will gain traction as she develops the projection of her delivery.

By contrast Christopher Kingsley was not lacking in projection. He prefaced his set by stressing that he was just starting out, but all the raw ingredients are there for a promising performing career. The material was diverse, humorous and bulging with ideas. Mutt about his inherited dogs, and Talking Balls about bureaucratic nonsense were particularly strong. Straight from the bandit country of South America , Nick “Grizzly Adams” Turner delivered a very powerful prose tale from his adventures there with one of the best opening lines I have heard in a very long time.

Closing the first half was Spoz. Vastly experienced, Spoz knows the performing deal, and it always shows. Take a good idea, engage with the audience, work the idea hard , and the audience well, and then leave them wanting more. It is an effective blueprint. He read just one poem, Without You, performed first in Italian, and then in English, it was a great comic device. In lesser hands rhyming “Nessun Dorma” with “korma”, and “cough” with (David Hassel) “hoff” would be a disaster, in Spoz’s expert hands it is a triumph!

Under the Lone Night , published by Vanguard Press is the current collection by David Johnson whose selections included DNA inspired by the heritage of English Stately homes. David read well and I would like to have heard more.

Polly Robinson

Polly Robinson is a luminary of the Worcester literary community and her writing, whether prose, or poetry, is always worth listening to. Her poem of a tube ride on a sticky day with its onomatopoeia driven structure is very satisfying, whilst Across the Timeless River, “ Five past six, light bright evening across the wrinkled river” does for the River Severn what Waterloo Sunset did for the Thames. Presenting short stories is no easy task. Andrew Owen used an innovative device with A Picture Tells a Thousand Words by bringing a graduation photo of himself, and then telling a story around it. It worked well, as did his Facebook inspired Like Mother like Daughter. Jeremy Holtom finished the section before the headline act with an intriguing extended performance. It was a little like watching footage of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, one minute you were with him, the next you were in another cosmos.

Finally, I was honoured to perform a headline set as one half of The Imperfect Pair, with Amy Rainbow, at which point Polly Robinson reports:

A packed house enjoyed the poetry and prose performed at Parole Parlate with the headline double act from Amy Rainbow and Gary Longden as The Imperfect Pair.. Gary will be writing about everyone else on his blog, but I thought I’d add my two-penn’orth about Amy and Gary ~ if you haven’t yet seen their sparky poetry be sure to catch up with them soon!The brickbats and banter between the two of them had everyone in hysterics, we can all identify with the sentiments that these two practiced poets invoke. Their two central pieces, ‘The man who wears tweed’ from Amy and the riposte, ‘The girl who wore floral prints’ from Gary, were funny, poignant, alliterative and well rhymed.

Parole Parlate next meets on Thurs 4th October at 7.30pm. Polly Robinson blogs at:http://journalread.wordpress.com/

Photographs by kind permission of Geoff Robinson

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | 6 Comments

September 2012- What’s On, Midlands Spoken Word

Posted on September 5, 2012 by garylongden

Birmingham Artsfest – 7th-9th
http://www.artsfest.org.uk/

Wirksworth Arts Festival, Derbys 7th-23rd Sept
http://www.wirksworthfestival.co.uk/

Stafford Arts Fest 15th

Click to access Stafford-Arts-Festival-Timetable.pdf

Warwick Words 28th Sept – 7th Oct
http://warwickwords.co.uk/

Wellington Literary Festival , Shrops29th Sept- 20th October
http://www.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk/literary-festival/

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Saturday 1st Simon Fletcher will be talking about Offa’s Press at the Assembly Rooms, Ludlow, South Shropshire, as part of a Writing West Midlands networking afternoon. 2-4pm Free.

Sat 1st Sept Buddy Wakefield, MAC Birmingham, 7.30pm £5in
The two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion visits Birmingham with his raw, rounded performance style. This is a unique chance to catch Buddy Wakefield on one of his very rare European tours and witness see one of the top spoken word artists in the world live and unpluggedin an intimate venue. Buddy will be supported supported by up-and-coming West Midlands poets Mstr Morrison, Jodi Ann Bickley, and Rehema Njambi.

Where: mac Birmingham, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
Tickets: £5
Info: macarts.co.uk/event/apples-and-snakes-buddy-wakefield
Booking: macarts.co.uk / 0121 446 3232

Sun 2nd Sept Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Michael Thomas

Mon 3rd SW&N ClubThe Newhampton Inn, Riches Street (off Newhampton Road West) Wolverhampton WV6 0DW 8pm £3 in,Storytelling, poetry, a tune, or a song!

Tues 4th Mee Club, Kitchen garden cafe , Kings Heath,7.30pm: £7 in, a variety and cabaret night for singles. Cat Weatherill hosts, Amy Rainbow stars

Tues 4th Night Blue Fruit, Taylor Johns, Canal Basin Coventry,8pm start, free in, Tony Owen hosts-ope mic sign up on the night.

Tues 4th Word ,Y Theatre, East Street, Leicester LE1 6EY, just opposite Leicester Train Station7pm performers, 8pm, Audience, Open mic plus headliner. £6in
WORD! is the longest running poetry and spoken word night in Leicester. Based at The Y Theatre, Leicester, it takes place on the first Tuesday of every month, between 8.00 and 10.30pm. The evening is composed of an open mic, followed by a booked act- Sophie Blackwell

Thurs 6th Good Impressions Spoken word, Cafe Impression, Atkins Building Hinckley, LE10 1QU,7.30pm £5in Hosted by Tom Phillips,ist Thursday Monthly

Thurs 6th Yard of Tales,Joules Yard, rear of 53-55 High Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 7AF.
Joules Yard is a unique venue with a licensed bar after 7pm, also serving tea and coffee. If you would like to order a vegetarian meal for the evening, provided by ‘The Green House’ please telephone 01858 463250. Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Meets first Thursday in the month.

Thurs 6th Parole Parlate, Autumn Special, Little Venice, St Nicholas st , Worcester, 730 pm, £3 in: Gary Longden & Amy Rainbow Headline with:
Polly Robinson
Christopher Kingsley
Euginia Herlihy
Andrew Owens
Ian Ward
Jeremy Holtom
Damon Lord

Fri 7th, 8th/9th Birmingham Artsfest- the Uks largest Arts festival;http://www.artsfest.org.uk/
Poets include Sammy Joe, Shabz Ahmed,Brendan Hawthorne,Kimmy Sue Anne, decadent Divas, Jan Watts and Dwayne Reads.

Sat 8th Poetry Reading, Polewsorth Abbey 2pm: Free in a celebration of the results of Dig the Poetry including an exhibition of finds and poetry written.

Sunday 9th Nick Pearson will be running an Offa’s Press bookstall (with volunteers) at the Birmingham Independent Book Fair, Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B3 3BD, part of the Birmingham ArtsFest 2012. 11am-6pm.

Gary Longden will be at the launch of “Here Comes Everyone” by Silhouette Press

Mon 10th Pub Poetry Nottingham The Canal house, 48-52 Canal Street, Nottingham, NG1 7EH,8pm, 2nd monday : Free in, Open micContact Nick on pubpoetry@nottscomedyfestival.co.uk

Mon 10th pure and good and right, Sozzled Sausage, Leamington Spa, CV32 4NX,This month’s guest poets are..
Vois:Vois are an acoustic and a cappella collective, whose mission is to release the talents of musicians throughout the midlands. Combining soulful song, righteous rap and melodic musicianship, Vois are a rare blend of talent and technique who provide a real treat for appreciative ears.
&
Armadeep Dhillon:Armadeep Dhillon is a young poet who wowed on PGR debut with the soulful power of his writing. Returning for a long overdue feature slot, Armadeep is the kind of young voice our world so urgently needs.Admission £3 (£2 Student/OAP)
From time to time we are located upstairs, so please let us know if you require disabled access before the event.
If you would like to know more about the night email: pgrpoetry@gmail.com

Tuesday 11th Jane Seabourne and Nick Pearson will be reading at ‘City Voices’, City Bar, King Street, Wolverhampton. WV1 1ST 7.45pm Free admission.

Tuesday 11th Dave Reeves guests at ‘Mouth and Music’, the Boars Head Gallery, 39 Worcester Street, Kidderminster, DY10 1EW. 8.00pm Tickets £3.00

Tues 11th Spire Writes, Havana Whites,12 Corporation St, Chesterfield. 7.30pm, Open Mic, Helen Mort officiates, Matt McAteer headlines

Tues 10th Scribal Gathering The Crown Stony Stratford:7.30pm,Get ready for another fantastic feast of musical mastercraft and poetical proficiency, bringing together lachrymatorially lyrical local live talent and perfervid performers from perfurther afield. We have headline performances from special guests Dan Plews and Alan Wolfson, as well as the open-minded open mic, welcoming all to muse upon their views, share their wares, show their stuff, shine before their peers and shout what it’s all about, to a tolerant and very forgiving audience. Join us, and invoke the spirit of gathering…
When: Tuesday 11th July 2012. Doors open at 7.30 for a prompt 8.00 start.
Where: The Crown, Market Square, Stony Stratford MK11 1BE.
How: Free entry. Sign up for open mic on the night. Arrive early to avoid disapproval.
Performance slots are available to anyone who has learned their times tables or is hard enough; there will be special guest headline performances and a lunch-money / cigarette racket from Kevin Sullivan and the SAKS duo and Antipodean exchange student Liz Breslin. We welcome musicians, poets and performers of any style, genre or level of experience to share their creativity, show off their talent, pass notes around or just try and fit in and get through the whole ordeal without being noticed. So get your tie and blazer on, tuck yourself in and get embroiled in a footwear-based elitist social hierarchy system. We’re jumping on the Scribal Gathering Back To School Bandwagon. Join us…
…or you’ll have to do it next time in your pants and vest.

Tues 11th Mouth & Music 6,Boars Head Gallery, Kidderminster 8pm, £3 in:The 6th in our monthly series of totally & utterly acoustic spoken word & music nights! Open mic sign-up from 7.30 5 minutes / 2 songs each, Admission £3 (free to performers) Presented by Heather Wastie & Sarah Tamar for kaf creatives

Tues 11th Tales at the Edge, White Lion Inn, Bridgnorth, Shropshire,Tales at the Edge is one of the country’s oldest and most established storytelling clubs, meeting in Bridgenorth on the 2nd Tuesday of every month (except August) at 8 pm.

Wed 12th Spoken Word,Old Cross, Church Street, Stapleford 7.30pmThe third evening of poems and stories from two local performers – Dave Wood and Richard Young.This time featuring Jackie Brewster.Those wishing to read/perform are welcome to for (depending on circumstances) approximately 5 minutes.Anything spoken word is fine. A great chance to try out your writing in a fun way and there may even be cake for saleEntrance is £1.There will be no microphones and all seating will be in the round.

Wed 12 th The Quad Derby QUAD, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, DE1 3AS Second Wednesday 19.30 Free in, A monthly night of performed poetry for everyone, new performers always welcome or just come and listen, More details from QUAD or contact Les on T: 01332 206 734, http://www.derbyquad.co.uk

Thurs 13th Shipping Forecast The Rude Shipyard, 89 Abbeydale Road, S7 1FE Sheffield,7.45pm An open mic night of poetry, prose, music, performance, raffles and fun.
This is a very informal cosy monthly night of joy in the snug environs of the marvellous Rude Shipyard in Sheffield (UK). The night provides a platform for established and first-time performers to play to a warm and appreciative audience.
Always a surprise, always a treat, grab yourselves a cuppa, some tasty homemade cake and join the fun.moi miss piggy or stan skinny host.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/169584853087066/

Thurs 13th Coffeehouse Poetry Open Mic, Shrewsbury Coffee House , Castle Gate, Shrewsbury with Liz lefroy, 7.30pm, free in. David Calcutt and Gary Longden headline

Thursday 13th Jane Seabourne will be reading at Coleshill Library, Warwickshire, 7pm, as part of the Literature on Your Doorstep project. Free.
Fri 14th Open Mic, Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery, 7.30pm, free in

Thurs 13th Hit the Ode,The Victoria, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham B1 1BN 7.30 pm, £5 in,Hit the Ode brings the most exciting poets from the region, the country and the world to the heart of Birmingham. Join us! We have poems. Poems which look good in red; poems displayed under protective glass cases; poems cobbled together from kite string and transistor radios. Great poems. Come and get them.Line-up:Al Hutchins, Harry Baker, Luanda Casella,A very few open mic slots will be available on the door (the pre-bookable slots have all been claimed). For more info, contact bohdan@applesandsnakes.org.

Fri 14th Wednesbury Art Gallery and Museum, open mic poetry, 7.30pm, free admission

Fri 14th Two way Street,Bookmark Bloxwich,Bloxwich Library, ElmoreRow, Bloxwich,Walsall. WS3 2HR. 01922 655900
Appletree Theatre and Film Company will present their most recent piece, Two Way Street at Bookmark Theatre Bloxwich on Friday 14 September at 7.30pm. The popular, Midlands-based company returns to the Bookmark following their hugely successful tour of The Browning Version last year. They will perform an evening of comical duologues using both live performance and recorded footage and featuring 3 duologues by local writer/ producer David Tristram. This performance will showcase the work of the company’s professional West Midlands based actors as Appletree’s profile continues to rise.

Two Way Street forms part of Bookmark Theatre’s Autumn programme of events. Their touring piece of 2011, The Browning Version, attracted much acclaim and caused audiences to leave feeling entertained and impressed.

Fri 14thNew Mills Festival presents a Poetry Slam at the wonderful new Spring Bank Arts Centre
Spring Bank, New Mills, High peak, Derbys SK22 4BH Tel 01663 3082022 7pm-10.30pm,£5 /£4 concessions Tickets on the door,A Spring Bank Production, Everyone welcome to read or listen

Sat 15th Stafford Arts Festival, Poetry at the Council Buildings, 10-4pm. Free in
Poetry @ Stafford Arts Fest: Programme

10:00 Jack Edwards
10:10 John Mills
10: 20 Jae Alexander Linsey
10:30 Helen Mort
10:40 Ian Ward
10:50 Liz Mills
11:00 Richard Faulkener
11:10 Sammy Joe
11:20 Rohit Ballal
11:30 Deborah Alma (Provisional)
11:40 Mike Tinsley (Provisional)
11:50 Ian Bowkett
12:00 The Trent Vale Poet

12:10 – 13:00 BREAK

13:00 Helen Calcutt
13:10 Tom Wyre
13:20 Gary Longden
13:30 Janet Jenkins
13:40 Janet Arnold
13:50 Rosina Trotman
14:00 Daniel Shelley Smith
14:10 Al Barz
14:20 David Calcutt
14:30 Emily Oldham
14:40 Tony Stringfellow
14:50 Veronica Shepard

15:00 – 16:00 OPEN MIC

Sat 15th Notes From the Underground, Hollybush PH, Newtown lane, Cradley Heath, 8pm Start, Free in, Poetry and music Open Mic with Jack Edwards and William Shatspeare

Mon 17th Shindig, Western PH, Leicester:7.30pm, free in:Crystal Clear Creators and Nine Arches Press present Shindig! Open-Mic Poetry Evening: Free and Open to All.
Featured poets are: including featured writers Rory Waterman, Sarah Jackson, Daniel Sluman and Angela France
Sign up for open-mic slots on the door.
Email Jonathan Taylor (crystalclearjt@hotmail.co.uk) for further details.

Mon 17th Gorilla Poetry,Dada Trippet Lane Sheffield S1 4EL,8pm,Slam Winner Stan Skinny is our headliner. A comic force of entertainment from Spots to Eye Pads you will be taken on a journey were your funny bones will jiggle.Flex your prolix and were all suffer obesity verbosity.An evening of top poetry and be prepared to be captivated.

Tues 18th Mee Club, Kitchen Garden Cafe , Kings Heath,7.30pm: £7 in, a variety and cabaret night for singles. Cat Weatherill hosts,

Wed 19th , Storytelling Cafe Kitchen Garden Cafe,York Rd, Kings Heath, 7.30pm (Doors 6.30pm)
Summer is in the air and we dream of lands far away. Take a journey into your imaginations with the Christine McMahon. Enjoy a relaxed and compelling summer’s night of storytelling with a glass of wine and a relaxed sociable atmosphere. Food Served from 6.30, Stories start at 7.30.
Tickets: £7
Tickets available from the Cafe or http://www.wegottickets.com

Wed 19th Templar Poetry, Lamb & Flag, The Tything, Worcester, 8pm; Open mic, third Wednesday, Alex officiates contact:Alex McMillen, Alex McMillen,Templar Poetry, PO BOX 7082, Bakewell, Derbyshire, DE45 9AF,Tel: 01629 582500, Mobile: 07918166975
info@templarpoetry.co.uk

Thurs 20th Goblin Poetry and Folk Club, Giggling Goblin Cafe, Ashby de la Zouch; 7.30pm start. Brian Langtry hosts.

Fri 21st Spoken Worlds 19:30 The Old Cottage Tavern , Byrkley St,eet, Burton-upon-Trent DE14 2JJ Open mic gajwriter@btinternet.com

Fri 21st Word Up – SixEightCafe ,Temple Row Birmingham. 6.30pm fre in,Fourth Friday,Word Up’ is a spoken word night with a difference. Created and run by Mark Watson and Rosina Caldwell. It is a monthly event held at the highly renowned ‘Six Eight Kafe’ (www.sixeightkafe.co.uk) in Birmingham, who kindly provides a fitting venue for the night.

Saturday 22nd Emma Purshouse is running a variety evening at The Imperial in Bilston, Wolverhampton, 7.30pm. Tickets are from £10 and can be reserved through Emma by emailing: emmaasif@hotmail.com

Sun 23nd Sunday Xpress Fourth Sunday Doors 1500, Start 16:30 Adam & Eve Bradford Street, Birmingham B12 0JD Open mic
jameskennedycentral@yahoo.co.uk

Sun 23rd Sept Powwow, Prince of Wales Lit Fest, Alcester Rd, Moseley,http://thespidermonkey.co.uk/litfest2012/
It’s great value for a line up which includes R J Ellory (million selling crime writer), S F Said (Award winning children’s author), Luke Brown (Tindal Street Press), Charlie Brotherstone (A M Heath Literary Agency), Tim Broughton (Harper Collins) and William Gallagher (freelance script writer – credits include Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish).

Sun 23rd Pooley Country Park, 10th Anniversary Celebrations,11am, readings from the Polesworth Poetry trail

Sun 23nd Rhyme and Tells at the Six Bells in Bishops Castle, Shropshire,Meets every 4th Sunday of the month (except for public holidays) at 8 pm – 10.30 pm. It is free admission and an open session for poetry, prose and storytelling.
For further details please contact Mike on 01588 680685.

Mon 24th Poetry Open Mic, calahouse, Nottingham, 8pm

Tuesday 25thPurple Penumbra Open Mic, Barlow Theatre, Oldbury:7.30pm
Bring your poetry and your pals to this open mic event, or just come and be entertained.
Those with a musical bent who can fill in a gap or two with something melodic and acoustic are particularly welcome.
Enliven, enrich and enhance the experience of the famous Barlow Theatre bar with your presence, why not?

Tuesday 25th Fizz, Polesworth Abbey, Poleworth, Open Mic and Guest Gary Carr.7.30pm, Free in

Tues 25th The Telling Space, Mythstories, *NEW VENUE* (relocated from Wem) Mythstories,The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse,5 Castle Gates, SY1 2AE,Wem, Shropshire,The club meets on the 4th Tuesday of every month unless otherwise stated. Please check the website under ‘opening hours and events’ http://www.mythstories.com or contact Dez or Ali on 01939 235500 for further information.
Meet at 7 pm for refreshments (bring food to share) or at 7.30 pm for stories. A chance to listen or an opportunity to tell. Admission is free.

Tues 25th Word Wizards Buckingham Hotel Buxton 19.30. Open mic three minute slam format More info Poetryslamuk@aol.com

Tues 25th , Poetry Bites Kitchen Garden Cafe,York Rd, Kings Heath, 7.30pm (Doors 6.30pm) Christine Coleman and Jan Watts guests, Jacqui Rowe hosts, loads of open mic, £5in

Wed 26th Phenomenal Women 5, Library Theatre, Birmingham, 7.30pm: Free in,A showcase for the top women poets in the region, men welcome as part of the auidience

Wed 26th “42″ Open Mic Night (Gothic, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy) Lunar Bar, New St Worcester, 7.30, Free in:last wed monthly E-mail: 42openmicnight@42genrearts.co.uk

Wed 26th Smart Poets Open Mic, Veggd out, Fletchers walk, Paradise Circus, Birmingham City Centre, 7pm.With Penny Hewlett

Wed 26thPackhorse Poets,The Packhorse Inn, Crowdecote, near Longnor,Derbys on the fourth Wednesday of each month, 7.30pm

Thur 27th Bilston Voices Cafe Metro 46 Church Street, Bilston WV14 0AH Fourth Thursday 19:00 Only booked poets perform: emmaasif@hotmail.com

Thurs 27th Rob gee@ Speech Therapy, Bar Deux, Nottingham 8.30pm: Speech Therapy returns from its summer break with a fast fading suntan, weary smile on its face and a carrier bag full of cheap duty free plonk. This month we are tickled to bits to welcome as our headline performer, the amazing Mr Rob Gee.

Poet, comedian and reformed psychiatric nurse, Rob has clocked up over two thousand shows, toured extensively, and performed with acts such as Jimmy Carr, Harold Pinter, Jo Brand and Frankie Boyle. Appearances at festivals include the Glastonbury and Edinburgh Festivals
, the Sydney International Poetry Festival, the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the Austin International Poetry Festival in Texas. He is sometimes sent into schools as a warning to children.

http://www.robgee.co.uk/

There will also be appearances from Miggy Angel, who mainly does poetry and swearing, John Marriott, who will once again be treating us to the thoughts and inner workings of the mysterious Bobby Shoes and of course there will be the infamous Raffle of Rammel.

MulletProofPoet will be on hand too, generally not getting people to behave. Anyone wishing to take part in the open mic section should e mail in advance.

info@mulletproofpoet.co.uk

£3.00 entry. See you there
Fri 28th Poetry Juke Box, The Unitarian Chapel, warwick 9pm: £5in, Maria taylor, Luke Kennard and Dan Sluman,Nine Arches Press presents a poetry reading with a unique twist: the audience has a hand in choosing the themes of the poems. So prepare for work that touches on the big issues, and some of the little ones too – everything from love, death and madness to laughter, losing and indulging our vices!

This promises to be a show full of surprises, with three poets who are among the most striking voices in contemporary British poetry.

Sat 29thSaturday 29th Jeff Phelps will be at Wellington Library, Shropshire, from 10am to 2pm as part of the Wellington Literature Festival local authors’ events.

Saturday 29 th Whistle with Martin Figura,Bridge House Theatre,7.30pm: £8,Profoundly honest and at the same time joyfully entertaining Independent on Sunday,When Martin Figura was nine years old, his father killed his mother.Whistle uses family photographs and striking visuals to explore themes of identity, forgiveness, loss, adoption and family with insight and gentle humour, to tell a unique coming-of-age story. After a successful Edinburgh Festival Fringe run in 2011 this award-winning spoken-word show is touring across the UK including a week at the Roundhouse London, before heading to the USA and Europe in 2013.

Whistle is a tender, beautiful, funny and moving childhood and coming-of-age story, which the poetry conveyed vividly to my imagination, as did Martin Figura’s telling of it, which was spellbinding. Chloe Garner, Director Ledbury Poetry Festival

Winner Poetry Society’s Hamish Canham Prize 2010
Short-Listed – The Ted Hughes Award for New Work 2010

Tickets: £8.00
(£6.00 concessions)
Tickets available from Festival Box Office 01926 776438.

http://www.martinfigura.co.uk

Sun 30th Sunday Xpress, Adam & Eve PH, Bradford St , Digbeth, Birmingham: 4pm, free in,Birmingham’s long-serving open mic afternoon. People say “The Sunday Xpress? Is that still going? I must come down to that again sometime.” Well, yes, it is, and it’s still worth a visit. To paraphrase John Peel talking about The Fall, the Sunday Xpress is “always different, always the same.”

Hosted by Birmingham’s answer to Carol Ann Duffy – the bard of Yardley Brendan Higgins – the Sunday Xpress is the ideal platform for the beginner, the seasoned professional, and the artist who wants to try something
t
hat’s a bit different or some new material. Over the years we’ve had many acts perform and find their voice, and who have gone on to bigger things because of it. The Sunday Xpress offers a strict freedom of speech policy. Anything goes.

Anything goes indeed – the Sunday Xpress is an open mic that encourages performers to do what they want to do – we’re spoken word friendly (indeed, the event was created from a writers’ co-operative) so we welcome poets, storytellers, fiction and non-fiction writers – we showcase drama, one-person-shows, stand up comedy, even people talking about their artwork and on some occasions – interpretive dance!! Musicians will find a great atmosphere to play in – we have a mixing desk and a mic/stand set up – but do bring any spare cables if you think you need it.

Doors open at 3, show starts around half 4 and goes on until everybody’s been on (usually around 7ish) The afternoon is compered by Brendan who will devise the running order and introduce you – it’s up to you to do the rest. The Adam doesn’t offer any grub so you’d be advised to have your dinner before you get there.

Hope to see you all there!

Sun30th Sept “Written on water” Aylestone Meadows, Leicester :Written on Water is a community event where writers, artists and the local community will come together to create words and pictures celebrating Leicester’s largest nature reserve. The event is planned for 30 September 2012 and all are welcome.

On 30th September participants will be encouraged to share their Meadows’ memories, words and stories with a team of volunteer Word Rangers. The Meadows is for everyone and everyone’s words will go towards a new Written on Water website and anthology. Artists and photographers will also paint, sketch or photograph this diverse environment in the heart of Leicester.

Written on Water is part of the Everybody’s Reading community festival, to do whatever it takes to get every child in Leicester reading. Written on Water is also supported by Leicester City Council, Aylestone Meadows Appreciation Society and Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

————————————————–Coming soon—————————————————————–

Mon 1st SlamGorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Thursday 4th Word Birthday Special with Kwame Dawes,Central Lending Library, Bishop Street, Leicester 8pm:

Join us at Leicester Central Library for this ‘Lyric Lounge’ and ‘Everybody’s Reading’ special -marking National Poetry Day, Black History Season, , World Mental Health Month -and Word!s 11th Birthday !

£6/£4 concessions

It will feature the Emmy Award winning Kwame Dawes. Born in Ghana and raised in Jamaica, Kwame will share work from his rich body of writing, including his latest poetry collection, ‘Wheels’, and his edited anthology of 50 great Jamaican poets, ‘Jubilation’.

Prior to his performance Kwame will lead a special WORD!Shop, at Leicester Central Library.2-4pm.£3/£2 . To book please email lydia@wordpoetry.co.uk

Performers should arrive at 7.15 to sign up

Word! is brought to you by a committee of volunteers and visuals are by film-maker, Keith Allott.

Thursday 4 Poetry Brunch with Birmingham Poet Laureate 2011/2012 Jan Watts,Festival Bookshop, Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ,11am-1pm

Meet the poets who have been shortlisted to take over as Birmingham’s Poet Laureate 2012/2013. With coffee and croissants!

Admission is free, just drop in.

Thurs 4th Double Takes, Ludlow Library,2.30pm free,
A programme of readings in celebration of National Poetry Day

Gareth Owen and Liz Lefroy

Gareth Owen was born in Ainsdale, Lancashire and left school at 16 to serve in the Merchant Navy. For four years he taught in a London Secondary Modern School, before becoming a lecturer in English and Drama at Bordesley College of Education, Birmingham.

He began writing his poems for children while a teacher and his first published collection, ‘Salford Road’ won high praise from fellow poet Patric Dickinson:
‘…original,beautiful, serious, funny, real and imaginative. Nothing quite like it has been done before.’
His second, ‘Song of the City’ won the Signal award.
Over the years he has published four further volumes of poetry, the last a collection of football poems: ‘Can We Have Our Ball Back Please?’ (Macmillan in 2006).
His work has been published in over a 100 anthologies.
In addition to the poetry, he has published four novels, as well as books for younger children.
An accomplished verse reader, he has won both the Welsh Academy Spoken Poetry Award and the National Speak a Poem Award. For two years he presented the BBC’s long-running Poetry Please!

Four of his plays have been produced by the BBC, in one of which, ‘The Game’, he played the lead.

In 1993 he was prize winner of the Leeds Playhouse/W.H.Smith Play-Writing Competition. The play became the novel: ‘Rosie No Name and the Forest of Forgetting’

He lives in Ludlow, Shropshire where he writes and performs the occasional satirical Country song under the stage name of Virg Clenthills.

Liz Lefroy won the inaugural Roy Fisher prize in 2011 and has published two pamphlets – ‘Pretending the Weather’ and ‘The Gathering’, both by Long Face Press. Her work has appeared in Mslexia, Magma, The Frogmore Papers, Shoestring, and on The Writers’ Hub and Psychogeographic Review. She lives in Shrewsbury and runs the monthly Shrewsbury Coffeehouse poetry event.

Thurs 4th Birmingham Poet Laureate launch with Elvis McGonigal and Deborah Alma, aka, The Emergency Poet ,Yumm Café, Zellig (The Custard Factory), Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA:6 – 8pm

Free, please book to avoid disappointment

Birmingham Book Festival, Birmingham Poet Laureate 2012/13 & National Poetry Day

Special Guest: Elvis McGonagall – One Man & his doggerel!

Join us as we launch the fourteenth Birmingham Book Festival, celebrate National Poetry Day and announce the new Birmingham Poet Laureate 2012/13.

Writing West Midlands’ Programmes Director, Sara Beadle, will say a few words to introduce the Festival and some of the wonderful events to come over the next ten days. Festival staff and volunteers will also be on hand to tell you more and to answer any questions.

The annual Birmingham Poet Laureate programme is run by Birmingham Libraries. Each year a new Laureate is appointed to encourage local people to get involved in poetry. This year’s contenders have been through a rigorous selection process and we wait with anticipation the announcement of the winning poet. To lighten the tension, the out-going Birmingham Poet Laureate, Jan Watts, will be hand to perform alongside the new Laureate, handing over the honorary title with some choice wit and wisdom.

And to round off our evening’s celebration who better than Elvis McGonagall, stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker! Elvis, we are told, is the sole resident of The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere near Dundee, where he scribbles verse whilst drinking malt whisky and listening to Johnny Cash. He is also a former World Slam Champion, compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and is one of the poets occasionally in residence on BBC Radio 4’s “Saturday Live”. Oh, and he is very, very funny!

The Emergency Poet – The World’s First & Only Mobile Poetic First Aid Service

‘Between the Fountains and the Green Man’, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA

1 – 6pm. Free, drop in!

As a service to the City of Birmingham, we present the Emergency Poet – a vintage 1960s ambulance in which ‘Dr’ Deborah Alma can minister to the poetic needs of all and sundry. No appointment necessary, simply drop by if you’d like the ‘Dr’ to offer an up-lifting couplet or a life-enhancing stanza or two. Free at the point of demand and unaffected by NHS reforms, let our highly trained medic use the latest diagnostic techniques to prescribe just the write (ha, ha!) poem. Why feel worse? Take Verse!

Friday 5th Somon Armitage, walking Home,Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG, 7.30pm,
£10 / £6

In summer 2010 poet and writer Simon Armitage decided to walk the Pennine Way. The challenging 256-mile route is usually approached from south to north, from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm, the other side of the Scottish border. He resolved to tackle it the other way round: through beautiful and bleak terrain, across lonely fells and into the howling wind, he would be walking home, towards the Yorkshire village where he was born.

Travelling as a ‘modern troubadour’ without a penny in his pocket, he stopped along the way to give poetry readings in village halls, churches, pubs and living rooms. His audiences varied from the passionate to the indifferent, and his readings were accompanied by the clacking of pool balls, the drumming of rain and the bleating of sheep.

Walking Home is the story of that journey, about facing emotional and physical challenges, and sometimes overcoming them. It’s nature writing, but with people at its heart. Contemplative, moving and droll, it is a unique narrative from one of our most beloved writers. Join him at the Birmingham Book Festival to explore this extraordinary journey.

Simon Armitage was born in 1963 and lives in West Yorkshire. He has published ten volumes of poetry including Selected Poems, 2001 (Faber & Faber). His most recent collections are Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid and Seeing Stars. He has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes and a Lannan Award. His most recent book, Seeing Stars, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and was a Poetry Book Society Choice.

He writes for radio, television and film, and is the author of four stage plays, including Mister Heracles, a version of the Euripides play The Madness of Heracles. His recent dramatisation of The Odyssey, commissioned by the BBC, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004 and is available through BBC Worldwide. He received an Ivor Novello Award for his song-lyrics in the Channel 4 film Feltham Sings, which also won a BAFTA.

Fri 5th Oct, 4th Malvern Slam plus Attila the Stckbroker, the Cube, Malvern: Attila is sharp tongued, high energy, social surrealist rebel poet and songwriter. His themes are topical, his words hard-hitting, his politics unashamedly radical. Inspired by the spirit and the ‘Do It Yourself’ ethos of punk rock, and above all by The Clash and their overtly radical, political stance.

The fourth Malvern Poetry slam will be held over two rounds. 10 Poets go head to head, in a battle of verse and wit until the last one standing is crowned Malvern slam champion 2012. Hysterical, poignant, moving. Not to be missed.Doors open 7.30 Entrance £ 7.00

Sat 6th Being Human,The Custard Factory Theatre, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA 8pm,£10 / £6

Charting the drama of our lives, Being Human presents thoughtful and passionate poems that will touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit; poems about being human, about love and loss, fear and longing, hurt and wonder. Being Human is a dramatic performance of poetry drawn from the anthology Being Human (Ed. Neil Astley), published by Bloodaxe Books. Directed by Steve Byrne of Interplay with design and music from Talking Birds, it is performed by Barrett Robertson, Benedict Hastings and Elinor Middleton. After sellout performances in the Midlands in June, Being Human is now on a national tour and this is one of your last chances to see a show that audiences have described as ‘…an amazing theatrical experience’ and ‘absolutely stunning’. We think it is this year’s best poetry experience!

Copies of the anthology, Being Human, will be on sale during this event and at the Festival Pop-up Bookshop.

@BeingHumanPoet

Sun 7th Oct Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Daniel Sluman

Tues 9th Spire Writes, Havana Whites, Chesterfield, 8pm, free in:
After a great gig from Chesterfield’s very own Matt McAteer in September, we return next month with two very special guests from further afield.

HELEN IVORY is a poet and artist. Her fourth Bloodaxe Books collection Waiting for Bluebeard is due in May 2013. She is an editor for The Poetry Archive and edits the webzine Ink Sweat & Tears. She teaches for The Poetry School, The Arvon Foundation, The Poetry Society and UEA. She is co-editor with George Szirtes of In their Own Words: Contemporary Poets on their
Poetry (Salt, October 2012)

MARTIN FIGURA is a photographer and poet living in Norwich where he works for Writers’ Centre, Norwich and Chairs Café Writers. His Collection and one-man-show Whistle (Arrowhead Press) was shortlisted for the 2010 Ted Hughes Award for New Work. He won the 2010 Hamish Canham Prize. A new pamphlet Arthur due out with Nasty Little Press in November. http://www.martinfigura.co.uk/

As usual, there’ll be open mic slots (please let me know if you’d like to perform), doors open at 7.45 and we’ll finish in time for the last train back to Sheff. Havana Whites is two minutes from Chesterfield train station (or two seconds if you’re Usain Bolt).

FREE ENTRY so you can spend your money at the well-stocked bar instead…

Tuesday 9 October, CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, (Off Broad Street) Birmingham, B1 2LF,£10 / £6. 7pm
Caitlin Moran grew up in Wolverhampton. Her feminist handbook for modern times, How To Be A Woman, won the Galaxy Book of the Year Award 2011 and set the record straight on a number of important issues. Her new collection of writing, Moranthology, sets Caitlin free to talk about just about everything else. It proves that she is no slouch when it comes to wrestling with cultural, social and political issues, including ‘The Big Society’, Big Hair, The Welfare State, caravans, Doctor Who, binge-drinking, Downton Abbey, pandas, library closures and poverty (so, something for everyone, then…).

And if this level of top-rank wisdom wasn’t enough, we are delighted to welcome back to the Festival polymath, Birmingham resident and all round good bloke Stuart Maconie, a Patron of Writing West Midlands but more importantly author of brilliant books about our life and times, including Hope and Glory: A People’s History of Modern Britain and Pies & Prejudice.

Together, Caitlin and Stuart will talk about important stuff and manage to be high-minded and frivolous in equal measure. How to be a Woman and Moranthology by Caitlin Moran and Hope and Glory, Adventures on the High Teas, Pies & Prejudice and Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie will all be on sale at this event and at the Festival Pop-up Bookshop throughout the Birmingham Book Festival.

Supported by the new Library of Birmingham.

Wed 10th October at the Guildhall Theatre, Derby – Katy Cawkwell and Sarah Llewellyn Jones with “The Kingdom of the Heart” Book in advance and quote “Flying Donkeys” to get a special discount that brings it down to our normal Flying Donkeys ticket prices. (Book direct with Derby Live!)

Wed 10th oct Funny Women, Streetly Library, Blackwood Rd Streetly, 10.30-11.30 free in with Emma Purshouse and Win Saha

Wed 10th October, 2012,7.30pm, The Guildhall Theatre, Derby Live! Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AE. katy cawkwell (storyteller) and sarah llewellyn jones (cellist) – “the kingdom of the heart”

Thursday 11 Meet the New birmingham Poet laureate,Festival Bookshop, Birmingham Central Library Foyer, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ5 – 6pm

Thurs 13th Coffeehouse Poetry Open Mic, Shrewsbury Coffee House , Castle Gate, Shrewsbury with Ted Eames, 7.30pm, free in.

Thur 11th Carol Ann Duffy,Gillian Clarke at Glyndŵr University, Mold rd, Wrexham, 7.30pm,An evening of poetry with the Poet Laureate and the National Poet of Wales.

Mold Road, LL11 2AW

Sat 13th Oct 8th UK All Stars Poetry Slam at the Cheltenham Literature Festival . Twenty poets will contest the Qualifier at 3.30pm, with half a dozen places up for grabs in the Final at 8.30pm. Book early, as both events are likely to sell out quickly.

spielunlimited@gmail.com

Mon 15thGorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Wed 17th Speak Up, Bulls Head, Moseley: 7.30pm Nichol Keene and Toby De Angeli from Elephant Collective headlining. Cake, beanbags and sexy babes

Wed 17th Simon Armitage, Keele University, 7.30pm:
SIMON ARMITAGE: ‘Walking Home’ – – A cancer charity reading as part of Keele University’s 50th Anniversary Charter Year.

Please join Simon for a special evening of film footage and readings from his new bestselling memoir ‘Walking Home’, which describes his attempt to walk the Pennine Way as a modern troubadour. Travelling penniless, Simon relied on bartering poetry for his B&B and bacon butties while walking the 256 miles from north to south towards the Yorkshire village where he was born. Every night he gave free readings in village halls, churches, pubs and living rooms before passing round a walking sock and asking people to give him what they thought he was worth. As he discovered, this wasn’t always cash! Simon will also read from his acclaimed translation of the medieval poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, which is associated with Lud’s Church in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Simon will be available to sign books afterwards.

All proceeds to a hospital-based charity for women with breast cancer.

Venue: Westminster Theatre, Keele University, ST5 5BG
Tickets: £5 (£2.50): ring 01782 734169 or buy on campus at the Chancellor’s Building reception (cash please), Mon – Fri, 09.00-17.00

Thurs 1st NovThe Shrewsbury Coffeehouse,5 Castle Gates, SY1 2AE Shrewsbury 7.30pm:Emma Purshouse, Jane Seabourne and Nick Pearson, all published by Offa’s Press, will be reading.

Sun 4th Nov Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Jo Bell

Mon 5th Slam Semi,Gorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Sat 17th Nov Book Launch, Will Buckingham, Simon Perril and Maria Taylor.The Crumblin’ Cookie,68 High Street, LE1 5YP Leicester,7.30pm: Come to the Crumblin’ Cookie for the book launch extravaganza of the year. An evening of poetry, fiction and fun, with novelists Jonathan Taylor and Will Buckingham, and poets Simon Perril and Maria Taylor. Between us, we will be launching four books: Maria’s poetry collection, “Melanchrini”, Will’s novel, “The Descent of the Lyre”, Jonathan’s novel, “Entertaining Strangers”, and Simon’s poetry pamphlet “Newton’s Splinter”.

Come for some or all of the evening: the event is free and the bar is open all evening.

Mon 19thGorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Sun 2nd Dec Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop, open mic plus Kate North
Mon 3rd Slam Final, Gorilla Poetry – Poetry Evolution, Dada bar, Trippet Lane, Sheffield, S1 4El, (Off West St) 8pm (7.30 doors)

Fri 7th Dec The 1st Cirencester Christmas Slam at New Brewery Arts Circencester, where first round poems will be themed, ho ho ho.Details:spielunlimited@gmail.com

Posted in Midlands Poetry What's On | 1 Comment

July August Poems

Posted on September 5, 2012 by garylongden

These months have been dominated by the Dig at Polesworth but a few others have crept in, taking in Bradley Wiggin’s tour de France triumph, and a moving visit to the German War Cemetery at Cannock Chase

In A Clearing

My name is Gary Longden,
It is 4/9/12
At the Deutsche Soldatanfriedhof
Cannock Chase

Minor roads bisect the pine forests
Myriad autumnal shades swamping
Every view, the turning could be missed

A sign declares the gates close at 4pm,sharp
A time that seems premature, well before nightfall
Sometimes life is like that

The outbuildings lie low, austere, tomb-like
Signage is minimal- but you know the way
Everyone does

A glazed panel stares out from reception hall gloom
Opaque glass reflects no sunbeams
Smooth one side , mottled on the other

Multiple ridges ripple in silent dissonance
Each indent the resting place of one
Of 5000 dead souls

Low slung doorways draw you to the Hall of Honour
And the twisted bronze corpse of the fallen warrior
Frozen in perpetual torment

Above a triangular concrete tent vaulted ceiling hangs
Supported by ugly pillars, no wind billows its lifeless sails
High walls offer little natural light to a monochrome howl

Six steps rise to a terrace, where the crews of four Zeppelin crews
Are buried together, as they fell
Looking down in death as they did in life

Outside, two verdant slopes blaze, sloping as a hull
The low valley floor a keel supported by lines of rib like graves
Whose journey is done.

Beauty and silence tower over all
Whilst worldly things cower
Watched by a simple cross

Lawn lies in perfect grass corridors
Cricket wicket width
Cushioning an even pace

Purple heather laps around Belgian granite
The face flat, the edges rough and unfashioned
As though torn from the bedrock

My fingers stuttered as they grazed the headstone
Caught by an uneven surface
And then we touched

His name was Kurt Raetsch
Buried in the Deutsche Soldatanfriedhof
Died 4/9/40.

Danger Perception

Travelling at speed at night
The cat’s eyes disappear
Into the dark void

On the left they illuminate red
Evenly spaced, appearing closer
Together in the distance
Until they just vanish

Yet they are ever present

Vive Les Rosbifs

Upon the occasion of Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Englishman to win the Tour de France in its 109 year history

In a blur of whirring spokes he did it
Defeating the French on their home soil
As Henry v had done before at Agincourt
His lamb chop sideburns taunting them

But in this hundred years war
Of cycling endurance
The King and Queens’ men
Had been found wanting
Until now

It was his turn to burn
Dans le maillot jaune
Leaving the peleton,
Long gone
Gasping in his wake

Three weeks in the saddle, across a nation it straddles
From Nice to the Pyrenees
From Epernay to the Champs Elysee
To reach the final summit

No tacks could puncture his ambition
No slope could flatten his spirit
As England now adores Le Tour
La France rises to celebrate his name
With “Allez Wiggo”, and a glass of champagne

Daybreak

A clear light brightened the dark water
Promising warmth to frost bitten stone
Teach me to hear the mermaids sing
The flapping beat of a dragon’s wing

Innocence is closing up his eyes
As clenched hands deal the final blow
Now at the last gasp of loves’ latest breath
Her farewell lingers on the morning breeze

I have completed what you desired
The deed is done, to be judged by God and eternity

Floor Tile ,Circa 16th century, Polesworth Abbey Dig

Solitary in kiln baked symmetry
Your underside bears the wounds
Of mortar roots, roughly torn from its bed
Sunlight sparkles over fractured veins
Remnants of green glaze, defiantly glisten

A fleur- de- lis splays for those
Who have fought, worked and prayed
In service to regents, long gone and yet to be
Exhumed to daylight glare
In fragmentary reveal

Your ridged recesses betray
Uncertain colours, long lost, in matt surround
An abused, bruised corner reluctantly flakes
But precise smooth sheer edges define your purpose
Your subterranean russet clay cries

To be interred, once more
From whence you came, in place.

The Archaeologist

Ask the time- and they look somewhat shifty
It could never be simply seven fifty
With their hats, beards and boots
In search of old loot
To them it is always 1950.

Don’t Touch

The ripped surface drops in sheer sondage
Cloying clay smearing my outstretched palm

Tough and tantalisingly moist unyielding
Its secrets held absorbed congealed
A slippery residue resists exploring touch

Brittle flaking sand flickers
Disintegrating from casual brush
Escaping my flaying grasp
To rest again

Light ash cushions tennis ball bounce no more
Unnatural vertical smooth rough textures teeter
Precipitously clinging

In varying degrees of decomposition
In abandonment

Stripped
Exposed to brutal light
Soft layers stripped in stripes
As cruel steel tears at healed ground

Delicate roots dangle, ripped
A torn comfort blanket, rumpled
Ruptured, crumpled

The disturbed interred
Shrinking and blinking
Glanced at in curiosity
In startled exposure

Defiled and painted in India ink
Remembered for a moment
In a catalogue, in a drawer
To be discarded ,its decay
Untroubled once more

Fragments Out of Time

The gabble from behind the Red Lion’s shut door reverberated
Stella clenched in hands rotund and stumpy
Allowing men to forget in meditations of excess
To loose the bonds of the accused , searching for soft peace
The bell tolls for all ghostly and bodily victories
Bringing light to the blind
Robbed of foolish painted things
To still survive in immortal song
Leaving echoes of Welsh hooves
Steadfast in the High Street
By his help and grace it is done

Timeless Flight

Roughly fired tiles still bake careless paw prints
Eager hands claw tense ground

From above glanced from grey heron path
Pedalling across an indifferent sky

White lily pads flutter in canvas murmur
Hinting at shadowed movement

Walls hunch hidden from Viking glare
Still crouched in silence

Enclosure breached by betrayed vows
No magnificat rises from stubby rubble

Earth which now takes no service only hears it
Absorbing fresh dead

Whilst rent ground lays bare
What we already knew once

Discarded

Spoil fed giant thistles sway,
Guardian sentinels of the past

Below ,black tarpaulin frays,
Under spewed weight
Its fringe like artificial whiskers
Touching now and then

Hanging off its pink painted axle
A plastic wheel rests
Almost consumed by weeds and nettles
In fading farewell

Palm up, a glove’s fingers stretch
Its ripped fabric partially enveloped

All lie waiting to be discovered

Archaeology

Find or fraud
Inside or outside
Above or below
This way or that
Now or then
It all depends

Wheel

Trenches radiate around
In pronounced symmetry

Ground lies punctured
By spade and trowel

The Abbey watches, hub to all
Where nuns seldom spoke

Diggers make inflated claims
For uncertain finds

Watching where they tread
Shoulders hunched and tired

Earth sand and robber rubble
Is turned once more

Whilst those who till the land
Pray for a good year.

Found in a Pit

I-phones, I – pads, I –mmac
To be cherished for a moment
For transitory gratification
Before technological stratification
Is assessed

X-Box
Commodore
Game Boy
ZX Spectrum

Whose exact order may be lost
Does Super Mario come before Lara Croft?

Flat screens larger than windows
Windows from which you could see
But not touch
A vision distorted
Of cracked glass
And broken discordant keys

The Roofers’ Dog
Paw prints from the past
Baked frozen by midday sun
An unwelcome feat

Pit Tip

Giant thistles sway
Wild sentinels of the past
Hover restlessly

Lost Foundation

Dormitory walls
Whispering prayers and secrets
In stony silence

Fleur de Lis Tile

Fading glazing now
Still bearing witness to those
Who worked fought and prayed

Line Call

Grey ash packed strata
Hears, no longer takes, service
Echoing above

Refectory Hearth

Stone fireplace keeps watch
Poets’ words flame and flicker
Their work not yet Donne

Sandals

Lost just underfoot
Simple sandals tap softly
But now there are none

The Dig

Nights’ shadows draw in
Dancing like crazy mourners
Over opened pits

Oak Lintel at the Stables

Your shoulders still strain
Under the weight of centuries
With well seasoned wood

The River Anker

Wrenched this way and that
To suit human caprice, the
Anker meanders

Bone Fragments

Reborn to light’s glare
Exhumed from dark interment
Cruel resurrection

Shattered Pottery

Random broken shard
Irregular memento
Your sharpness cuts deep

Dress Pin

Bronze dress pin dropped lost
Cast adrift from flowing robe
Recovered in awe

Font

Stone Baptismal font
Defaced by fragment’ry loss
Unquenched by water

Effigy

Osanna lies still
Hair smoothed by pilgrim’s touch
Bible tightly clasped

Polesworth Abbey

Ancient
Stones linger still
Held in forgotten walls
Amongst earthy robber rubble
Waiting

Egbert
Mercian king
Rested, then settled here
His divine, precious legacy
A saint

Ora
Proud devotion
Returns, a heard unheard
Whispering in lavender leaves
Once more

Fireplace
Still burning bright
Drayton Johnson and Donne
Whose omnipresent oration
Endures

Abbey
Weathered and worn
Closed enclosure now breached
Dissolution could not dissolve
Your stones

The Dig Pt 2

Nature’s fine weave lies breached
Brutal hands scour below
In ghoulish exhumation
In ground at rest no more

Each day the pits grow
Earth’s belly spewing its guts
Half, barely digested
Splattered over tables

The Anker washes silently by
Salving, cleansing its wounds
Of the twisting distorting agonies of centuries
Its course only now restored

A holy site, visited by saints
Gouged and disfigured
For us to read its entrails
In detached curiosity

Where nuns once keened
Where oblations once soared
Now the dull thud of spade in dirt
Now the shrill trill of trowel on find

Around the borders, patient trees watch
Boughs bursting with leaves
Waiting for their moment
They will not be denied

Upon the Exhumation of a Dress Pin circa 700 AD.

A bronze dress pin appears in the ground
Two World Wars resound
Queen Victoria’s Empire gains pre-eminence
American War of Independence
Guy Fawkes fails and pays the price
Leonardo Da Vinci dies
Christopher Columbus discovers the New world
Chaucer ‘s Canterbury Tales are unfurled
Genghis Khan’s Mongols rise again
Notre Dame dominates the river Seine
The walls of the Tower of London soar
Bears in Britain are now no more
The end comes for Alfred the Great
Vikings storm Lindisfarne to pillage and take
Osanna’s nunnery kissed by the waterside
The Anker’s flow slips and slides

The Anker’s flow slips and slides
Osanna’s nunnery kissed by the waterside
The Vikings storm Lindisfarne to pillage and take
The end comes for Alfred the Great
Bears in Britain are now no more
The walls of the Tower of London soar
Notre Dame dominates the River Seine
Genghis Khan’s Mongols rise again
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales unfurled
Christopher Columbus discovers the New World
Leonardo Da Vinci dies
Guy Fawkes fails and pays the price
American War of Independence
Queen Victoria’s Empire gains pre-eminence
Two World Wars resound
A bronze dress pin appears in the ground.

The Dig Part Three

Your face yields few clues
Except when you frown
And the wrinkles become rivulets
For sweat and tears
Which scour your skin
At once soft and hard
A pentimento exposed

Gouged, the detritus of years laid bare,
Discarded memories, cherished days
Disturbed and disjointed from where
They once laid, resting in situ

Sometimes they surface, disinterred
To be examined, dated, reassessed
Then reburied, if you are fortunate
Snug and neat

Sometimes they emerge broken
Disfigured from an uncertain time
Jagged, rough, still bleeding
Impossible to return, they just don’t fit

Others taunt, fraud or find
Their uncertain provenance
Seducing with specious allure
Wanting to be whatever you desire

And some lie rotting, barely recognisable
Half remembered only by their juxtaposition
With the rest, distorted and uncertain
Fading in decomposition

Remnants
What will survive of us?
A snapped twig crushed underfoot
On a woodland walk
Displaced grains of sand
Compressed by the imprint of our sole
Bruised wood on a door shoved open
And the torn peel
From a half-eaten apple

Discovered After I Am Gone

They found bones stripped of corpulent flesh
Rubbery composite tread
Abandoned by perished leather – size nine
Molars rough tended by dentists
Zip teeth grin in death grip
Eleven sixteen
A watch of cheap inconsequential value
Which was worn on that day not for its lustre
But for the value of the giving

Find

The Football grounds of England Wales and Scotland by Simon Inglis
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars by David Bowie
A grain of sand from Caswell beach
A Canaletto oil painting of La Canal Grande
A Pen
Hope

Fragments

At 6.32 Venice is quite still
Even the morning breeze holds her breath
Lest the sunlit beauty be disturbed
Or a ripple appear on the Grand Canal
No bird dare sing
In fear, in wonder

It appeared, a giant wall of black steel
Towering, defying the largest wave
Or coldest iceberg
To challenge her riveted wonder
A benevolent behemoth calling
To cradle me in her carcass

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Dig The Abbey – Part Four

Posted on September 1, 2012 by garylongden

Day seven, and our workshops of exploration drew to a close with a familiar , faithful retinue of regular poets in attendance sprinkled with some occasional visitors. The atmosphere was akin to that on a ship on the day of disembarkation, with an acknowledgement that the journey was nearing its end, and a desire to make sure that we made the most of the last few hours on board.

Our pilot for this final leg was poet, former archaeologist and canal skipper Jo Bell. By chance, as our journey was closing, so hers was beginning, as this was her first day divested of her responsibilities as Director of National Poetry Day. The entire poetic community in the country owes a debt to Jo who over several years has led national poetry day with enthusiasm, vigour and vim. She hands it over in rude health, and if the day is a pointer, has energy to spare as she applies the skills which made her past tenure such a success on new challenges and opportunities. We wish her well.

Jo Bell

I am, through experience, wary of workshops. Wary of poor leadership and poor value. Jo operates at the polar opposite of this scale. Organised, inspirational and focussed, she sets a demanding pace within an empowering framework designed to motivate, encourage and enable. I was astonished and delighted that the usual “I’m no good at writing in workshops/ this isn’t really finished” excuse train was banished to the sidings resulting in consistently impressive pieces being produced during ten minute exercises. Why settle for less?

Previous workshops had majored on fieldwork, touching, feeling, smelling, seeing, hearing and experiencing the archaeology first hand. Jo took a more cerebral approach asking us to consider archaeology as a metaphor for our existence. What six items might be buried with us to reflect our lives?:

Find

I liked the numeric restriction, the random selection of items, and the lack of ability to explain and expand upon their choice. They are what they are, just as archaeological finds appear without explanation leaving the finder to fill in the gaps. Six items, make of them what you will.

Next followed the question of what would remain of us if we died here and now, in Pompei style pyroclastic freeze-frame. It was a clever question, for it was immediate, it could not be written later, what would be left if we were to die now? It was a sobering thought, no grand designs, just the grey of haphazard ephemera:

Discovered After I Am Gone

A lottery style draw of phrases and sentences to inspire and provoke produced a fortunate result as I drew Philip Larkin’s “What will survive of us………” which felt a natural progression from the previous exercise. Inevitably my mind raced into metaphysical contemplation, yet I rapidly found myself swamped in cliché and cod philosophy. John Donne , who had written and performed in that very room seemed to be cautioning ;“Don’t- unless its bloody good” (It wasn’t). But what if I were to answer the question counter-intuitively?:

Remnants

What will survive of us?
A snapped twig crushed underfoot
On a woodland walk
Displaced grains of sand
Compressed by the imprint of our sole
Bruised wood on a door shoved open
And the torn peel
From a half-eaten apple

When a site is excavated the location of the trenches and the depth dug are arbitrary – as are the finds. This poem mirrors that in snatches of my life:

Fragments

At 6.32 Venice is quite still
Even the morning breeze holds her breath
Lest the sunlit beauty be disturbed
Or a ripple appear on the Grand Canal
No bird dare sing
In fear, in wonder

It appeared, a giant wall of black steel
Towering, defying the largest wave
Or coldest iceberg
To challenge her riveted wonder
A benevolent behemoth calling
To cradle me in her carcass

More generally, the site, and dig has prompted me to see parallels between physical archaeology buried in the ground, and the cerebral emotional archaeology lying layered in our souls by experience and time. They were more closely related than I at first thought:

The Dig

Your face yields few clues
Except when you frown
And the wrinkles become rivulets
For sweat and tears
Which scour your skin
At once soft and hard
A pentimento exposed

Gouged, the detritus of years laid bare,
Discarded memories, cherished days
Disturbed and disjointed from where
They once laid, resting in situ

Sometimes they surface, disinterred
To be examined, dated, reassessed
Then reburied, if you are fortunate
Snug and neat

Sometimes they emerge broken
Disfigured from an uncertain time
Jagged, rough, still bleeding
Impossible to return, they just don’t fit

Others taunt, fraud or find
Their uncertain provenance
Seducing with specious allure
Wanting to be whatever you desire

And some lie rotting, barely recognisable
Half remembered only by their juxtaposition
With the rest, distorted and uncertain
Fading in decomposition

Which just about wraps up my writing, and experiences ,at the Polesworth Dig, 2012. The ground soon to be backfilled, what has been glimpsed for the first time in up to thirteen hundred years, maybe up to two thousand years, returned to darkness. A heritage day presentation of the groups’ writing, and Dig finds, takes place on Saturday the 8th, at the Abbey at 2pm.

But I cannot resist a postscript. This blog is read by over 1500 people a month, but the following, self –indulgently , will make sense to only perhaps two dozen people. This is a tribute to one of our senior group writers, Ray Jolland, a dignified, humble and talented writer who illuminated the sessions with his humour – and his songs. Thanks Ray:

Riff to Ray Jolland

If you like to dig, I tell you Ray’s your man
You win some, you lose some, it depends what’s in your pan

Ray’s the Ace of Spades,
Ray’s the Ace of spades

The pleasure is to play, it makes no difference what you say
If you tell him to write stuff, about old things and muck
He doesn’t give a fig, you’ll be right out of luck

Ray’s The Ace Of Spades
Ray’s The Ace Of Spades

He always knows the score, he’s been there long before
Writing without rhyme, is always such a crime
He’s the king of poetry and archaeology
The only thing you’ll see, you know it’s gonna be,

Ray’s The Ace Of Spades
Ray’s The Ace Of Spades

He can say it in a song
Coz blank verse is so wrong

Ray’s The Ace Of Spades
Ray’s The Ace Of Spades

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Hullabaloo Festival, Cheltenham

Posted on August 28, 2012 by garylongden

Main Stage

This is a new festival which ran over the Bank Holiday Weekend at Burley Fields Lake with a full range of music on the main stage . Performance and arts activities were provided for in a tent for poetry on each of the three days organised by Nick Short and Anna Saunders from the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. The first thing that struck me was the friendly vibe, with the majority of people camping rather than using day tickets. Inevitably ,with the weather changeable, there was the ubiquitous festival mud.

One of the pleasures of travelling further afield is taking in new performers, and one stood out as the best of Saturday night, and amongst the most exciting emerging poetic talents of the year, Joy-Amy Wigman. Flame haired and oozing attitude and personality she dominated the stage with a well rehearsed set. Toy Boys defiantly celebrated the joys of the younger man for the older woman, whilst Dismay was a brilliant satirical dissection of Fifty Shades of Grey. Joy- Amy recently came runner up to Brenda Read- Brown as poet laureate for Gloucester, 2012/13, and I am sure we will be hearing much more from her.

Dan Cooper performed a shortish set of stream of consciousness material which was a shame, as I would have liked to have heard more. Opening the evening had been Guy Williams whose material was diverse and interesting but whose set was a little unfocussed. Cookery Programmes and Porn was his best, Don’t You Hate it When That Happens overworked a nice idea.

I love poetry at Festivals. The audience will always be a mix of the curious and committed with the discipline of having to perform material which engage and delights, otherwise the audience wonders off, a test which is character building and instructive. The tent itself was about the best place to perform in, covered, warm and dry, straw ensured the floor was secure underfoot and kept the mud nicely at bay, the sound system was fine and the lights work during the day too! The roster of poetes scheduled to appear on Sunday and Monday augurs well for the commitment of the organisers to spoken word performance.

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | Leave a comment

Dig the Abbey – Part Three

Posted on August 28, 2012 by garylongden

With just two sessions left there is a sense of being on the home straight now. On the one hand the site is now quite familiar, on the other there always seems to be something new to write about or explore. One aspect of the Dig had been troubling me – how to convey the length of history which has been associated with the place. The Abbey itself dates from 827AD, the settlement predating that. A dress pin dating from the 8th century was discovered last week . Thinking about all the things which had not happened when it was first made, and worn, stretches and defies the imagination. Trying to write a poem which reflects that, taking in some one thousand three hundred years, concisely, is no easy task. I made a number of attempts, but all were swamped by the scale of time I was trying to encompass. Then good fortune intervened.

A poet whom I have met, and rate, Kim Moore, mentioned that she had met Julia Copus who had created a specific poetic form, the specular, which requires that from the mid -point of the poem every word contained up to that point must be used in the reverse order, although the punctuation may be varied in order for the structure to make sense. It is a hybrid of the musical concept of the cancrizan, but in literary form. Its ability to start at a point, go backwards, or forwards, and then return back to the start had obvious potential when it came to writing about an archaeological find which inevitably takes you back in time, but demands to be considered in a contemporary context.

My first attempt involved devoting a single line to every century that had passed between when the pin was made, and had then been found again, each line representing a line of historical strata. The result was satisfactory but suffered a few drawbacks. Firstly it became a list poem, secondly, as a consequence it was a bit dry and boring. My solution was to produce rhyming couplets which offered some specific advantages. The rhyming couplets became more interesting, and became linked, as time and events are linked. They also offered a sense of pace and rhythm. Last but not least it creates a brand new form of its own – the rhyming specular!

By common consent the specular is not an easy form to write in, so finding a subject for which it offered a device solution was most welcome. It works.I suspect it also has potential for dealing retrospectively with relationships, but that is for another day. For now, here is the world’s first rhyming specular:

Upon the Exhumation of an 8th Century Dress Pin .

The Abbey itself positively oozes stories, some tantalisingly hinted at. A highly polished bronze plaque commemorates Lieutenant W. R Hill who died in World War One in 1918, but on the sixth of November, just five days before the end of the war, in Straslund prisoner of war camp, on Danholm island in the Baltic. How, and of what, is not clear. He also was the holder of the Military Cross, with bar, but again the circumstances are unknown. He attended Oakham School and won an exhibition to Corpus Christi college in Cambridge, so he came from a wealthy family was clever and brave. Intrigue and mystery is not exclusive to turned ground.

Day six was led by novelist Maeve Clarke, and for the first time we were given a guided tour of the gatehouse . The porters lodge was both cramped and cosy, his sense of power, determining who gained admission to the Abbey grounds, and who did not, was palpable.

Maeve tapped intot he spirit of story by asking us to create a back story to some of the items found in the “finds” box. Charlie Jordan and I were fortunate to have a partially damaged floor tile, and soon our imaginations ran wild:

Tile

It was discarded fractured
Now merely evidence with
Unseen fingerprints clinging
To crumbling mortar
The heat of raging palm long gone

It smells of nothing
No trace of the stench of revenge
Disfigured, the broken image of a cross
Rests uncertainly
Flaking edges eroding its purpose

Only one workshop remains, that of poet and archaeologist Jo Bell. It promises much.

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Dig the Abbey – Part Two

Posted on August 23, 2012 by garylongden

I had not intended to blog on just one day at the Dig , but day five produced so many poems that it made sense to do so. This session was led by Jacqui Rowe and any fears I had that the creative inspiration emanating from the site would be sapped by over -familiarity were soon allayed by Jacqui’s enthusiastic and different approach ,which was to build the session around haiku.

I have ambivalent feelings towards haiku, reservations which I was pleased to hear Jacqui share. The Japanese haiku and English language haiku are not the same at all, the latter being a hybrid . In my experience, as a performance form, its brevity offers little lasting impact. Furthermore I find joined haiku in sequence rarely satisfying. However they are very good at two things. Firstly they enable simple ideas to be conveyed in condensed complete form, and the discipline of doing so often provides the seed corn for other writing.

I enjoyed playing with Polesworth haiku nonethless. The opportunity to have fun with homophones in Refectory Hearth, The Roofers’ Dog and Sandals was too good to miss, as was the opportunity in Water Course to artificially play with the punctuation in the same way that the course of the Anker has been altered by man.

The Roofers’ Dog

Paw prints from the past
Baked frozen by midday sun
An unwelcome feat

Pit Tip

Giant thistles sway
Wild sentinels of the past
Hover restlessly

Lost Foundation

Dormitory walls
Whispering prayers and secrets
In stony silence

Fleur de Lis Tile

Fading glazing now
Still bearing witness to those
Who worked fought and prayed

Line Call

Grey ash packed strata
Hears, no longer takes, service
Echoing above

Refectory Hearth

Stone fireplace keeps watch
Poets’ words flame and flicker
Their work not yet Donne

The Dig

Nights’ shadows draw in
Dancing like crazy mourners
Over opened pits

Oak Lintel at the Stables

Your shoulders still strain
Under the weight of centuries
With well seasoned wood

Water Course

Wrenched this way and that
To suit, human caprice, the
Anker meanders

Bone Fragments

Reborn to light’s glare
Exhumed from dark interment
Cruel resurrection

Shattered Pottery

Random broken shard
Irregular memento
Your sharpness cuts deep

Font

Stone Baptismal font
Defaced by fragment’ry loss
Unquenched by water

Effigy

Osanna lies still
Hair smoothed by pilgrim’s touch
Bible tightly clasped

The star find of the week had been a dress pin estimated to date from around 700 AD. Trying to grasp what had not happened or been discovered over 1300 years ago is mind stretching. An era before the Viking raids , and when Aethelbert of Kent and Edwin of Northumbria dominated as the threats to the local Mercian Kingdom, a time when Beowulf was being written, and this artefact emerges untouched since then.

Dress Pin

Bronze dress pin dropped lost
Cast adrift from flowing robe
Recovered in awe

Ironically, ideas which I explored in haiku form I found I could express more completely and rewardingly in Cinqaine form, an example of which will follow. The cinqaine only offers an extra four syllables and two lines but I find is a killer vehicle to deal with place writing.

I like cinqaines. I like the way they look. I like their brevity and their capacity to say just enough, Twitter is self indulgent by comparison. A particular feature is the ease with which cinquaines can bolt together five subjects. It works. Do places need more than five pints of interest in a poem? I don’t think so, and the symmetry of five lots of five lines covering five subjects appeals. When you have finished, it feels like the end. Six cinquaines in sequence would simply not feel right.

Polesworth Abbey

Ancient
Stones linger still
Held in forgotten walls
Amongst earthy robber rubble
Waiting

Egbert
Mercian king
Rested, then settled here
His divine, precious legacy
A saint

Ora
Proud devotion
Returns, a heard unheard
Whispering in lavender leaves
Once more

Fireplace
Still burning bright
Drayton Johnson and Donne
Whose omnipresent oration
Endures

Abbey
Weathered and worn
Closed enclosure now breached
Dissolution could not dissolve
Your stones

The second exercise of the day was to decorate tiles and then place a selected Haiku or phrase onto the tile. A few things emerged from the exercise. The first was how little of the written word survives in archaeology, the second was the sense of value that decorating the word bearing tile affords. In the modern era of computer blogs , e mails and texts how much of what is written will survive ( or deserve to)? Just maybe we should bury these tiles to be discovered in another 1300 years time. I wonder what the world will look like then?

This is the haiku which adorns my tile the bottom centre one with the newspaper images of religious figures praying.

Sandals

Lost just underfoot
Simple sandals tap softly
But now there are none

The workshop leader of Day One, David Calcutt has written a fine poem on Polesworth called “Dig”. I frequently find inspiration in reaction to the writing of others. David’s take is essentially a naturalistic one, mine explores a different perspective, that of the destruction that is required to recover the past in archaeology.

The Dig

Nature’s fine weave lies breached
Brutal hands scour below
In ghoulish exhumation
In ground at rest no more

Each day the pits grow
Earth’s belly spewing its guts
Half, barely digested
Splattered over tables

The Anker washes silently by
Salving, cleansing its wounds
Of the twisting distorting agonies of centuries
Its course only now restored

A holy site, visited by saints
Gouged and disfigured
For us to read its entrails
In detached curiosity

Where nuns once keened
Where oblations once soared
Now the dull thud of spade in dirt
Now the shrill trill of trowel on find

Around the borders, patient trees watch
Boughs bursting with leaves
Waiting for their moment
They will not be denied

Dig the Abbey and Dig the Poetry continues until 1st September. An exhibition will take place displaying the story of the dig and finds, and the prose and poetry which resulted a week later between the 7th-9th with readings on Saturday 8th in the afternoon. Workshops are still to be run by Maeve Clarke and Jo Bell For more information:

http://www.digtheabbey.co.uk/dtp2012.html

Posted in Blog | 1 Comment

Garyswordz

Poetry@ The Shrewsbury Coffee House, Shrewsbury

Spire Writes, Havana Whites, Chesterfield

Poetry at the Abbey, Polesworth Abbey, Polesworth

Parole Parlate, Little Venice, Worcester

September 2012- What’s On, Midlands Spoken Word

July August Poems

Dig The Abbey – Part Four

Hullabaloo Festival, Cheltenham

Dig the Abbey – Part Three

Dig the Abbey – Part Two

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