Mouth & Music, Boars Head Gallery, Kidderminster

Posted on April 11, 2012 by garylongden

The Boars Head, Kidderminster

The Boars Head is a proper old fashioned pub, full of doors and nooks and crannies. It has also become a cultural hub in Kidderminster. When it first opened in 1888, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and Tennyson were alive and writing. It is fitting that as part of an artistic platform which takes in art and music, poetry is now on the agenda in the guise of Mouth & Music, promoted by Heather Wastie and Sarah Tamar. Sarah took the lead for this evening with quiet assurance and a few poems of her own, as Heather was performing in the Brewers Troupe ensemble who were performing excerpts from Snug, a bespoke piece about a pub.

This was the fourth Mouth & Music and already it is gathering quite a following with over forty people crowded into the first floor gallery space leaving standing room only. The format comprises open mic slots for around three poems for which you can sign up on the night, a few acoustic guitarists, and a headline act which tonight were Brewers Troupe. The audience was pleasingly mixed including a healthy presence of young talent, the local boho crowd, writers groups and troubadours from Wolverhampton , Walsall and Worcester ( I may have missed other locations beginning in W).

The content was diverse. Jack Edwards delighted with a clever rehearsed performance piece in which the audience heard half a conversation he was ostensibly having on his mobile phone with an annoyed girlfriend. I like Jack. He writes well, performs his work dramatically, but not to the detriment of the content and engages well with the audience. Furthermore, he understands that “less is more”, after that piece he took the applause and sat down leaving us wanting more.

David Calcutt


David Calcutt also played the same hand of just one excellent piece, in this case Achillies ,a powerful discourse on death. A chance conversation resulted in him revealing the extent of his stage experience and that acting prowess shone. With no book as a shield, the classical imagery and lyrical verse unerringly found their mark. Also going for the single shot was Dave Francis, who performed an adaptation of Pinter’s Silence, a clever idea, very well executed.

Snug is unfolding as one of the best, and most frustrating projects I have seen. The concept is perfect, an ensemble performance of a collection of bespoke poems about a pub and the characters within them. The characters are memorably drawn, the drama poignant and amusing, the language a delight. The problem that they face is that with a cast of several, and a script written for the physical surroundings of The Hollybush in Cradley Heath, it is expensive to tour and awkward to make the action fit other surroundings. They overcame those constraints this time by producing a “greatest hits” set which worked well, and left those of us who know the material longing for more. Emma Purshouse’s anthropomorphic “Conchita the slot machine” is a wonderful creation, and one which the gambling industry would make millions from, if it were allowed. If previously you have never regarded slot machines as sexy, check out Emma in her long black Latino wig. Heather Wasties’ tipsy Edith was, by contrast, understated, but no less effective.

Acoustic guitar songs were performed by itinerant Ali 12 string, Omar Anthony and Kate Wragg, the latter of whom combined the voice of Joan Baez, the edge of Talking Heads, and the lyrical sharpness of Elvis Costello. A strong list of open micer’s included debutante David Hallard who acquitted himself well, Lisa Ventura with a defiant, and enjoyably breezy, “I Will Survive” set ,and the always striking and entertaining Suz Winspear ,whose Evil Trees is fast becoming, deservedly, her signature piece.

Mouth & Music returns on Tuesday the 8th May, 7.30pm with The Decadent Divas from Birmingham headlining.
Gary Longden 11/4/12

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Garyswordz- A Year On

Posted on April 9, 2012 by garylongden

Happy Birthday to me! Garyswordz is a year old in April and it seems opportune to both look forwards, and look back. When I started this I had no master plan about what Garyswordz was going to be, or idea as to what durability it would have. It was simply a self indulgent box in which to put things which were important to me . Since then, it has taken on a life of its own.

To date I have had 8,376 views. Looking at the monthly graph, it is fascinating to watch the growth. In April 2011, the first full month, it had 465 views, by August the 500 barrier had been broken with 593. September grew to 756 ,and January 2012 was the first month to break 1000 views, since when the numbers have continued to grow. In March, the views were 1175, tantalisingly short of the next milestone, 1,250.

Since 25th February, 2012 I have had 909 views from the UK, 350 from the USA, 71 from Australia and 20 from Canada . Those proportions from those (English speaking) countries remain constant. Beyond that there are some intriguing curiosities. Over the same period, citizens from 59 different countries have viewed including Burkina Faso, Paraguay, Iceland, Japan and Italy, from where I have been averaging a view a day. I have resolved to learn more of places which have not received the writing commitment from me which they clearly deserve! That is a commitment from me for year two of Garyswordz.

A fellow blogger whom I enjoy reading and spending time with is Poet Polymath Mal Dewhirst, who blogs under Polysworda. For the remainder of this piece I shall shamelessly plagiarise his format too.

What has annoyed me this week?:Sainsbury increasing the price of a small fruit/salad bowl by 50%.

What is DELIGHTING me this week?:The prospect of my poem about Pooley Hall being on permanent display on the Polesworth Poetry Trail.
Having a 1500 word article being accepted by Insidefutbol, the international online football magazine with a formidable roster of writers.

Listening to: Lynyrd Skynyrd in their pre-plane crash incarnation, specifically, “One More from the Road” and Street Survivors”.

Things I have been doing

Cheltenham Poetry Festival: On Saturday the 21st April I make my first appearance at this festival. Although previously I have slammed and read at Much Wenlock and Ledbury Festivals this feels like the biggest one so far. I am appearing with the wonderful Amy Rainbow in a double act as one half of the “Imperfect Pair” as part of the show “Pulp Diction”.

I see a lot of poetry, and continue to give much thought as to how it may best be presented. I enjoy good performance poetry; polemic , satiric and comic, yet in a single dose it has a relatively short currency in live performance. Page poetry too can be powerful, beautiful and mesmerising. But again like a rich cake, it can only be consumed, and appreciated, in small chunks.

What Amy and I are trying to achieve is a fusion of poetic and performance ingredients. The male female contrast offers an immediate contrast and counterpoint, as well as the benefit of two voices. But furthermore we seek to add conflict, different gender perspectives, humour and a narrative to the proceedings. Performed previously it has worked well. This time we are stretching it out with new material.

So I have been fine tuning and getting to grips with the material, having at last selected what we are going to do together. I hope it works!

The bill for the evening includes the fantastic Catherine Crosswell , Barnaby Eaton- Jones, Dan Parker and Mathew Vogwell, I hope to see many of you there.

Poetry Alight: After the success of the first open mic poetry evening at the Spark cafe, Tamworth St, Lichfield, I am now preparing for the next one on Tuesday 15th May. The problems are all positive. The standard, and attendance, at the launch event set a benchmark which will be tough to emulate. On the one hand there is a fairly defined list of things which will help make a poetry evening successful, on the other unique, or at the vet least distinctive, characteristics define the event. So I am aiming to reassure poets and audience alike with an appealing format, whilst at the same time trying to make the event special.
My strategy is clear. I aim to offer sufficient open mic slots to ensure that plenty of local poets can perform. I aim to ensure that serious page poetry has slightly the edge over performance poetry numerically (though not necessarily in impact), and I aim to introduce the local audience to poets whom they have not heard before (but I have, and whose quality I am confident of), and out of town poets to audiences who have not heard them.

Do join me on the 15th, admission is free, parking outside is free, the cafe is close to the railways station and is licensed.

Forgotten Poets: This is a dangerous category. Those who have never heard of poets with this soubriquet may not be interested, and those who have will not regard them as lost! So, with trepidation, I commend Christina Rossetti (1830-94).
Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. She is best known for her long poem Goblin Market, and her love poem Remember.

Although Goblin Market is ostensibly about two sisters’ misadventures with goblins, it may also be seen as an allegory about temptation and salvation; a commentary on Victorian gender roles and female agency; and a work about erotic desire and social redemption. Rossetti was a volunteer worker from 1859 to 1870 at the St. Mary Magdalene “house of charity” in Highgate, a refuge for former prostitutes and it is suggested Goblin Market may have been inspired by the “fallen women” she came to know. Very socially and politically aware, her father used to entertain Italian revolutionaries at their home, and sShe was opposed to slavery (in the American South), cruelty to animals and the expoiitation of girls in under-age prostitution.

Despite her low profile now as a poet, one piece of her writing will be known to millions across the English speaking world, by anyone who has ever attended a Christmas Carol concert – she wrote the poem “In the Bleak Midwinter”, first set to music by Gustav Holst and then by Harold Darke. It is one of the best known and loved Christmas lyrics opening:

“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.”

She could write serious and popular pieces, she could also write with humour about her own mortality as she faced death with declining health in one of my favourite poems from her:

When I am dead, my dearest

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

And to my reader in Burkina Faso, and you all, I say in Mandinka, “Foo Watido” – farewell.

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April 2012 – What’s On, Midlands Spoken Word

Posted on April 1, 2012 by garylongden

Sun 1st ARTournament’s Sunday Chill,The New Inn in the centre of Gloucester (opp M&S) City Centre. 16 Northgate Street, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, GL2. UK.First Sunday, £5in, 3pm-9pm. poetry, Comedy and Music.

Mon 2nd The SW@N Club – Spoken Word at the Newhampton, Wolverhampton
Meets every 1st Monday of the month (no club in August) at 8 pm – 10.30 pm. Admission – suggested donation on entry.
Storytelling, poetry, a tune or a song, take part in the open sessions or just sit back and enjoy the variety of performance. Most sessions are open spots but approximately every three months there is a performance in the second half by a professional artist (supported through donations).
The club meets in the upstairs room at the Newhampton Inn, Riches Street, Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, WV6 0DW.
For further details please contact Peter Chand http://www.chandstory.com

Tues 3rd Night Blue Fruit, Taylor Johns, Canal Basin, Coventry 8pm: Free in Michael McKimm headlines

Tues 3rd Spire Writes,Helen Mort’s Spite Writes Poetry event in Chesterfield at Havana Whites bar, 12 Corporation Street, S41 7TP:
…with two brilliant poets from Hull. Joe and Mike have taken to the stage at festivals like Latitude, The Bi…g Chill and Freedom Festival, where they supported the legendary John Cooper Clarke.

Joe was the winner of Poetry Idol 10 at Shortfuse in Islington. Since then he’s had residences at Contact in Manchester, Birmingham REP, the Battersea Arts Centre and Hyperlexic presents: Poetry Boxing.

Mike’s work has been described as ‘humane, witty and sharp’. In 2009 he was part of a commission by Apples and Snakes and along with Joe, co-wrote and performed the ‘Guerrilla poetry’ project which was showcased at the London BAC.

Together, they’re the co-founders of Hull’s fantastic Write to Speak poetry night. Mike’s book ‘Coming to a Street Near You’ and Joe’s book ‘No Light / Might Escape’ are both published by Night Publishing.

There are a limited number of OPEN MIC slots available on the night. Please contact me if you want one. We’ll give preference to people who haven’t performed at Spire Writes before, but there should be plenty to go round.

The best bit? It’s absolutely FREE, so you can spend your money at the bar instead…

Havana Whites is 2 minutes from Chesterfield station (or 30 seconds if you’re Usain Bolt). We’ll finish in time for the last train back to Sheffield!

Wed 4th Misunderstood Monsters, mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH,2pm: £8in:Saint George, the monster catcher, is on his most dangerous mission yet and he needs your help. But are the monsters as monstrous as they seem or are they simply misunderstood?
Overcome your fear of fiends, spiders, aliens and dragons through the power of spoken word and music with Aoife Mannix and Janie Armour with site specific digital game playing by Andrew Wilson.
A show for 4-8 year olds.

Wed 4th Speak Up – Spring Fling! Hare& Hounds Kings Heath, 7.30pm:£5,Adam Kammerling is real talented. I met him last year at Shambala and he was nice to me and his poems were real good and he rapped and I thought you’d like him alot too. This is his proper bio: Adam was born in 1984, nothing that happened after that will be of interest until around 1999, when driven by teen angst, he scrawled his first poetic dribblings. Then in 2005 he moved to Brighton, studied for an English Language degree and got himself mixed up in the hip hop scene. In 2007 he attended his first spoken word show and he liked it very much. Vanessa Kisuule: I heard lots of lovely things about Vanessa and in a recent trip to Bristol I got to meet her and she is simply delightful and her poems are just magical. One made me cry, it’s about a coffee shop and she will probably most definately do that one so you should come and see her if you need a grizzle. She has other poems that don’t make you cry and just leave you thinking Wowee, she is a real gem. and!Matt WindleMATT IS CARRYING THE OLYMPIC TORCH. no joke. He is amazing and I love him and he’s a boxer and he’s my ever patient partner in crime. You won’t be disappointed.
Open Mic Slots Avaliable!
Doors: 7.30pm
Price: £5/£4 NUS tiny pounds.

Thur 5th Blackdrop,New Art Exchange,39-41 Gregory Boulevard, NG7 6BE Nottingham,Blackdrop Spoken Word presents INYA FACE!! plus Guest Artiste,Roy McFarlane Poet Laureate for Birmingham! Editor of ‘Celebrate Wha?’
Ever want to get anything of ya chest! ever want to “seh sumting” to those that are always on at you?? Then come down to Blackdrop and let your words be heard!! Then come join us.
GIVING IT TO YOU LIVE AND DIRECT, TELLING HOW IT IS. SHARE YOUR WORDS AND OWN YOUR THOUGHTS TAKE THE OPEN MIC LET US HEAR YOU LOUD N PROUD!!!The Open Mic will be as ‘Open’ as possible the only boundaries for obvious reasons are NO Extreme views of racism,sexism,genderism or outright personal slander aimed at someone in the audience or on stage.
Apart form that, being in the positive Anything Else Goes! You wanna Rant Rave Rage ya way thru ya words n share dem then come along and give it watya want.
Because of the language content and material likely to be ‘aired’ at this event we advise that persons should be over the age off 16 to attend!
SO COME GIVIT WAT YOUVE GOT, LET SOME STEAM OFF
APRIL 5TH 2012! GRACE THE STAGE BE YOU POETS, SINGER SONG WRITERS. RAPPERS, GRIMERS, RANTERS STORY TELLERS BRING
WAT EVER FORMAT YOU DEAL WIV N LAY IT DOWN.
£3 ADMISSION ON THE DOOR!
Our Guest Poet is Roy McFarlane! Poet Laureate for Birmingham!!
Roy will be adding some of his words to the INYA FACE theme of the evening so come and hear what this talented West Midland Poet has got to say.
below is an article taken from a BBC profile on Roy;
Roy McFarlane has been writing poetry around the West Midlands for 10 years
Birmingham’s new Poet Laureate has been announced, and he is 47-year-old Roy McFarlane.
Roy, who was brought up in Wolverhampton before moving to Birmingham, has been writing poetry for over 10 years.
He applied to become the city’s poet laureate in August 2010 and made the final shortlist of five candidates.
And the mental health worker won the award after reading one of his poems at his final interview.
“You send in four poems and give a statement about what you intend to do for the year,” he told BBC WM’s Ed Doolan.
Roy, who is part of the National Academy of Writing based at Birmingham City University, is Birmingham’s 15th Poet Laureate and now has the responsibility to promote poetry across the West Midlands and beyond.
And that is something he is looking forward to as he carries the title for the next 12 months.
“There’s so much you can do when you find yourself in that position to promote and encourage poetry,” he said.
“Doors are open and you get invited into schools, prisons and communities and can do workshops, a presentation or teaching
around poetry.
BLACKDROP APRIL 5TH is INYA FACE!!!

Thur 5th Word Up Poetry Open Mic plus headliners,The Drum Arts Centre,The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4UU,0121 333 2444, http://www.the-drum.org.uk Seasonal monthly, first Thursdays, 8pm, £5in.j.morley@the-drum.org.uk

Thurs 5th Roshan Doug – Reading and Book signing, Waterstones, High St Birmingham;5.30pm, £2 in Launch of “What Ligh is Light”

Thurs 5th Parole Parlate, Little Venice Restaurant, St Nicholas St, Worcester: £3 in Set Bill of poetry.

Thurs 5th The Poetry Evening The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse,5 Castle Gates, with Liz Lefroy, 8pm free in, 8pm start.

Thurs 5th 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.
Yard of Tales is a performance storytelling club hosted by Kevin Walker http://www.kevinwalker-storyteller.com
Come and join us in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the cafe bar that is Joules Yard. Sit back with a drink in hand and enjoy the tales that will enthral you. Laugh, jeer, cry and sneer but mostly have a damn good evening! Tickets £6 at door (includes nibbles).For further information – 0116 259 2233 or 01858 463250

Fri 6th Spoken Word & Music 20:30 The Hollybush The Hollybush, 53 Newtown Street, Cradley Heath B64 5EA Open mic liveatthebush@yahoo.co.uk From retirin host, Richard bruce clay:
Reminder, all, that this Friday, 6th April, is the last time I’ll be MCing at the Spoken Word ‘n’ music night at the Hollybush. It’s looking like a decent lineup – check it out on my ‘Events’ page. Kick off 8.30, free in. After that, the more than capable Jack Edwards and William Shatspeare get passed the torch. This is not quite the end of my involvement with spoken word events: I’m still intending to perform Geoff Stevens’ poem ‘A Dyin’ Breed’ at the tribute to him run by Al Barz and others at the Barlow Theatre Langley, last weekend in May. Yesterday, though, I finally sat down and got cracking on the long-promised second-novel-with-the-characte​r-Mary-Maitland-in-it: ‘Kingswinford Sunset.’ Do I think any part of it will lend itself to spoken-word performance? Definitely not. Have I blown myself into next week with the unparallelled excellence of the first sentence of Chapter Two? Unquestionably. If I continue to get this right, chums, there’s a few of you who’ll be quite put off the idea of accepting lifts off people in black Audis…”

Sat 7th Poets Place, Birmingham Central Library,2pm-4pm, free in, twice monthly:

Sun 8th Buzzwords, Exmouth Arms,Bath Road Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 7LX, 7pm Workshop

Mon 9th in Nottingham Pub Poetry Nottingham The Canal house, Canal Street, ,8pm, Free in, Open mic

Mon 9th in Leamington spa PureandGoodandRight 7:30 The Sozzled Sausage Regent St, Open mic + guest poet, George Hardwick hosts, open mic plus Martin Daws,An electrifying poet whose live sets blend free musicality and innovative lyricism in a unique improvised theatre, Martin Daws’ work explores life,
nature and who the hell we think we are, anyway! Martin’s poetry shows a rare breadth of style and voice, and he has been introduced to an audience as ‘a thoroughly nice man’.

Martin is a double Farrago Slam Champ, and has been runner-up in both the Glastonbury Festival Slam and the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry. He received a coveted five star review on debut at the Edinburgh Festival (2008) and is the author of the acclaimed book/cd ‘Skin Tight the Sidewalk’.
Broadcast on numerous occasions, Martin has published in international journals, and performed extensively around the UK and Ireland. His musical collaborations with Electro-Acoustic Composer Rob Mackay have toured internationally, taking video of Martin in performance and recordings of his voice to multi-media performances in 4 continents.

Tues 10th in Wolverhampton, City Voices, City Bar, king St, 7.30pm: Set bill poetry with Simon Fletcher.

Tues 10th in Bridgnorth 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, 8 pm.Hear tales, myths and legends from all over the world in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Whether you are new to storytelling, an experienced teller or just enjoy listening to stories. There is no charge for admission. With Mike Rust .

Tues 10th Mouth & Music, Boars head, Worcester St, Kidderminster: 7.30pm: Heather Wastie & Sarah tamar, open mic

Wed 11th in Derby ,The Quad , Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, 19.30 Free in, A monthly night of performed poetry for everyone, new performers always welcome or just come and listen, Les hosts.

Wed 11th “Spread the Word!” The Voicebox, Forman Street, Derby, DE1 1JQ (look out for the Abbey Street car park signs from the new Derby ring road.) 8 for 8.15pm, Open Night,”Hurrah for England and St George!”
Flying Donkeys are pleased to present an Open Night of spoken word and music – tales, poems, prose, monologues and acoustic music of all kinds. Previous evenings have brought us a multitude of fabulous performers! Do come and join us as listener or performer – note if you would like to perform it helps to get in touch beforehand if you can so we can plan the evening.

With St George’s Day later this month, we thought we’d encourage contributions with a traditional English theme. St George and his dragon will of course feature!

Thurs 12th in Sheffield The Shipping Forecast Open Mic, Rude Shipyard Cafe,Abbeydale Rd Sheffield, :7.45 Hosted by Stan skinny

Fri 13th-15th April Much Wenlock Poetry Festival – see special heading for details

Sun 15th Roebuck, Chapel em le frith, Derbys: 5pm-8pm Derby Stanza.

Mon 16th Birmingham Stanza, Prince Of Wales PH, Moseley, 7.30pm.Free in.Reading and talking poetry.

Tues 17th in ADLZ Poetry Club Giggling Goblin Coffee Shop, Mill Lane, Ashby de la Zouch– 8:30, free in, with a licensed bar and great coffee. Brian Langtry hosts. Open mic poetry and folk, this night is gaining quite a following.

Wed 16th in Worcester Templar Poetry,Lamb & Flag, The Tything, Worcester, 8pm; Open mic, Alex McMillen, officiates

Wed 18th Storytelling Cafe, Kitchen Garden Cafe , York St Kings Heath 7.30pm (Doors 6.30pm),£7in,Tonight, the audience will be in charge! A special story menu will be available so the audience can order the stories that they desire. Maybe a small bite sized story as a starter, or perhaps a heart-warming soup? There might be something fishy going on in some of the stories but what will be the dish of the day? For dessert, perhaps something with some eastern spice and a touch of iced sorbet. Come along and join Graham Langley and the storytellers on this special night of stories.

Wed 18th- Sun 22nd The Cheltenham Poetry Festival – see special heading for details

Thurs 19th Poetry Night The Community Room, Erdington Library, Orphanage Road, Birmingham, B24 9HP. 7pm:Freee in, part of the writers retreat week.

Fri 20th Spoken Worlds, Old Cottage tavern, Byrkely St, Burton on Trent, 7.30pm , Free in, Open Mic, Gary Carr hosts.

Sat 21 st Poets Place, Birmingham Central Library,2pm-4pm, free in, twice monthly:

Sunday 22nd “Tell me on a Sunday” Storytelling, Ikon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS, 4pm – 6.30pm; Free in, Participants tell stories based around a specially selected theme, all with truth (and a good performance!) at their heart. Each month, five storytellers will be chosen to perform a seven minute story live.The events feature special guests and are curated by Cat Weatherill, one of Europe’s leading performance storytellers, who will also tell her own story.These events begin at 4pm with Story Supper, a chance to meet fellow audience members and story tellers over a special Cafe Ikonmenu. Performances commence at 5pm, finishing at 6.30pm.Theme: Feather and bones
Please note these events are intended for adult audiences. .
http://www.birminghambookfestival.org/events-2011/tell-me-on-a-sunday/?utm_source=BBF+MASTER+LIST&utm_campaign=eddd0a194f-Bham_Book_Fes_News_Aug_20118_17_2011&utm_medium=email

Sun 22nd Stratford upon Avon Literary Festival -until 28/4:http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/stratfordliterary.html

Sun 22nd in Digbeth Sunday Xpress Fourth Sunday Doors 1500, Start 16:30 Adam & Eve Bradford Street, Open mic, james kennedy

Sun 22nd in Shropshire Rhyme and Tells at the Six Bells in Bishops Castle, 8 pm – 10.30 pm. It is free admission and an open session for poetry, prose and storytelling, Mike hosts

Sun 22nd Flarestack Press , Double lunch of Instinct by Joel Lane and new work by David Hart,MAC, Birmingham, 7.30pm

Mon 23rd Bookmark Bloxwich “Sounds and Sweet Airs” , Spoken Word Special, Bloxwich Library: 7.30pm, David Calcutt and guests :Bloxwich Library Forum is joining forces with talented Midlands poets
next Monday to celebrate World Book Night and the birthday of William
Shakespeare!

An evening of free book giving and Shakespeare-inspired performance
poetry is being held at Bookmark Bloxwich in Elmore Row on 23rd April,
and members of the public are invited to drop in from 7pm for a 7.30pm
start.

While stocks last, free books marking World Book Night will be handed
out in the foyer of Bloxwich Library by volunteer book givers, plus an
evening of poetry entitled ‘Sounds and Sweet Airs’ will be available
for those who wish to stay on and make a night of it.

Guest Poets Marcia Calame, Charlie Jordan, Roy McFarlane and Bobby
Parker will be hosted by David Calcutt in the adjoining Bookmark
Bloxwich Theatre, and Floor Spots will also be available.

Admission to the World Book Night book giveaway is free, and admission
to Sounds and Sweet Airs costs just £4, tickets are available now and
on the night.

Booking is recommended for ‘Sounds and Sweet Airs’. Tel: 01922 655900.

Mon 23rd Alveston Manor Hotel, Stratford upon Avon 7.30pm £8 (Cabaret style. Bar available)The Very Grimm Brothers and,Their Open Mic Cabaret Show,The hilarious Very,Grimm Brothers,perform poetry to,music with a nod,to Shakespeare’s Birthday.The Very Grimm Brothers are Adrian Mealing,and John Denton (guitar) described variously as,‘Gilbert & George, almost Morecambe & Wise’,by Smoke & Mirrors Cabaret, and ‘Middle-class,rap.’ by William Coleman. Adrian is a Malvern,Poetry Slam Champ and John isn’t. But John’s,guitar playing is considerably more eloquent,than his brother-in-poetry’s axing of the air.Special guests:Cupcake obsessive, bidet doubter and lover of lists, Catherine Crosswell will share her,musings and perusings about foodstuffs,and the dangers of running.From juggling fi re to juggling men, from killing headlice to killing husbands, Amy Rainbow,has a poem for every occasion.
Are you a poet? You’re invited to the Open Micspot to perform your work. Call 01789 470185,to book your slot.

Tues 24th Word Wizards * New venue* Buckingham Hotel, opp the Pavillion Gdns ,Burlington Rd, Buxton 19.30. Open mic, £2.50 three minute slam format , Rob Stevens hosts More info Poetryslamuk@aol.com
01298 77362/ 0781 3289358£3 in , open mic. Rob Stevens hosts

Wed 25th “42″ Open Mic Night (Gothic, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy) Lunar Bar, New St Worcester, 7.30, Free in:

Thurs 26th April Bilston Voices, Metro Cafe Church St, Bilston: 7.30pm,£3in Emma Purshouse hosts:Jack Edwards, Iris Rhodes, Liz Lefroy, Bobby Parker, Win Saha.Line-up:

From Leicester, Andy Craven-Griffiths: “Andy Craven-Griffiths will blow you away. He’s new, exciting and strong. A talent for the page and the stage.” So says Lemn Sissay. You’d be wise to listen.

From London, Aoife Mannix: Aoife is a regular on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. She has been writer in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company and toured around the world with the British Council, all to prepare for this gig at the Vic.

From Germany, Le Poonie: coming ot the UK for the first time, Carmen Wegge and Bente Varlemann make up one of Germany’s top poetry teams, and they bring funny and powerful poems delivered in perfect vocal choreography.

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.

When: Thursday 26 April, 7.30pm
Where: The Victoria, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham B1 1BN
Tickets: £5
Info: http://www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk / Facebook
Booking: on the door

Open mic: half of the open mic slots available via email ( bohdan@applesandsnakes.org), the other half can be claimed on the door on the day of the event.

Thursday 26th in Birmingham Hit the Ode, Victoria PH Birmingham , £5 in, Bohdan Piasecki hosts

Thursday, 26th,Big School KES,Stratford upon Avon 4.30pm £10 (under 18s: £5),Poetry Reading with Simon Armitage CBE Simon Armitage is undoubtedly the most popular and widely known poet of his 1960s-born generation: his work has been regularly anthologised and broadcast on radio and television, he is a playwright, writes for film, is a judge on national awards panels and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield. He has won many awards including the Keats-Shelley Prize,an Ivor Novello Award, a BAFTA, and the Sunday Times Young Writer’s Award.This is a unique opportunity to hear him read from his work in this exceptional venue.

Thursday, 26th April, Holy Trinity Church,Stratford upon Avon ,£12 each or £20 for both events (Restricted view tickets: £10 or £18 for both events) Complimentary drinks are available in the interval for those attending both events. 6.30pm Poet Laureate,Carol Ann Duffy CBE, Poet, playwright and freelance writer, Carol Ann Duffy is one of the most significant names in contemporary British poetry, and has achieved that rare feat of both critical and commercial success. She has won numerous awards including the TS Eliot Prize, Lannan Literary Award and the Whitbread Poetry Award. She will be reading from The Bees, which won the Costa Poetry Award, accompanied by musician John Sampson.

8.15pm Sir Andrew Motion, Silver – Return to Treasure Island,Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate between 1999-2009, introduces his eagerly awaited sequel to Treasure Island – Silver – featuring a cast of noble seamen, murderous pirates and tales of love, valour
and terrible cruelty. He will also be reading from his latest book of poems, The Cinder Path (shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry), Laurels and Donkeys on confl icts from 1914 to the war in Afghanistan, and his acclaimed autobiography In The Blood
– A Memoir of My Childhood.Andrew Motion’s poetry has received the Arvon/ Observer Prize, the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway andrecently co-founded The Poetry Archive.‘Motion is a beautiful lyricist, unpretentiously and precisely describing those things worth having even as he casts unsettling shadows across them.’ Robert Potts The Guardian

Sat 28th Variety Night, Imperial Ballroom, Bilston,7.30pm. £12 inc curry. Poets Steve Rooney and Kieren King, plus Raymond & Mr Timpkins Revue, Al Rudge, Melisssa Harrison and Christopher Hammond.

Posted in Midlands Poetry What's On | 2 Comments

The Cheltenham Poetry Festival Preview 18th- 22nd April 2012

Posted on March 31, 2012 by garylongden

When Cheltenham Poetry Festival launched in 2011 it was described as ‘a triumph’ by poet Alison Brackenbury, now in its second year it has returned bigger and better with 95 performers over 5 days.

The festival runs this April and offers music, theatre, rap and hip-hop, animation, workshops, live literature events and even a theatre show featuring a live graphic novel! “Pulp Diction” on Saturday night looks particularly good, particularly because it includes me, Amy Rainbow, and Catherine Crosswell.

The line up includes Tv Presenter and poet Owen Sheers, Hip-hop star Dizraeli, Cheltenham Comedy Festival headliner Monkey Poet, acclaimed poet Penelope Shuttle, slam-champs Ash Dickinson and Jack Dean, the animation and poetry show Under Stokes Croft, a showcase of poets from Worcester Literary Festival, a four team slam, prize winning poet Cliff Yates, a touring show by Martin Figura entitled Whistles, Helen Ivory, Helen Mort, James Bunting, ‘The Brewery Bard’ Barnaby Eaton-Jones, Bobby Parker, Dan Burt, Alison Brackenbury, Gary Longden, Amy Rainbow plus much much more.

Stand-up for Poetry
Wednesday 18 April 2012 at 6:30pm
Venue: The Everyman Other Space Studio
Tickets: £5

A slam-tastic showcase of spoken word stars!

Take Heart
Wednesday 18 April 2012 at 7:45pm
Venue: The Everyman Other Space Studio
Tickets: £5

A heartwarming play written by three poets.

Pitch Black Poetry
Wednesday 18 April 2012 at 9:30pm
Venue: The Everyman Other Space Studio
Tickets: £5

Illuminating poetry, served up in the dark.

Out of the Depths.
Wednesday 18 April 2012 at 7:0pm
Venue: Highbury Church
Tickets: FREE

VOICES: With Helen Calcutt and Debra Hannis
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 12:30pm
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets: £7/5

Music and poetry.

Domestic Cherry.
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: Tailors
Tickets: £5/4

A poetic happening!

Edward Thomas. From Gloucestershire to Arras.
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 6:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham College
Tickets: £5/4

Edward Thomas, a talk.

Poetry and all that Jazz.
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 8:0pm
Venue: Slak Bar
Tickets: £5/4

Polish poet Bohdan Piasecki with acclaimed poet and improviser Martin Daws.

A musical Tribute to William Blake.
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 8:0pm
Venue: Meantime
Tickets:

Cheltenham Poetry Festival High School Slam
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 7:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets: £5

Cheltenham Poetry Society showcase
Thursday 19 April 2012 at 11:0am
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets:

CHELTENHAM POETRY SOCIETY presents Sex, Love and Death

Poetry Cafe Showcase
Friday 20 April 2012 at 11:0am
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets: £5/4

A showcase of poetry from the Poetry Cafe clan!

Stroud Pamphlet Poets
Friday 20 April 2012 at 12:30pm
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets: £5/4

A poetry showcase from the acclaimed Stroud Pamphlet Poets.

Cracking on with The Grey Hen Press.
Friday 20 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: The Frog & Fiddle
Tickets: £5/4

Joy Howard and the Grey Hen Press.

Poetry Cafe with Philip Rush and guests
Friday 20 April 2012 at 3:30pm
Venue: Tailors
Tickets: £6/4

Fergus Mcgongal and Joel Denno
Friday 20 April 2012 at 5:0pm
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets: £5/4

Penelope Shuttle and Angela France
Friday 20 April 2012 at 6:30pm
Venue: Francis Close Hall
Tickets: £7/5

Stanza Up and be Counted.
Friday 20 April 2012 at 7:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets: £7/5

3 stand-up poets take to the stage.

Whistle.
Friday 20 April 2012 at 8:30pm
Venue: Cheltenham College
Tickets: £7/5

A stage play by poet Martin Figura.

Slam! 2012
Friday 20 April 2012 at 9:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets: £7/5

A fast and furious spoken word stand-off.

Jennie Farley and Carolyn Finlay
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 12:30pm
Venue: The Exmouth Arms
Tickets: £5/3

Matthew Barton – nature poetry
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 12:30pm
Venue: Meantime
Tickets: £5/4

Mark Blayney, Philip Rush and Avril Staple
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 1:0pm
Venue: Waterstones
Tickets: FREE

Cliff Yates & Anna Saunders
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: The Exmouth Arms
Tickets: £5/3

Perfectly Performed!
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: The Brewery
Tickets: FREE

A smorgasbord of delicious spoken word morsels…

Helen Ivory & Bobby Parker.
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 3:30pm
Venue: The Muffin Man
Tickets: £5/3

Nine Arches Poetry Jukebox
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 5:0pm
Venue: The Exmouth Arms
Tickets: £6/4

THE SOUND OF TRAGEDY with Cheltenham Improvisers Orchestra.
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 5:0pm
Venue: Meantime
Tickets: £4/3

Carcanet Press presents Alison Brackenbury, Dan Burt and PJ Kavanah
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 6:30pm
Venue: Francis Close Hall
Tickets: £5/4

Pulp Diction
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 8:0pm
Venue: The Two PIgs
With Amy Rainbow, Gary longden, Catherine Crosswell and many more
Tickets: £5

FREE CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS.
Saturday 21 April 2012 at 11:0am
Venue: The Brewery
Tickets: FREE. NO NEED TO BOOK !

Under Stokes Croft by Jack Dean.
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 6:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets: £7/5

A live graphic novel with stop-motion animation by MC and poet Jack Dean.

Dizraeli & The Small Gods
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 9:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets: £12/8

‘UK Hip-Hop has not seen anything like this before’. Certified Banger.

Worcester Literary Festival’s all star slammers!
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 11:0am
Venue: The Frog & Fiddle
Tickets: £5/3

MINING THE WORD HOARD: a potted history of word creation in poetry
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 12:30pm
Venue: Tailors
Tickets:

Poetry In Store with James Bunting.
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 1:30pm
Venue: Waterstones
Tickets: FREE

DUMB MESSENGERS with ROSS COGAN AND GILES GOODLAND
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: Tailors
Tickets: £5/4

Jennie Farley Poetry Writing workshop.
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 2:0pm
Venue: The Frog & Fiddle
Tickets: £10/7

The Breakfast Bard.
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 3:0pm
Venue: Waterstones
Tickets: FREE

Owen Sheers
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 3:30pm
Venue: Cheltenham College
Tickets: £7/5

Charles Tomlinson
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 5:0pm
Venue: Cheltenham College
Tickets: £5/4

Helen Mort and Adam Horovitz.
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 6:30pm
Venue: The Frog & Fiddle
Tickets: £5/4

Occupy Poetry Final Night Party!
Sunday 22 April 2012 at 7:0pm
Venue: Slak Bar
Tickets: £5

Posted in Midlands Poetry What's On | 1 Comment

Much Wenlock Poetry Festival Preview, April 13 -15th , 2012

Posted on March 31, 2012 by garylongden

Anna Dreda, founder and Artistic Director is to be commended on a superb three day programme for this year’s festival with plenty of free events ramping up to a £75 a head workshop with David Whyte – which is sold out!

Heavy weight names are combined with lesser known but just as worthy poets in a strong line-up of page poetry, including: Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead and Gillian Clarke; Jackie Kay, Lavinia Greenlaw and Nick Drake; Mario Petrucci, Paul Henry, Fiona Sampson, Elaine Feinstein, and Daljit Nagra .
Mark Niel curates a day of performance poetry, Spoz hosts the Wenlock Poetry Slam. Additionally, there will be cart-wheeling poets, poets in ambulances, and poets in cafés – and as always, watch out for the Wirral Poets in the High Street and around the town.

Friday 13th
Lady Forester Nursing Home 2pm £10 (£9)
JOHN KILLICK with DEB ALMA, DAVID CALCUTT & JACQUI ROWE

Poetry & Dementia
John Killick, Jacqui Rowe, David Calcutt & Deborah Alma are ‘Listeners’. They use poetry to communicate with people with dementia, and their long-term project run by the Courtyard, Hereford, involves working regularly in care homes throughout Herefordshire. ‘In the Pink’ is a book of poems by people with dementia, published from work generated by the project.
John Killick, Jacqui Rowe, David Calcutt & Deborah Alma will talk about the ideas behind the work, their experiences of the project and read some of the poems. This will be an engaging and moving presentation, valuable for practitioners, people with dementia, and their families.
http://www.dementiapositive.co.uk/
The Pottery 3pm £8 (£7)
PAULINE PRIOR-PITT

Reading, tea and scones
Pauline was the winner of the 2006 Callum Macdonald Award for pamphlet poetry. In her latest collection, Holding Close, she writes about birth and death and everything in between, including the mysterious relationship between men and crumbs! This event was a sell-out last year and we look forward to welcoming Pauline back for more of her trademark wry humour and honestly affectionate take on relationships and family life. Join Pauline for tea and scones while she reads from her latest collection.
http://www.pauline-prior-pitt.com

Priory Hall 3pm £3 (£2.50)
BRIDGNORTH WRITERS’ GROUP – Olympic Poems
DAVE BINGHAM, KEITH CHANDLER & NADIA KINGSLEY
Readings with a very apposite theme!
We are delighted to host this long-standing writers’ group.
http://www.bridgnorthwriters.org
Priory Hall 5-7pm £7 (£6)
THE 2012 WENLOCK POETRY FESTIVAL ANTHOLOGY

Reading by Carole Boyd, also known as Lynda Snell from The Archers in Ambridge.
The Pottery 7.30pm £5 (4.50)
THE POETRY SLAM with SPOZ.

Do you think you’ve got what it takes to slam? Three minutes to do your thing against fifteen other poets? If you would like to have a go, email Spoz at spoz4@blueyonder.co.uk. Spaces are limited, so first come, first served!
Spoz needs almost no introduction having hosted the Wenlock Slam at our two previous festivals. His enthusiasm, sense of fun, and passionate love of performance poetry combine with an irrepressible energy to create a Slam that will still be being talked about long after the festival is over. We are delighted that last year’s Wenlock Poetry Slam Winner Emma Purshouse is coming back as one of our Judges, watch out for other special guests, too.
http://www.spoz.net

Sat 14th
Priory Hall 10am £3 (£2.50)
BORDER POETS – TINA COLE, PAUL FRANCIS, MIRIAM OBREY, COLIN SUTHERILL – KILPECK POEMS

Border Poets meet in various parts of the region, but their session at Kilpeck was particularly productive. They’ll be reading from their latest collection Sheep, Smoke, Stone, but also from “Voices out of the Eaves of Kilpeck Church”, a sequence by Miriam Obrey.
http://www.borderpoets.org.uk
The Pottery 10am £5 (£4.50)
READINGS FROM POETS published by CINNAMON PRESS
Cinnamon Press is an independent, innovative, international publisher.
SUE ROSE, SUSAN RICHARDSON, ANNE CLUYSENAAR, DAVID UNDERDOWN will read from their latest works
http://www.cinnamonpress.com.
Methodist Church 10am £8 (£7)
DR SAM WARD

THE JOHN CLARE LECTURE – WRITING LARKS
Sam Ward is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on Clare and Romantic poetry, and edits Skysill Press. Writing Larks will provide an introduction to the “Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” John Clare (1793-1864), looking in particular at his engagement with the environment and responses to agricultural change.
http://www.johnclaresociety.blogspot.com

Priory Hall noon 11.30 – 12.30 £3 (£2.50)
Note change of time from the printed brochure.
THREE MEN ON THE MOON – BARRY TENCH, TOM WENTWORTH & ADAM RUTTER

Three poets reflect upon ‘The Moon’ and how it inspires them.

Priory Hall 12.30-4.30 Free
JOHN GORMAN and the Wirral Alliance of Poets

will be at home in the Priory Hall where their performance poetry will include the World Premiere of the Shropshire Symphony No 2 on A Flat [table] for Voice, Sounds, Words & Music.
DEAN JOHNSON will present his acclaimed ‘Bullets and Daffodils’, based on the Life & Poems of Wilfred Owen.
There will also be readings by the Wirral Young Poet Laureate 2012, the Deputy WYPL, and past Laureates: Carol Ann Duffy is their Patron.
– and it is all free! Call in to Priory Hall to see what’s going on:

12:30-13:00 – 3 Poets
13:00-13:30 -3 Poets
14:00-14:30 – Bullets& Daffodils: a play based on the Life and Poems of Wilfred Owen by Dean Johnson
14:30-15:00 – 3 Poets
15:00-15:30 – The Masked Poet and his Challenge
15;30-16:00 – 3 Poets
16:00-16:30 – 3 Poets
When the poets aren’t reading they shall be circulating the shops, cafes, restaurants, library, 20/20, museum, car parks, the square, the streets, Raven Hotel, etc. They will be busking on the streets, and in nooks, crannies and niches; invading cafes, shops and other venues with the Poetry Hit Squad; they will be in your face, at your elbow, on your case; they will leave the air thick with poems; poems will be running in the gutters; poems will sprout where normal poems fear to be read – experience them at your own risk! And watch out for the Masked Poet … and his challenge!

He had me in stitches” Knitters’ Weekly
“Puts Other Poets in the Shade” Umbrella Collectors Quarterly
“Made my eyes water!” Groin Appreciation Society Online Magazine
It’s almost more fun than we can bear.
Be there or be square!
http://www.festivaloffirsts.co.uk/
http://www.wirralallianceofpoets.co.uk/
http://www.wilfredowenstory.com/bulletsanddaffs.html

The Pottery noon £10 (£9)
FRED D’AGUIAR – The Rose of Toulouse

Fred D’Aguiar is the author of eleven books of poetry and fiction. His most recent book, Continental Shelf (Carcanet, 2009) was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the UK’s T.S. Eliot Prize 2009. He teaches at Virginia Tech University where he is Professor of English. Fred’s contribution to poetry is immense, and we are very proud he is coming to Wenlock.
Methodist Church noon £8 (£7)
PAUL HENRY

Words and Music
The popular Welsh poet returns to read from his latest work, ‘The Black Guitar’, which was recently published in India and is a version from his acclaimed selected poems, The Brittle Sea. Described by the late U.A. Fanthorpe as “a poet’s poet” who combines “a sense of the music of words with an endlessly inventive imagination”, Henry is also a musician and will include some of his songs in this event.
http://www.paulhenrypoet.co.uk
The Edge Arts Centre noon £2 (£2)
CHRISSIE GITTINS – LEAPING POEMS

Children’s Reading 7-11 years
‘Chrissie Gittins know just what words can do: she makes them dance, sing, sit still for a moment then leap across the page with joy!” Ian McMillan.
Trapped wasps, sweet-smelling pirates, embarrassing dads; anything is possible in poetry. Come and hear about woks being thrown around the Clun Valley, and loading cannons on a sailing ship. Chrissie’s three children’s collections – ‘The Humpback’s Wail’, ‘I Don’t Want an Avocado for an Uncle’ and ‘Now You See Me, Now You …’ are all ‘Choices’ for the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf. She has read her children’s poetry in Shetland, Bangkok and New York. Chrissie also writes poetry for adults, short stories and radio drama.
http://www.chrissiegittins.co.uk

The Pottery 2pm £10 (£9)
CHRISTOPHER REID and ROZ GODDARD in conversation – How Poets Work

Award-winning poet, essayist, cartoonist and writer Christopher Reid and the former Poet Laureate for Birmingham, Roz Goddard will talk about their writing, the importance of poetry in their lives and discuss their varying poetic territories – how a poem comes to life, why poems are abandoned and why it’s important to fill up the creative tank. Both poets will read from their work.
The Edge Arts Centre 2pm £6 (£5.50)
SHROPSHIRE BUTTERFLIES!

Enjoy a group performance from Nadia Kingsley’s Shropshire Butterflies – a poetic and artistic guide to the butterflies of Shropshire. For butterfly fans and poetry lovers alike, this will be an extravaganza of lepidoptery. Performers include Katherine Swift (author of The Morville Hours), Roger Garfitt and Mario Petrucci. Thank you to Dr.& Mrs Harold Hughes for their generous sponsorship of this performance of Shropshire Butterflies!
The full line up to date:
Nadia Kingsley
Katherine Swift
Mario Petrucci
Roger Garfitt
Matthew Oates
Alwyn Marriage
Nick Pearson
Paul Francis
Emma Purshouse
Tom Wentworth
Charles Worth
Keith Chandler
http://www.fairacrepress.co.uk

Wenlock Priory 4pm £25 (£22.50)
MURIEL PASSEY – “Upstairs, Downstairs And In My Lady’s Chamber” – poetry all over the house
Muriel Passey’s lectures have been described as “elegant, erudite and entertaining”. Despite this encouragement, she has never published a slim, suede-bound volume of occasional verse, but is truly delighted to have been invited to Wenlock Poetry Festival to air her poetic views! We are thrilled that Muriel’s presentation will take place in Wenlock Priory, home of Gabrielle Drake and Louis de Wet. There will be an informal reception following her talk. We advise that there are uneven surfaces and steep steps at this venue, and it is not suitable for wheelchairs.
We are enormously grateful to Gabrielle Drake and Louis de Wet for their kind generosity in hosting this event.

Hughley Church 4pm £10 (£9)
THE HOUSMAN SOCIETY – Shoulder The Sky – The Seventy Springs of A E Housman devised by GABRIEL WOOLF

Performance
This talk will give an intense flavour of the life and the work of A.E. Housman. His serious poems are peppered with witty light verse, and salted with brilliant parodies. These seemingly effortless simple ballads stay in the heart and mind ( and irritate the intellectuals so much) and are here put in the context of the events that brought them so unexpectedly into existence. Sponsored by the Housman Society.
http://www.housman-society.co.uk

Pottery 4pm £6 (£5.50)
Note this is a new event, not in the programme
ROSS DONLON

Reading – ‘THE BLUE DRESSING GOWN’ and other poems
Ross Donlon comes to us from Australia. He was won international poetry prizes, including the Wenlock Festival Poetry Prize and the MPU International Poetry Competition and was lately shortlisted for the Bridport prize. He has toured Australia reading his poetry, where he has also won awards for spoken word events. He will be reading new work as well as poems from his latest book, The Blue Dressing Gown and other poems, whose discontinuous narrative of a moving sequence of ‘father poems’ has attracted high praise. Ross is once again a welcome visitor to our festival.
The Edge Arts Centre 4pm £12 (£10)
DAVID WHYTE

Reading – Able for It -Shaping an Imaginative, Resilient Self through Poetry
One of the powers of poetry is to establish an inner imaginative discipline, which allows us live a fiercer, more courageous, if simpler life at the centre of momentous events and besieging circumstances. In this way, we are able to create a more beautiful mind, to find a clearer focus, to work from a surer internal foundation than the one the media tries to establish for us, all the while cultivating a sense of humour and celebration that binds our independent selves into a larger community.
In this presentation, David Whyte will look at a body of poetry, his own and others, which looks at the ability of the imagination to create a robust, independent self that is equal to, if not larger than, the tenor or difficulty of the times.
http://www.davidwhyte.com
The Edge Arts Centre 7.30pm £15 (£13)
CAROL ANN DUFFY, ADAM HOROVITZ, ANN GRAY

Reading
The Poet Laureate will read from her latest work, Bees – a luminous collection of poetry and her first new collection since accepting the laureateship. The poems within are described by the Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead, as being witty, nakedly honest, accessible and mysterious: they are also heart-stoppingly moving. Carol Ann will share the stage with emerging poet Adam Horovitz, who was Poet in Residence for the Glastonbury Festival website, was arts editor for the Stroud News and Journal, and has supported himself by ghostwriting, copy-writing, sheep dipping, bar work and more. His debut collection, Turning, was released by Headland in 2011. We are happy to nurture his career in poetry with this opportunity. Ann Gray is known to last year’s festival-goers as the one who made us cry the most! Her poetry is moving, wryly humorous, and always engaging. Ann will be reading from both published and new work, travelling from Grief, through Hope to Joy. We are so pleased to welcome her back. This event is generously sponsored by Headland Publications.
http://www.headlandpublications.co.uk

Sun 15th
The Edge Arts Centre 10am £8 (£7)
MARTIN FIGURA – Whistle
When Martin Figura was 9 years old, his father killed his mother. Figura explores themes of identity, forgiveness, loss, family & adoption with insight and gentle humour, to tell a unique coming-of-age story. Short-listed for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2010.
‘Profoundly honest and at the same time joyfully entertaining’ Independent on Sunday
http://www.martinfigura.co.uk/
The Limekilns, Presthope, Wenlock Edge 10am £5 (£4.50)
PAUL EVANS -KILN
A narrative poem written to be performed at the Wenlock Poetry Festival 2012, Kiln is an imagined story inspired by a real historic event.

The story of Alice Glaston is set in the present day and narrated by Paul Evans. Alice walks through Much Wenlock, describing who and what she sees. She waits for dusk on the Church Green and walks out into the fields and woods of Wenlock Edge, to a place called Gallows Tree Leasowe.
This is where Alice Glaston was hung in 1545, aged 11 years old. She continues her walk to a derelict lime kiln hidden in the woods where the story has its climax. We discover that her remains were found by accident hundreds of years after her death and taken to a limekiln to be secretly burned. Alice became part of the lime used in mortar, whitewash and spread on fields and so remains a constant presence in this landscape.
Although the story is macabre, it’s not presented as such. Alice is a lively, bright girl who loves nature. She is a benign presence and through her we see the countryside in a different way. Alice’s story is an opportunity to remember how brutal acts in history have become part of the world around us and their forgotten stories are part of a shared history which must be told.

The Pottery 10am £8 (£7)
FIONA SAMPSON
Reading
Poet, essayist and critic, and with a deep interest in the relationship between poetry, silence and music, Fiona Sampson uses her voice to release the music of the lines of her poetry, and the charged spaces between them. Sampson lifts her words from the page and allows them to live in our heads. We are delighted to welcome Fiona Sampson to Much Wenlock for the first time..
The Pottery noon £8 (£7)
LACHLAN MACKINNON
Reading
Lachlan Mackinnon was born in 1956. His fourth collection, Small Hours (Faber, 2010), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2010 and in 2011 he was the recipient of a Cholmondeley Award. He is a regular reviewer for the national press, and has also written two critical books and a biography. Lachlan is a poised lyricist with a taste for eccentric experiment. His poetry is both an act of resistance, and a way of setting things down “so clearly that a thousand years may hear
The Edge Arts Centre 2pm £8 (£7)
Note change of venue from the printed brochure
DAVID EDGAR
Talk – Poetry & Plays
In this session, playwright David Edgar will show how drama shares many of the elements and structures of poetry. Unlike the novel, but like poems, plays are written to be spoken, as well as being designed to be consumed at a single bite.
Illustrating his session by actors’ readings from classical and modern plays as well as clips from films and television drama, David Edgar will show how plays communicate meaning by the technique – familiar to poets – of drawing unexpected connections between different elements. Plays as a whole have a common, underlying shape which owes more to the metaphorical character of the poem than the literalism of the novel. This is partly because the key events in so many plays take place in a metaphorical space.
So, as well as containing poetry (from the Greek chorus via Shakespearian blank verse to the bleak imagery of Samuel Beckett), great plays are poems in themselves.
David Edgar is one of Britain’s leading playwrights, who has written extensively for the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and many other theatres. His best known work includes Destiny, Pentecost and a multi-award-winning adaptation of Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby. His play about the making of the King James Bible – Written on the Heart – opened at Stratford last October. Founder of Britain’s first full-time university playwriting course (at Birmingham in 1989) his session draws on his hugely successful book about playwriting, How Plays Work, published by Nick Hern Books in 2009.
The Edge Arts Centre noon-2pm £3 (£2.50)
POLLY BOLTON and GILL McEVOY – Celebrating the Homelands of St. Milburga
Music and Poetry
We are made of water, water is essential to life. Wells were once the source of water in Much Wenlock, the home of St Milburga. In this performance, water is celebrated in all its forms, its relevance to home and life, and some of the legends associated with St Milburga. Gill will be reading some of her recent poems celebrating local wells and streams, and other water sources often associated with saints and Polly has set some of these to song for her community choir, Larks.
http://www.oak-barn.co.uk
The Pottery 4pm £8 (£7)
ELAINE FEINSTEIN – A DANGEROUS PURSUIT
Reading
Elaine Feinstein is a prize-winning poet, novelist and playwright. Her first novel, The Circle, (1971) won the Betty Miller prize, and was long listed for the ‘lost’ Man Booker prize in 2010. Her most recent is The Russian Jerusalem (2008) for which she received a major Arts Council Award. Her versions of the great Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva were first published in 1970, and have never been out of print. She has travelled all over the world to read her poetry. In her latest book of poems, Cities (2010), she explores the haunted landscape between past and present, history and memory. Her most poignant book of poems, Talking to the Dead, is both an exploration of loss, and a witty acknowledgement of the strains felt in a marriage of nearly fifty years. A Dangerous Pursuit, the title of her memoirs, on which she is currently working, is essentially the story of her writing life, illustrated by poems, especially from Talking to the Dead, Cities, and Bride of Ice.

The Edge Arts Centre 2pm £8 (£7)
DALJIT NAGRA
Reading
Prestigious prize winner Daljit Nagra – the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem with ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’, also the title of his first collection, won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, The South Bank Show Decibel Award, and was nominated for The Costa Prize, The Guardian First Book Prize, the Aldeburgh Prize and the Glen Dimplex Award. Daljit has performed at venues throughout the world, and is a regular contributor to BBC radio. He has also written articles for The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times of India.
Daljit was a very popular performer at our first festival and we are so pleased to welcome him back in 2012 with his second book, Tippoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!! – in which he is concerned with linguistic identity, literary tradition and colonial history. An exuberant and joyfully brilliant collection.

Methodist Church 2pm £15 (£13)
ROSS DONLON
Workshop – Catching Poems
Poet and teacher Ross Donlon will run a three hour workshop drawing on his experience in teaching at writers’ centres and universities in Australia. An award winning poet, both for work on the page and spoken word, he will provide the class with a hands on (or pens down!) experience, so that participants will leave with a number of useful drafts. He will also provide tips regarding reading poetry, including microphone technique. Participants should bring an object or photograph with them that is of emotional importance.

The Edge Arts Centre 4pm £8 (£7)
MARIO PETRUCCI Black Mountains / Rare Flowers A New Track for Poetry?
Reading
“Reminiscent of e.e. cummings at his best” (Envoi), “Mario Petrucci’s poetry performances attract international recognition, embracing issues of searing social, linguistic and personal relevance through his hallmark combination of innovation and humanity.” Inspired by Black Mountain, Petrucci embraces contemporary issues of searing social and personal relevance, but always through musicality and a profound ability to move us. From the intimacies of love and loss, via the tragedy of Chernobyl, to the recently-published the waltz in my blood, Petrucci promises no less than “Poetry on a geological scale… a new track for poets of witness” (Verse).
Mario has received many awards for his poetry: he is four times winner of the London Writers Competition and recipient of the 2002 Arvon/ Daily Telegraph International Poetry Prize. We are delighted to welcome Mario back to Wenlock.
http://www.mariopetrucci.com/books.htm
The Edge Arts Centre 7pm £15 (£12.50)
LAUREATES EVENING with CAROL ANN DUFFY, LIZ LOCHHEAD & GILLIAN CLARKE
Reading
Our finalé sees the Laureate of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; the Scottish Makar, and the National Poet of Wales on stage together in a celebration of the very best of contemporary poetry in the UK. Expect not just fine poetry, but the sheer delight of these three poets revelling in their own and each other’s work and company.
http://www.gillianclarke.co.uk/home.htm

http://www.wenlockpoetryfestival.org/programme/sunday/index.shtml

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Poetry Bites with Ira Lightman, Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath

Posted on March 28, 2012 by garylongden


Poetry Bites has a deserved reputation for delivering high quality conventional poetry. It is to organiser Jacqui Rowe’s considerable credit that this time around she was prepared to take a chance with a more left-field choice of guest poet, which this month was Ira Lightman, upon whom this review is soley focussed, a first for Behind the Arras at Poetry Bites. Having one, rather than two guest poets, she was also able to offer Lightman thirty minutes performing time to enable the audience a proper chance to hear him stretch out in two fifteen minute sections.

Currently resident in Newcastle upon Tyne, but a past visitor to the Black Country and Kings Heath, Lightman is a conceptual poet with a particular interest in public art. He regularly appears on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb, and has three published collections. Phone in the Roll, (Knives Forks and Spoons Press), uses poems spoken into an imperfect dictation transcriber, which produces misheard transcriptions of the intended text. Mustard Tart as Lemon , (Red Squirrel Press),draws together work written over 15 years and includes Concrete poetry . Duetcetera, (Shearsman Books), offers twin column poetry which can be read individually, or together, and is written as two voices. He has also been featured on New York based website Ubuweb (www.ubu.com/ubu). To be published on Ubuweb is a considerable feather in his cap, The Sunday Times named it as one of the top ten “benchmark websites” in the world. There are just five UK poets published there, and Lightman is one of them. This comes as no surprise to me, his poetic experimentation is reminiscent of the musical experimentation of New York based 1970’s New Wave band Talking Heads- they embrace this sort of thing in the Big Apple.

That experimentation on the night included Homing a piece half sung to a random musical programme, and an extract from an I- Ching hexagram. Such forays off the beaten track will not suit all. Conventional patterns are deconstructed and rigid forms explored, often at the expense of conventional narrative. Critics may argue that the primacy of form over content produces a result where the outer shell becomes more important than what is contained therein. Aficionados of Lightman’s work may counter that he is breaking new ground on what is possible, and that what we are seeing are bold prototypes, with value as such. Evolution will come. He is a man who does not accept the sclerotic torpor of mainstream poetic presentation.

Phone in the Roll exploits mishearing as a poetic device. When Lightman dictates ,he has no idea how the transcriber may misinterpret his words. For example “money” was mistranscribed as “mummy” in a serious piece, to comic effect. On the one hand the conventional narrative is lost. Equally new possibilities are created. What was the original word? What new meanings emerge? How is the imagined context of the original poem altered by successive mistranscriptions? It is a device of unintended consequences designed to compel the reader, or listener, to ask questions, not to provide answers. Questions are the answer.

Homing was performed to a random musical backing track. The objective ? To artificially randomise the pace, structure, intonation and therefore meaning of the words, and poem. No two performances can ever be the same. In application this is more sophisticated than at first appears. A specimen line, “The timing tight, the bus arrived, and we headed for the great noun, BIRMINGHAM, its centre,” is written to be broken up, and is disjointed from the start. Hence this is not a deconstruction, it becomes a first time construction- every time. Lightman did not expand on the mechanics of this, but on the page it appeared to borrow from the “cut-up” aleatory literary technique whose lineage stretches back through the likes of David Bowie, William Burroughs and the Dadaists of the late 1920’s. Poems will always be open to interpretation, the random backing track is an external force which adds an aural dimension to the existing intrinsic ambivalence of the writing on the page.

The previous two devices had immediate aural impact in a way that Lightman’s I-Ching hexagrams could not. The I Ching, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts dating back to 475 BC. It centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change. Inevitably there are numerous hybrids of the form but the essence is that it is a set of oracular statements represented by 64 sets of six lines each called hexagrams. Each hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines, each line is either Yang ,an, unbroken or solid line, or Yin, broken, an open line with a gap in the centre. With six such lines stacked from bottom to top there are 64 possible combinations, and thus 64 hexagrams represented. I had the benefit of seeing it on the page, as a performed piece it does not do justice to its incredibly complex and demanding requirements. Some may argue that it is a mathematical, theoretical, form whose benefits are outweighed by its rigour. However it has an illustrious and distinguished history which predates much Western poetry . Over the decades, poets have always created and battled with new forms. Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th Century was obsessed with ancient classical forms as he evolved the sonnet. Lightman, although avant-garde in his approach, has distinguished antecedents.

Duetcetra definitely is a performance piece, and challenging work it is too. It takes two columns running independently down the page, both containing a self sufficient poem, but also capable of being read across, line for line, as one poem. Performed, this is an onerous challenge for Lightman as he delivers the lines read across in two voices to distinguish between the two poems which have become one. On the page this can look like a clever exercise, performed with the independent voices the symmetry and conflict of the two poems come to life. Physically, it places huge demands upon Lightman’s voice, especially when one voice is that of a small boy and the other a grown man. I suspect that finding a sympathetic alter ego to perform the other half of the duet would ease the load immeasurably, whilst not detracting from the scale of the achievement, which is considerable. Read out loud, it was innovative, demanding, funny and a delight.

A good poetry evening should inspire, and Ira Lightman did just that. His allotted time was not long enough for him to explain the background to much of his work, which was a pity, I was eager to learn more of that. His work hammers at the gates of the Gleichschaltung of the Poetry Establishment and was as rewarding as any conventional lyrical poetry set, but for very different reasons. Poetry Bites returns on Tuesday 22nd May with Clare Best, before then on 22nd April, Flarestack Press launches new pamphlets by David Hart and Joel Lane at the MAC in Birmingham.

Gary Longden 28/3/12

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Please Prove You Are Not a Robot

Posted on March 24, 2012 by garylongden

I make mistakes
I rarely do as I am told
I am unreliable
Circuit training is done in the gym
Not the workshop
I need a mechanic for my car
Not my body
I hate repetitive tasks
I only wear silver
On Abba tribute nights
When I see a robot
I don’t need to ask
For verification
I know
But I wonder what it would be like
All the same

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Spoken Worlds, Old Cottage Tavern, Burton upon Trent

Posted on March 24, 2012 by garylongden

Regular poetry events are not easy to sustain. I organised my first event a few weeks ago and was educated in exactly how much hard work goes into making them happen. Those who organise them regularly are heroes, and that includes Gary Carr who promotes Spoken Worlds. A key ingredient is creating something which is unique, which makes you want to attend, and feel that you are missing out if you don’t go. At Spoken Worlds, as well as having “three halves,” that defining characteristic is providing a platform for performers to experiment with new or reworked material.

Steph Knipe from Fradley is a quirky delight who specialises in off-beat poetry about microwave ovens , food sent in the post and wheely bins. Her poems are regularly published. Tonight she sprung a surprise by bringing along her guitar and putting one of her familiar poems, Bovine Ailments , to a folk style accompaniment. It worked very well, providing an extra dimension to what is already a very satisfying piece. I hope that she will feel encouraged to experiment further and try setting more of her work to music. Although the relationship between lyrics for music and poetry is an uneasy one, I think that Steph is on to something here.

Mal Dewhirst is experimenting in a different way by writing fresh contemporaneous lyrical poems themed on Pink Floyd’s The Wall for a summer production in Tamworth Assembly Rooms,Tuesday 5th – Fri 8th Jun from 7:30pm. I have had the pleasure and privilege of hearing this unfold. It is an exciting project with one piece in particular, March of the Worms , capturing the spirit of Roger Waters circa the mid 1970’s, and the zeitgeist of the all pervading dominance of the Internet in the 21st century.

I have become increasingly interested in the link between epic poetry and storytelling in recent months .That link is one that Margaret Torr has also been exploring as she told an extending rhyming story of a monkey and crocodile , it was a bold move, and one which paid handsomely. Ian Ward has been working exceptionally assiduously over the past year putting in the hard yards of performing and testing his poetry at many venues. His latest move has been to create an imaginary village to explore the fantasy world which he loves to create. It is an ideal vehicle for his poetic milieu and one which has considerable potential.

Dwane Reads made his Spoken Worlds debut in confident style. An out-an –out Performance Poet, his material ranged from donkeys on Blackpool Beach to traffic jams on the A50, the latter of which was his best piece. His material had promise, however the delivery was a little strident, the volume stuck on loud. Dwane explained that he was eager to secure new performance slots in his poetic journey, I suspect that as he does so, the light and shade which is required in performance will emerge.

Ray and Terri Jolland performed a very accomplished Shakespeare pastiche, Janet Jenkins orated on a murmuration of starlings, Tom Wyre read from some well worked Mysteries compositions.Rob Stevens not only read well he also finishe the eving with a fine song about the Miners Strike.maybe in the future we will see a collaboration between Steph,Rob and Mal? Spoken Worlds returns on Friday 20th April, 7.30pm start, free admission.

Gary Longden 24/3/12

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“The Launderette” and “The Captain’s Column”

Posted on March 24, 2012 by garylongden

The Launderette

Spinning ,whirring muck and grime
Rotates in sequenced synchronised time
Hypnotising and mesmerising
Drum beat thud, falling rising

Amidst a steamy warm fug
Muttered murmuring momentarily rises
Over the incessant hubbub drone
From those from washing machine-less homes
The drama of the cleansing of stains spots and blotches
Whilst the ghost of Dot Cotton sharply watches

Spinning ,whirring muck and grime
Rotates in sequenced synchronised time
Hypnotising and mesmerising
Drum beat thud, falling rising

And souls too come for expiation
Pound coins proffered to striated slots
As complete strangers lean over and tell the lot
Strange stories far too wild to be true
That matter to them but not to you
A life played out in a wash rinse cycle
Of bold strategies hung out to dry
Recounted with a wistful sigh

Spinning ,whirring muck and grime
Rotates in sequenced synchronised time
Hypnotising and mesmerising
Drum beat thud, falling rising

Bags sit in rows carefully prepared
By colour and fabric from disaster spared
Abandoned to the service wash, whilst those with time
Stare transfixed ,in perfect lines
And middle aged ladies close their eyes and dream
Of Nick Kamen coming in and taking off his jeans

Spinning ,whirring muck and grime
Rotates in sequenced synchronised time
Hypnotising and mesmerising
Drum beat thud, falling rising

The Captain’s Column

I ‘d just like to say on behalf of the lads how gutted we were about last week
And the week before that, I suppose, heaven knows
The manager could not even talk to us at the interval- he said we were that bad.
I can count on the fingers of one hand ten games where we’ve caused our own downfall
But despite all that our league position is awful
The game is about goals
And scoring early on is important, especially when the opposition has scored even earlier,
And their forwards are bigger and better and burlier

The big man has been producing too little and the little man hasn’t been making himself big
But I suppose that is something you can tell
As you yell, from the stands close racked
Where every single seat is packed
If you were a mole on the wall of the dressing room
You will hear me say just one thing to the lads before today’s game, concentrate and focus.
We will have to start the way we mean to begin

Some of you have questioned whether I should still be captain
But I tell you this , I will walk away when my legs go
I need to be on the pitch, but you will get you goals from me whether I am on the pitch or the bench.
I almost laid on a goal last week, it was only a yard away from being an inch perfect pass
Some have asked why I didn’t play as well for England as I do for the club, well its tricky, I know its irrational but when you play for your country, you’re playing against eleven internationals .

But football isn’t just about scoring goals it’s about winning
The two M’s movement and positioning
Some people were unhappy with last weeks goal less draw, but there are goalless draws, and goalless draws, and this was a goalless draw, as you saw
I woke up having sleepless nights about that one
Six inches either side of the post and it would have gone in
Sometimes you win
And sometimes you lose
But the tide is very much in our court now,
And before the opposition we will never bow.

“You can’t do better than go away from home and getting a draw.”
Our new forward needs a break, he is a good goal scorer, not a natural born one – not yet. That takes time.
A game, or two, or maybe nine
It’s nice for us to have a fresh face in the camp to bounce things off.
“He dribbles a lot and the opposition don’t like that – you can see it all over their faces
When we play at their places

But back to today, I would just like to say that If history is going to repeat itself
I should think we can expect the same thing again.”
“If it stays as it is I can’t see it altering

It can be tough out there, I swear
“You’re on your own , with ten mates , awaiting the fickle finger of fate
“We don’t underestimate them – they might just be better than we think.”
And win lose or draw I want you to know you will not be hoodwinked, that the shirts hang together, we win together and we lose together ,”I don’t blame individuals, I blame myself.

Thank you and enjoy the game.

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Bilston Voices, Metro Cafe, Bilston

Posted on March 23, 2012 by garylongden

A heavyweight bill ,with four out of the five readers published poets, brought out another strong attendance, such that the start had to be delayed, a measure both of the success of the event, and the pulling power of poetry in Bilston. Hosted by Emma Purshouse , the sales table groaned under the weight of the various publications credited to the evening’s authors.

First up was Dave Finchett with a well prepared set. He opened with a trio of love poetry, which is always high risk, albeit underpinned by the safety net of the sonnet form, but he pulled it off. I particularly enjoyed his description of street lights as “fiery pinheads of the night sky” in Light Pollution. But it was Bullshit a knockabout satire on the foibles of middle –management which drew the most applause including his memorable description of a “thicket of middle managers”.

Jacqui Rowe, co-editor of Flarestack Poets, informed me that the next poet, Joel Lane, was the first poet ever to be invited to submit a collection for publication to Flarestack, which has resulted in Instinct, a collection of erotic poetry. Frustratingly, he only read a handful of poems from the collection. Instrumental, about musician Charlie Parker, was excellent. Instead he bravely elected to read a short story about a mystery cancer cluster on a local estate. Joel is sharing a joint launch of Instinct with David Hart at the Birmingham MAC on 22nd April.

Closing the first half Jacqui Rowe herself stepped up to perform, visibly relishing the freedom of not having to carry the responsibility of hosting Poetry Bites, her own bi-monthly poetry evening in Birmingham. Most of her reading was from Paint, inspired by her recent residency at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton, the ancestral home of the Mander family who made their fortune producing paint in the 19th century. Curiously Theodore Mander married Flora Paint, so a title for the pamphlet was not hard to come by! The poetry itself is moving and beautiful, with the pamphlet available from her website, but my favourite poem of her reading came from her most recent residency at the Warwickshire Museum, Ways of Looking at an Otter, a response to an exhibit of an otter skull some 170 years old.

In the battle of the Poetry Houses, Jane Seabourne, stepped up representing Offa’s Press ,to read largely from her collection Bright Morning. Jane is an easy, comfortable performer whose warm style and performance manner seamlessly merge with her readings in winning combination. She is just as at home with the lightness of Ten Signs of Spring, as she is with the domesticity of How to make a Chocolate Sponge whilst later tackling the subject of a survivor of childhood abuse with tenderness and power.

I encounter David Calcutt ,who has been published by Oxford University Press regularly, yet never tire of his imaginative writing which is always delivered with boyish enthusiasm. Nature, mystery, magic and forests are recurrent themes, yet his writing is always precise and realistic, as was evidenced in his opening poem Cattle, the fantasy always grounded. His descriptions always remind me of holiday brochure photos, based in fact, yet garnished to please. He remains the only person whom I know to write a worthwhile sequence on curlews.

Bilston Voices returns on Thursday 26th April with Jack Edwards, Iris Rhodes, Liz Lefroy, Bobby Parker and Win Saha, 7.30pm start.
Gary Longden 23/3/12

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