Gwyneth Lewis - Bardd Ac Awdur

Gwyneth Lewis

Last week was Cultural Exchanges at DMU. Before it becomes a dim and distant memory I shall try and write up a few blog posts about events, including the CCC pamphlet launch last Friday. Wednesday was Gwyneth Lewis, a poet I didn’t know very much about other than she was the first ever Laureate of Wales. I'd read some of her poems here and there and looked forward to finding out more. She read an impressive range of work and I really enjoyed listening. Isn’t listening just as, if not more important than reading? Her poetry and prose was approachable and struck a nerve. Poetry read from A Hospital Odyssey was very moving and also chimed with my theory that hospitals are rather like the underworld, ‘and airports’ as Lewis noted. There were also poems from Sparrow Tree; full of blue tits, blackbirds, egrets, juncos, starlings, herons and hummingbirds and of course sparrows.

Gwyneth opened the evening with this poem, one which I’d come across in many publications and texts. It appeals to me for its range of imagery. There are images here which you can actually feel:

'One day, feeling hungry'

One day, feeling hungry, I swallowed the moon.

It stuck, like a wafer, to the top of my mouth,

dry as an aspirin. It slowly went down,

showing the gills of my vocal cords,

the folded wings in my abdomen,

the horrible twitch of my insect blood.

Lit from inside, I stood alone

(dark to myself) but could see from afar

the brightness of others who had swallowed stars.


Gwyneth Lewis

The Pamphlets are Here!

I couldn't resist putting these up for your delectation. Here are the covers of the six lucky winners of the Crystal Clear Creators pamphlet competition. They are stunning and thanks to Helen Walsh for her beautiful designs, hope to write more about these. The launch for the pamplets is on Friday 2nd March at De Montfort University Leicester, at the Cultural Exchanges Festival see here. The lucky pamphleteers are Roy Marshall, Aly Stoneman, Charles G. Lauder, Hannah Stevens, Andrew 'Mulletproofpoet' Graves and Jess Mayhew, who I mentored for this project. I should also mention Jonathan Taylor, a wonderful editor and of course I knew first-hand how hard he worked on these.

Litter Bugging

As it's Burns' Night, here's a lovely stamp

It feels like a long time since I've blogged. Actually it's three weeks, but three weeks is a long time in some ways. Or maybe not. Anyhow, I have a poem here at Alan Baker's excellent on-line magazine Litter. There's some very interesting work on the site by many excellent poets and some very impressive reviews. Have a look here for my poem, it is a little strange. Engaged as I am in a oily self-promoting mood, I am also in the latest copy of The North. It's time to have a bath perhaps? Ok, what I really what to say is that issue 48 of The North is wonderful with some memorable and exquisite pieces of work. Now that you've seen Litter, look here for The North. It's next to the bed and read frequently at the moment.

Oh yes, as for the latest Leicester shindig, I don't even need to write a word, it's been done for me, look here at Matt Merritt's Polyolbion and Jayne Stanton's Poetic Licensee. My Crystal Clear mentoree Jess Mayhew did a wonderful reading. Very enjoyable evening as ever, sad though that Phil Brown was unable to come in the end, but I purchased a copy of Il Avilit and I'm looking forward to reading the contents.

I Tweet, therefore I am.

I am now on Twitter. To be frank I don't get it. I'm still a Tweeting virgin and feel all clumsy and am not sure what to put where. If you would like to follow my confusion you can do so here: @MariaTaylor_  That's my login name apparently. I don't really get it. If you do you can follow me if you like.

Salt Modern Voices at The Poetry Cafe

Bricks or cobbles? At any rate, tres urban.

I am determined to get this post in before 2012; it may be the only constructive piece of writing I've achieved over the Christmas break. Also, it seems rather fitting to close the year with a summing up of the last installment of readings at The Flying Goose in Beeston, arranged by the Nottingham Poetry Series and Nottingham Trent University. December 13th was Salt Modern Voices night, a new series described by the publishers as: 'a brand new series from Salt which aims to deliver short works to new readerships....experiments or side-projects which have a distinctive literary merit...issued like an EP prior to the development of a full-length collection and aimed at breaking new talent and building reception for the writer.' Which sounds very understandable to me. I love the idea of pamphlet being like an EP, I always thought of them in a similar way. Individual poems in magazines are like singles; pamphlets EPs and the collection is the album. My pop upbringing has clearly affected my perception of poetry publishing then. It's also a very savvy project and the web page I lifted this quotation from reads more like a manifesto rather than an introduction to the Salt Modern Voices Series. You can read it here:

It's been two years since I decided to get serious about poetry and it was two years ago I started buying pamphlets, primarily over collections, simply because they felt more accessible and you could buy a few at a time and read works by different authors; then you'd buy the 'album.' Nine Arches have published some very attractive and desirable pamphlets for instance, The Sopranos by Roz Goddard and The Night of the Day by David Morley. I should also mention the work of Smith/Doorstop (click!)at this juncture who produce remarkable poetry pamphlets too and have done for a very long time. I am currently reading The Sea and the Forest, by Sally Baker, lovely.

The Salt project seems rather ambitious due to the amount being published in a relatively short space of time, but that seems to be a Salt trait, something to do with capturing zeitgeist, I suspect. Beeston's Flying Goose cafe was one of the many venues up and down the country showcasing this new series. Four readers: Emily Hasler, Shaun Belcher, JT Welsch and Adrian Slatcher, as well as a single poem at the end by Tim Cockburn as well. Very different in subject matter, but I felt that a similar cadence seemed to resonate through some of the readings, so there was almost an incantatory tone to the evening and bound the readings together rather effectively. Welsch took us to the movies, which was rather exciting for a chilly December night in Nottinghamshire. Belcher's poetry seemed reflective and sonorous; Slatcher's were lyrical and seemed to focus on smaller details in the context of a global experience. It was great to hear Emily Hasler again who read from her pamphlet Natural Histories.


Hasler's opening poem was 'The Cormorants':

You scan the bay and always see one -
plumped like a discarded coat on some
purposeful post of sea-bleached wood.

Hasler has also appeared in Salt's The Best British Poetry 2011, with a poem called 'Valediction', a very memorable love poem which finishes:

The weekend laid out - a mahogany table - I know
where it is; I know where you are. When it rains

the earth smells like it's been there for years.

I always enjoy Emily's readings and have been lucky to catch her twice this year, Natural Histories is a very readable and enticing publication. There was also a chance for us non-Salty beings to read a poem of our own, so Deborah Tyler-Bennett and Roy Marshall had a go amongst others. I lowered the tone with a poem based on teaching Larkin, called 'Larkin' oddly enough.

The drive home was equally memorable for different reasons, lost on the A52 with three poets in a car, headed for some far-flung corner of Derbyshire and not Leicestershire,where we actually live, with 'The Organist Entertains' on Radio 2. Yikes.

Breaking New Year, 2012

This is traditionally the time of year when people put up thoughtful, balanced and considered retrospectives of the year. I'm of moderate intelligence, but am very slow this evening. I felt I should mark the passing of the year in some way. There's no rush. After all, wasn't the term Romantic coined after the era had gone? I hope to put up some thoughtful, balanced and considered blog posts on some recent events I attended very soon, but in the meantime here is a little tune by Scott Walker, which seems to be about passing years, which seems incredibly relevant for Dec 30th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg8-3wbCFi4

I'm Pregnant!

No, that's a lie. It's only true in a metaphorical sense, and you know how writers like that sort of thing. Ok, I'd like to announce that my debut collection Melanchrini is scheduled for publication in Summer 2012 with Nine Arches Press! I'm part of the debut series which features first collections from Andrew Frolish, Alistair Noon, Daniel Sluman. Phil Brown's Il Avilit was recently launched in London and I've heard tell it was a great event. I'll be looking forward to getting a copy very soon. Why Melanchrini? It's a Greek word meaning 'dark featured' for women, the masculine is Melanchrino.I was called Melanchrini when I was growing up, by my family. So it's personal choice, but it also rhymes with Martini, and I think that's a good thing. I like the chime with melancholy too. You can read about the debut series here: http://www.ninearchespress.com/debut.html

For the record, when I was pregnant, four whole years ago, I wrote a blog entry on how I thought I'd never write a word again. I had morning sickness from hell and it interfered with everything creative. The creativity was obviously being diverted to the twins, who were at that point floating around in the womb.The website is falling apart due to neglect, but it's still out there in Internet la la land for the time being: http://jonnyandmaria.blogspot.com/2007/12/on-not-writing-great-novel.html

A Night of HappenStance



hap•pen•stance [hap-uh n-stans] noun: a chance happening or event.

I have a new heroine and her name is Helena Nelson, the chief editor of HappenStance. What a great night we had on Saturday at Lee Rosy’s in Nottingham. This was the venue for ‘A Night of HappenStance,’ which featured Happenstance poets D.A.Prince, Robin Vaughan-Williams, Marilyn Ricci, Ross Kightly, Matthew Stewart and Helena Nelson. A rare treat as Helena is based in Fife and Matthew had travelled from Spain. I actually managed to have a good long talk with Helena afterwards about various things, some of which included poetry. She’s clearly interested in people, is extremely approachable and it was a pleasure to meet her. The readings were top notch and Helena’s approach was to introduce the poets by reading out the lines which most appealed to her from their poems. Take these lines from Marilyn Ricci:

‘...she yells, above the roar of her

welding torch out in the hall where she’s rebuilding

a number 39 which used to go to the Crystal Palace,

and will do again if she’s anything to do with it.’

Wonderful stuff. It was great to hear Matthew again, as I so enjoyed his pamphlet ‘Inventing Truth.’ He has a deeply engaging style. He read his poem ‘Instructions for Coming Home’ at the beginning and end of his reading. The perspective altered when he mentioned at the end that the poem was written from the point of view of a widower, the preparation of a simple meal is given a certain gravity by the final line ‘Now confront the day, bite by bite.’

Robin Vaughan-Williams read from ‘The Manager,’ and I think this was my favourite reading by him, probably because it was the longest. ‘The Manager’ is a strange and fantastically sinister short collection and one worth digging out. Ross Kightly was another writer I’d come across for the first time and he was great, despite his own admission that he was being followed by a Mafia boss. It was interesting to hear his work which was certainly entertaining. D.A. Prince was excellent, and I’m always struck by her clarity and ability to simply express what’s there without any superfluity. I think that was a trademark of all the Happenstance poets, and I imagine Helena’s editing has a lot to do with it. It’s sharp, measured and alert writing.

I’d never heard Helena read before, I knew she was probably going to be good, but my word she was better. Her writing is beautifully formed, memorable and – and – funny. Yes, funny, as in it makes you laugh. There are not many poets you can say that about, (Ok, maybe Geoff Hatterlsey, I love his work too).The imagination and verve is startling, for instance ‘Poetry Virgin’ which turns a humdrum excursion on a Virgin Train, with its mundane announcements, into something deliciously surreal:

‘A quiet stanza is situated near the rear of the poem

For readers who do not like howling.

Passengers should familiarise themselves

With the safety exits and the layout of the poem.

I brought a copy of her ‘Unsuitable Poems,’ which I’ve been dipping into since the weekend. At the post-reading drink (obligatory, it was a Saturday) local poet Roy Marshall was there and we also bumped into another local poet Sarah Jackson, completely by ... (forgive me) happenstance. Well, I think that’s a neat ending.

I'd like to thank...

I've been nominated for the Leibster blog award by Gary Longden, a lovely initiative to support bloggers with small but perfectly formed follower lists of less than 200. It's all described by Gary here: http://garylongden.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/the-liebster-award/#comment-354
I have to nominate some blogs of my own in turn.

1. Jess Mayhew's Drift Rook blog which is here: http://driftrook.blogspot.com/ Jess Mayhew was one of the winners of the Crystal Clear Creators pamphlet competition and is a superb writer. She's one of those people who definitely worth keeping an eye on.

2. Left and to the Back: http://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/ A music blog run by Dave Bryant, who is absolutely dedicated to sharing the best of the obscure. The sort of blog where you come across quirky records and is so well written too. Dave, funnily enough, is also a poet.

3. The Literary Critical Detective, by James Holden, here on http://theliterarycriticaldetective.blogspot.com/ a fascinating foray into the creative and the critical...

4. Laura Smith's Made by Lolly, here: http://thoughtsbylolly.blogspot.com/ very beautiful objects d'art for all to enjoy!

5. Jayne Stanton's lovely writing blog Poetic Licensee http://poeticlicensee.blogspot.com/ which is full of writing! The kind of thing I should do on my own blog really!

A Woman Walks into a Pub: Shindigs, Flying Geese and Hearing Voices.

Hearing Voices Issue 4 - Because you're worth it.

Doesn't time fly? A busy couple of weeks with some very tip top poetry events to talk about here. I thought I should probably write about these before we plunged into November. The new issue of Hearing Voices is out by the way, more on that later. On October the 18th The Flying Goose Cafe in Beeston opened its doors to a new season of readings, with Jack Underwood, John Lucas and Pippa Hennessey.

This was a lovely evening in a very cosy venue and all three poets, despite being rather different in flavour, complemented each other well. Pippa's reading was warm and memorable and there were some very memorable images in her work. I should really write things down, but there was one about planting a tree in childhood, almost by accident, which grows and flourishes in the future while everything else changes. John Lucas's readings always leave me feeling that I've learnt something worth knowing. John talked about poetry of the Second World War, and read a poem by the American Randall Jarrell. Controversially, John asserted that poetry of this period is the equal and in some cases the more superior when compared to the poetry of the Great War. This threw me, but then I've not read an awful lot of WW2 work, apart from the odd bit of Keith Douglas, so perhaps it's time I delved further. Jack Underwood was a treat, very individual and full of verve. Again I should make notes but I remember devils' mouths replete with slim legs and envy over the pre-pubescent obsessions of girlfriends, such as pet horses. Anyone remember that classic series for girls, 'My Friend Flicker?' I think he has nothing to fear.

Last Monday saw the launch of Issue 4 of Hearing Voices, (yes that’s Hearing Voices, every home should have one!) at The Western Pub in Leicester. The guest readers were Mal Dewhirst, Charles Lauder, Wayne Burrows and Jane Commane. All great, I could write and write but so many other people have done this for me, so I’d suggest looking at some of the blogs below for a more spirited version of events, as I’m a little red eyed and snoozy at the moment. Suffice to say that Wayne’s pop stars and space travellers, Mal’s nature adventures, Charles’ sonorous and quirky work and Jane’s race horses and school anthems were all warmly received by an audience so attentive and wonderful I don’t know if it would be possible to find their like elsewhere. It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again, the open mic at these Shindigs is superb. As Alan Baker put it: ‘Poetry is a participation sport; most readers are also writers of poetry, and the whole scene is democratic and unhierarchical. But this is not to say that standards have to be driven down to the lowest common denominator; there's no reason why that should happen, and the evidence of the Leicester readings is quite the opposite, with people generally trying to raise their game to keep up with others.’ There you go, proof.

Oh, did I mention Hearing Voices is on sale now? And you’d like a copy, well of course you would, you are after all very intelligent! This issue features work by Joanne Limburg, Helen Ivory, Todd Swift, Mark Mawson, Mark Goodwin, David Caddy, Jacqui Rowe, Lydia Towsey, Alan Baker, Tony Williams, Nathan Lunt, George Ttoouli, Jess Mayhew, Matthew Stewart, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and many others. Please send a cheque made payable to Crystal Clear Creators to Jonathan Taylor, Crystal Clear Creators, c/o Department of English and Creative Writing, Faculty of Humanities, Clephan Building, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH, U.K. Postage and packing is free!

Gary Longden's blog is here: http://garylongden.wordpress.com/
Matt Merritt's: http://polyolbion.blogspot.com/2011/10/full-house.html
Alan Baker's: http://alan-baker.blogspot.com/2011/10/shindig-in-leicester-this-week-has-been.html

Very much worth a read! As is Hearing Voices, out now! You know the rest...

Me and Mr. Jones

I'm very impressed with Ms Winehouse's ability to blend the sounds of a classic Jazz styling with a unique North London idiom. 'Fuckery' is an exqusite word; we may never see her like again.

Happenings

Ok, let's begin. There's quite a lot happening this week. If I could, I'd be catching John Agard at WORD! in Leicester tomorrow, it should be a good evening. This Saturday also sees the Brummie version of States of Independence (West), which is utterly free. This will be held at the Eastside Projects Gallery on Heath Mill Lane in Digbeth. If the Leicester ones are anything to go by this one should be just as good with publishers such as Penned in the Margins, the Shoestring Press, Nine Arches Press, Happenstance, Leafe Press, Bloodaxe, Flipped Eye Publishing, to name a few, all represented.
As for moi, I begin my proudest writing commission of the year this Autumn; writing the script of my twin daughters' Christmas play to be held at their playgroup in December. I can't say much at the moment other than it will involve glove puppets; probably a dragon and a wizard. I expect to earn a mince pie or two. I'm also very glad that my review of Paul Kingsnorth's collection, Kidland, has been posted on Todd Swift's fabulous blog Eyewear. It's a pleasure to be involved with a blog that is actively raising the profile of contemporary poetry on the Web. You can read it here at:

 http://toddswift.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-review-taylor-on-kingsnorth.html

I've also been reading a lot too, and can recommend John McCullough's 'The Frost Fairs,' definitely worth a look.

 

Guardian Online

I found this the other week and was a very happy bunny to see my poem up on the Guardian online. Thank you, Colette Bryce for selecting my poem! Have a peek here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/12/poetry-workshop-names-colette-bryce

Lyrical Lounging - September 17th 2011



Jess Mayhew and yours truly, Maria Taylor

I've been quiet of late. The last few weeks have seen me head down over a desk whenever the chance arises editing, reviewing and writing at the cost of enhancing my social life. However, last Saturday meant a trip down to Northampton to perform at the Lyric Lounge with CCC pamphlet winner, Jess Mayhew. Jess is a very talented discovery, at only 21 she writes with an authority and maturity which is quite startling. We both had an opportunity to share our work with a very receptive crowd. Ok, I had a cold and was dosed up with various superdrugs but it went well. The event was held at The Fishmarket, an art gallery which was indeed a fishmarket in years gone by. There were still a few marble tables where the fish were sold, to mark this. This intriguing and idiosyncratic arts venue is unfortunately going to be shut down next year. Not your best move Northamptonshire council, methinks. The venue was full of very eager and enthused artists, writers and performers and there was also a free lunch!

Jess and Maria

                  The 17th of September is also my dad's birthday. He turned 74, he won't be reading this blog as most of his reading matter consists of the sports pages, but Happy Birthday Papa!

There were felt tips, so I used them.

Another contribution by myself.

Live from Neptune!

Hello world, I've been having many technological gripes at the moment. The television has had a nervous breakdown since the digital switch over and I can't watch 'Come Dine with Me' anymore. My record player's packed in and I refuse to accept that my video player's also suffering a similar fate.Yes I know these are ancient forms of technology for some, but to me they're so real in my heart. Plus the down key on my mobile no longer works. There's no money to fix this. I walked into an O2 shop completely bewildered by words like 'bluetooth' and vaguely aggressive sounding acronyms like 'SAR.' I scuttled away down the Cattle Market feeling rather left behind and I'm technically not that old, but all this upgrading is leaving me flummoxed.

                   Ironically, I've been watching things on the Internet, to cheer me up. Three loud hurrahs for the Internet, even most Luddites get it. If YouTube had existed when I was a teenager I would have probably exploded with excitement and spent my days glued to Smiths and Blur videos, emerging now and then, a pale-shade of yellow. So here's a scratchy demo recording probably made circa 1967-8, although it sounds as if it's being broadcast from Neptune.That's the Internet for you, it's spell-blindingly modern enough for a person to access the past and otherworldly items.

Shindiggery - Monday 22nd August.

The Leicester shindigs jointly held by Nine Arches Press and Crystal Clear Creators have a real sense of buzz about them and last Monday's was exactly in that vein. The headline readers were Matt Meritt, Roy Marshall, Alex Plasatis and Deborah Tyler Bennett, whose new pamphlet 'Mytton, Dyer, Sweet Billy Gibson' is out now. All of them were wonderful. Alex's reading was a real surprise, of a very lascivious nature you'd say, very funny though. I'd go into details but there might be children reading. Matt's work is always a pleasure and was, as always, evocative and well-written. His writing is at full strength, and we were lucky to hear some brand new pieces. Deborah's work is always a treat and some of the poems from the pamphlet were based on her own great-grandfather and very strongly-voiced, making use of her Nottinghamshire roots and dialect. I was born in Worksop, you know, I'm very fond. Roy's work is imaginative and sonorous, my left ear was right next to the speaker, I savoured every word.

         The open mic, was very strong indeed, performances came from Mark Goodwin, Jayne Stanton, Gary Longden, Jane Commane, Jonathan Taylor and others. All wonderful. I left with rather a glowing feeling, happy that such things were occurring in my own city. Put that in your pipe, London town. If you would like to read other accounts of this event then are two I know of, one by Gary Longden: http://behindthearras.com/wordsandvoices.html#Shindig
and Matt Merritt: http://polyolbion.blogspot.com/

Under The Radar 8

UTR 8 - with added Cow!

The other day I got my new copy of 'Under the Radar' and I really think it's a very strong and memorable issue. There's poetry by Robin Vaughan-Williams, Claire Trevien, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and I was really impressed by Kate Fox's poem, 'My Mother as a Sunday.'  UTR 8 is just a pleasure to read. There are also reviews by Alison Brackenbury, Zoe Brigley and Matt Merritt on the intriguing Roy Fisher. I'm really pleased to have two reviews in this edition of collections by Michael W. Thomas and Simon Perril. There's an extract of my review of Perril's book here at the Salt blog:
http://blog.saltpublishing.com/2011/08/17/maria-taylor-reviews-simon-perril%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cnitrate%e2%80%9d-in-under-the-radar/
Under The Radar 8 is definitely worth seeking out. I should also mention that Tears in the Fence, edited by David Caddy, is experiencing trouble at the moment. It must not go under! It's a beautifully and very carefully produced magazine which always features very striking work. Pester your library to get a copy if you can't afford a sub. (Not too unkindly though, I love libraries, so please do it ever so graciously.)

Frog!





[N.B. There's no reason for why I called this blog post 'Frog' I couldn't think of a better title and Roy's blog features a frog and what a lot of assonant rhyme there is here.]

Roy Marshall has put up one of my poems on his excellent blog, it's called 'Fable' and you can find this here:
http://roymarshall.wordpress.com/favourite-poem-of-the-week/
I should also mention that back copies of 'The Rialto' have gone up on the South Bank poetry magazines website, here you can find one of Roy's poems, 'Hayride' on this great resource: http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=26988
It was a very good edition which also included poetry from Katy-Evans Bush, David Morley, Sarah Jackson and some frozen peas from Simon Armitage.

Amy Winehouse

Sunday, around  midnight, found me in the departures lounge of Larnaca Airport. Over a sunburnt shoulder I read the headlines that Amy Winehouse had died and it left me feeling rather moved. This feeling surprised me, I'm not her biggest fan by any stretch, but I can see there was something rather unique in her contralto voice and her style. I have fuzzy memories of being given my epidural to the sounds of 'Valerie' which just happened to be on the radio in the operating theatre; a much better choice than all that whale song nonsense. It's one of those deaths in rock which is sad but not exactly unexpected. Rewind to spring '94 when as a teenager I saw a picture of Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers posed in front of a pile of bones in the Parisian catacombs. A year later he was missing, presumed dead. It seems fairly obvious in hindsight, but how easy is that to say. And then of course are all the well-known members of the 27 club, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain amongst others. Now it seems that Amy will be on that rather tackily named list.

How I finished off June...

This one's for you, Ms. Tyler-Bennett

There’s so much going on at the moment, festival season is in full swing. Yours truly is having some time off though and has many friend and family commitments at the moment. That didn’t stop me from attending the Lowdham festival and the Leicester Shindig at the end of June. Lowdham, with two excitable 3 year olds, was a good day out. There was a children’s tent, a Cat-in-the-Hat and a conveniently located playground. Result. I snuck off for a couple of readings. John Lucas was reading from his new book, Next Year will be Better, it’s a rather humorous and affectionate look at Lucas’ experiences of growing up in the 50s. The 50s of course should feel like a very long time ago, but after growing up in the 80s with revivals galore, it doesn’t actually feel so distant. The decade gets overshadowed by the 60s perhaps, but so many interesting things were going on. My dad was also coming of age in Cyprus, working in the kitchens of the British army bases in Dhekalia, whilst my mother had been forced to leave school early and train as a seamstress. When they came over in the 60s to the UK, like so many others, they probably didn’t realise that they were staying for the long haul.

I’m really looking forward to reading John’s book. I also caught Deborah-Tyler Bennett reading from her new collection Revudeville and the new Nine Arches pamphlet Mytton... Dyer... Sweet Billy Gibson..., if you’re into the idea of crazed aristos leaping over dining tables with their horses, you should give it a whirl. I should also say that Deborah is a keen afficiando and wearer of Vintage fashions, especially the 1950s, so I dedicate the photo above to her. Deborah’s reading was shared with Gregory Woods, and they complemented each other.



So once we had recovered from the twins at Lowdham we attended the Leicester Shindig on the following Monday. It was a real treat hearing Luke Kennard. His first poem was ‘The Choir,’ it was dedicated to a friend who was suffering with depression. It was thrilling and original, and perhaps that was the tone of the entire reading; there was so much linguistic energy. Strange, funny and utterly memorable. You’d think with all those awards Mr. K would have an excuse to be distant, but he wasn’t, he was charming and approachable. The other guest readers were Simon Perrill, Joel Lane and Lydia Towsey. I introduced Lydia and her work was warm and her tone was friendly. Simon’s poems were stark and imaginative, the idea of the moon appearing in daylight, with ‘its phantom currency’ appearing in the blue really grabbed me.


I should also mention the Southwell festival, I can't make it at all this year, curses. However, Aly Stoneman's blog on the event is very interesting and there's a lovely review of Simon Armitage's reading, see here: http://alysonstoneman.wordpress.com/ I really wanted to go, but I was too busy quaffing champagne at my friend's wedding in Suffolk. Next year, perhaps.

To suit retro theme here I am in an old car, at aforementioned wedding.