Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Golden Hour: Infused and Bemused



Right this post is going to be brief. The extremely excellent Ryan Van Winkle asked me if I wanted to do a poetry gig in a van. I knew I'd regret it if I said no. So I said yes. Even though I was a little unsure about how I'd handle the intimacy of a very small audience in a small (but ever so funky) van in the middle of the toon.

I have some themes to keep in mind when choosing and writing my poems - I have a couple already that I know will fit perfectly but I do need to crack on with rehearsing, writing, re-writing, whatever it's going to take to make this gig really special.

Check out  http://www.gorillaperfume.com/ to find out some more background about the tour (it's sponsored by those rather lovely people at Lush) and to find out more about the other venues and performers

Take a tour inside the venue - Click here to look inside! I think you'll agree it looks fucking amazing. So if you're in Newcastle town centre on Friday October 12th... Come!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

River Runs

I'm trying something new here... actually blogging about something I'm working on whilst I'm working on it... novel, huh? The detail is a bit vague at this stage but I'll know more later in September.

River Runs is a collaborative project run by Radikal Words (featuring Jeff Price, Alfie Crow, Kate Fox, Simma, Aidan Clarke, Ben Holland, Bridie Jackson and me). What with the whole MA thing I've not had a chance to have a think about what my involvement in the project exactly entails but I reckon immersing myself (see what I did there) in river poems can't hurt can it? I'm also going to spend some time getting to know the Tyne a little better - I've worked in a theatre alongside it for the best part of eleven years so I reckon now's as good a time as any to stop taking it for granted and properly pay it some attention. I should probably get down to ~Flow before it shuts shop for the summer too.

Anyway, here are a couple of the poems I've been reading.
Birmingham River - Roy Fisher
What the evangelist should have said - Kei Miller

So as I haven't got anything in mind I reckon I'll be defaulting to my usual free-writing to kick start the poeting bit of my brain. I shall also have to do something about the earworm currently on loop in my head - Drowned Lovers by Kate Rusby. (It is a mint song though.)

Monday, May 14, 2012

In all the rush we never did come up with a title...

Here's a short video interview that kind of explains itself if you watch it. As part of the Trashed Organ Fringe Festival for NCLA's Festival of Belonging I worked with percussionist Ged Robinson to create a new piece of work. At some point I'll upload an audio recording of one of the rehearsals but in the meantime you can find an extract of the performance on rashbre central. I seem to be doing my usual trick of going a bit faster than in rehearsals... that's nerves for you. I'll do a fuller post at some point about the project and the night itself (I always say that don't I?) - this is just an interim post as I haven't updated the blog for a fair while.




Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Leap Days and Last Days

So the Deseeded February challenge is at an end. Vol. 2 should be up now but last minute costume making for World Book Day have delayed publication by a day or two.

The final image in the February series was inspired by something Ann Cleeves said at yesterday's Life of Writing seminar:

"It's all about relationships... that time of year when people switch on the lights but forget to draw the curtains."

Go to Deseeded to see the full post.

Pics below are from The Writers Cafe at The Settle Down Cafe. Looks like its going to be a great place to write.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

#1

What conversation has he just had? Who has he been speaking to? What is he about to say next?

I've got into the habit of taking a photo every day thanks to the highly addictive blipfoto and so I've decided to post a photo prompt on the Deseeded blog every day during February. Along with a couple of prompts which you can use, or not.

The resulting bit of writing could be poetry, flash fiction or a short story. At the end of the month I'll be publishing Deseeded Vol. 2 and I'll announce details of how to submit to the next edition.