If you want a wonderfully plan speaking and word smyth then you can not get much better than Mab Jones with poems about pubic hair in the shape of welsh castles to in depth translations and re-tellings of the ancient Welsh Ballads.
Having performed with Mab multiple times she has never failed to have the audience in stitches or riveted with the strength of feeling expressed in her words.
Angie Belcher is a stand up poet meaning she exists in the gap between poets and comedians – not only does she write comic verse but she performs it, creates personas resulting in sketches and whole shows. I have watched her acts getting funnier and funnier over the last few years culminating in Odious Vexed who will shortly be appearing in Stroud (Autumn 2017) as well as zooming around to many comedy festivals and having her own show and supporting some quiet big names. She has compered/hosted many an event I’ve been performing at and helps put us all at ease before and after the performance 🙂
She does the regular rounds at poetry, comedy and music festivals so keep an eye out for her 🙂
I first met Dan on the internet… not as dodgy as it sounds honest! He has been involved in various writing collectives and art exhibitions and found me on twitter and encouraged me to take part and take part I did including being part of the Oxford International Womens Festival and the Higgs Boson Anthology. And that was only the beginning.
Dan does many many things from writing for big name newspapers to authoring some of the most disturbing literature and with a book that means it opens your eyes and mind to new thoughts and concepts or twists what you already know. Dan does all these things.
He does great charity and humanitarian works and he also produced fab performance poetry. I recommend checking his stuff out. https://danholloway.wordpress.com/
The Ghost and the Snail is a collection of poems about me and my husband – mostly love poems but more about how we as misfits fit each other.
I have decided to make it a little zine it may well end up being a larger collection later on but for now it is a zine I am constructing of 10 poems.
When I first started running poetry workshops I did a series of workshops in schools – they were “rough” schools or impoverished or had “challenging behaviour”. There was a grant which was just as well as I would not have been able to get to the schools to run the workshops without the money as we did not have our own car at the time and were in one of our “eep no cash flow” times.
I learnt many things during those community outreach sessions including that sometimes schools do not tell you stuff for fear that you wont come – this is annoying because if I know I can prepare and maybe alter things that might need a bit of a tweak. My workshops are flexible, and I can adapt and it turns out I can do these things even without any prior warning.
But one of the most formative things that happened and something that helped with my science communication as well as the poetry was that there were other poets I could see in action.
One of these was Dreadlock Alien. He was AMAZING!
His natural ease with the kids… and seeing him perform was quite frankly EPIC!
And it is not just me that thinks so, my eldest child ended up in one of his workshops at an event and she loved it so so much. He is one of those artists that seems to always be touring and working with kids 🙂
If you get a chance I would recommend seeing him perform and if there is a chance of a workshop then grab it!
I will once again be running a poetry workshop with the Gloucester Poetry Society at the Fountain Inn in Gloucester tomorrow (Thursday 29th of June 2017). The workshop starts at 7 pm and is free to attend – afterwards there ware recording sessions and interviews which you can watch or take part in.
I’ve been meaning to point these guys out for a while – Button Poetry youtube channel is amazing and well worth a watch!
My July events plus any of the regular things I can get to in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud.
Poetry performance – Thursday 6th Come To Where I am From at the Fountain Inn tix are free
Poetry performance – Crypt Slam in Gloucester
Fantasy Headdresses and Accessories Upcylced Workshop and poetry performance with Food For Thoughts – Sat 15th July – Art In The City – Gloucester
Poetry Workshop – Thursday 20th July Villanelles Fountain Inn Gloucester.
Cuddly Science Amazing Archeology and Fabulous Fossils (also includes poetry honest!) -Sat 22nd July at the Gloucester Cathedral Festival of Archeology
Awesome poet Spoz – check him out 🙂 He once described me as the “Cadbury Rapper” but the least said about that the better 😀
I can’t help but see it as a metaphor The Billboards and the when and where they are Buses and vans with adverts on Placed just so, by the so and sos
Strong and stable blew over in the wind Blocked the roads Congesting the arteries of commerce Is it ironic or perverse?
Strong and stable behind gleaming bars The rich hiding within high security yards Tyrannical with an iron fist Lock it all down…
Drown the the questions With a filibuster or two
A nations of many But only hope for the few
It will certainly be strong and stable Strong and stable fences But not walls No of course we don’t do walls We are British and that’s… an American thing.
And I wish My conservative friends That you would actually talk About what the plans are As it looks to me Like a population cull Done on the sly With conviction, vindiction And a lot of contradiction As if you don’t really mean it As if you’ve not really thought it all through Please tell me there’s a plan That does not involve The old bones freezing, kids starving, And the disabled dying?
Cuts that kill And desperation Writ on the walls By those who’ve gone Beyond crying
Please tell me you don’t want Us all dead, crippled or silenced?
I ask but you remain quiet Ignoring my pleas to be educated To your dreams and aspirations And I remember that Tory Means thief in the old sense In a real senseless sense And I wonder at your sense And ask for justifications
Strong and stable is only As strong as a nations Foundations Build them for the people Not of the bone and blood Of the people Because those foundations slide In their own decay.
And I will protest And Protect Come what May.