Turquoise Monster

Each year I have three standard Poem a Day challenges, these are Month of Poetry in January, World Poetry Writing Month in February which I run and National Poetry Writing Month in April. This writing challenges really help me focus and write down all the stuff that buzzes around my head. I then spend the months inbetween typing up and editing (or doing other stupid challenges such as writing a novel in a month or painting a picture everyday).

Sometimes I’ll add in extra challenges in October or November sometimes even December depending on what type of poetry I would like to write. I normally theme each challenge – sure there are helpful tutorials and writing stimuli on the websites of all these challenges but I like to set my own.

So one year I did Name a Face Poems which were visual poems where I literally drew faces using the letters of people names! Then I did one that was song writing, another that was mainly illustration as I’d written the poems but needed some pictures to go with them. I did environmetal poems and science poems, gothic poems and so on!

But I am currently still recovering from the head bang and I do have a visual poem that I have not yet finished from some made draw everyday challenge I took up in the autumn – so I plan to try and write a bit each day from pictures in magazines or off of pintrest and to work on A Stranger Dream which is the colouring book visual poem that came out of said art challenge.

I had wanted to finish it for Christmas but it just did not happen.

So that is what I shall be doing for the next month 🙂

My London, my city
Is falling through the cracks
Slipping down between glass
And chrome
Squeezed into non existence
Becoming darker
Messier
With pretention
And no protection
It’s soul is dying
As all the things I knew
Crumble under callipers
And blue prints
Raised for respectability
Losing the unique
And the grotesque that was more
Becoming safe
With edges of dire
My City, My London
Soon will be no more

The Maze Festival event was amazing, there were fab stories and I have got photos…. but… whilst getting out of our van and into the venue I was verbally insulted as was my daughter and then whilst we were in the venue our van was smeared in human poo.

I am very upset about this and have ended up talking to the police who have registered it as a hate crime. Since hitting my head I have been suffering with seizures, I ended up having one due to the extra stress and lack of sleep the clean up involved whilst trying to keep the kids safe and away from it.

Our van is a beaten up old transit which has been adapted to be a day/camper van. I love the van and we have called it The Tardis as it is blue and it is perfect for craft shows and festivals and staying over at performances – it is just what we need.

I grew up being bullied for “being a gypsy/piky/didiki” and so I tried to ignore the kids when they started shouting abuse to the didiki. My husband it turns out didn’t even know the word, he did not know piky either.

It was a horrible thing to happen, and I was angry that I had hoped not to inflame the situation by ignoring them as they wheeled around me but instead they smeared our van and tried to trick us into getting it all in the area where we would have to sleep.

I cried because part of me thought it was my fault for wearing my hair down, for not straightening it and making it neat, or because my youngest speaks what sounds like a foreign language and weather she was in danger. Once they realised my husband was a man they did not go near him and yes they were only kids but they were all as tall or taller than me and it wasn’t just stuff about gypsies that they were saying.

It made me feel sick but… it is part of what the visual poem A Stranger Dream is about. Here was an attack on two parts of my identity as I went to an event to tell the tale of how I’d written/drawn a book/poem on identity by getting lost and confused as to who I was.

All the anger of bullying suppression oozed to the surface and I thought about how their actions meant they were suffering within. How they fear an identity that they could be mistaken for, how people sometimes lash out to what is too close to home. And it made me realise that this world needs my book, it needs something to start undoing the damage of the bigots and the racists and the predatory pervs.

Sadly there is no way I could have identified them they were all white with brown hair of various lengths, one had some cuts but even if I saw them again I would not have been able to recognise them as the head injury has left me with face recognition problems even for people I know 🙁

As always I am turning the negative into positive by using the situation as the fuel for new works.

Not quiet poetry but it is related honest!

So Saffron Waldon has a Maze Festival and on the 19th of August they are having an opening event called “I Got Lost” at the football club. I am going to be telling a story about getting lost – I will give you a clue it is about how I ended up producing the book Love: A Stranger Dream which is of course a visual poem 🙂

I am also making a booklet and a dress!

I take too long to sign books! This is a photo of me during the launch day signing the books – these were special ones to be fair and I was going over board on decorating them – as in the “signature” was pretty much a page spread, hand drawn and personalised!

But I like doing them this way, I find it a bit souless when I go to book launches and get a scrawl. The idea of doing drawings was nicked unashamedly from Neil Gaiman who drew a dinosaur in my little girls copy of Fortunately the Milk.

I have a more books to sign and it is taking its time 🙂 Oh well suppose I’d best get back to it all!

I recorded a sound track to go with my non-linear poem on identity Love: A Stranger Dream.

I’ve been making key rings using the art work out of my visual poetry colouring book Love: A Stranger Dream.

Well it has been a busy summer already and we are only about half way through!

I’ve just finished my main festival rounds but still have a couple to go!

Events:

16-17 July – Horoscope Life and Ecstasy – performance

19th-21st Aug Maze Festival – performance

27-28 August – The Grand Mock-Tales and Creativity Tea – workshops and creative drives

Nov – Purple Fest

Projects:

1) A Stranger Dream – visual poetry colouring in book thingy

I am hoping to do markets and stalls in autumn and run up to Christmas so that people can get their hands on Love: A Stranger Dream merch which is all currently sitting in my bedroom needing new homes! (p.s. you get some when you sign up to my Patreon. The first 6 months some of it is Patreon exclusives but after that time period it will appear in my Etsy shop).

There is also a dress in the making so I can literally wear and be my visual poem 😀

2) The Political Converse – poetry, audio and art

There is already a little zine of this name containing 10 poems (warning contains opinions) and a few audio files on my Bandcamp but there is so much more that needs to appear. I have cartoons I started two elections ago which just need inking and scanning – I have the Brex-Shit colouring sheets which when finished will be a visual poetry colouring book though not quiet like Love: A stranger Dream!

The album needs updating and a second zine needs producing as I have enough poems for that now.

There is also another two songs I need to finish recording and editing – the over all plan is that there will be a double album of songs and poetry with an art book and/poetry collection to go with it.

Again zines come with Patreon subscription other wise you have to wait to catch me at an event or when I put them in the Etsy shop!

3) Turquoise Monster Collection – poetry collection

Pretty much just need to get around to putting it up on Amazon, zine/chapbook of and pdf are no more but I may resurrect if there is interest as I have not reached the 1000 copy cut off I places on myself for chapbook production 🙂

4) The Little Books – kids poetry

Home mades and short runs of these 10 poem collections for kids have been about a few years now – I’ve got workshops based on them which I take to Lit Fests and into schools etc… and they did only start out as a thing for my kids and then a thing to raise some money to buy books for the school… I think it’s time they become proper books you can buy on the net etc… this will include a seasons collection of four rolled into one including the stories I’ve added to the audio versions of the books.

5) Vispo – concret, illustrated poems

Obv. I’ve already mentioned Brex-Shit which is scathing satirical works on the farce that is current british politics (warning it’s not kind to anyone some colouring sheets are already up and ready for you as some free stress relief).

But there is also a mythical creatures illustrated poetry book in the works – I have most of the images sketched but not inked and there are a lot of them and I am still deciding the exact format of the book but as and when they appear I will pop them up on Wigglypet Press for you guys.

The Neons – a secret Patreon project so that is all I shall be saying 😀

Research:

Ok so part of what I do is science communication – I mainly have puppet shows and science-craft, exploration workshops but a little side project to this is trying to link the science back to poetry 🙂

Of course I can always just write poems about the scientist puppets but I like to actually link them – so for example Ada Lovelace is Byron’s daughter (yes the Byron), Darwin a) wrote poetry b) was the grandson of a poet, Brahmagupta wrote his maths in sanskrit which used verse for such things and so on – basically if you know of any little snippets like these – please share them with me 🙂 I would be very grateful 🙂

Thankyou muchly.

I think that is everything for now 😀

Video of my political performance piece Paid-Mockracy.

Paid-mockracy
Part of the lock and key
Chain and stock
of Slavery
To “counteract” plebiscite democracy
Is this really what you want to see?

An intellectual elite
Is sweet
Like rotting meat
Cos my family are no
dimmer than me
with my degree
I was just lucky
I got to go to university

And that’s part of the problem
With no safety net to catch
Futures can be snatched
Pushed back down
Never to bloom
Stunted in the ground
Because its hard
No one hands you
A get out of jail free card
When there’s no bank of mum and dad
It doesn’t make you bad
but career is a pipe dream
When you are floundering in the stream
Drowning

No buffer to fall back on
Yes if you make it you are strong
But you shouldn’t have to be
Exclusion is exclusion
and that is wrong
Like taking the vote
Off of “little scrotes”
Without bothering to ask why
Without checking the stats
On who and how we die
Of socio-economic class
And how getting by
Makes you pass
The chance of better
It’s a gamble
Gambling’s for tools
When it’s not just your future
On the line

You can climb out the poverty pit
Fooled ya!
Can’t believe you fell for that shit

So think

When you take the vote away
When you make people pay
That’s tyrannies way

Paid-mockracy
Is paid for in blood
Yours and mine
Whilst fat cats dine
On the wine
Of generational wealth
Dynastic stealth
Toast to monarchies health

Violence rocks the boat
Bloated faces gloat
At what they have or have not done
This road is short and a dreadful one
We know the destination
It ends in devastation

Human rights anulled
Sold
To the highest bidder
Who’s the winner?
When the masses are sent to war
Because you know who dies?
That’s right the poor
In shit and gore

Those with little to loose
Those who don’t get to choose
Those powerless against
convincing rouse
Societal’s short fuse
Whilst the comfy snooze
And the desperate booze
Their way to an early grave
Which is still later than our young brave

The unknown solider
Who shoulders the blame
Of buildings caved in
Of genocide’s sin
Self mutilation
Of nations
Self cannibalism to win

Nothing

Paid-mockracy
Is eating us from within.