I didn’t quiet make it with the challenge of producing 30 visual poetry cards in April – I was just too busy!
But I am not far off so am trying to finish them off this month 🙂
I have also finally unpacked my vispo journal which I want to work on once more.
That is it for poetry challenges this year – I have alot of stuff to edit and shall only be writing what I am inspired by.
I had better get back to work!
Last week saw the Cheltenham Poetry Festival.
I started off by going to see Domestic Cherry – so funny. It was Michael Scott and Hilda Sheechan in the personas of a Swidon Chav and a hyper kitch Housewife.
The I headed out to dinner with one of the stewards and then onto Slak Bar to see Mab Jones and her Welsh Rare Bits – these guys are amazing! Laughter until tears stream down your face. Unfortunatly I had to leave this event early due to family illness.
The next morning saw me up bright and early and sitting in The Muffin Man sipping tea awaiting to share my poetry. I was part of the Poetry Cafe Showcase.
I then stayed on to watch The Stroud Pamphlet Poets.
Then I headed over to Waterstones to watch various poets there
Leeum did like a 20 minute show from memory that had the audience reeling (or in one case wanting to give him a hug).
The next day I had a workshop to run – the Monster Writing Game – it was supposed to be at The Brewery but the weather was just too bad so it was moved to Waterstones.
We stuck around for a Jean to take part in Joy-Amy Wigman’s childrens workshop – also on monster 🙂
We stayed on for the Childrens Poetry showcase with Francis Axon – Jeany loves her poetry which she had heard at Christmas in the Brewery. The other poet unfortunatly couldn’t attend so I ended up performing some of my childrens poems.
The next day saw me back out early for more childrens workshops – this time it was The Poetry Bees and Their Story Tree. My poor Dad had to walk through Cheltenham with a giant papier mache purple tree – only happens to people who know me 🙂
I then got ready for Occupy Poetry – the last night poetry party bonanza.
Alaric was once more forced to listen to poetry – but this time he had company 🙂
I took arty shots
Then the comedy started with Julie Psycho Jones and Josh plus the performance Poet Ash.
It was a brilliant but exhusting week and I wish I’d gotten to see more.
It is now the Cheltenham Poetry Festival and I am running children’s workshops. This all started with poetry dragons and has grown 🙂
So now I have a giant version of part of my Monster Writing game complete with bag to keep it in!
And we have the Poetry Bees who live in the Story Tree with other helpers such as the Word Worms 🙂
I am in the process of making a website to say what workshops I offer which is exciting 🙂 You can at least contact me by going here.
Last year saw the first ever Cheltenham Poetry Festival which as a family we very much enjoyed, I read out my Piaf Poem and we met loads of amazing poets and musicians.
This year it is back – bigger and better!
It runs from the 18th – 22nd of April and I even appear in the programme an’ all, like proper this year! I’m running several workshops for kids at the Brewery 🙂 And reading in the poetry showcase at the Muffin Man.
Workshops are the Monster Writing Game and The Poetry Bees.
It looks to be a great event this year – bigger and better than last year and as last year was ace I am very excited.
Last weekend was not only full of lots of lovely poetry events but I found out that I have won a bronze medal in the Gloucestershire Creative Olympics for my song Windy Gloucestershire 🙂 So I shall be going off to a lovely looking event at the end of April.
Then on Sunday I managed to get through to the finial of the Gloucestershire Poet Laureate selection which shall be at Gloucester Cathedral in August.
Then of course it is NaPoWriMo and I am collecting ideas for some visual poetry – for which Friday night at the Albion Beatnik in Oxford was a wonderful inspiration but more on that in a later post 🙂
Here is my video from Sunday – it is my political poetry.
Now all I have to do is shift mental gear as I am reading my children’s poetry at Waterstones Cheltenham on Saturday!
So tomorrow I am going to Oxford to read at The Not The Oxford Literary Festival, here is the Facebook events page. I have been working on a collection called Political Converse and the theme for the reading is Socio-Politics-Protest in literature so I will be reading poems from that such as Recipe For Riot and No Wage Slave.
I will also be singing my new song Shit Creek.
Then Saturday I shall be at Centre Arts taking part in their vocal worshop which looks so much fun I can hardly wait 🙂
Sunday I am reading once more at Art Tournament – this is No Hoax and looks to be as good as ever 🙂 I haven’t decided wait I am reading yet. Here is the facebook events page.
And that is just this weekend! Now Sunday is also the first of April and April to me means another month of poetry writing challenges for which I am going to be concentrating on Visual Poetry and it also means – The Cheltenham Poetry Festival!!!
Which not only has some fantastic events but also has kids workshops run by – Oh ME!
🙂 Yes that is right The Monster Writing Game the Poetry Edition is going to be there on Saturday 21st april at The Brewery 1.00pm – 2.00pm and it is Free 🙂
Then there is The Poetry Bees and Their Tree! on Sunday 22nd april again at The Brewery 12midday – 1.00pm and again it is Free 🙂
I am also doing the Poetry Showcase at The Muffin Man on Friday the 20th of April 11-12 it cost £5 for this event but it is poets from all over Gloucestershire.
Oh and I nearly forgot that I am also reading in the Waterston’s in Cheltenham on the 7th of April, this is my children’s poetry and I will also be selling copies of my The Little Book of Easter Poetry audio book to raise money for my little girls school who are in need of books. Not sure what time yet.
I don’t normally do more than one blog post a week on here but I felt that this was something that deserved the extra effort and push. Mab Jones who I first saw at the 2010 Wychwood Festival, is currently in Japan sharing welsh culture in the form of poetry. She is being funded for part of the trip but not all so there is an attempt to crowd source the rest and we don’t have that long to do it in!
So if you love poetry and international cooperation then why not bung a tenner in the kitty 🙂 In other words go here and sponsor her.
There is something else – which though I love Wales and the welsh language (hence trying to learn it), is probably the most important bit for me at least. She is also high lighting and talking in schools about a condition called Selective Mutism (used to be known as elective mutism). This is were someone who can speak just sort of stops either completely or in certain situations.
As I think I may have mentioned in previous blog posts about music and the like, I had lots of problems with communication as a child – having hearing problems and other issues including a lisp and the dyslexia. Part of what happened is around the time I had the operation on my ears I stopped talking, became reclusive and excessively shy. I would only look at people through my eye lashes. Then when I did start talking again I had a stutter – the stutter which still sometimes appears always got worse when I was stressed.
It took speech therapists and an brilliant teachers who encouraged me to explore poetry and stage which with the dyslexia was a tricky thing. One of the reasons I started reading my poetry out at open mics after my baby was born was that I feared I would slip back into forgetting how to talk. I am excessively shy (which no one ever believes!) – it is a form of social anxiety. I struggle going to events at venues I’ve never been to before and the like.
People see the word shy and they think it is a little thing – which it probably is for most people but not for me. I don’t know if selective mutism is always connected to shyness. Lots of things happened around the time I stopped talking and stopped looking at people – the ability to hear when I hadn’t been able too I think did not help at all. Sound was a wall and I could not extract peoples voices and what they were saying from the malee.
As always having thought about this and having a conversation with my husband I came up with a poem.
Shy
Shy sits silently
Shrouded by curtains of curly hair
Staring scared from below lashes
Squashed firmly into shadows
Watching with secret hopes
Crowds dancing
Loud is the sound
Such a slender slight form Shy retreats
Shy’s voice is lost
Scared away today
No one notices anymore
The scintillating scene streams past
Shy slips away into self consciousness
Screaming in silent agonies
Shy’s words are broken
When the word’s voice speaks – they stutter
Shattering the sounds of thoughts that should be shared
Shy used to speak but no one listened
So the word stream stopped
Clogged with What’s the Point?s and Silly Childs
But now barbed words are stinging
Struggling for escape
Ripping the throat
Sitting still Shy thinks
One day the song will come
And then Shy will sing!
Sing on Stage!
Staggering the audience
But for now Shy hides in the shadows
Silent and grave
This week is National Science and Engineering Week 2012 here in the UK – it is a week of events and out reach to show just how much we need science, and how much fun it can be along with just what is still out there to discover!
I am of course the Scientific-Artist or Artistic-Scientist and I have been collecting together science poems and things I have written and as part of the sharing science with the public I thought I would release a poetic album of ten poems, one story and one song. It is called Ballads of the Scientifica and is free to down load until the end of the week.
In February I ran a couple of workshops at Rowan Field Junior school – I had stuff for them to write poems for the dragons body, a poem about writing the poems for the dragons body, the Muse Monsters telling them things they should think about when writing poetry and stuff to make little dragons they could take home with them. They were also subjected to some of my children’s poems.
Fortunately I got them after assembly where they had had an encounter with the Dreadlock Alien – I could hear the enthusiasm for this poety beat dude reverberating around the school and by the time I got them, the kids where jumping up and down to write poetry.
Once again the event made it into the local newspaper though it’s only my name mentioned this time 🙂
For those of who don’t know I’m Sarah Snell-Pym, TheMonsterBlogs and Saffy on twitter.
I really enjoyed this event and am very pleased that Cheltenham Poetry Festival asked me to participate 🙂
This Sunday the 4th of March at Gloucester New Inn there is the monthly arty chill which I have been attending to read my works poetic. This Sunday however is slightly different as they are running a competition for Gloucestershires Poet Laureate. The first phase of which is audience votes so I would like some people to come and vote for me – please.
Yep that’s right I am going for this – I doubt I will get it as there are going to be like well know poetry types there – I am hoping for a few votes though so that I can continue to show my face in the arty circles of Gloucestershire and in fact the UK!
It costs £5 on the door to get in for non-performers and starts 3pm and ends at 9pm. There are lots of musicians and comedians and things there too and it’s a really good event and I wont sulk if you vote for someone else (honest!).