tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12443980725283536472024-03-14T04:32:14.296+00:00Inadvertently teaching my daughters to swearDegnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-36581228428577850632018-05-31T22:16:00.003+01:002018-05-31T22:21:37.319+01:00Coming Up: The Festival in the Factory<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1244398072528353647" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>I'll be reading alongside Roz Goddard and Roy McFarlane at The Festival in a Factory in Stoke next week. <b>Friday 8th June</b> at <b>4pm</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://festivalinafactory.co.uk/poetry-panel/" target="_blank">More details</a><br />
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Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-76087013279440190362018-04-24T21:47:00.001+01:002018-05-31T22:12:26.879+01:00What does it mean to be northern?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: CorporateS-Italic;"><i>“How did we get here, eh? We’re surprised to find ourselves on the brink of a seismic shift in our national identity but how did we get to this? When did we stop talking to each other? Let’s start talking now.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-family: CorporateS-Italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>If you’re connected to the North we want to start a conversation with you, wherever you land on the political spectrum, wherever in the world you find yourself now. We might not always see eye to eye, but we all care about this land and where we’re heading. Backbone of our Land explores what it means to be part of the landscape, finding out who we are through conversation and connections.”</i></span></div>
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Led by Peter Brewis and Degna Stone, <i>Backbone of our Land</i> is a premiere Folkworks commission of new music and spoken word features exciting artists including Bella Hardy, Sarah Hayes, Andrew McMillan and Kim Moore. </div>
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<span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-family: CorporateSPro-Bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We want you to be part of this project and share your ideas on what it means to be Northern, why we live here and why we stay here.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.sagegateshead.com/event/folk-on-the-tyne-backbone-of-our-land/" target="_blank">Join the conversation</a> and let us know what you think about the North, being Northern and being connected to this land.</div>
Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-27658531028875442282013-12-28T12:28:00.000+00:002013-12-28T12:34:21.910+00:00Getting Nearer<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Here are a few more contenders for my <a href="http://inadvertentlyteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/nearing-forty.html" target="_blank">Nearing Forty challenge</a>. A fair few short poems amongst them as I'm trying to be kind to myself. I did think about adding 'The Loch Ness Monster's Song' but I figured that might be a bit too tricky so I've gone for Edwin Morgan's beautiful 'Strawberries' instead. </div>
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There are some poems that haven't made it on to the list as I can't find copies online (Jacob Polley 'The Tree' and Andrew Waterhouse 'Not an Ending'). I<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">'m going to try and find a few more before my birthday and then begin the task of selecting the final forty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I should probably add a couple of out and out performance pieces too... a quick trawl through the <a href="http://www.applesandsnakes.co.uk/page/84/Poets" target="_blank">Apples and Snakes</a> list of poets might be good place to start.</span></div>
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<a href="http://poetrystation.org.uk/poems/how-to-cut-a-pomegranate">How
to Cut a Pomegranate</a> by Imtiaz Dharkar <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://nzpoems.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/for-five-year-old-fleur-adcock.html">For
a Five-Year-Old</a> by Fleur Adcock<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://rihlajourney.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/carol-rumens-jarrow/">Jarrow</a>
by Carol Rumens<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/general-reader/poets-on-poets/judith">Judith</a>
by Vicki Feaver<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=5685">In
My Country</a> by Jackie Kay<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/13/poetry.sylviaplath">You’re</a>
by Sylvia Plath<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/he-wishes-for-the-cloths-of-heaven/">He
Wishes for the Cloths</a> of Heaven by WB Yeats<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://poems.com/poem.php?date=15783">Fear</a> by Charles Simic<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/lib/tmp/cmsfiles/File/review/964kay.pdf">Darling</a>
by Jackie Kay<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.edwinmorgan.com/pop_carcanet_strawberries.html">Strawberries</a>
by Edwin Morgan<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/11/26/a-note-poem-by-w-szymborska/">A
Note</a> by Wislawa Symborska<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175884">Harlem</a> by Langston
Hughes<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://seaweedblues.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/memory-by-ruth-stone/">Memory</a>
by Ruth Stone<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178441">Although the Wind</a> by
Izumi Shikibu<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15691">Ozymandias</a> by Percy
Bysshe Shelley<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poem/">Poem</a> by Simon Armitage<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19389">Dulce et Decorum Est</a>
by Wilfred Owen<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dug-out/">The Dug-out</a> by
Siegfried Sassoon</span>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-21597690857141807682013-12-13T22:47:00.000+00:002013-12-13T22:47:27.971+00:00Nearing Forty...*I turn 40 soon.<br />
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I know.</div>
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I think I was more fussed by move from my teens into my twenties so I'm not stressing about it. Instead I'm distracting myself by thinking of 40 things I can do when I'm 40.<br />
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The first thing I thought of was to learn at least 40 poems by heart - partly inspired by the <a href="http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/" target="_blank">Poetry By Heart</a> programme in schools and partly by being reminded of <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/invictus/" target="_blank">Invictus</a> by William Ernest Henley following the death of Nelson Mandela. I reckon it can't be a bad thing to have an arsenal of poems to draw on for any situation life throws at you. The poem I have by heart (and yes, I know it's only four lines long) is <a href="http://second-inversion.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/epilogue-by-grace-nichols-19831984.html" target="_blank">Epilogue</a> by Grace Nichols.<br />
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Anyway, I asked some of my friends on Facebook to tell me their favourite poems. The ones they've held in their hearts since the moment they heard them and they came up with some crackers. Some poems I already love and will enjoy learning by heart and some I'd not come across before. A couple are probably a bit too long to make it to the shortlist of 40 but it's been great to read. I'll be flicking through my poetry collections and anthologies over the Christmas holidays to add to the list but here are the poems that have been suggested so far...</div>
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<a href="http://www.shigeku.org/xlib/lingshidao/waiwen/bly.htm">After Long
Busyness</a> by Robert Bly<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://anthonywilsonpoetry.com/2012/10/06/lifesaving-poems-derek-mahons-everything-is-going-to-be-all-right/">Everything
is Going to be Alright</a> by Derek Mahon<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176442#poem">I Go Back To May 1937</a>
by Sharon Olds<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15250">If We Must Die</a> by
Claude McKay<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://nellieandelsie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/indelible-miraculous.html">Indelible,
Miraculous</a> by Julia Darling<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182194">Invictus</a> by William
Ernest Henley<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/late-fragment-2/">Late Fragment</a> by
Raymond Carver<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/26439">Machines</a>
by Michael Donaghy<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/spotlight_on_a_poem/robert_hayden_s_night_death_miss/">Night,
Death, Mississippi</a> by Robert Hayden<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/126/28.html">On the Grashopper and Cricket</a>
by John Keats<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178942">Phenomenal Woman</a> by
Maya Angelou<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.fulgura.de/sonett/karussel/original/prayer.htm">Prayer</a>
by Carol Ann Duffy<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/cannam/poem.html">Prosepoem towards a
definition of itself</a> by Brian Patten<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #505050; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171621">Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening</a> by Robert Frost<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-identification/">The Identification</a>
by Roger McGough<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html">The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock</a>
by TS Eliot<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-moment/">The Moment</a> by Margaret Atwood<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178059">The Mower</a> by Philip
Larkin<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173253">The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner</a> by Samuel Taylor Coleridge<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/oct/05/john-donne-the-sun-rising">The
Sun is Rising</a> by John Donne<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535">This is Just to Say</a>
by William Carlos Williams<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wild-geese-by-mary-oliver/">Wild Geese</a>
by Mary Oliver<o:p></o:p></div>
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I'm probably going to blog about my approach to learning each poem (that will be another thing to try when I'm 40 - keeping a regular blog!). And I'm interested to see if I'll still have all forty poems in my head this time next year. We'll see.<br />
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*About six years ago I came across the poem <a href="http://northeastmoods.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/nearing-forty/" target="_blank">Nearing Forty</a> by Derek Walcott and now here I am...</div>
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Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-69800703183888727642013-07-02T22:16:00.001+01:002013-07-02T22:20:49.964+01:00River Runs at Live Theatre<div>I'm super lucky to be performing with a fantastic group of singers and poets this Sunday evening. Not only that but we'll be performing on a gorgeous set designed by none other than Gary McCann (it's not ours, it was designed for <span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">Michael Chaplin's play </span><i>Tyne</i> - we're just borrowing it for the night).</div><div><br></div><div>So if you're free it'd be nice to see you down at Live Theatre.</div><div><br></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="http://www.live.org.uk/sites/all/libraries/files/styles/585x438/public/images/River%20Runs%20website%20Image.jpg" width="585" height="438" alt="RiverRuns illustration " title="RiverRuns illustration " style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 20px; vertical-align: middle; "></span><br><div><span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To coincide with Michael Chaplin's Tyne this spectacular night of words and music celebrates the River Tyne in all its glory, following in the great traditions of local songsmiths and writers. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">RiverRuns</em> features specially written words and music from Aiden Clarke, Alfie Crow, Kate Fox, Ben Holland, Degna Stone, Jeff Price and Simma, and Bridie Jackson. It will be in turn humorous, occasionally dark, sometimes irreverent and always entertaining.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">“It’s hard not to be taken under the spell of the river Tyne. RiverRuns, a celebration of the ‘big river’ in song and spoken word, certainly makes you think so. </span></em><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">Personal narratives overlap with common histories; tragedy overlays euphoria. How this translates into a stage show is masterful in its simplicity.”</span></em></strong></p><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">Review Jake Campbell</span> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">http://www.live.org.uk/whats-on-book/riverruns</span><div><span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div></div><div><section style="border-width: 1px 1px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) 0px 3px 3px -1px; box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) 0px 3px 3px -1px; width: 270px; "><h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 17px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">General Information</span></h2><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sunday 7 July</strong></p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">VENUE</strong>: <a href="http://www.live.org.uk/venue/main-theatre" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; ">Main Theatre</a></span></p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">DURATION</strong>: 1hr 45 minutes</span></p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">SUITABILITY</strong>: 14+</span></p></section><section style="border-width: 1px 1px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) 0px 3px 3px -1px; box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) 0px 3px 3px -1px; width: 270px; "><h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 17px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Buy Tickets</span></h2><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">£8; £6 concs</span></p><div class="view view-Performances view-id-Performances view-display-id-block_1 view-dom-id-1" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><div class="view-content" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; "><a class="status_s" href="http://www.live.org.uk/pp/performance?id=10573&syos=1" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">7 July 2013 - 7:30pm - On Sale</font></a></div></div></div></section></div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-82002435462351242072013-04-12T20:35:00.000+01:002013-04-12T20:35:21.517+01:00Poeting at the Lit and Phil, NewcastleI have a new pamphlet coming out next week. It's called <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Wingdings 2'; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and ►, which you might think stands for circle and triangle or you might know stands for record and play. A couple of poems in the collection have those old fashioned tape recorders in em and I just liked it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anyway - I've left Facebook until they get a handle on all those dodgy rape and domestic violence pages so I'm just using this post to let you know about the launch event at the Lit and Phil on Wednesday 17th April at 7pm. (It's free and there will probably be wine, there always is when there's poeting going on). It's a joint launch (a jaunt?) with the poet <a href="http://www.blackmountainpoet.co.uk/books_by_ric_hool.htm" target="_blank">Ric Hool</a> whose work I'm very excited to hear. Although that does mean that I have the usual doubts about how my work will hold up in comparison... Never mind though, eh? So, there you have it. If you're in the toon next Wednesday and you fancy a spot of poetry please pop along. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/SquirrelEvent.html">http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/SquirrelEvent.html</a>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-64540189664426210422013-03-22T10:52:00.000+00:002013-03-23T20:38:54.863+00:00Whistle by Martin Figura<br />
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay so it's like a billion years* since I actually saw this performance and wrote the review (for my MA in creative writing at Newcastle university) but better late than never. You can find out when Whistle is next on by visiting Martin Figura's <a href="http://www.martinfigura.co.uk/gigs/" target="_blank">website</a><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="line-height: 200%;">Whistle</span></i></b><b><span style="line-height: 200%;"> by Martin Figura<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">NCLA event at The Culture Lab, Newcastle<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thursday 26<sup>th</sup> April 2012<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A picture of a smiling young woman taken at some time in the late 1940s is projected above the stage as the audience take their seats. She has one hand on her hip, the other on her head. The show begins. A prologue, a poem as ritualistic chant, bleeds into the love story of Figura’s mother June and his father Frank. Her letters to her ‘Darling Frank’ are interspersed with poems about their courtship and romance. We get to know her, and like her. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The style of the show incorporates animation and audio to accompany Figura’s assured performance,which takes us through the stages of his childhood. His birth is depicted using imagery that is at the heart of this piece. The camera and the image. Freezing moments and looking back at them with an eye that knows more than the subjects could see.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a boy<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">skin<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">slick as celluloid<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">my first focus<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">an iris<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">an aperture dilating<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">a click<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The balance between pathos and humour is established early. The history that Frank tried to conceal (his time with the Hitler Youth and as a soldier in the German army during the Second World War) is revealed in the prose sections that link the poems. The darkness of the piece is never far from the surface and is present in the black and white stills of the young couple in love, the sweetheart letters from June and the idyllic family photographs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Humour guides the piece away from sentimentality; it frames the structure, softens what is about to come or lightens what has been. It reminds us that it’s going to be okay to laugh, sometimes. Frank’s desire for Figura to become a doctor is comically shown through the poem <i>Fountain Pen </i>accompanied by a suitably lo-fi animation. It is clear<i> </i>the boy is incapable of looking after <i>it</i> let alone any would be patients. By the time the young Figura journeys to Poland the momentum taking us to the central event in the show and in Figura’s young life is unstoppable. Frank’s increasing paranoia is powerfully evoked in <i>Litany</i>, with its ritualistic chanting undercut by the sparse use of bells tolling as he repeats:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She is a Protestant<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She is faithless<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She is poisoning me<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sie ist protestantisch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sie ist treulos.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sie vergiftet mich<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is a brief pause as we see an image of Figura and his mother outside a pretty cottage – the image fades as Figura says:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I could print this photograph<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">so dark, there would only be<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">her hand on my shoulder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brutality of June’s murder is unstated in the poem <i>In My Parents’ Bedroom</i>, it is implied in beautiful simplicity. The room becomes the only witness to this act “the dressing table’s arms are full/ of fallen objects, its mirror dumb.” The horror is amplified by the sparseness of detail, the seeming quiet that surrounds it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">This poem could form the natural climax for the show and the collection but this is not all Figura wants to say. The story </span></span><span style="line-height: 32px;">isn't</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"> over; the child still has to grow up. In the brief Q&A that followed Figura said that it was like the Second World War had swept through his family twenty years after it ended and the same would be true for many others. </span></span><i style="line-height: 200%;">Whistle</i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"> is more than a document of personal family history; alongside dealing with the trauma of his mother’s murder and the subsequent break-up of his family, Figura writes about war, mental illness, society, growing up in 1960s Britain, fitting in, coming to terms, acceptance and love. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">Whistle </span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">bridges the divide between page and performance poetry. The collection came first but it is clear that the production took as much craft and care as the writing had done. The combination of AV and simple staging produces a show with immediacy. The AV enhances, underlines and sometimes gives you something you </span></span><span style="line-height: 32px;">weren't</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"> expecting. Like the picture of Frank’s sitting room after his release.The accompanying poem </span></span><i style="line-height: 200%;">Record </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"> is about a Dansette record player. You can see it in the photo. But what you can also see is the picture of June on the wall unit. The formal portrait with her beautiful black hair and the smile that </span><span style="line-height: 32px;">we've</span></span><span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> come to recognise. The impact of seeing that picture in that sitting room is one of the many remarkable moments when the images work with the poetry in unexpected ways. Go see it.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*okay so it's only eleven months.</span></span></span></div>
Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-71168326638177841582013-02-06T22:25:00.000+00:002013-02-06T22:29:18.782+00:00White Rabbit, Red Rabbit<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"I was born on Azar 19th, 1360 in Tehran. That's Tehran, December 10th, 1981 in Christian years..."</strong></em></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine being 29 and unable to leave your country. Nassim Soleimanpour dissects the experience of a whole generation in a wild, utterly original play from Iran. Forbidden to travel, he turns his isolation to his own advantage with a play that requires no director, no set and a different actor for every performance.</span><br />
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What on earth could possess someone who's not an actor to perform a script on stage in front of a paying audience without seeing the script until they actually get on stage? Without even knowing anything about the content of the script? Well not completely nothing - I have heard that there might be an animal impersonation involved at some point.<br />
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I'd love to tell you a bit more about White Rabbit, Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour but I can't. The less I know about the project the better as far as performing at Live Theatre on <b><a href="https://www.live.org.uk/pp/performance?id=4503&syos=1">24th February</a></b> is concerned. I'm intrigued to know exactly what I've let myself in for. I know that I wouldn't have been asked to do it if it wasn't something that I was more than capable of so... I guess I'll just have to be patient and see what happens on the night.<br />
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I have to admit that I am a little nervous but I think it's gonna be a blast. I'll let you know how I get on.<br />
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You can find out more by visiting <a href="http://www.live.org.uk/whats-book/white-rabbit-red-rabbit">Live's website</a> or the White Rabbit, Red Rabbit <a href="http://whiterabbitredrabbit.blogspot.co.uk/">blog</a>.Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-32944749864884788692012-10-02T21:37:00.001+01:002012-10-02T21:37:16.791+01:00The Golden Hour: Infused and Bemused<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Right this post is going to be brief. The extremely excellent <a href="http://ryanvanwinkle.com/about/">Ryan Van Winkle</a> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Check out<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> <a href="http://www.gorillaperfume.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;" target="_blank">http://www.gorillaperfume.com/</a> 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<br />
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Take a tour inside the venue - <a href="http://www.gorillaperfume.com/360tour/">Click here to look inside!</a> I think you'll agree it looks fucking amazing. So if you're in Newcastle town centre on Friday October 12th... Come!Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-47342435924305903112012-09-04T13:16:00.000+01:002012-09-05T20:35:11.329+01:00River RunsI'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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.flowmill.org/about">~Flow</a> before it shuts shop for the summer too.<br />
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Anyway, here are a couple of the poems I've been reading.<br />
<a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=1522">Birmingham River - Roy Fisher</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=11996#.UEXnqzFCQ9c.blogger">What the evangelist should have said - Kei Miller</a><br />
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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 - <a href="http://youtu.be/rYr9nltCeLw">Drowned Lovers by Kate Rusby</a>. (It is a mint song though.)Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-50290827302157451712012-05-17T22:51:00.000+01:002012-05-17T22:51:54.075+01:00Deseeded Volume 2<br />
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<a href="http://issuu.com/deseeded/docs/deseeded_vol2?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222" target="_blank">Open publication</a> - Free <a href="http://issuu.com/" target="_blank">publishing</a> - <a href="http://issuu.com/search?q=andrew%20sclater" target="_blank">More andrew sclater</a></div>
</div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-40874820458053317972012-05-14T23:55:00.000+01:002012-05-14T23:57:45.177+01:00In 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 <b><a href="http://rashbre2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/trashed-organ-fringe-ged-robinson-degna.html">rashbre central</a>.</b> 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.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="331" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/41554245" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
<br />Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-73010155680190032632012-02-29T23:33:00.001+00:002012-02-29T23:33:24.905+00:00Leap Days and Last DaysSo 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. <br />
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The final image in the February series was inspired by something Ann Cleeves said at yesterday's Life of Writing seminar:<br />
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"It's all about relationships... that time of year when people switch on the lights but forget to draw the curtains."<br />
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Go to Deseeded to see the full post. <br />
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Pics below are from The Writers Cafe at The Settle Down Cafe. Looks like its going to be a great place to write. <br />
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<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KJ3BvwYC9vg/T061vjae-hI/AAAAAAAAAME/KyrH2tzpUno/s640/blogger-image--34191964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KJ3BvwYC9vg/T061vjae-hI/AAAAAAAAAME/KyrH2tzpUno/s640/blogger-image--34191964.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Glx65CG4mpc/T061wQN4ZnI/AAAAAAAAAMI/6syfzyZJ_wI/s640/blogger-image--1853286278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Glx65CG4mpc/T061wQN4ZnI/AAAAAAAAAMI/6syfzyZJ_wI/s640/blogger-image--1853286278.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fsofd01tC5U/T061w97YfFI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/LoRHoFmUvU8/s640/blogger-image--1786358255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fsofd01tC5U/T061w97YfFI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/LoRHoFmUvU8/s640/blogger-image--1786358255.jpg" /></a></div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-2322545419349840502012-02-01T23:27:00.000+00:002012-02-01T23:29:35.899+00:00#1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnvjyqDJ5Og/TynHyrZy5EI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/NvJBFq1qMzc/s1600/head.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnvjyqDJ5Og/TynHyrZy5EI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/NvJBFq1qMzc/s320/head.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<b>What conversation has he just had? Who has he been speaking to? What is he about to say next?</b><br />
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I've got into the habit of taking a photo every day thanks to the highly addictive <a href="http://www.blipfoto.com/">blipfoto</a> and so I've decided to post a photo prompt on the <a href="http://deseeded.blogspot.com/">Deseeded </a>blog every day during February. Along with a couple of prompts which you can use, or not.<br />
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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.<br />
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<br />Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-34145152385413096942011-10-23T22:04:00.000+01:002011-10-23T22:04:25.759+01:00On not being ignoredSo performing Amuse Bouche at the Durham Book Festival was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Yes, it was busy and yes not everyone there was dedicated follower of spoken word but that's kind of the point. It's a challenge. And although it was hard to know if people were really interested or if they were just listening out of politeness it was still good fun. And between AJ, Sky and me we managed to attract the attention of passers by and the folks already sitting down to eat didn't harrumph off in a strop. So not as nerve-wracking or as confidence-denting as I was anticipating. Looking forward to the show at <a href="http://www.live.org.uk/whatson/categorydetails.php?id=7#353">Live Theatre</a> on 16 November now.<br />
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The very lovely and ever so busy Sheila Wakefield was at the Durham Book Festival too and stopped by to watch a bit of Amuse Bouche. Not only was it fantastic to have a friendly-poetry-loving face in the audience but she also gave me a date for my <a href="http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/">Red Squirrel Press</a> pamphlet publication - Yay! It's going to be May 2012, which seems as good a time as any. Now I just need to pull the rest of the pamphlet together in time for the mid-December deadline. <br />
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<br />Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-34422192524132682432011-10-01T21:56:00.000+01:002011-10-01T21:56:18.344+01:00Sorry...I haven't been on for a while but I'm mad busy at the minute (what with Amuse Bouche, Verb New Voices, the girls starting back at school, uni starting up again, working at Live.... the list could go on). This is going to be brief. If you're wanting to hear what I've been up to so far then listen in to the next couple of links.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0151s6k/">BBC Radio 3 - The Verb</a> - this is only available for a week so be bloody quick.<br />
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<a href="http://scottishpoetrylibrary.podomatic.com/entry/2011-10-01T04_11_07-07_00">SPL Podcast</a> - A fabulous chat with the delightful Ryan Van Winkle.<br />
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I don't sound like a complete tit on either of these recordings, so that's a bonus. Hope you enjoy them and if you do please feel free to share the link.Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-62917392612690589472011-07-26T23:04:00.001+01:002012-11-02T21:14:30.055+00:00Verb New Voices - catching up at mac, Birmingham<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes blogging feels like bragging. I don’t want to blog about random or mundane things (I don’t have the energy for it) and I don’t have the desire to lay my private life out for all to see if it doesn’t have anything to do with anything I’m working on. So that just leaves the stuff that’s happening in my poeting life, which feels like bragging. Maybe it’s because I always feel a pang of poet-envy when Poet X blogs about making the My Poetry is Amazing shortlist or Poet B blogs about winning the Bloody Great Big Poetry Prize. Or even when I just pick up a collection of poetry that has such a visceral effect on me that I’m left wondering if I can ever hope to achieve the same effect in someone reading my work. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But anyway, back to the point of this post. Today we met up with all the other Verb New Voices poets and the wonderful Erin Riley and Ian McMillan for a second time. To be honest the project is pretty nerve wracking, despite the fact that everyone involved is really supportive and approachable it is such a big deal for me (and I imagine all the other artists). Working on your own project, with an amazing mentor, the support of the Arts Council, the BBC, ARC etc and having the chance to perform on The Verb… THE VERB… well, it’s a bit overwhelming. And exciting. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The last time we met up was back in May and today felt like another real step along the way to creating a spoken word piece, although it’s going to be a much shorter piece than I’d first thought because the Verb only requires about 7 or 8 minutes… which is still quite a lot of air time to fill. I’m glad I found that out before I start work with my mentor Zena Edwards on Thursday though. (Which is another thing I’m trying not to get too nervous about. I’m failing. But at least I’m trying. I’ll let you know how I get on at the end of the week.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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Last time each poet performed an existing piece. This time we were reading from our works-in-progress so it was interesting to see what stage everyone was at. <o:p></o:p></div>
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First up was Fatima Al Matar who is creating a dark tale of child abuse that gives voice to the survivor at different stages of her life; then Mike Edwards with his fictional spoken word supergroup The Poetry Bandits (he gives voice to all three members and the man filming a documentary of their rise and fall); John Osborne is working on a piece that travels the scenic train journey from Norwich to Sheringham; Bohdan Piasecki explores the dark world surrounding the death of his uncle (and namesake) in 1957 and Deborah Stevenson’s piece brings an insight into the characters of IG1. And my piece which is kind of about me, but also incorporates shit I’ve made up because that’s what the poems wanted to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s not really fair to single out a poet’s work but there is something about the way Bohdan uses language that makes me want to read more, to listen more closely, to become a part of the world that is being created – even though the subject is so dark. I can’t wait to see where his piece for The Verb leads us. <o:p></o:p><br />
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After hearing everyone’s work we got into groups to give feedback, which is sort of useful to an extent. The questions we were responding to were open enough but it’s hard to comment on something you’ve just seen even when it’s finished, let alone when it’s a work-in-progress that you’ve only heard once and don’t have in front of you to look over and consider and re-read. We offered feedback in groups so it wasn’t possible to incorporate input from the writers at the end of the discussion on each piece.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m writing this post on the long journey back to Newcastle so I’ve had a quick read of the feedback for my work. Three sheets of flip chart paper look more daunting than they actually are. But even so, it’ll take me a while to digest and process the comments. Mostly positive with some food for thought. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The only feedback I wasn’t sure about related to a <a href="http://www.poetry-nut.com/glosa_poetry.htm"><b>glosa</b> </a>that I’m working on, the form uses four lines from an existing work as the basis for a new poem. Each line of a quatrain creates the last line of each stanza in the new piece. The four lines I’ve used come from Epilogue by Grace Nichols - read it <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=A2ayKA7Dq8EC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=grace+nichols+epilogue&source=bl&ots=Nmxw_Xv_Hb&sig=_DW6WliLyyem-kpEONCYn4fS2Yc&hl=en&ei=pzIvTtjmDoX1sga23JUt&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=grace%20nichols%20epilogue&f=false"><b>here</b></a>, go on, read it. The trick is to incorporate those lines without them seeming alien to the poem and without the poem being overwhelmed by them. One point of feedback asked why I had used the “clichés” ‘crossed an ocean’ and ‘I have lost my tongue’ and what alternatives could I use. </div>
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Once I got over the shock of hearing the word cliché in association with one of my favourite poets I realised that I’d assumed everyone was familiar with <i>Epilogue</i> and I hadn’t read it out before going on to the main body of the poem. Tsk, tsk. Anyway the answer is there are no alternatives because it wouldn’t be a glosa without those lines – I can’t change them. But maybe the lines that precede them (in the first stanza in particular) still need some thought… we’ll see. All in all though, I’ve got some good questions to ask myself and it’s all prep for the scrutiny that the work will come under during the mentoring process.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ll see what Thursday brings. <o:p></o:p></div>
Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-46736978431586358012011-06-17T22:52:00.000+01:002011-06-17T22:52:16.396+01:00Too busy for Father's DayI'm feeling very guilty about that so we'll be having Father's Day MK II next Sunday so that Daniel can be spoilt in the manner he deserves. This weekend I'll be down at Live Theatre spending my time in the company of some rather fine dramaturgs and a group of six primary school pupils for the <i>First Draft</i> residency weekend. <br />
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This is my third stint as a dramaturg on <i>First Draft</i>, a project that involves helping a young writer to craft a short play that will receive a full on production in the main house... I know there are loads of writers three times their age (or more) who'd kill for the opportunity to have a play performed at Live. Every single word on the page and every word uttered by the actors will be the work of the young playwrights. We're not allowed to change a thing, we just have to help them to type up their plays and make sure we ask the right questions so that they can get from the 'fifth word' right to 'The End' . Because of this <i>First Draft</i> genuinely has the potential to be life changing for the writers involved and I'm thrilled to be part of it it again. It's going to be fun but really hard work but this time on Sunday night it will be complete and I can't wait to hear the read-through of all the plays. The productions will be part of the autumn season so there's a while to wait till I get to see the finished product but I can be patient...<br />
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You can watch excerpts from previous First Drafts <a href="http://www.live.org.uk/education/education.php">here </a>and read a review of last year's productions <a href="http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/firstdraft-rev.htm">here</a>.<br />
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Once I've finished at Live I shall be hightailing it up from the Quayside to meet up with a cellist to talk about collaborating on <i>Songs from Whenever</i>...I'm very excited/nervous about not wittering on too much. More details on that later though... my netbook is about to peg out.Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-14708682279646836052011-06-10T23:37:00.000+01:002011-06-10T23:37:20.912+01:00Songs from Whenever...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">and being on The Verb. That's right, I've just been on The Verb actually speaking to Ian McMillan. OK so I guess I should have mentioned before now that I'm one of the Verb New Voices spoken word artists. It's a spoken word development programme run by the BBC and ACE. Me and Michael Edwards are the poets working with Annabel Turpin at ARC, Stockton. It was great to hear Mike talking about the multi-voice piece he's working on - it sounds brilliant... Now I just have to remember that letting doubt creep in about my own project is counter productive... besides the very amazing Zena Edwards is going to be my mentor so it's gonna be belters! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I should really find a succinct way of summing up what my show is about but my brain's not quite functioning at the moment so it'll have to wait. In the meantime, this is what I said on my application (so it must be true)...</span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Songs from Whenever</i> will draw inspiration from song titles that link in with specific moments in my life. The piece won’t be pure autobiography, more a fabricated account of growing up based on my childhood and early adulthood;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>exploring themes of memory, identity, education, disengagement, discovery and escapism. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Built around an event (most probably the point of leaving home or arriving in a new city), a point where the possibilities are still there, the choices are yet to be made… Each poem in the sequence will reveal more and more about the character, their world, the choices they face, the mistakes they’ve made and the things they’ve got right… or might get right, given time. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, there you have it. And to give you a flavour here's an extract from my work-in-progress and yeah, I know it looks like a passage of prose but that's because it's a prose poem. (Incidentally, an earlier version of this was published in <i>Sepia Souls</i> anthology by ID on Tyne Press.)</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">There is something different in this hot school summer. I push the magnetic catch of the glass-fronted cabinet and reach for his records.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Selecting emotions and matching them to my own. I balance an album cover between skinny brown fingers. Against the white background two figures. A man. A woman. Each half naked, his torso/her belly, rump and thighs. The heat and sweat of my body distorts in the intense August light that still fills the living room. I place the record on the player, hold the arm delicately, careful to drop the needle in the groove not slip and skip and scratch. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Relax</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">. Outside, friends play in the dust of the estate, their shoulders, legs, arms bare.</span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rJg7iLztbjw/TfKUNUQ46CI/AAAAAAAAADs/hRhbbA4i3bQ/s1600/SfW+notebook2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rJg7iLztbjw/TfKUNUQ46CI/AAAAAAAAADs/hRhbbA4i3bQ/s200/SfW+notebook2.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">thinking about structure</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7O8CIaVM6tQ/TfKUDyDlO3I/AAAAAAAAADo/SpFSNCa1woA/s1600/SfW+notebook4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7O8CIaVM6tQ/TfKUDyDlO3I/AAAAAAAAADo/SpFSNCa1woA/s200/SfW+notebook4.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">How on earth am I going to make sense of this? </span></td></tr>
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</span>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-84883760205182223332011-05-10T22:08:00.001+01:002011-05-10T22:10:40.791+01:00Glass Half EmptyIt seems appropriate that the 3-minute self-reflexive documentary film I made for my MA was called <i>Half Empty</i>. I've just got my mark back.<br />
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Now this time yesterday I said to Daniel that I'd be happy with anything over 60 (a merit). I went on to say that if it was in the higher end of the 60-70 mark bracket I'd be really happy... But I'm not. I got 66. Which just means that somewhere along the way I've dropped 34 marks. It's put me in a bit of a funk really. I'm drinking beer in an attempt to alleviate the melancholy but I don't know if that's the wisest course of action.<br />
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Why am I pissed off? I just don't get it. The comments were good and the 'negative' comments were there to highlight what I needed to do to get a better mark. I've actually had to go back over the feedback with a highlighter pen to pick out the positive comments so that I can focus on what I did right - 'visually rich, textually rich, visual metaphors...Very moving story, very brave + beautiful... Essay has good references + awareness of the form... a solid piece with great potential. Look forward to the next one.' All good stuff, no?<br />
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So, what went wrong then? 'Mostly this suffers from too many good things all competing'. The pacing suffered- I just needed to give the viewer more space to absorb things. The brief for the film was to use a poem by Hafiz as a jumping off point... I used a whole poem in voiceover even though I felt that I was struggling to fit it in (the running time of the poem was about a minute...) And that leads to the final thing I got wrong... I forgot to analyse what I thought worked and what I thought didn't work in my commentary. Dickhead. I knew I'd tried to get a lot into the 3 minute film (ONLY THREE MINUTES DEGS!) and had struggled to find the space needed for the film to breathe... why didn't I say that???<br />
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I know I'll feel okay about the mark this time tomorrow and at some point over the summer I'll go back to the edit and craft a beautiful and succinct film... it's not so far from that now after all. I just need to get back to seeing things as <i>Half Full</i> in the meantime<i>...</i>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-87695150348673907552011-04-26T22:59:00.002+01:002011-04-27T11:53:23.654+01:00Dramatic MonologuesI've just logged on to a new Poetry School online course led by Liane Strauss called 'Christ, it was better than hunting bear'. The title of the course is taken from a poem I hadn't come across before: <a href="http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/spotlight_on_a_poem/robert_hayden_s_night_death_miss/">Night, Death, Mississippi</a> by Robert Hayden - it is such a stark and powerful example of a dramatic monologue. There is no emotive language in this poem, the detail and the facts of the poem do more work than a poet telling us what to feel/think ever could.<br />
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On the strength of the inspiration for the course title alone I'm really looking forward to what I'll learn about dramatic monologue over the next ten weeks. The first assignment is to take a look at Robert Browning's <a href="http://www.poetry-online.org/browning_robert_my_last_duchess.htm">My Last Duchess</a> (no surprises there) and write a dramatic monologue after some close reading and a lot of thinking no doubt...Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-7522139371449447352011-03-28T21:41:00.001+01:002011-03-28T21:43:41.273+01:00Deseeded's first online anthology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6wFX9rTpYE0/TZDu9wqij3I/AAAAAAAAADc/temp7dgjgEs/s1600/Cover-vol-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6wFX9rTpYE0/TZDu9wqij3I/AAAAAAAAADc/temp7dgjgEs/s320/Cover-vol-1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>A couple of years ago I created a Facebook group as a way of staying in touch with the poets I'd met through Polly Clark's <i>Poetry in Practice</i> course. The group is called Deseeded (if you want to find it) and every now and then I set challenges...<br />
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New Year's Eve 2009 - write a poem a day in January... That was hard, I enjoyed writing every day but didn't like coming up with almost-poems-but-need-some-work poems. So on New Year's Eve 2010 I decided that the challenge would be to write something every day but you only had to write one poem a week.<br />
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At the end of the month I asked the group members to send me their favourites and here they are in <a href="http://issuu.com/deseeded/docs/vol1">Deseeded Vol. 1</a>. It's my first attempt at editing and I'm really proud of the results. I'm also really thrilled to include a poem from one of the original <i>Poetry in Practice</i> poets, Elly Nobbs - a gorgeous cinquain called <i>Woodpecker</i>.<br />
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The cover image shows a detail from a painting by my husband Daniel Stone.Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-58073531521502088542011-03-22T22:30:00.002+00:002011-03-24T13:45:30.995+00:00StAnza 2011I hope to get around to posting something vaguely more detailed about StAnza 2011 on here at some point soon... once the tiredness has worn off, which will probably occur some time around the middle of next week. In the meantime let's just say that I had an amazing, amazing time.<br />
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</div><div>I left Newcastle at 6.25 in the morning on Saturday (so I had to get up at 5.40 (!)) didn't get to sleep till around 2 the following morning and then travelled back down on Sunday afternoon to family life, work and slamming. (Btw I'm very pleased to say I made it to the semi-final of the Lamplight Poetry Slam in Stanley yesterday... hold on... ST ANdrews, STANley... I wonder where I could go next to complete a STAN-based hat-trick of towns.)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Anyway, back to StAnza - Here's a list of the events I managed to get along to during the 29 hours I was in St Andrews. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Poetry Cafe for Breakfast: History</div><div>In Conversation: James McGonigal</div><div>Five O'Clock Verses: Durs Grunbein, Helena Nelson</div><div>Poetry Centre Stage: Selima Hill, Philip Gross</div><div>StAnza Slam: MC Bob Holman</div><div>Poetry Cafe for Breakfast: Translation</div><div>Border Crossings: Emily Ballou, Katrina Naomi</div><div><br />
</div><div>What else? Oh yeah. The New Writing North Showcase with Sophie F. Baker, Stevie Ronnie, Anna Woodford and me!<br />
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Massive thanks are due to Claire Malcolm at New Writing North for thinking of me as a last minute replacement when one of the original poets had to drop out for the NWN showcase. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time. Also huge thanks and appreciation to everyone at StAnza for making us all feel so welcome and for putting on an amazing show. </div><div><br />
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</div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-21891133617307273172011-03-02T23:30:00.000+00:002011-03-02T23:30:44.494+00:00Knights encountered today = 1<div class="MsoNormal">Saying that I met Andrew Motion tonight might be over egging things a bit. But I did. On account of buying a copy of <i>The Cinder Path</i> and asking him to sign it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been quietly excited about this event for a while so when Daniel found out that he had a parent’s evening that wouldn’t be finished until after the reading I prepared myself for the possibility of missing it... luckily Marian came over from Lanchester to look after the girls. (I think secretly she was looking for an excuse to see the hamsters she’d helped the girls to pick out last week. They’ve doubled in size since she saw them which is easy to believe as they are massive – relatively.) <o:p></o:p>Anyway, I’m really pleased that she came to the rescue because it was an interesting event and inspiring too.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the start of the reading Motion talked about the fact that we forget we’re a country at war but that we shouldn’t. It made me think about the fact that I’d like to write poetry that deals in some way with the world that we’re living in at the moment. And that made me think about the fact that poems written because the poet wants to highlight a cause or reflect an injustice are often shit. If you’re not careful. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There were personal poems as well as those about war – love poems for his wife and elegies for his father and Philip Larkin. All of which showed that in order for us to create poems that have meaning for other people we should take care of the particulars, the specifics. Focus in on the details and avoid generalisations, grand ideas… it’s the small things that will lead us into a poem and make sense of it in relation to ourselves. Of course he put it more eloquently than that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">This was definitely a reading. Not a performance. At the end Motion thanked us for ‘listening’ to him. And that was it; we’d gone to listen not to watch. So that left me wondering about my own approach to readings/performances. Can I split myself and my poems in two so that for readings my body language is understated (with less gesticulation) and for performances it becomes more about how I use physicality to emphasise the imagery and how I embody my poems? I don’t know. I’ll just have to suck it and see. I have a few readings coming up during March – all in very different settings so by the end of the month I should have an idea about what I want from myself… maybe.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One more thing. Michael Chaplin asked a question about process that led Motion to describe part of his routine of writing. Getting up early, really early and beginning to write in that space between being asleep and being fully awake. Being a ‘bastard’ about protecting that time and refusing to allow anyone or anything to eat into or take over. Now I know I’m never going to get up early to find that time – I live in a very small cottage and if I get up at 5.30am, the girls are probably going to hear me pottering about and at 7 and 4 years of age I don’t think they’ll quite buy into the idea of mummy being a ‘bastard’ to protect her writing time. No. I’m going to have to programme myself to switch off all electronic gubbins, forget the guff on TV and the latest newsfeed on Facebook (which I’m giving up for Lent btw) and head to my room at 9pm and write for an hour or two… or even just read… a writer is a reader too, yeah?<o:p></o:p></div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1244398072528353647.post-18525409065550425882011-02-10T23:53:00.000+00:002011-02-10T23:53:54.532+00:00Driving + Poeting = ?<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I don’t know why I decided to write a blog post directly into the blog when I have the world’s sickest laptop that somehow manages to hiccup and delete passages at random. Then blogger conspires with the laptop to compound the situation by auto-saving before I could hit the undo button. Lesson learned - this post has been cut and pasted from Word without the perils of auto-save.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So, January saw a resumption of normal services when Dan went back to work full-time and I reverted to being a cliche - juggling work, kids, uni and poetry... okay so maybe the poetry bit isn’t a cliche. The reality of waking up at 7.15am, getting the kids (and myself) ready and out of the house, driving Maya to school, Ruby to nursery, driving back to the house to drop the car off before walking down to the Quayside to start work, only to reverse the whole process at 2.30 revealed a new strand to my parenting style... ‘shouty mum’. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I put it down to the fact that I now have to drive every weekday. I hate driving. Largely because I like to believe the folklore that poets can’t drive. Having said that I can already feel that the anxiety that usually joins me in the car is becoming less noticeable. Maybe by the end of the term it’ll be gone completely. I wonder if my poeting skills will decrease the more comfortable I get behind the wheel...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"></span>Anyway, writing & performance highlights so far... getting my first MA submission of 12 poems in, performing at the Tyneside Cinema for Radikal Words Night, Newcastle City Library with ID on Tyne and the very, very fabulous Trashed Organ fundraiser for Shelter (it was like being out in that London... or at least how I imagine a poeting night in London would be).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 409.2pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 409.2pt;">The lows? Waiting for my MA submission of 12 poems to be marked. And starting the year off with four rejections is a bit off-putting, particularly when combined with the comedowns I seem to experience after performing... onwards and upwards though, eh? I have a couple of readings coming up in March that’ll take me out of the North East (even as far as St Andrews!). Not to mention the fact that I’ve just got confirmation of my place on an Arvon course at The Hurst courtesy of an Arvon 42 grant, so it can’t all be bad.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Oh and the Rascally Scoundrels are in the early stages of developing a new piece of theatre, which I’m rather excited about - we have a meeting with Annabel Turpin in a couple of weeks to discuss a possible development week at ARC, Stockton to get the project off to a fantastic start. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And as February progresses ‘shouty mum’ seems to be mellowing as the weather gets warmer and the school run becomes more familiar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 359.3pt;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>Degnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972263511705256754noreply@blogger.com0