Working Our Poetry Before the War

Monday 16th November 2015

Freezing cold again. Trying not to have the heating on. Took an age to get lesson plans prepped. Only been as far as the shop for bread, milk and pizza. Soon as the current term is over I want a month to recharge before starting all over again. Lots of plans for next year. Most of them will require abstinence from the internet. My room is a tip. Piles of books and papers and laundry. Need a bookcase or three. 11.12 pm.

Tuesday 17th November 2015

Great day at Waddy. Enjoyed Writing Shack. Concision in prose. Turning paragraphs into verse. Three-line-story synopsis. And a look at dos and don’ts of parody, pastiche, tribute poems. Worked on repro for out of print pamphlet but impossible getting clean copy on a photocopier with scratched glass. Mint evening session. Story structure. Conflict and suspense. Flash fiction. Fifty-five fiction. Rehearsed my set for The Stanza on bus home this evening. I’m reading from Dark Matter and So Much for the Sunshine. Jenni sent me some info on comedian Steve Hughes – out of action for the last couple of years due to ill health. Hope he’s back out there making people piss themselves laughing real soon. Gonna get an egg (in basket) then get myself off to bed. 11.37 pm.

Wednesday 18th November 2015

Hell knows what the bill will be but I’ve had the heating on much of the day. No workshop this morning. Had another crack at the repro booklet. Maybe it’s just not meant to be. Weather utter shit so I didn’t go to Graphic Print. Find myself reading alternative news articles online more and more. New Year’s Resolution should be to limit myself to an hour a day online. I worked up the set for tomorrow’s Stanza gig. Changed a couple of poems in the middle. Put in Slow Jazz from Shades of Grey. It gives me better continuity from ‘Majority Remix’ to ‘Piece of String’. Listenined to Dresden Dolls playing Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ at the Bataclan. Then ‘Sex Changes’ and ‘Science Fiction Double Feature’. Wish I got to see them play. Must make the effort to see Amanda Palmer solo live. Been a bit lethargic today. Often the way after some good workshops. Looking forward to the gig tomorrow. Mind session should be good too. 11.03 pm.

Thursday 19th November 2015

Morning Pages:

So today’s the day. The Stanza at the Chillingham Arms in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne. Apparently there’s over forty people going to this gig. Renata and Trev are playing. Ken Creen is doing a set. A newcomer on the scene, Megan Pattie, and Ira Lightman. And me.

   Unless I get some amazing offer, I think tonight will be my final feature set of the year. It’s around eighteen minutes long – and I want to keep the chit-chat to a minimum. Ok, set opens with ‘Needs’. No intro for this. Just read it. The anaphora allows me to look up and eye the audience as I speak. Then straight into ‘The Score’. Again, no intro. First couple of runs through last night, I couldn’t remember any of this, despite three hours on it last Saturday. By the end of last night’s rehearsal I could do chunks of it without looking. Before the next poem, say hello to the audience. Tell them the first piece was inspired by Priorities by Jadzia Race. Then say it could be argued the second piece was flash fiction. Or rather, flash non-fiction. With names changed to protect the guilty. And to prevent the author getting his head kicked in. Tell them both pieces are from my latest publication Dark Matter. Which is half me and half Catherine Ayres.

   The next piece is closer to poetry but I never read it at the launch in Middlesbrough back in September. Catherine did. And I read one of hers. So here’s a poem, A Rare Treat. Read the piece. Then pick up So Much for the Sunshine. Flick through. Give some raised eyebrows, tut-tuts, etc. Then bust out POETRY! YOU’RE FUCKING KIDDING ME.! At the end of Speaking for the Majority in the 21st Century tell them a similar piece of mine was written in 1997. But this one’s the remix.

   Pick up Shades of Grey. Had I known someone was going to publish three volumes of smut in quick succession, I may have picked a better title for my book from Red Squirrel Press. Ask audience if they’ve ever had a fave song ruined when the singer/writer explains away the source of inspiration. That was our wedding song, you bastard, you’ve really spoilt it for me now. I’m not revealing the source of my next piece. Other than to say it’s from a news story. Jenni knows. Suffice to say it’s not autobiographical. Then do ‘Slow Jazz’. Then straight into Piece of String from Consett Writers Anthology.

   Then mention the intro Ann Porro gave me in Alnwick when Sunshine was published. Maybe say title of the book. Tell them it was written in 2012. Armageddon and all that. There’s a lot of good info online, and some stuff that will really mess with your wellbeing. This next piece is called Laughing in the Face of Apathy and is about as funny as cancer. Read it. Actually a lot of the piece is very accurate. However it’s not something I would read to students in a poetry workshop.

   There’s a book of children’s poetry on the shelf in the seminar room at Waddington Street Centre mental health resource centre where I run courses and it’s by Ian McMillan. In one of his poems he substitutes a lot of nouns with just FISH. Jack and Jill went up the Fish So I borrowed that line to write the piece I’m closing with. It’s a piece of automatic writing about automatic writing. I use surreal imagery in workshops coz it lifts the mood and you can’t be too grim on people when they’re not well. So, a metafiction, with thanks to Ian McMillan. Read the piece. Thanks everyone. Tell them there are books available, see me afterwards. 7.43 am.

Tremendous night at the Stanza. Wall to wall poetry, stories and songs. Enjoyed the eclectic open mic, debut feature set from Megan Pattie – lots of great imagery and metaphors running through her quiet well-crafted poetry.  Someone to watch out for in future. Ken Creen knocks me sideways with his hilarious poems – especially Cuban heels and sausages. Who in the hell writes a poem about the trouble with cooking sausages? Ken does! And I know where he’s coming from. Lots of engaging open mic, as I said. Great to hear an extract from a forthcoming solo show from Alix Alixandra. Looking forward to that one. Big Daddy of Newcastle spoken word scene, Jeff Price did a poem about Alnmouth. We had some pieces about the Paris attacks, and all the bullshit you can’t believe in the newspapers. Was really chuffed to hear Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane, Pictures of You by The Cure and Billy Joel’s It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me (twice) in the interval. Thanks to Mandy Maxwell for playing my Spotify requests. Thanks to the audience for such a lovely response to set I did in second half.  I’ve got over my gripes about ‘reading’ and ditched the mic to just fill the room with my raw voice. Bigly thanks to all the people who bought books and pamphlets. Pleased Ira Lightman went on  after me. Was his usual full-on absurdly brilliant mega conceptual self. INTERCOURSE! – oats, indeed. You had to be there. I enjoyed his Whitley Bay song. And the cycling mini-billboard poem. Lots of fun when Ira hits the stage.Must get him back at Poetry Jam. Bigly thanks to Darren at Graphic Print for sorting me out with pamphlets today. And as ever to the excellent Consett Writers. 11.28 pm.

 

Friday 20th November 2015

Absolutely brillant night at the Stanza. Enjoyed all the guests and open mic. Thanks so much to Mandy and Harry for asking me to be on the bill. The audience was great. Thanks to all who bought pamphlets. The Chilli is a great room to perform in. Chuffed for it to be my final feature set of 2015. Keep it going! And bigly thanks for playing three of my music choices in the break.

Seems strange the day after a busy schedule and a good gig to be at home amid my domestic disarray. Seem to be doing one long day – 10 to 12 hours – then tired the next. Then building up for another big day. Last night was my final feature set of the year. I’d like to have December to recover. But all the festive stuff takes it out of me. Folded some more book pages today. Ordered coloured endpaper. Little bits of admin. Watched the Adele programme tonight. I don’t care if she’s mainstream. I think she has an amazing voice that just floors me every time I hear her sing. Straight after the programme I found AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie in my Facebook feed. Listened to original Bonn Scott vocal then Brian Johnson.

Lots of scaremongering in the tabloids today. It's totally full-on. 15 point column on what to do in event of terrorist attack. Islamic State making mustard gas and whole world at risk. Frame by frame How did she ever survive? story on pizzeria attack. Nine year old kids ringing childline asking if its the start of WW3 and frightened to go out. Sounds like they're really pushing for war. People will become accustomed to this and just accept it. Fucking media! Got to do my terrorist prevention online training tomorrow. who'd have thought? Must put in a decent day of graft. 10.31 pm.

Saturday 21st November 2015

Well cold outside today. Pleased to get more books folded for Wishing Tree Writers. Just waiting for the green endpaper to arrive. Got the Poetry Jam publicity done. And a safeguarding online training course. Listened to the Richie Allen show and got the bus to Jen’s with a bag of food. QI and Lewis. Heard the new Bowie track but not impressed. 10.59 pm.

Sunday 22nd November 2015

Long lie in this morning. Double Columbo with chicken jalfrezi at half time. Finally got round to watching The Filth and the Fury Sex Pistols film again. DVD plays okay on Jen’s machine. Much of the content is from other documentaries but a good watch anyway. Ham and cheese toasties, apple pies and custard, Jekyll and Hyde. Slept on the bus home. Warming bed clothes on radiator then lights out. 11.05 pm.