Skipping With Old Rope

Monday 19th June 2017

Not enjoying the heat. But good to have time off today. Terrible to hear of another attack in London. Lone terrorist in a white van. Me and Jenni went into Gateshead for supplies, then back to listen to goodies. She got ‘The Breakfast Club’ film soundtrack CD for 50p. I got The Very Very Best of Crowded House, same price. Went to Rowan McCabe's Door to Door Poetry end of project event in Bensham this afternoon. Good to hear the stories behind the poems, meet some of the residents and have cake. Then we went into Newcastle with Sky Hawkins for a drink. Back to Bensham for a bit of soap opera before bus to Consett. Intercepted the 16 to Moorside. Watched the late news, copied stuff up. Still really warm. Hope I can get the computer to run properly later this week. 10.55 pm.

Tuesday 20th June 2017

Sessions okay. Did some random cut-up exercises at Waddy. Extended metaphor stuff. Typesetting. Story structure at New College Durham. Rehearsals for Thursday's poetry slam. New Rollins book arrived today. Read edited version online as LA Weekly columns over the last two years. 11.10 pm.

Wednesday 21st June 2017

Surreal A2Z advice poem at Saint Cuthbert's went down well this morning. Group enjoying the collaborative composition so much I stayed back twenty minutes to finish it. Lovely to get a thank you from 100 yr old participant as well. Told her not to put up with any of my rubbish and to keep me on my toes. Repeated session in shorter version with Appletree this afternoon. Once again the piece took on a life of its own and demanded completion, so I stayed back half an hour to ensure full draft was in my bag for typesetting. Met up with Jenni, had eat4less then brilliant book event at Waterstones featuring Katie Welsh and Rosie Garland. Short readings then forty minutes of conversation and Q&A. Bus to Consett then walk to Moorside. OK. 11.18 pm.

Thursday 22nd June 2017

No matter how late I go to bed I still wake up around half five feeling hammered. But had a pretty good day. Repeated A2Z workshop at Witton Gilbert this morning which went well. This evening I was lucky enough to be one of the performers in a Pro Demo Poetry Slam at The Word in South Shields. Me and Jenni, Kirsten Luckins, David Jarman, AJ McKenna and Sky Hawkins booked by Kate Fox. Didn't want to let Kate down by ‘reading’ new material so played safe and did the two poems least likely to fuck up. Chocolate Onion and Oliver Dearest. Thought other performers did way better but somehow judges put me through as the pro demo winner. Total surprise. Chuffed. Good to get to read Coming Back to This. Then Open slam. Great range of voices, fantastic final. Well done to Bogsey for the win. Me, Kirsten and Kate are recording audio books of our collections for him as he’s unable to read his prize hard copies. Thanks to Sky Hawkins for lift there and back to Gateshead. Thanks to Kate Fox for invitation and to everyone involved. Great atmosphere. Lovely night. Me and Jenni had chips in Bensham afterwards. Last bus to Consett now. Yay! 11.40 pm.

Friday 23rd June 2017

Two thirds of the Pro Demo Slam poets expressed feelings of being a bit hammered today after last night. Great of Kate Fox to put us on at The Word and to do a write-up on Facebook. I didn’t get up until nearly eleven. Besides keying in notes and responding to a couple of college emails, I’ve mainly been reading and sleeping. I watched a horror film called ‘Mr Jones’ – dream sequence imagery to give impression of being possessed by some shady artist with video footage a la Blair Witch Project – pretty mediocre. Tonight I’ve been going through morning pages notebooks in search of snippets I can use in my 2017 compilation volume. I want to do an ‘in transit’ follow-up to ‘So Much for the Sunshine’, notebook style with the constraint that none of the material can be drafted, copied-up or even typeset at home. 

Slim volume, collaged perzine style. 11.31 pm.

Saturday 24th June 2017

Morning pages. Peliminary ideas lists for workshops. Read some brutal Rollins from 1990. Keyed in collaborative workshop poems, watched Jeremy Corbyn’s Glastonbury speech on tablet. More college stuff – award lists, invoice, emails. Jenni unable to visit due to leg pains. Strangely, my back seems to be aching in sympathy. Doubt I’ll be mowing grass if aggravation doesn’t let up. Did Poetry Jam event page, listened to Venom, checked out 50-sheet capacity long-arm staplers online. 11.34 pm.

Sunday 25th June 2017

Base of spine still in uproar. Mattress ready for bin. Full-on work schedule didn’t happen. Read a tiny bit of Clive Barker’s Weaveworld. Did some student feedback and other college work then crashed out on the couch. Had another crack at work after spending an hour finding out how to delete Google sync generated pix from my android tablet. Did some lesson plan type-ups, ate cherry pie and scrolled facebook. 11.17 pm.