Poetry at Ledbury!

I have been enjoying the sunshine so much. After eleven months of gloom and grey skies this is a wonderful change. It has been an incredibly busy month for me. I have completed my MA, finished a PTLLS course, had a dear friend to stay from abroad and gone to Ledbury poetry festival. For a poem obsessed person having the festival on my doorstep has been a luxury.

I helped MC the Writing Squad event, run by Writing West Midlands, at Ledbury poetry festival. I have been a volunteer writer/helper on the squad for the last five months. It's a writing course for 8-11 years run by the poet Jenny Hope. We meet at the Hive once a month and it is lots of fun. My daughter, Pamela read a poem at the event so I was very proud of her. The children were so talented it was a pleasure to see their enthusiasm for poetry.

Then I helped on  the poetry take-away stall. It was run by the poet Tim Clare and he handled a difficult customer with flair and diplomacy, which resulted in a brilliant poem. There was another fine poet called Dave Reeves (Radio Wildfire) also writing poems to order with me. It was fun. Some really unusual poems were requested and I enjoyed the thrill of quick thinking and aiming to please my customer.

After that I went to hear the American poet C.D Wright read. The poems left me quite speechless; they were so good. This is what I love about poetry, hearing a voice I have not heard before and words that thrill me. The poems were written with a fierce, intelligent wit and were saturated in the voice and vivid landscape of her home, Arkansas.I brought the book 'One With Others' and now my life has mellowed out I plan to enjoy reading it in the garden.

Finally I performed as part of the Vaginellas. It was a joint event with the Decadent Divas, who are an awesome group of poets from Birmingham. Over a year ago I read at an open mic event in Kidderminster and after, I was drinking with some of the poets, Jenny Hope, Catherine Crosswell and Sarah James and we were talking about different forms like the villanelle. However someone described it as a vaginelle instead and we all thought it was an excellent slip of the tongue. After, we all emailed each other some tongue in cheek villanelles with vagina themes, just to make each other laugh. This turned into a blog and then a reading for Worcester Literary Festival; the Vaginellas first performance got some very good reviews so I pitched it to Ledbury and we were booked for the Thursday night, after the cider event which boded well for the audience liking our slightly smutty versions of classical forms.

It was a very hot evening and Ledbury looked beautiful. The Divas arrived from Brum, looking radiant and ready for action. The Vaginellas went on first and any worries it may not have a large audience were quashed when we saw the queue outside. It was so full people had to sit upstairs to watch.The atmosphere was excited and it all went without a hitch. The audience reaction was fantastic with lots of wonderful comments. The Divas were hilarious and the last poem by Laura Yates celebrating Birmingham was the perfect poem to end on.

the V's

And we all got a blue Ledbury bowl which, as I told my non-poet friends who were baffled about my illuminated reaction to piece of pottery - 'In the poetry world this is really prestigious.'

Yes, they answered sagely, but in the real world it will be a good bowl to serve nuts in.

by Sue Thompson

V.Press published a chapbook of the Vaginella poems. You can buy the book here...

LITERaTE ILLUSTRaTE : review of the night

This was an event held at The Boars Head Gallery in Kidderminster. It was an interesting concept asking poets and artists to combine words and artwork and submit them for a competition. I enjoyed working on the piece. It was nice to get the paint out and do something creative other than sit with my notebook.

The gallery is a wonderful space to perfom in with fantastic artwork on all the walls. There is a facebook page that you can join if you are interested in finding out more about exhibitions and events.

I read but it was not my best, I was exhausted and could feel the tight grip I was keeping on myself, resulting in a slightly over-anxious performance. It didn't help that I read three feminist poems one after the other. The men in the back row of the room looked a bit unsettled and then they all went for a fag straight after...coincidence~?!

Must remember to mix in a few poems on other topics to give the audience a break from the strong messages in those types of poems I suppose. I seem to write a lot of poems lately that are angry or curious about how women are treated/placed in society, having a daughter makes me reflect on these issues more than I did before she was born.

The poem I wrote for the event was called 'Ambition and Expectation' and was about those things being personified as two creepy masked women watching me...very odd indeed! The other poem I read which is on the clip is called Bikkja and I am very pleased because it is going to be published in Be:Magazine in February.

Youtube clip of the two poems




Bobby Parker was host for the night and performed two poems that were full of manic energy and imagery, he had control of the words and made them twist and bend into the shapes he wanted.

Delphine de Noire had a quieter stage presence but it was effective in the way it made everyone sit forward and listen. Her wolf poem was one of my favourite of the night. She came second in the final competition with her piece 'Multiple Lacerations'.

Sarah James perfomed three poems at the event but she also recored her artwork poem and there is a youtube clip of her reading it plus the ones on the evening. It gives a real glimpse of the gallery and atmosphere of the night. Watch it here. It was an excellent set, 'At Night' was an interesting poem which used a lot of rhyme which worked well.  She also performed one my favourites from her collection 'Into The Yell' which is which is about 10 different options of things to do before you die.

Catherine Crosswell is always entertaining to watch as she has a very professional performance style. She has poems that packed full of words, that play with different meanings and puns and she never slips up, it all sounds effortless and I like the way she drifts into lines that are sung and alters her pacing from rapid to slow almost line by line. 'Thief' was another highlight of the night.

Kate Wragg's artwork 'Hanging On' won the competition and it was very clever and the idea was simple which was refreshing, it was beautifully painted and everyone liked it.

Jo Langton is an exciting poet. Her ambitious collection of art postcards were excellent and I thought they brought an interesting viewpoint to the comp. She read two poems from her collection 'Fill the Silence.' This is available here

Sarah Tamar's 'Meltdown' was the third place, I voted for this one, I loved the intensity of it. Sarah read very well and held the audience's attention. Her poem about Father Christmas was perhaps, the biggest success of the night. Very festive and witty in a way Sarah does so well.

Raven Brookes tuned up late but she handled it with style, getting up and reading despite having no time to sit down, I am glad she did because she read so well. Her villanelle was really excellent, they are tricky things to write but Raven has nailed it with one. The hypnotic repeating lines made the poem stand out in a night of incredible poetry.

I always like to be surprised at poetry nights and for me the best part of the night were the two poems by George Payton. I thought he was just there to watch as he had no artwork included in the competition but he got up and performed in the second half of the night. I really enjoyed his poems and his whole performance style, I especially liked the witty way his stoner poem ended as he forgot the words, almost in a cloud of smoke, he is either incredibly clever or his shambolic pothead persona is true to life: I imagine it to be a bit of both.

Poetry Bites with Joseph Horgan and Bobby Parker

Poetry Bites is a monthly poetry event based at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath, Birmingham. I have wanted to go to it for a long time but it clashes with my daughter's gymnastics class. During the week Bobby Parker put out a call for a lift on facebook to get to Poetry Bites and it seemed like the perfect chance to go. Gymnastics not quite as important as enabling a poet to read his poetry out loud to an audience!

Bobby Parker

Then I thought if I am driving I may as well fill my car up with a collection of excellent poets. So I messaged Chris Guidon and his beautiful, talented fiance Emma (she paints amazing pictures) and invited them to come.

Then I asked the poet Sarah James if she wanted the last space and she said yes... a whole car load of poets (and one artist and muse) heading for Poetry Bites. What could go wrong?

I picked up Sarah from Droitwich and headed for Kiddy, this went fairly well as I know my way around The Shire, problems began after I picked up Bobby, Chris and Emma.

Does anyone know the way?
No.
Nobody knows?
No.

I had a map.
It was useless.
Actually I was useless at reading the map.

Under pressure to deliver one of the headline acts my brain melted into custard and I sat gaping like a goldfish somewhere in Hagley whilst the people in the back waited for me to find my way. Luckily sat next to me was a calm voice of reason who also had the foresight to bring her Sat Nav thingy.  

Sarah programmed it to bark orders at me in a bored female voice but I was so happy to be able to get there I welcomed every snotty order the Sat Nav directed at me. Thank you to Sarah James for getting us all to Poetry Bites, you are an absolute STAR!

Sarah James

Anyway we got there, on time as well. So what was the poetry like? Let me tell you, but remember I wasn't in official review mode so I didn't write notes on all acts or record all their names. So this is just an impression of the night not a review of every single poet, just the ones that really stood out to me, and relying on my slightly faulty memory.

Jacqui Rowe and David Calcutt were brilliant hosts and it was a very packed audience. There was a chap called Roger, I think, who read a number of observational poems about travelling on buses, I thought he captured some insights into human nature very well and speaking to him before hand it seemed that poetry meant a great deal to him. There was a guy called Chris who performed a powerful poem about the tricks and lies of the media which was excellent. Then there was a female poet who read two poems about a willow and a rowan tree which I enjoyed as I love tree imagery and I liked the pagan symbols about the trees that were layered into the poems. David Calcutt read two beautiful poems, his poetry is so carefully constructed that it makes strong, vivid pictures in my head as he reads them.

rowan tree

Chris Guidon read three excellent poems, I really like the way he writes and I like the way he reads them to the audience, quite mesmerising. One of the poems opened with the lines,

'We came across an abandoned car
still clicking in the snow drift,
poised there like a nervous dog left -
tied to the railings outside some empty shop.'

It was a stunning poem. The last poem was about time spent on holiday with his girlfriend where they were watching a helicopter lift water to release onto an olive grove. The poem was skillfully tense and expectant, filled with sensual, erotic metaphors.

Gary Longdon read a very interesting set of three poems about Aston Hall and he showed off his excellenet performance skills but investing each piece with different pace and emotion. The inspired idea of likening the Jacobean mansion to an alien spacecraft set down in urban sprawl was brilliant and funny.  The Long Gallery poem was clever too, very well observed and a good connection (the image of the walk along the gallery ) to the final poem which was softer, introspective and had a stong central image, things appearing different under the surface, of the layers of grime hiding the oak walls and the last line was so strong.

Sarah James read two poems which contrasted very well. The first was very clever, called 'The je ne sais quoi of it' she was playing with the ideas of linguistics and memory. It felt emotional but not sentimental and had a film like quality. She followed that with a witty little poem imagining the dreams and desires of a fridge. I like the way poets take you places you have never imagined.

Laurence Inman's poem about running was really excellent. I enjoyed it very much, It had so much going on it and he performed it very well.

Adele's poem about her daughter was perhaps my favourite of the night. I identified so strongly with her feelings about motherhood, her relationship with her daughter and coping with people's judgement about having a baby at the apprently incorrect time. Although I wasn't as young as Adele was when she had her daughter (and I loved how her daughter was so proud of her poetic, hippy mum) I had my own share of people thinking I was mad to have a baby as a single mum. Adele cleverly encapsulated many of my own feelings and her poem made me laugh and I nearly cried too. A wonderful performance and talent.

Antony R Owen is a poet I have seen twice before now and each time I hear him read it is a very intense and assured performance, he commands the audience by the power of his voice and his poetry. His poems often make me feel uneasy but at the same time they absorb me. His poem about his father was one my highlights of the night.

Janet Smith came on late in the second half and she cast a spell over the whole audience with her poised and elegant performance. Softly spoken but she holds the audience with her spare, beautifully constructed poems. She read two poems with an Alaskan theme including her stunning poem 'Pacific' which is in three parts. The way Janet says the numbers before each section is like a pause for the audience to take a breath before the next vivid description. To me, her poems feel like paintings made with words.

Mal Dewhirst read an interesting poem about his time in Ireland as part of the Cork/Coventry poet exchange which complimented the poems Joseph Horgan would follow with later. Mal reads very well and his poems are crafted so the listener can go on the journey too, with the poet as he observed his surroundings in Ireland.

Joseph Horgan, was originally born in Birmingham, to Irish parents but has lived in Ireland since the 1980's. He obviously has a close connection to the city and it made his performance feel very special and quite emotional as the audience recognised the descriptions of Birmingham in his poetry. He had everyone in the audience hanging off every word. His poems were short and I liked that, it takes skill to be succinct and convey so much. He read a poem about watching his sisters washing their hair in the sink, chatting and gossiping, full of life and the hair seemed to me to symbolise innocence, childhood happiness and it ended with the sisters moving out and cutting their hair short. It was one of the best poems I have heard this year, I loved it. It was a pleasure to hear him read.


Bobby Parker was on fire last night, he read last and was extremely relaxed and confident. Reading from his collection 'Digging for Toys' he picked out different poems on various subjects but all were well received by the audience. He made them laugh, gasp, bellow and cheer. He explored difficult themes but never wallowed in misery, he has a lightness of touch that allows the audience to share his sense of humour. His poem about his feelings of fear before his wedding called 'HGWell's' was a typical example of his skill. Surreal, humourous on one level, it has layers below that explored his relationship with his girlfriend, family and the conventions of marriage. It was excellent. I also thought his poem about his love for his daughter was extrememly clever. To write about his baby smelling of piss may seem horrible but in the skillful hands of the poet Bobby Parker it is an expression of deep and pure love that doesn't need sentiment or pretty similies. He writes poetry that has the ring of truth about it and that is very talented indeed.

I also read but I will leave someone else to write a review of my poems.