Clinic@The Amersham Arms, New Cross

The ever intrepid Clinic are organising another one of their spectaculars at The Amersham Arms on Wednesday 26th May. A real mix of music and poetry, it's going to be a great night.

Scripted

And when you left the room,
did they reassemble for the dress-rehearsal,
rapt in the disingenuous glow
of a space heater? Did words bubble
to the surface of their tiny mouths
as if attributed to a celestial source?

Say you walked in unannounced,
caught a snippet of tomorrow’s scenes
and, there in the round,
witnessed the near silences,
the spaces between two voices:
a slow, persistent breathing
where your own lines were meant to be.

The Hold @ Oliver's Music Bar, Greenwich

I am very excited about this new event taking place in a basement in Greenwich and the atmosphere? Well, think Cabaret Voltaire in 1920 and turn it up a notch! I will be hosting and organising. Chuffed to have such a strong line up.

Event: The Hold @ Oliver’s Music Bar
Readers: Chrissy Williams, Sarah Westcott, Declan Ryan, Helen Mort, Jocelyn Page, Kayo Chingonyi, Jack Underwood
Music: Robert McCracken
http://www.myspace.com/robertmccrackenmusic
Date: Thurs, 28th January
Time: 8pm to late
Admission: £4 on the door

Reading at Wordplay - 5th January 2010

I am reading at Wordplay on 5th January 2010, alongside some great poets and musicians - really looking forward to it! Kirsten Irving and John Stone, in particular, are really interesting, innovative poets who I respect greatly. This is guaranteed to be a good night.

Time: 7pm - 11pm

Location: The Good Ship, KilburnStreet:289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR

Days of Roses comes to Shoreditch. Boom!

I am reading at another Days of Roses event on 15th December at 2 Blind Mice, 3 Ravey Street, EC2A 4QW (Shoreditch). The event kicks off at 7pm.

Days of the Roses is one of the most exciting new poetry events in London at the moment. Declan Ryan, a great poet in his own right, showcases the best poetry coming out of the Royal Holloway Creative Writing Masters Programme as well as a range of other musicians and poets.

The pick of the musicians playing is Robert McCracken: http://www.myspace.com/robertmccrackenmusic

Recently my poem 'Ultrasonic Mouse Deterrent' was commended in The Bridport Prize. Over 7000 poems were submitted so this is a real honour. For further information go to the following link: http://www.bridportprize.org.uk/

I will be reading at Declan Ryan's brilliant Days of The Roses event, Wednesday 24th (runs 7pm -11pm) at Filthy McNasty's Whiskey Cafe, Amwell Street, Islington. The other readers are Sofie Mayer and Lesley Saunders. I look forward to seeing you there. Oh, don't be put off by the tough edge title of the venue, it's more of a genteel loungebar that likes to talk tough........

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=192215720454&ref=mf

The Sampler Goes South (Poetry Event with open mic)

Simon Barraclough at Museum of London Docklands, 2nd May, 2009

Loads happening right now. The second event as part of The Sampler series is taking place on 28th May at The Admiral Hardy, 7 College Approach, starting at 7pm with yours truly hosting.

The line up includes the linguistically versatile Joe Duggan; the devastatingly fashionable and erudite Jack Underwood; the highly talented and eclectic Heather Phillipson; the electrifying Helen Mort and the smooth talking Tamsin Kendrick.

See more details at: http://www.thesamplerpoetry.co.uk/page3.html

There will be a brief open mic but please turn up early if you want to read.

The last Sampler at the Museum of London Docklands event went really well with a more than decent crowd for a hot Saturday afternoon. Many thanks to Roddy Lumsden, Isobel Dixon and Simon Barraclough.

Other news:

I have been recorded reading poetry as part of Alex Pryce's brilliant Poetcasting project - one of the best audio archives of poetry out there:

http://www.poetcasting.co.uk/

And.............

I am one of the poets to feature in the Penned in the Margins City State: New London Poetry edited by Tom Chivers. The launch on Thursday showcased some of the most exciting poetry in the capital:

http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/?p=40

The Sampler @ Museum in Docklands

Saturday 2nd May 2009

Venue: Wilberforce Theatre, Museum in Docklands
Time: 16:30 pm - 17:30 pm
Admission: Free
Featured Poets: Isobel Dixon, Simon Barraclough and Roddy Lumsden
Hosted by: Christopher Horton

What better way to spend a late Saturday afternoon than listening to the scintillating verse of three of the most gifted contemporary poets living in the UK today?

On the doorstep of Canary Wharf, The Museum in Docklands is in close proximity to a range of bars and cafés for you to enjoy before and after this new and dynamic poetry event. So come along, tune in!

To confirm via Facebook: http://http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=77360341090&ref=mf

Event Information on the Sampler website: http://www.thesamplerpoetry.co.uk/page5.html

Shuffle @ Poetry Cafe

I am reading at The Shuffle on 25th April at the Poetry Cafe alongside Julian Stannard and Maggie Sullivan. Starts at 7.30.

It is fab to be asked back to what has to be one of the best poetry events in London right now.

March of the Mad Hatter - Statellites Talking

Satellites Talking presents March of the Mad Hatter.

Saturday 21st March 2009 @ The Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3BL. 7:30pm - 12am. Nearest Tube: Farringdon

*Come, join us down the rabbit hole on a Spring evening in March as Satellites Talking presents a Wonderland celebration of curious and curiouser poetry, comedy and melody...*

Featuring the wonderful March madness of ~ Tim Clare, Christopher Horton, Dirty Dwellings, Jasmine Ann Cooray, Gabi Garbutt and The Breadstealers ~ (unplugged). PLUS! Serving up the same Mad Tea- Party treats as usual; a trestle table of good music, drinking and dancing between the above...

* £4 entry ~ All proceeds to 'Dreams Come True' charity.

Two readings coming up - one as part of the brilliant Satellites Talking on 21st March at the Betsey Trotwood, Clerkenwell, and the other at The Poetry Cafe, late April, as a featured poet for The Shuffle. More details to follow....

It’s been too long, my friends! A few holiday snaps, expertly taken as they may be, will not suffice.

A lot is happening on the poetry front with some excellent gigs coming up including Simon Barraclough, Luke Kennard and Chris McCabe reading on 9th December at The Rose for the launch of Chris McCabe’s new book ‘Zeppelins’ (35 Albert Embankment, kick off 7pm) and another launch party for ‘Charismatic Megafauna’ (Tamsin Kendrick) and ‘Things To Do Before You Leave Town’ (Ross Sutherland) on Tuesday 13th January at Vibe Live, Brick Lane (free entry). Two eagerly anticipated happenings....

I have also been grafting, with a review of Julia Bird’s new book Hannah and the Monk appearing on Eyewear - also picked up by Salt Confidential

Other news - my poem Gaudí’s Workshop, June 6th 1926 is forthcoming in the next issue of Wolf Magazine (the launch is on 8th December with readers including Clare Pollard, Ruth Padel and Michael McKimm) and two poems, Members Only and Getting to the Point, will feature in The City Anthology published by Tall Lighthouse in December.

More to follow …… and I promise I won't wait an eon before updating next time.

Sphinx @ Villa San Michele

Private Beach @ Capri

Pompeii

After my recent visit to Naples, I wrote the following poem. I was fascinated in the plaster cast figures of the victims, created by Giuseppe Fiorelli and his team who mastered the technique of pouring wet plaster in to the cavities left behind in the compacted ash.

The Plaster Cast Figures of Pompeii

The method of taking plaster casts…was introduced at Pompeii by Giuseppe Fiorelli, director of excavations between 1860 and 1875. It involves pouring liquid plaster into the cavity left in the compacted ash by the body of the victim.
Pompeii, Pier Giovanni Guzzo & Antonio d’Ambrosio


A glut of hydrocal pipelined to the heart
of an air gap – a body of air,
confined for two thousand years,

or perhaps not air at all
but what remains when cell matter
is sealed, locked into the strata.

From a hairline crack
drawn across a bed of ash,
to a chiselled hollow, to this,

this moulded form, this human fossil,
remade, remodelled, real as flesh.
A cart driver, parodied by the absence

of a mule, is cast in his final act,
and might be praying in that fragmentary pose,
having let go of the trace, his hands

bound palm to palm and lifted up to his head,
his head bowed down to his hands.
Further along, a dog flips back

on itself as if upended or leaping
to catch a ball - hind legs playfully foetal,
open mouthed to the possibility

of a last bark. A second human figure lies out
on a slab, appears to smile like a groom
in the milliseconds before a post nuptial headshot.

Forthcoming Poetry Gigs

I will be reading at the following:

9th October - Angel Poetry, Borders, Angel, Islington (as featured poet)

29th October 2008 - Tall Lighthouse Event

http://www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk/events.html

More details to follow................

Folkestone Triennial