Omss Poems: Poetry Can Newsletter September 2010 Bristol Poetry Festival Special

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Poetry Can Newsletter

Bristol Poetry Festival Special

September 2010

Welcome to the September Poetry Can Newsletter.

Bristol Poetry Festival 2010
13th to 19th September
(with an aperitif on the 10th and sweet desserts on 22nd and 23rd)

This year's festival will include the following poets:

Kit Wright; W N Herbert; Ruth Fainlight; Paul Farley; Robyn Bolam;
Andy Croft; Paul Summers; David Briggs; Patrick Brandon; Maggie Harris;
Ros Martin with Fideles Merembi; Claire Williamson; Lucy English;
Sara-Jane Arbury; Glenn Carmichael; Anna Freeman; Nick Moore; Mark Neil; Pete the Temp; Tina Sederholm; Mac McFadden; Sally Jenkinson;
Jonny Fluffypunk; Angie Belcher; Liz Greenfield; Robin Cairns; Wendy Miller; Kieran Singh; Andy Fleming; The In-Congruity Project; The Firebird Poets; Festival Exhibition with work from Patrick Brandon, Annie Freud,
Heather Phillipson, Mark Waldren and Ahren Warner; Festival Can Openers; Acoustic Night Instant Anthology; Lansdown Poetry Night; Dead Poets Slam.

Full details of the festival and how to book for events can be found on the Poetry Can website and a link to the events can be found on the right of this newsletter.

For a FREE festival brochure email festivalbrochure@poetrycan.co.uk or phone 0117 9330900.

Tickets are available NOW
from Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01
email: boxoffice@arnolfini.org.uk
or in person at: Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA

In This Issue

Poem of the Month

Notices

Events - Bristol and Bath September 2009

Featured Article

Poem of the Month

Called "poetry's true son" by Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet Edwin Morgan has died aged 90.
Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, Morgan was known for the range and variety of his writing. Equally at home translating poetry from many languages, experimenting with concrete poetry, writing on topics from film to science fiction and in forms from sonnets to librettos, he was appointed the first Scots Makar (national poet of Scotland) in 2004 after serving as Glasgow's inaugural poet laureate.
His death was announced on Thursday 19th August 2010 by the Scottish Poetry Library.

A Gull

A seagull stood on my window-ledge today,
Said nothing, but had a good look inside.
That was a cold inspection I can tell you!
North winds, icebergs, flash of salt
Crashed through the glass without a sound.
he shifted from leg to leg, swivelled his head.
There was not a fish in the house - only me.
Did he smell my flesh, that white one? Did he think
I would soon open the window and scatter bread?
Calculation in those eyes is quick.
'I tell you my chick, there is food everywhere.'
He eyed my furniture, my plants, an apple.
Perhaps he was a mutation, a supergull.
Perhaps he was instead a visitation
Which only used that tight, firm, forward body
to bring the waste and dread of open waters,
Foundering voyages, matchless predators,
Into a dry room. I knew nothing.
I moved; I moved an arm. When the thing saw
The shadow of that, it suddenly flapped,
scuttered claws along the sill and was off,
silent still. Who would be next for those eyes,
I wondered and were they ready, and in order?

Edwin Morgan
from Cathures
(Carcanet Press 2002)

Notices

Poetry Society National Poetry Competition 2010
Deadline: 31st Oct 2010
Judges: George Szirtes, Deryn Rees-Jones, Sinead Morrissey
Prizes: Overall winner £5,000; second £2000; third £1000 plus seven commendations.
Enter online or download an entry form at www.poetrysociety.org.uk

Ravenglass Poetry Award
Deadline: December 1st
Judge: John Burnside
Prizes: 1st 30-50 page publication of collection; 2nd publication in anthology.
Fee: £10 through PayPal
Length: portfolio of work 3-5 poems; 150 lines.
Over 18s.
Entries online by email attachment to info@ravenglasspoetrypress.co.uk.
Full details: www.ravenglasspoetrypress.co.uk

Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2010
Prizes: 1st £1000; 2nd £500; 3rd £250 plus 20 prizes of £20 each
Deadline: Fri 15th Oct 2010
Judges: Gwyneth Lewis and Maurice Riordan.
For full information visit:
http://www.poetrycan.co.uk/news_details.asp?id=394

LiteratureTraining jobs and opportunities
Literature Training is a wing of NAWE (National association of Writers in Education) and have a comprehensive listing of jobs and opportunities on their website: http://www.nawe.co.uk and follow the links to the jobs and opportunities database.

Contribute to the Poetry Tree - Global Circle of Peace Ceremony, Bath
21st September 2010 18.30 for 18.45 - 20.00
You can sumbit poems to project coordinator Nikki Bennet if you cannot attend the ceremony yourself, or you can get a free entry ticket from Lizzie Davies: lizzie@theglobalcircleofpeace.com
For full details email: nikkibennett27@hotmail.com

'Liverpool Lennon Poet Competition'
FREE Competition. £1000 first prize.
Judge: Carol Ann Duffy    Deadline: 10th September 2010
Details www.beatlesstory.com.
1.Paper poet - entries via email only.
Prizes: 1st £ 100 : 2nd £50 : 3rd £25
Email poem to poetry@beatlesstory.com (send poem in body of email*)
2. Performance poet (over 17yrs)
Prizes: 1st £1000 : 2nd £250 : 3rd £100.
E-mail one sample poem about John Lennon clearly stating 'performance poet' to poetry@beatlesstory.com (send poem in body of email*)
*attachements NOT accepted

I Am What I Slamonline youth poetry slam
Open to 12 -18 year olds who have something to say, spit, rap or beat box on the theme of "Identity".
SLAMbassadors UK is the only online slam competition.
http://slam.poetrysociety.org.ukfor details of how to enter.

Spoken/Written Bulletin SW website
Spoken/Written Bulletin SW covers the entire southwest region and contains a wealth of information about all things live and literary. Sign up now!
www.cartwheels-collective.co.uk/Spoken_Written_Bulletin.html

Professional Development Surgeries
Poetry Can offers free professional development surgeries for poets in the region. These will be available on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To book a surgery call Colin Brown, Director of Poetry Can,
on: (0117) 933 0900

Poetry Can address
The Poetry Can
12 Great George Street,
Bristol,BS1 5RH
Tel: (0117) 933 0900 website: www.poetrycan.co.uk
e: info@poetrycan.co.uk

Events (chronological)

We would like to ask all events organisers to please update us whenever you can at: info@poetrycan.co.uk
or visit www.poetrycan.co.uk to submit your event to the website, and your event will be added to this newsletter.
Events listing as accurate as possible at time of publishing using information received.

Acoustic Night -Halo Cafe Bar, 141 Gloucester Rd, Bristol
Date: Mon 6th Sept Time: 8.15pm Price: Free (donations)
Bristol's longest running open mic poetry and music night.
Sign up from 7.45 for a slot.
Ffi: anditrans@hotmail.com
http://www.myspace.com/acousticnightbristol

Poetry Unlimited - Cafe Kino, 3 Ninetree Hill, Bristol
Date: Tues 7th Sept     Time: 11.30am     Price: Free
Bring a couple of poems to share, another poets or your own
This month's theme - Voice
Ffi: 0117 986 2257

Uni-verse - BRLSI, 16-18 Queens Square, Bath
Date: Weds 8th Sept Time: 1.00pm Price: £4 /£2 members
Parvin Loloi - The Influence of Persian Poetry
Hosted by Nikki Bennett
Ffi: nikkibennett27@hotmail.com

BPF Dead Poets Slam- The Lansdown, 8 Clifton Rd, Bristol
Date: Fri 10th Sept    Time: 7.30pm        Price: £5
Festival Aperitif.
An evening of competative poetry featuring the poems of dead poets hosted by Trevor Carter with special guest and chief judge David C Johnson.
For full information on entering the slam visit:
http://www.poetrycan.co.uk/event_details.asp?id=1528
Ffi: 07954 147464

Poetry at Bristol Cycle Festival - Create Centre, Smeaton Rd, Bristol
Date: Sat 11th Sept      Time: 9.30am and 6.00pm     Price: Free
David C Johnson has been appointed Bristol Cycle Festival Poet and will be reading cycling-themed poetry at events during the festival.
For The Cheddar Adventure he will be reading encouragement poems at the start (9.00am) of the ride and welcome home poems at finish of the ride (6.30pm)
Ffi: http://www.bristolcyclefestival.com

Philip Gross - The Water Table - Create Centre, Smeaton Rd, Bristol
Date: Sat 11th  Sept        Time: 12.00 midday       Price: Free
Philip Gross will be reading from his Forward Prize winning collection The Water Table.
This event is free, but please book by contacting the Create Centre
Email: create@bristol.gov.uk

BPF Acoustic Night Instant Anthology
Halo Cafe Bar, 141 Gloucester Rd, Bristol
Date: Mon Sept 13th Time: 8.15pm    Price: Free (donations)
Bristol's longest running open mic poetry and music night.
Bring 50 A4 copies of a poem to be included and take an anthology away at the end of the night. Guests The Gina B Band
Sign up from 7.45 for for open mic on the night
Ffi: Andi: 07900 432533

Poetry and a Pint - St James Wine Vaults, Julian Rd, Bath

Date: Mon 13thSept Time: 8.00pm Price: £2/£1
Featuring Linda Saunders, reading from her new book, and David Hale

plus the usual open mike

Ffi: Richard Carder 01225 313531

BPF Poetry at The Lansdown - The Lansdown, 8 Clifton Rd, Bristol
Date: Tues 14th  Sept       Time: 8.00pm       Price: £3
Featuring Richard Graves on 'Aspects of Poetry' plus poems from Lansdown Poets and short poetry films by Diana Taylor.
Hosted by Charles Thompson 0796 9987102

Too Late for the Love Hotel - BRLSI, Queen Square, Bath
Date: Weds 15th Sept       Time: 7.00pm Price: £4 (inc £2 off the book)
Readings by Sue Boyle and members of the Bath Poetry Cafe with special guest Lesley Saunders.
Ffi: jimboyle@gotadsl.co.uk

BPF Bristol Can Openers - Bristol Central Library Cafe, College Green, Bristol
Date: Thurs 16th Sept       Time: 12.00 midday Price: Free
Open floor - bring your own work to share.
Hosted by Claire Williamson.
Ffi: info@poetrycan.co.uk

Portcullis Poets - Eugenie House, 1-3 Royal York Cres, Clifton, Bristol
Date: Thurs 16th Sept Time: 7.50 for 8.00pm    Price: free (or donation)
Open reading and discussion.
FfI: 0117 9733119

BPF Three Men on the Metro - Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Thurs 16th Sept       Time: 8.00pm Price: £7.00
Andy Croft, W N Herbert and Andy Summers.
Armed only with a battered copy of Jerome K Jerome's Three Men on a Boat (a cult classic in the Soviet Union) poets Andy Croft, Bill Herbert and Paul Summers visit the Moscow Metro and are soon lost underground. Like their predeccessors on the Thames, they are completely out of their depth, idealists abroad, adrift in a very foreign medium. Three Men on the Metro is an evening, and a book, about poetry, politics, propaganda and railway platforms. To say nothing of the dogs.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF Ruth Fainlight, David Briggs, Patrick Brandon
- Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Fri 17th Sept      Time: 8.00pm     Price: £7
Ruth Fainlight is one of Britains most distinguished poets. Her poems distil her quiet, passionate vision into poems that shine bright and clear as the moon, rooted in the everyday, yet also very much of the spirit.
David Briggs is a wonderfully entertaining, highly popular Bristol-based poet whose first collection, Method Man, was published last year.
Patrick Brandon is a Bristol-based artist and poet who will guide us through the distorted terrain that lies between what we covet and what we get. Mostly his poems are about love.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF The Signature of All Things I am Here to Read - Festival Exhibition
Light Studio, Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Fri 17th Sept Time: 11.00am to 6.00pm    Price: Free
Open daily from Fri 17th to Thurs 23rd Sept 11.00am - 6.00pm
Exhibition launch Friday 17th Sept 6.00pm - 7.00pm
Featuring work by Patrick Brandon, Annie Freud, Heather Phillipson, Mark Waldron and Ahren Warner.
Ffi: email bookshop@arnolfini.org.uk

Poetry at Bristol Cycle Festival - Cycling in the City - Colston Hall, Bristol
Date: Sat 18th Sept Time: 10.00am to 4.00pm     Price: Free
David C Johnson will be reading cycling related poetry and encouraging others to write their own short poems to be included in the Cycle Festival cycle of poems. More information about the programme can be found at: www.colstonhall.org

BPF Maggie Harris & Ros Martin with Fideles Mherembi
Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, bristol
Date: Sat 18th Sept         Time: 3.00pm       Price: £5
Maggie Harris is an award-winning Guyanese-British poet who has performed throughout the UK and published 5 collections to critical acclaim.
Ros Martin and Fideles Mherembi will be presenting Coal, Oil, Land, Me and Trees - an odyssey, provoking exploration of environmental issues in spoken word, music, images and song.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF Bristol Poetry Festival Poetry Slam - Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Sat 18th Sept        Time: 8.00pm      Price: £10
Hosted by Glenn Carmichael and Claire Williamson
Special guest Anna Freeman
The Dreaming Liars (Oxford)
Mark Neil, Pete the Temp, Tina Sederholm, Mac McFadden
vs
The Glasgow Kissers
Robin Cairns, Andy Fleming, Kieran Singh, Wendy Miller
vs
Bristol
Sally Jenkinson, Liz Greenfield, Angie Belcher, Jonny Fluffypunk.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF The Nine Lessons of Caliban - Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Sun 19th Sept    Time: 3.00pm Price: £5
Firebird Poets, Jenny Stafford, Jenny Redlar, Brena Cook, Steve Knight, Brenda Carr, Penny Goater and Emily Pamon have been working with poet Claire Williamson to create poems that support and inspire Firebird Theatre's interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The performance will be BSL interpreted.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF Kit Wright, Paul Farley, Robyn Bolam - Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Sun 19th Sept       Time: 8.00pm       Price: £7
Kit Wright is one of the UK's most popular and respected poets, he can be funny, serious and moving, sometimes all three in the space of one poem. Be prepared for joy!
Paul Farley is an award-winning poet from Liverpool. His imagination is just as likely to dance with film, television, pop music and modern art as with literature.
Robyn Bolam is a fabulous and compelling poet. Her poems are wings that might be the pages of a comic, in a child's eureka moment of learning to read, or those of a woman transforming herself into flames to leap across the hemispheres.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

Poetry at Bristol Cycling Festival - Pedalling Poetry
Date: Tues 21st Sept      Time: various (see below)      Price: Free
David C Johnson, Bristol Cycle Festival poet, will be reading poetry at some of Bristol's bike shops
Programme:
11.15am - Pembury Cycles, 10-12 Gloucester Rd, BS7 8AE
12.10pm - Zero-G (Garlands), 11-13 North St, Bedminster, BS3 1EN
1.00pm - Mud Dock, 40 The Grove, BS1 4RB
2.00pm - Bike UK, Embassy House, Queens Ave, Clifton, BS6 6HB
3.00pm - Psyclewerx, 4-6 Abbotsford Rd, Redland, BS6 6HB

BPF FLASH! - Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Weds Sept 22nd     Time: 8.00pm    Price: £7
Festival dessert.
The sudden flash that reveals the briefest moment, when everything makes sense. Lucy English, Sara-Jane Arbury, Glenn Carmichael and Anna Freeman focus on revelations and epiphanies in everyday lives.
This is poetry and flash fiction in performance, crisscrossing with visuals and choreography to create a stark and provocative tableau.
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

BPF The Incongruity Project- Arnolfini, Narrow Quay, Bristol
Date: Thurs 23rd Sept         Time: 8.00pm      Price: £7
Festival dessert.
An evening of text and sound performance extracts from
Revelation - A Howl Through the Looking Glass, a tribute to Alan Ginsberg.
Followed by the premiere of Dark Intervals - A Hymn to Black a poem by Nick Moore.
Incongruity Project are: Nick Moore, John Eaves, Nick Hayman, Don Hawley, Cathy Warner, Rachel Casperd, Julian Dale and Martin Harvey
Tickets available now. Call Arnolfini Box Office: 0117 917 2300/01

Felix Dennis - Did I Mention Free Wine?
Komedia, 22-23 Westgate St, Bath
Date: Tues 28th Sept         Time: 7.00pm Price: £10/£5
Poet Felix Dennis will be reading from his collections Homeless in My Heart, A Glass Half Full, Lone Wolf, When Jack Sued Jill, Island of dreams and Tales from The Woods in an exclusive preview ahead of his latest collection later this year.
To book visit: www.felixdennis.com

Please remember to check the Poetry Can website for further events news. The website is updated on a weekly basis.

Poetry Can is a poetry development agency based in Bristol UK.

Poetry Can believes that poetry has a unique power to explore and express the experiences of life: poetry affects everyone. Poetry Can sees its role as enabling and encouraging as many people as possible across communities to get involved in poetry activity, raising awareness and enjoyment of this powerful art form.