A few of you know I regularly attend Write Out Loud Stockport at Stockport Art Gallery which usually meets up on the second Monday of each month.
While there at this very enjoyable group, John Keane who runs the group writes up always a detailed and engaging report of what was read out and also conducts a collage poem wrote by all of the group to reflects the themes of the night.
However, last Monday just (Long story for this month) John had some train trouble running the group, so I took over running the group and ran the group writing the report below.
It has been shared on a private group for the Stockport crowd, but as I wrote it, I wanted to share it all for you too here.
Enjoy
A
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ROUND 1
As John was running late, I, Andy N took over the running of Stockport on Monday 17 June 2019 and the general note taking.
Nigel was first up as nearly always with ‘History is only a time
clock going backwards’ which was inspired by Caroline’s (sadly not
there) piece from last time which was a format neither me or Nigel could
remember, where each poem had 6 words and was then repeated in a
different order over the poem. It’s a difficult format that was for
sure, but Nigel did a great job with it and I liked the inventive way he
used Clock (I think) as the 1st and last word of his piece.
Andy C was next with Rhosneigr, a beautifully wrote piece filled with
long silent strolls across a long cold sleepy island on a Saturday
afternoon. I have covered quite a few sleepy parts of Wales on the
coastline in particular during peak season on a Saturday afternoon, and
this was a perfect memory of similar adventures I’ve had myself over the
years in a place that he clearly knew from at least one visit.
Meschech, our charity fighter winner (So pleased for him here) after
winning his fight on Friday was next, and produced quite a longer piece,
the first I could recall him reading since he returned to Stockport,
called ‘Back in time’. Either way, this was a lovely piece about the
story of a life told in reverse from a couple meeting up in a treehouse
right up to the end when the coffin was lifted back at the start of the
piece. Somebody (Nicola, I think) compared to Benjamin Button, which I
haven’t seen personally but there was no hiding this was a beautifully
strung together piece which I really enjoyed.
Martin followed next with a piece simply called stepping back which
was another beautifully deep (seemed to be a theme here with this night
certainly) about memory with a great ending of ‘Where will we end up
next?’ which concluded it perfectly. This would go well I thought at any
other night I’ve seen Martin read at previously (Also good to see back
to normal after been ill recently).
Nicola followed this up with a piece she originally wrote back in
April (National Poetry Writing Month – NaPoWriMo for those interested)
and I think she said she rewrote somewhat since. Either way, another
great piece (Great roll tonight guys) again used a lot of the smaller
details in life to carry forward a lovely narrative with another great
ending. Censored fairy tale and as John correctly said talked Social
Mobility which went down really well in the group. Deserved too.
Valerie was next with the first of two pieces (second in second half)
with an excellent be it very sad poem ‘From 10p short’ which was a kind
of tribute I guess to a dear friend who died fairly recently after a
struggle with cancer over the past two years. As it’s such a personal
topic, it’s difficult to really offer comments, but it was a piece that
brought a proper lump to my throat and like everybody else in the group
was grateful she shared it.
Dave K then afterwards read a poem called ‘The Countdown Clock’ which
followed on from Ed’s piece the previous month which he discovered as
meanderings around London. Like with Nicola’s poem and also quite a few
other poets too on Monday, this poem was also littered with slight
details, like a magician outside the National Museum and a visit to
Keats House too which told an excellent story too letting the sights
tell a story in a very subtle way indeed.
Maggie’s first piece was an old friend from our ‘It happened 50 years
ago’ readings from 2016 and like an old friend revisiting and worth a
visit again called ‘1960’s in the days when’. I remember really enjoying
the references then like I did first time even though it was before my
time (just) to Tony Sheridan and the Beatles among others here and the
literal use of fading into lost memories here which I find looking back
at my childhood in the mid to late 70s.
Ed took things in a very different direction after into the political
field with a grim but very well wrote poem called ‘Tiananmen King,
1989’. I remember being shocked by some of the shocking sights that
happened in that demonstration with people standing in front of tanks
unarmed and alone and been left there thinking, is that really it for
them? Ed’s poem was a stark reminder of those days with a saying that
stuck in my head for a few hours afterwards ‘Fascism will not past’.
Chris who came next 1st piece I have a feeling she may
well have read also at ‘It happened 50 years ago event’ or if not had
read out before at the same time which talked about the twisted wheel in
Blackpool a time in people’s lives which Maggie remembered really well
also when Miniskirts, red velvet boots, acid trips and love is all you
need really were the rage then. I loved it like with Maggie’s piece as
both really touched on what I like to think life was like in the 60s
like a mirror image.
Amanda who followed next wrote about a quite different kind of mirror image (which is the 1st
poem is from a top-secret book under a secret name she wouldn’t reveal)
called ‘I see myself in the distance’. I had heard this piece of course
before, but it’s an excellent piece which looks at life as almost a
sliding doors kind of scene and understated with an element of sadness
here which is a strong element of Amanda’s writing when she isn’t
writing more comedy or surreal pieces.
I was after that and followed with the latest in my imaginary
couple’s poems ‘Stalked in Southport’. Unlike some of the others poems
this couple have been in, I don’t really know Southport at all and wrote
this after checking out the geography of the area with a friend who
lived there who said it was spot on and then decided to place the couple
in a interaction with two other people who are a mirror image of them
in a different way.
John finished the first half himself with two pieces, firstly passing
a poem by Linda for Nicola called ‘It did not happen’ which was a very
dark piece with a last line that showed it was about the murder of John
Lennon and John himself then read his first piece called ‘The Black
Pill’. With John’s permission I’ve included it just below here at the
end of Part 1 as I thought it was in some ways quite a different style
for John as the piece itself John wrote it after somebody asked him to
write it about themselves. It’s an interesting idea to try that (which I
think John has done an excellent job here) and I am glad John has given
permission for me to share it as it can help produce poetry slightly
different or perhaps out of your normal comfort zone and can produce
some interesting stuff.
The Black Pill
A youth spent skiving off at dinner time
And strolling past the working men’s redoubt
And longing to be blokes with fags and pints
And hearing union reps tell us young lads
A hundred years of coal awaited us
And watching men from Fletcher, Sutch and Wild
Retiring to the pub to slake their day
While merchant navies offered us the world
And fitting firms flashed bulging order books.
This clamour in my head, I could not wait:
Now all the pubs are shut these thirty years,
The mines are dead, the Moors are gentrified.
The world I longed for vanished as I dreamed;
But then, perhaps it never truly was.
ROUND 2
Nigel of course started off again with Dreaming in Freedom, a very
subtle piece I felt from him about looking at things from the viewpoint
of a bird in a cage who was given the chance to escape and didn’t. This
made me think of a similarity with a human too in the sense of sometimes
in the sense it is easy to get yourself trapped without realising and
even harder to then break out off it. Excellent stuff.
Andy C’s second piece following on from that ‘Rain in June’ title
wise was very adapt certainly from the fun I had had with the weather
when I had left work that day to head over to Stockport (meeting Amanda
on route of course) and got drenched completely but the poem was deeper
than that of course. I particularly loved the reference to ‘baptized by
nature’ and ‘tear of aging burnt face ‘brought a lot of emotions in only
a way he can. Lovely.
Mescach followed on that with an old piece ‘Footprints in the sand’
which he advised he originally read out 9 years ago but was an excellent
piece almost stood at a crossroads between choices in life. I didn’t
ask Mescach this on the night, but it was the kind of piece when you
wrote it as young as I think he was at the time, would carry a different
meaning to what it did at the time, as life does change when you are at
that age.
John provided a remix of a piece he also read out a bit back (which I
remembered actually) called Charity Shop which discussed how a whole
life can be on sale in charity shop sometimes, say 30, 40 or 50 years of
memories almost like they are awaiting now to be rehoused. One of my
favourites of John’s and a pleasure to hear it again.
There was a journey in Martin’s second piece ‘On the way to the bus’
like Mescach’s piece beforehand but a much more outward journey on the
way to an un-named journey in contrast to Mescach’s more inward journey
but as lovely as Mescach with a similar yearning, almost innocence
despite the quite different topics.
I loved Nicola’s ‘Firehouse hours’ with its almost painting like
quality with references like pencil sizes on covers and bell chime
interpreting riddles, this was a piece which had character faults in
people within but a layer of tenderness which I loved.
Valerie’s ‘Toilet roll crisis’ followed on from her first piece but
had quite a different tone which was a little more gentle, almost
humorous which is a good skill I feel in writing pieces like she has, as
losing somebody does make you look back at the funny times as well as
the sad times. It’s a good skill to do when you are writing tribute
pieces like this to show more than one side to things, which I really
enjoyed.
Dave caught me out with his second piece ‘Orpheus on the edge of the
town’ (perks of Dyspraxia) but as always with Dave, this was a clever
multi layered piece with it’s retelling of life in myths (following on
from ‘Orpheus in the underworld) into a modern setting which was a great
example of how great stories can be adapted into different settings and
still retain their flavour.
Maggie’s next poem was an incredibly short piece called Bird and egg
and was originally written in 2012. I loved the briskness of this piece,
and thought for a short piece contained a lovely hidden theme which had
me thinking about over and over again afterwards. Excellent.
Getting to the end of the night, Ed’s last poem ‘Paddle Steamer’ was
quite different to the political leanings of his first piece but just as
lyrical be it in a very different way with its journey across rivers of
steam which bought back memories of journeys, I’ve had in boats too.
Chris’s ‘Home and away’ was a perfect way to follow on from Ed with
it’s almost story like structure of the way her life was like when she
was in India as a Nurse. I particularly loved the references of how they
stared at her or even touched her hair if they got close enough to her
which added layers of detail about India which I certainly didn’t know
before.
Amanda’s second piece ‘Pigeonholed’ which I know will be the first
piece in her other poetry book she has nearly completed, which will be
released under her actual name and called ‘Pieces of me’ was a clever
multi layered piece which examines how as writers we can get pigeonholed
in our lives and how to break away from it.
I finished off with a short piece from a sequence I am working on
currently, which doesn’t have a title yet and likely will appear next
year which are all been wrote on post it notes just as a challenge to
see if I can write a poem on one of them called ‘Filled with Ghosts’
which drew quite a few comparisons in relation to Nigel’s work here.
Oops – lol.
Anyway, here is the collage poem that John has edited together for you to read.
Hope you all enjoy or if you don’t get it, just think it’s all Greek
to me too (which oddly enough is also the theme for next month)
Cheers
Andy N
GOING BACK IN TIME
Overhanging your tiredness
Coming home
Ah 60’s! Too young, let’s do it again.
60’s women, short skirts, knickers
Don’t look now in Blackpool
The man selling sand is here again
What comes before?
Silent silver surfing by the sea
Falling into the past
Looking back, we see clearly.
Footprints in the sand of disbelief
Nowhere to fly across the skyline
Discarded memories rearranged to
Tell another story going back
Walking in the footsteps of another time,
60’s music playing, freedom dancing, and intoxicated mind.
Bending down pink mini
Showing my bum… never!
Never in a month of Sundays!
Waving to myself
It’s all Greek to me
In Lindisfarne the sky is darkening
We will cross the causeway one more time
Bold, black ink
Still waiting to know the future.
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