Tag Archives: Swindon Festival of Poetry

Taking in the 007 sites on our Magical Mystery Tour of Swindon

7 Oct

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If we’d not been so celebration-fatigued from the Olympics and the Queen’s diamond jubilee, Britain might have made more of this week’s twin anniversaries: two days in history which secured the nation’s place at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry.

October 5, 1962 saw licensed to kill secret agent James Bond blaze his way onto the silver screen in Dr No, while October 6 marked The Beatles’ first salvo in their bid to dominate the popular music scene with the release of Love Me Do.

Appropriate, then, that we should spend October 6, 2012 aboard a 1959 Leyland Tiger Cub – a bus that would have been a common site in Britain’s towns and cities in 1962 – enjoying a Magical Mystery Tour of Swindon and taking in, among other pleasures, some 007-related locations. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Swindon Festival of Poetry – poetry darrlin’ Pam Ayres

6 Oct

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s fair to say that last night Swindon Festival of Poetry hosted one of Britain’s most popular poets, at The Platform, Swindon.

As well as enjoying some of Pam Ayres’s poetry, we heard anecdotes about her life and the inspiration behind some of the audience’s favourite poems, documented in her 2011 autobiography ‘The Necessary Aptitude: a Memoir’.

Pam never had aspirations to write ‘deep’ poetry – ‘other people could do it so much better’. But it’s to poetry’s benefit that she developed her own style and wrote in a way that anyone could relate to and enjoy. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Swindon Festival of Poetry – psychogeography and sestinas

6 Oct

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Caught the aftermath of Michael Scott’s psychogeographical stroll around Swindon yesterday morning, in Swindon’s Central Library Poetry Space.

Psychogeography aims to make the everyday more interesting or to absorb and appreciate above and beyond the usual tourist attractions one would look for in an urban environment. Just the thing for Swindon, then.

Comments about the session included: “In context signs are really boring, but out of context they’re silly” and “I liked the skip” also “The Wyvern Theatre has stalactites.” Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Artwords Open Mic – You’re Meat, Book

5 Oct

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yesterday evenings lively and well-attended Artwords Poetry Open Mic festival special opened with a story from festival organiser Hilda.

Donned in her Mabel Watson persona accompanied by Barry ‘the teeth’ Dicks she megaphoned poetry at Sascos’ Cafe in Swindon’s Brunel Shopping Centre that afternoon. Apparently this was too subversive for the security guards who refused to allow them out into the precinct: ‘No poetry outside the cafe. No permission for poets in the Brunel Centre.’ Or something. So, poetry okay with tea and cake, but not other retail therapy.

First poet Bethany Pope (who will be instructing me in the way of the Sestina poetry form later today) was inspired by a death of a rat for her piece. (This is the second rat death poem today. I must write my own.) She was accompanied by the rhythmic thunder of dancers’ feet from Swindon Dance above the Central Library’s poetry space. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Swindon Festival of Poetry – a starry start

4 Oct

So the first Swindon Festival of Poetry kicked off this morning with Poetry Aloud in the Central Library’s Cafe.

(I love cafes in libraries. So much better than of old when it was all about being quiet and grabbing a book and leaving.)

It was a quiet, friendly start to proceedings, with a muster of enthusiasts listening and contributing to the poetry readings, both own and famous contributions.

Then it was off to the library’s poetry space gearing up for the BlueGate poet’s slot.

Both events got in the spirit of National Poetry Day and its theme of ‘stars’, and – as always – some interesting stories.

Bob Johnson, who treated us to his political poems, told us that he’d only been writing for a little while. He’d got into it through writing rhymes in greetings cards for loved ones. From a Valentine’s message (‘you are my Mona Lisa’) to agitation of the Coalition Government in a few short years. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , ,

Swindon Festival of Poetry – exciting, exciting!

7 Sep

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sitting on a chair after the launch speeches and fiddling (as usual) with my camera, co-organiser of the very first Swindon Festival of Poetry, Matt Holland, gave my back a friendly rub, cracked a massive grin and said: ‘It’s exciting, exciting!’

And so it is.

A year or so after announcing to about 5 people on Facebook that Swindon is the Poetry Capital of the World, Google – no less – has now got with the programme. So if you Google search for Poetry Capital of the World, Swindon is what comes up. I kid you not. Try it for yourself. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Newer Entries →