Notebook substitution

Slip in hand, wager set,
It only matters when there's money in it.
Tell that to the social worker, the nurse on the end of a shift,
Tackling a case load spread ever thicker.

No one ever stole services,
They were just chronically underfunded.
If the collective We don't want to pay for unused services,
Can we start with nuclear weaponry?

What We do with what we have 
is all we have as our legacy.
And the legacy we fight against is the one that         starves services, communities, people.
What equality there is is the level of inequality,
And still we have nuclear weapons that are more likely to see rust than action.

Note: I left my poem notebook at home, and decided to start recording my first drafts here. What will happen to this is it will make its way into my notebook, wait a few weeks while I write other poems, then I'll return to it and see how I can improve it and make it work.

Public information about public houses

You might not be aware of this but there's a couple of areas of Leeds 'history' that I'm fascinated by. Architecture, obviously, and the changing streetscape, cinemas and theatres, and the evolving public spaces. One of the really big fascinations I have are public houses. I've heard so many tales about them, descriptions and locations, clientele and staff, and I find them creatively inspiring. It might be a long way off though a project about these places is a distinct possibility. Public houses often serve multiple functions, meeting rooms, folk clubs, a liaison for the evening or long term companionship, and are often located in places that link communities. However, I often hear these tales in other public houses, so have no notes to reference. I know someone told me about a Roxy, though am I getting confused with similar public houses in Nottingham, London, Norwich? I've been in market taverns in London, you know the ones that open at 5/6am for the porters, and I think someone else told me about the Leeds ones, but I can't recall. In an effort to start collecting this information I'm going to start carrying a small notebook. In this I will jot down the things people tell me, any tales I get about the current and lost pubs of Leeds, their locations and the location in which I get the research. I might spend a bit of time explaining what I'm doing but think most people I've met in public houses, friends and strangers alike, would probably be happy imparting their stories.

Competition time

It's the last day of the month so far had a look at the Poetry Kit website's list of open competitions. There's a few going on in August, with more all the way through to the end of November.

I counted at least ten I would like to enter. Thinking about entering poetry competitions was something recommended to me as a means to get inspiration and work to deadlines. I may not enter all the competitions, in fact I guarantee I won't, but I will keep those ideas bubbling up under my writing process.

It is the same with magazine submissions and poetry/spoken word events. I have a slowly growing list of interesting items, and when I am going through my notes and completed work I often think whether I could/would/should submit my work.

This is all falls into my writing process. Though I write primarily for an audience of one, of me, once I have something I am satisfied with it is nice to show it off.

Not a poetry review

Not really, not possible. I'm not sure if I should review in the way that other bloggers review as I feel there tends to be too many spoilers and not enough actual personal reflection on the text in question.

Elsewhere I have wrote about online book reviewers that are around three quarters plot and press release recycle and one quarter actual response (if the reader is lucky). I know there's an audience out there as the writer of the book writes to someone, it's just I'm not in that audience. This then is not that type of review, this is reflection, and you know what Hesse said about reflection[1]. 

Since the start of the year and taking part in one of Jen Campbell's fantastic writing workshops I've been looking to develop my own poetry. Poetry, any writing, does not exist in isolation even when the writer is primarily looking to write for an audience of one; there are many influences, fuel for the flame, inspirations in awe-inspiring corners. All of these things feed into what will become my poetry, either as a direct reference of a indirect opposite reaction.

One of the new-to-me things about poetry is spoken word events. It's not new, there has always been readings and groups meeting in pubs to share there work, it is just that this idea is fascinating to me. What if I had known about them when I was in my twenties, I say to myself, though know that I would have been crippled by self-doubt that meant I probably won't have shown any work (it took some twenty seven years to do that, pop-pickers).

Spoken word events are wonderful. That people gather to share and support, speak and celebrate (mm, missed out on the 's' alliteration) is a great thing. I am making steps into learning about them and will join them, though I'm behind in doing so. Suddenly three and a half weeks off work watching Vinn Diesel films seems slightly unproductive...

One of the most fascinating groups I've found is Mouth Piece Poets of Lincoln, UK. Though I was born in Derby I consider myself 'from Lincoln', and for all the annoying things about the city, there is far much to love and cherish. A lot of my early writing is a reaction to many of the things Lincoln and Lincolnshire presented me with. This wasn't reactionary writing, it was a progressive examination of me, my thoughts and feelings, and my environment[2].

Anyway, back to the poets. They came together and thought about sharing their work (a read through of their website will give you a better run down than I could, without cutting and pasting text). What drew my attention was their event, they have had two nights in Lincoln's Drill Hall, and I thought I'd like to go along and see them when I can. From this I found their Volume 1 book, and in this I found Sam Harrison's We Have To Build A Bypass! 

Here is a poem that presented a Lincoln I was familiar with, though mine was twenty years ago. Poetry can allow for fantastic travels, in time and space and memory and thought, and with this poem I travelled. I enjoyed it a great deal, the whole volume is a good compilation of work, and I'm looking forward to rereading it soon.

Notes and references

1 - Actually, you don't, not here. While I was making notes for this blog post I was thinking a lot about Steppenwolf written in 1927, and how a great deal of Herman Hesse's novel easily applies today. One particular passage, about how nations who look to externalise their internal problems were quick to war, struck me a great deal in response to the reports of shootings in Munich. This in turn makes me think about Peter F Hamilton's solution to solving humanity's problems in the Night's Dawn trilogy.

2 - Oxford comma, ha, mature enough to vote and drink, immature enough to think, 'well done, James' every time I use an Oxford comma.

Laughs in a book-hoarder's house

Me - Isn't there a thing about Oreos and toilets?

Them - If there is I am not searching for it on the Internet.

I - You told me about it, from a book you read.

Her - I don't remember that...

Him - Not to worry, there's plenty of books in this house, you can search them.

And why can't I search myself, you ask, dear Reader. Well, I broke my ankle on Wednesday night while running (more accurately, trying to step around a pedestrian). 

I've already watched three films with Vinn Desiel in, I suspect there will be more.

Just a test

I've recently made a change to my music listening habits. Gone is the preselection of only having a couple of albums on my phone, slowly I will fit it all on.

Partly this is because I miss having access too all my music; partly this is down to taking time on holiday to listen to an album in full.

With that in mind, expect more 'reviews' of what I'm listening, starting today. This morning I've got the Beastie Boys's Hello Nasty playing. This record is always a revelation, starts off bold and then continues to rise. I'm always thrown by the sequence of Remote Control into Song For The Man. 

Intergalactic is one of my most favourite songs. All the elements that go into that song, all the cultural references, both at the time and those that came later (Star Trek Into Darkness, anyone, or Star Wars The Force Awakens).

Underneath it all is simple messages told clearly. To borrow a line from Super Disco Breakin' "because when we're getting down we are all equal."

This is evermore relevant this week and for the future.

Notebook

Pre-work poetry practice, going through my notebook to find the following lines.

22/3 -
Tin foil, tin can.
Those are the lips that kissed,
The lips that she kissed.

25/4 -
Présélection téléphonique.

And 27/5 -
'Your expanded LAN is the wide, wide world,'
Sometimes more, always growing.

Like the band James, over time pages and pages of scribbled notes become a stanza or two, whittled down through drafts until there's something there.