So, I didn’t make it to any more poetry events the week before returning to Norwich, for three reasons:
1. Monday: kept up by snoring at a friend’s house, went home at 5am, took two hours, had three hours sleep.
2. Tuesday: went round to friend’s house, mum didn’t want anyone staying round, was home by 2am.
3. Wednesday: goodbye drinks, ended up going clubbing with one mate, everyone got chucked off the bus, got home at 5am and was hungover all day.
Anyway, back in Norwich, I went off to the NAC to see Tim Clare headline at Word of Mouth. Andy Spragg was up first, who I know from previous Soapbox events and the Poetry Choir. I really liked his poems and would have liked to read as well as hear them, which I got to do later on! Although confident, he was a bit shaky – which is what I’ve been doing recently at events and know how annoying it is, like… why is my leg shaking. A bit like Will’s arms on The Inbetweeners (which I watched the next day on 4od, very funny!)
The Anti-Poet I had performed alongside at Speech Motion, at the Horse & Groom pub in London. They were even better than the last time! I really want my own music stand and one of those microphones; it’s the perfect solution to my bad memory, and well, the microphone just looks and sounds cool.
So, the headline act, Tim Clare, I had seen at Latitude but couldn’t hear that well, and was chatting to a uni mate I bumped into and was pretty pissed off that I couldn’t get back to where I was sat as it had gotten so crowded. Also, it seemed to be more comedy and music than poetry… so I didn’t know what to expect this time. It ended up being… AMAZING! Tim’s act wasn’t so much comedy but just him being himself and rambling on about his night drinking Cocktails, and reciting Tom Cruise’s “poem”. He was really quite endearing; what a charmer. I loved his poem about loving crazy women and the epic “9-minute poem”.
The After Hours Club was a scary ‘Swap Shop Special’ which involved putting our poems in a bag and picking three different ones. I knew some people had put in awkward poems, so I was lucky enough to avoid any of that, PLUS I got my very own ‘Cinderella’ poem. I didn’t record the event as I just wanted to enjoy it for what it was… wasn’t really about me haha. It was weird seeing Tim Clare in the audience. I hoped he thought I was good. It’s cool when the bigger names come to the open mic bit. Though I would probably judge them badly if they didn’t to be honest!
There was a bit of drama with the LitSoc Vs. CWS. It turned out to be an issue of improving communications and never using the term ‘open mic’ for LitSoc events to avoid confusion for the Student’s Union in terms of the distinctions between the societies. Anyway, after some passionate and persuasive arguing from me (I did get an A in that at GCSE) it seemed to be all sorted, and we should be able to work together the way I had intended, rather than against each other. And I avoided crying – yay!
So, everything ended up being okay, and in a few hours shall be seeing a lot of the same faces for HEADcrash Cabaret at The Birdcage with some friends coming along.
xxx
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 