Last night was the Farrago Zoo Awards and New Year Slam. I hadn’t been to a slam there for ages and so, despite the depressing weather and sore throat, I went along with my new Motel dress and newly cut hair. I was asked to read out an award that went to Fran Landesman, and this made me more nervous than performing my poetry, especially as there was a name I was worried about pronouncing properly, but I think it went okay. It’s a bit of an honour to present an award to this lady, clad in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, she’s still rocking and holding her own for the older generation.
I didn’t have any friends with me this evening, but was introduced to photographer Oliver, who sat with me through the first half before getting a better view from the back. Ray Antrobus came to talk to me as he saw me on my own, and told me about a new poetry event that will run in the daytime on Sundays, welcoming more “page poets” than perhaps other events to add to the Chill Pill events. I assumed the implication that I was more of a “page poet,” though I try to present myself as bridging the gap between the two. That said, I would like to see the pages I am on, as I have only been published a handful of times in magazines. A major problem for me, other than confidence issues, is my bloody memory. I need an autocue or something! Anyway, he’s a lovely guy and very talented performance poet haha.
The slam itself was won by a girl I can’t remember the name of or find via the internet but I knew she was going to win before the scores were shown. She did a poem about weave, which reminded me about when I watched Good Hair last term, and was in a similar sort of humour to the film: amusing, but with more serious undertones. I was pretty close to winning, I think by like 0.5… if I remember correctly I got 6, 7, 7.4, 9 and 9, so I was pretty pleased.
So I’m not mentioning the same people over and over, I’m just going to mention a couple of people to check out. First of all, Vanessa Kisuule, who I mentioned won the slam (when I was featured I thiiiink). She’s so good I hate her. Not really, I love her, but am a bit jeal of her, in an inspiring way though. Btw, I’m loving the abbreviated ‘jealous’ ever since The Only Way is Essex. If anybody has Kirk’s number, heeeeyyy there! Anyway, another one to watch is Mab Jones, she was perfectly hilarious. They both deservedly won awards, and to prove I don’t really hate her, I did vote for Vanessa.
I’d actually forgotten I had to pay entrance of £5 so I could only afford one drink. It was probably for the best as I’d already had a bit and drank water instead. At the moment I’m checking out the NME one’s to watch for 2011. I’m so out of touch so I figure it’s a good idea. Only a few stand out so far, but I’ll have to look into them more to see what I really think. Although, this one female singer, Spark, appears to have a similar hair-do to me. Mine is basically very short at the sides (man-short) and the middle section (and a bit extra) is long and is brought forward. The back has already grown a bit, and as they shaved my neck a bit I’m slightly worried what I’m going to do about that… attempt to shave it myself? Eeeek!
Anyway, before I start talking about Keith Jarrett’s beautiful poetry with his eyes that make you think of sparkly chocolate buttons melting, I shall go and give myself a bit of time before watching Hustle. Though as it’s taken me an hour to finish this, I will have to save the bath until 10pm. Then I shall be a good girl and read The Female Eunuch in bed. Before that, I shall leave you with a quote from Germaine Greer herself:
“I’m sick of weighting my head with a dead mane, unable to move my neck freely, terrified of rain, wind, of dancing too vigorously in case I sweat into my lacquered curls. I’m sick of the Powder Room. I’m sick of pretending that some fatuous male’s self-important pronouncements are the objects of my undivided attention.”
Since writing the book though, she wrote a terrible piece on Mrs Obama’s dress which i wrote a poem about but it’s on my external hard drive in Norwich.
xxx
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 