This last month has gone by so quickly! I’m just getting over all the partying and back into productivity and poetry. I have now finished uni and moved back home, ready for graduation. I’m applying for Jobseekers Allowance and also registering for self-employed in order to prepare for the day that poetry pays haha. My last performance was at an open mic as part of the Norwich Fringe Festival at The Bicycle Shop. My housemates had just finished their exam and as we’d been drinking all day it was hard to keep them quiet so I just read a few poems and went upstairs… which I normally wouldn’t do, but there you go. There wasn’t really a high enough level of talent for me to insist on staying.
Ahhh… also, I’ve been published in an anthology called Workshop which is full of UEA students and available in Norwich from The Book Hive, The Workshop, and Waterstones. I did a quick reading at the Council Chamber at uni, for the launch. That night I DJed again with my friend Kristy. I ended up meeting this guy called Matt Dickerson who does amazing illustrations, check them out. We’ve been on a few dates and stuff since but I’m back in London and he lives in Norwich so it sucks a bit. And you may think that’s not poetry related, but I actually hadn’t written a poem in ages and started a new one the other day inspired by my new muse, haha.
I’ve been reading stuff that I want to read. I started writing notes on music and emotions… I studied a module on words and music and got bad marks so it’s some weird thing that I’ve got into my head that I have to write more on it. I’ve read Submarine by Joe Dunthorne (I looked at his website during my internship where I met him at an event, it’s a fun website). Anyway, the book is on the favourite’s list – I absolutely loved it. It was perfect… just the humour, the emotion, the plot, characters and inventive similes (he’s also a poet, don’t ya know).
I finished that and read Clare Pollard’s Look! Clare Look! whilst visiting my Gran in France. My favourite poems were Thailand II, Mission Beach, To Depression, The Chain, and the last three in the collection. Check them out! I love the personification of mental illness in To Depression, and I related to the bar job depicted in The Chain. The last poem, which includes the line from the collection’s title, made me sad and reminded me of my friend who has lost her dad.
Tomorrow I’m doing an HOUR LONG set for the Art Shop Collective. I’m a bit scared about filling that much time… I was a bit short when I went through it but hopefully I’ll span it out somehow, and maybe finish this new poem I’m writing as a sneak-preview. It’s in the day time from 11am-7pm and I’m on at 2.30pm! My lovely friend Tom is coming to support me, and as thanks, I’m hoping people read this and click here. I’ve got a couple more gigs in the pipeline as well but I need to knuckle down and sort stuff out!
Some sketches from the artiste 🙂 … with more coming soon, I hope!
xxx
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 