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DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light

DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light

Reviewed by Sue Allen and Frank McMahon

Moany Mood
DIY poets at Nottingham Night Light was a game of three halves. We’re poets not mathematicians, with a theme of light and dark. The interpretations were free, wide ranging, poetic and creative.
DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light
Although the audience was small the atmosphere was large and both increased steadily as the night went on.
John Merchant kicked us off with a contemplation of those times when you fall flat into a “moany mood” in the mist of joy. He expressed his thoughts in rhyme from both a secular and Christian perspective.
Barbara followed with poem by Grace Nicholls about the best of life from a woman’s viewpoint “A woman with all my lines strung out like pearls before me” And what pearls Barbara gave us including the thoughts of Jack Dee “That’s what’s wrong with me, I’m a comedian!” Speaking as a poet I could well relate to that sentiment
Martin explored the philosophical yin and yang of light and dark, giving us an exploration of the concept of future aspirations “next time we’ll get it right.” The importance of supporting a friend when “it’s been a bad time” and the necessity of always having the right glasses even if it is just out of habit.

Hazel led us into the second section festooned with lights, her first offering “Midnight Snack” contemplating such questions as does the light in the fridge really go out when we shut the door, and the way that illumination temps us in. Her contemplation on the safety of darkness made me tingle as she explored the solitude and security that the night can convey. Her final poem about Tim Peak’s dreams of free floating sleep in space and his desire to shun being strapped down. All three; thought provoking and clever interpretations of our theme.

Man Wanted For Casual Market Stall Erection
Sue described herself as an angry feminist poet but there was a lot of humour in her poems as well. She describes how an ad innocently wanted a “man for casual market stall erection.” She described “ladies of the night” with their “enamelled armour” who will “scratch the back of their next opportunity.” Funny and memorable.

Coming Out
John Humphries looked at the fine line between poetry and song writing. He had great fun “coming out” as a fan of country music, and exploring the accidental poetry to be found in listing song titles giving us such gems as “Did I shave my legs for this” and “How can I miss you if you won’t go away?” He went on to treat us all to his own interpretation of the genre with a beautiful piece about love and shared experience worthy of any country ballad.
DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light

Frank gave us a soulful series of poems exploring the light and dark of the human condition, ranging from our need for solitude, the frailty of addiction, the resentment of heavenly bodies sharing the same space, and the heartbreak of the Hillsborough disaster and the media reaction.
Leanne finished off this set with two poems looking at friendship and love. In the first: “Night Climbing” she offers us her hands as a step-up, enabling us to “heave your body skywards and watch the stars come out.”
In her second: “Star Struck” she gives us the wonderful line “the patterns in the cosmos match the freckles on your face.” Which I think is the best romantic line I’ve heard in a long time.

DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light
Leanne Moden performing

The third “half” was dedicated to the lovely Kevin Jackson’s book launch and rounded off with a lively open mic.

Reach Through The Entangled Darkness
Kevin’s book “Touching You” is a wonderful expression of love, life, and humanity in all its diversity. He has a light touch which carries your heart along with him. I totally enjoyed his weaving of tales of love, and spiritual connections which crossed the boundaries of time and expectations. He has a way of reaching out with kindness and compassion which holds the listener and the poetic subject gently in his words. In the title poem, he dares us to “reach through the entangled darkness” and reminds us that “the needle only finds music when it remembers.” Long may his music play on as he continues to find his groove of creativity.

DIY Poets Nottingham Night Light

DIY POETS Host Sheffield Poets @ The Lofthouse in ‘Lace and Steel’ on Jan 31st, 3:00 to 6:00

DIY POETS Host Sheffield Poets @ The Lofthouse in ‘Lace and Steel’ on Jan 31st, 3:00 to 6:00

Lace and Steel Loft House final PDFDIY POETS endured a full on brolly buster back in October 2015, when they travelled to Sheffield to take part in WORD DROP, a fringe festival event at the Hop Hideout Beer Shop. Poets mingled on wooden benches supping craft ales, listening to a Stranglers album on audiocassette, the perfect antidote to the rain pelting down beyond the beer shop doors. Some fine poetry got read, some from Nottingham, the rest from Sheffield, and a mutual respect was born.

Well, it’s the turn of DIY POETS to host, so on Sunday 31th January between 3:00 and 6:00, at the Lofthouse, ‘Lace and Steel’ will join forces again to bring a poetry experience to savour, poets from Sheffield travelling down to Nottingham.

There will be music and song from Stacey McMullen.

I hope they bring the Stranglers cassette down from Sheffield, and if it rains we won’t be bothered.

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig @ The Maze, Nottingham, Thurs 11th Feb 2016, 7:45

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig @ The Maze, Nottingham, Thurs 11th Feb 2016, 7:45

DIY maze Feb 2016 blake depp FINAL pdfAs featured in today’s Nottingham Evening Post, and fresh from the exertions of Nottingham Poetry Festival, mingling with the likes of Henry Normal and Lemn Sissay, and from jumping on stage to perform at any given opportunity, DIY POETS are back on home turf at the Maze.
So, to sample some very fine poetry, from a diverse and colourful line up, covering every subject under the sun, from potatoes to Donald Trump, although the difference there is not great, from bass players to unruly technology, from chocolate bunnies to mobile phones, from romance to psychedelia, it’s kaleidoscopic, a sonic tonic for the chronic cynic, and also too for innocent bystanders who only came in for a quiet pint.
Headlining is the metrical maestro, Leanne Moden, who has the knack of pulling you right into her dazzling breeze of words. Don’t miss.
And stay around to check out POP ORCHESTRA, our music act.

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig @ The Maze, Nottingham, Thurs 11th Feb 2016 – 7:45 pm

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig @ The Maze, Nottingham, Thurs 11th Feb 2016 – 7:45 pm

DIY maze Feb 2016 blake depp FINAL pdfAs featured in today’s Nottingham Evening Post, and fresh from the exertions of Nottingham Poetry Festival, mingling with the likes of Henry Normal and Lemn Sissay, and from jumping on stage to perform at any given opportunity, DIY POETS are back on home turf at the Maze.
So, to sample some very fine poetry, from a diverse and colourful line up, covering every subject under the sun, from potatoes to Donald Trump, although the difference there is not great, from bass players to unruly technology, from chocolate bunnies to mobile phones, from romance to psychedelia, it’s kaleidoscopic, a sonic tonic for the chronic cynic, and also too for innocent bystanders who only came in for a quiet pint.
Headlining is the metrical maestro, Leanne Moden, who has the knack of pulling you right into her dazzling breeze of words. Don’t miss.
And stay around to check out POP ORCHESTRA, our music act.

Another Frank McMahon Book Launch – Dec 4th @ Nottingham Writers Studio

Another Frank McMahon Book Launch – Dec 4th @ Nottingham Writers Studio

It’s remains to be seen whether Frank arrives on the night in a pair of chunky platform boots and clip on ginger sideburns, but he says he’d like to sing like Noddy Holder, and that’s understandable – that Black Country barrel house bellow is awe inspiring.

‘I Wish I Could Sing Like Noddy Holder’ is Frank’s 5th or 6th book. I’m losing count. I know some people are waiting for the box set, but when poetry of this quality is on offer that would be foolhardy.

Frank will be reading from the book at this event, and other members of DIY POETS will also perform. Music from Pegefo, and vinyl spins by John Humphries.

Unmissable.
Book Launch I Wish I Could Sing Like Noddy Holder PDF

DIY POETS’ Splendid Day Out

DIY POETS’ Splendid Day Out

Write up by Lytisha:

Photo by Keith Turner
Photo by Keith Turner

On Saturday 18th July, DIY Poets shared the bill with James, The Specials and Bananarama, amongst others. We took to the stage at Splendour Festival, Wollaton Park. Okay, not the main stage, but we let Roots Manuva use that to warm our audience up.

Andy Szpuk introduced the set on the Fringe stage and we found the audience to be in fine voice through a bit of call and response audience participation. Next, Clare Stewart took everyone on an exhausting and squelchy walk through Scottish heather, heather, heather before leaving us to relax with a smooth whisky. Music was the theme of Frank McMahon’s trio of poems. It wasn’t all about the bass, ‘bout the bass, but also exploring the reactions to guardian angels in leather and denim as well as comments on Johnny Cash’s sartorial choices.

Next was Lytisha with her poems looking at relationships, both with people and food stuffs. John Humphreys embarked on an uncharacteristically short introduction, (he even kept within the allocated time slot and didn’t even need the ting of enlightenment!) to his poem celebrating all things Ska.

Trevor Wright took us into the home straight with cautionary tale of the migrating pink toed tarantula. Finally Captain Andy Szpuk was back and not only was Poetry Airlines literally launched containing poems from the Flight Attendants Richard C Bower, Hazel Warren, Chris Page and other DIY Poets, but the Best of DIY Poets book was launched too, and managed some chunky sales.

A great day all around and a fabulous audience.

DIY Poets would like to thank DHP for booking us and providing a super stage and sound man. Thanks too to Keith Turner for the photos and video.

If you missed it you can catch us and get your copies of Best of DIY Poets at The Maze on Thursday 13th August from 8pm.

Clare Stewart
Clare Stewart (photo by Keith Turner)

 

 Frank McMahon (photo by Keith Turner)
Frank McMahon (photo by Keith Turner)

 

 Lytisha (photo by Keith Turner)
Lytisha (photo by Keith Turner)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trevor Wright

 

Richard C Bower and Hazel Warren (Photo by Keith Turner)
Richard C Bower and Hazel Warren (Photo by Keith Turner)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Szpuk, launching Poetry Airlines (photo by Keith Turner)
Andy Szpuk, launching Poetry Airlines (photo by Keith Turner)
Performance Poetry Workshop at Nottingham Writers Studio – 9th November 2014

Performance Poetry Workshop at Nottingham Writers Studio – 9th November 2014

10808301_10154796154900551_420501069_nFRANK MCMAHON REPORTS:

Five DIY Poets met on Sunday 9th November 7- 9pm at the Nottingham Writers Studio for an informal poetry performance workshop. The aim was for each poet to increase their skills and confidence when reading/ performing their poetry. Each poet gave a history of their performing their work and how they would like to develop in terms of performing their work. During the session each poet read one of their poems to the group and reflected on how they performed it.

Among the things we discussed were:

1. The importance of a good intro. This is to give a bit of context to a poem, as unlike as when a poem is on the page, the audience have only one chance to hear the poem.

2. Pace of reading. Not to read too fast as this will make it harder for the audience to get the poem and will diminish its impact. A suggestion was to highlight words or phrases that may need to have a pause or emphasised. Consider what words are particularly important. Practice reading the poem and varying the pacing at home.

3. Use of large font and poems to be typed. If the type is large font it is easier to read and the poet can look at the audience more than if they have to strain to read smaller font.

4.  Consider the time allocated. Time how long the poem takes reading aloud at home. Do not try to cram too many poems in (I have been a victim of this in the past!). Allow a bit of a break between poems for the audience to process the information.

5. Have the poems in a folder rather than individual bits of paper. It looks more professional and organised and if you are feeling nervous the weight of the folder means the audience will not see any shaking hands.

6. Memorising v not memorising. It’s good to be able to perform the poem without looking constantly at the paper but if too much emphasis is put on memorising the poem this can be counterproductive. If someone turns up without the printed poems they have nothing to fall back on if their mind goes blank. Also, if the emphasis is mostly on just memorising the poem the poet may not be concentrating on other things such as the pace of the poem and where to slow down and put emphasis.

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig Report – 14th August 2014

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig Report – 14th August 2014

Eagle Spits reports:

After brief introductions from Frank McMahon, founder of DIY poets, Poeticus Autisticus (AKA Trevor Wright) took the stage to deliver a finely tuned set with sharp wordage about subjects as diverse as time travel and drones. Often the political nature of some poets limit their vocabulary which reduces their work to propaganda as opposed to art. This is not the case with Poeticus who speaks the truth articulately and the message is delivered, well crafted and poignant.

Orla Shortall is a fine Irish lass who delivered a set of twisted love poetry in a broad accent. From women who are difficult to love to men who are difficult to love, with Victor Hugo references, golden chalices and magic mushrooms. A woman scorned with cutting wit. As Olga repeated the lines: “if you want to leave then leave”, nobody did because they were mesmerised. One of the poems was even written that afternoon at 2pm whilst in “the office” , ooooppps, never mind anything can be forgiven when poetry is this good.

Next we have the first poetry performance virginity loss of the evening, and how! Claire Louise stammered and stuttered, twitched and rocked as she delivered a poem about mania from a first person perspective. There was nothing wrong with the delivery. It was perfect for the subject matter and her movements were in all the right places. I will probably say awesome more than once in this review but that’s because it was the evening it was. “It will pass, it will pass, it will crash”. Claire Louise was awesome, brave, honest and awesome.

Beer and fag break, quick introduction, then Marty Everett. The smooth operator of the evening. Slick in a Bill Hicks kind of way with clever, truthful verse ,about the education system. About how in real life “failure is an option” and yes our children are being sold out. “don’t build statues of the thinking man, be the thinking man”. Marty’s “dragon dances” and we were moved.

The picture on tonight’s poster was of Dylan Thomas, our next poet’s hero. So John Humphries did a trio of related poems. The first being a rendition of Simply Red’s “Money;s Too Tight to Mention”  (someone had pointed out the picture on the poster actually looked liked Mick Hucknall) in a posh BBC Dylan Thomas voice. Surreal. Next a rendition of a Dylan Thomas poem performed in a posh BBC Dylan Thomas accent. Surreal. Then a sonnet to Dylan Thomas performed in a posh BBC Dylan Thomas accent. Surreal. John Humphries was brilliant in his off kilter genius. Spot on, in a posh BBC Dylan Thomas accent.

Clare Stewart talks about dreams and red shoe minds. Reflections of Splendour at Woolerton Part. Empathic versifications on deafness. Hard metal and cut down trees. Life , death, compassion of an ethereal kind. Clare is in her poetry, invested and absolute. A set of quality verse gently spoken but scary nonetheless.

Frank McMahon donned with smart attire and pork pie hat verbalizes about not being concerned these days that he has lost his Morrisey quiff. Versed about biker friends who were more guardian angels than hell’s angels. Told rhythmic tales about navvies, football, Hurricane Higgins and a heart breaking poem full of Dr Who Imagery which finds Frank as a child hiding behind the sofa but not from Daleks but from his parents’  arguments. Totally eclectic in subject matter. Totally wondrous in verse.

A poet called Julian recited a poem about the loneliness and isolation of being a cyclist. The dangers of bad roads, careless drivers and total lack of respect cyclists receive from other road users, even pedestrians. The feelings of being despised and abused by bus drivers and drunk blokes on a night out. The poem was long but sharp. Attention keeping and angry. The props of bicycle and bell were incorporated. The tale was told, the message given and poetry of a high quality performed. It rang my bell.

Martin Grey was the headline poet of the evening. I first saw Martin several months ago and he was good. A young poet just starting out. Tonight he was fucking brilliant. One of the best poetry performance I have ever seen. Political in “All the bullets and all the bombs” in which shrapnel hits a young man in his head and he wonders if his mother is alive or dead. There was humour in his “Bread” poem, with tacky chat up lines based round puns about bread, I kid you not. His set had everything, heart break, anger, humour, “The Pretty Boys of G town” is a look back at his teenage years in Guilford and how history has a habit of repeating itself. It reminded me of a poetical version of Pete Seegers “Little Boxes” but with alcohol and chavs. Like I say, fucking brilliant.

Pegefo was the musician for the evening. Sweet, sweet music along the lines of Richard Thompson. One man, one acoustic guitar and a handful of beautiful songs. Unhinged love songs, ode to his mother. A lust for life conducted with serenity. “You think your something special do you”, a love song to the latest flame is one of those love songs which makes this old punk unashamed to like love songs. “not my bag” Pegefo introduced as an atheist anthem. I wonder if he felt the supernal nature of the music he plays. There was darkness,  yet hope and encouragement running through his set. He even read a poem he wrote a few years ago. The second poetry virginity to be lost this evening.

Overall a great evening. The kind of evening one expects from DIY Poets. See you next time. (Eagle Spits).

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig – August 14th – The Maze, Nottingham

DIY POETS Quarterly Gig – August 14th – The Maze, Nottingham

Pedestrian crossings can often cause an unhinged moment when a shopper, student, silver surfer or goofball (like me) arrive at them, wondering whether to press the button or take a chance on scampering across without pausing to follow the expected procedure. Could be a British thing, or maybe most people’s minds are pondering when the next DIY Poets gig might be. The latter is more likely. Unwittingly, DIY Poets can make a major contribution to road safety by revealing early doors when and where the verse will be spoken:

The featured poet Martin Grey is fresh from field studies in phonetics, punnery and one liners. He cruises through a diverse range of subjects, look out for his bread poem, he may try to sandwich it in somewhere. Grey’s anatomy of verse has the legs to make it a kicking night of rhyme (or free verse as the case may be).

And to complete a ‘safe’ night of entertainment, Pegefo and Marita provide the music.