last man out of eden

Mypoem Mentalist, performed at the Hammer and Tongue Oxford...

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:37:06 -0400

Mypoem Mentalist, performed at the Hammer and Tongue Oxford grand final, about the effect of the Workfare scheme on those with mental health difficulties

Nothing to Say

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:18:36 -0400

Members of the poetry establishment often say that contemporary poetry has nothing to say. Poets, please could you draw, photograph or photoshop or scribble something that expresses your reaction to this assertion and submit as a jpeg through my submit button. The results will almost certainly be used in some public way so if you submit something you’re happy for me to use it

my poem Hungerford Bridge performed at the Oxford Hammer and...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:16:25 -0400

my poem Hungerford Bridge performed at the Oxford Hammer and Tongue slam grand final on June 12th 2012

Last Man Out of Eden is out as an ebook! Just £1 for a full set...

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:43:04 -0400

Last Man Out of Eden is out as an ebook! Just £1 for a full set of my recent poems. Click here for the download.

Hungerford Bridge, recorded at ARTournament in Gloucester

Mon, 07 May 2012 05:52:55 -0400

Hungerford Bridge, recorded at ARTournament in Gloucester

Cover for my book and CD Last Man Out of Eden, out this June -...

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:02:55 -0400

Cover for my book and CD Last Man Out of Eden, out this June - come along on June 8th to the Albion Beatnik in Oxford where I’ll be recording the album with an audience - 9 poems, 30 minutes, hopefully a fabulous night

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/134364783363453/

We Were Making fairytales, recorded at ARTournament in...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:46:34 -0400

We Were Making fairytales, recorded at ARTournament in Gloucester on April 1st

Photo

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:15:32 -0400

ARTournament held at The New Inn in Gloucester on March 4th and...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:53:53 -0500

ARTournament held at The New Inn in Gloucester on March 4th and every first Sunday, a fabulous mix of spoken word, music and comedy. As well as the obligatory loo and decor, pictured here Sarah Snell-Pym, Joel Denno, Pink Sniper, Suz Winspear, Hay Brunsdon and Connect 4 (whodda thunk it)

I’m a mentalist.I’m a ventriloquist and this fake smile’s my...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:56:25 -0500

I’m a mentalist.
I’m a ventriloquist and this fake smile’s my dummy.
Behind the guile I know I’m scum,
I’m hungry, desperate for your crumbs,
I’m broken by the years that no one spoke for me,
I’m choked beneath society’s conceptual thumb.

The thing is, if I’m cheerful
You think I’m well enough to work for free
And if I’m not then you’re unreasonably fearful of me.
The last boss I told I was bipolar said OK, but please don’t stick a knife in me
While I sat there silent, stunned
Thinking you think I’M the violent one
Just because I have an illness
That the media exploits for thrills
Because they haven’t got the skills to see beyond the pills
That someone else’s taxes paid for,
Someone wealthy for no other reason than that they happened to be born healthy.
But their hard work must not be squandered
On dropouts and shirkers,
On the berserkers lurking in the social undergrowth.

So now the government can force us into slavery
Without protection from the rules that gave us dignity
Or made staying alive in the cold and hostile environment a workplace can be
Anything close to a possibility.
With every decency they steal
They feel their backs slapped
By the so-called cash-strapped hacks in suits
Whose stacks are packed so tight
No cracks of light
Can leak out and disturb their sleep
With the sight of the smacked-up jacked-up lives
Of those whose dice fell on the wrong side of the tracks

And all this is sold as a triumph of slashed bureaucracy
A victory for democracy,
For a people poisoned
By years of drip-fed filth
And casual hypocrisy,
By myths of laziness and hazy memes of craziness
Dreamed up on whims on days of bliss and Pimms.

And here’s the thing.
People will comply.
People will try.
They will try so much
No matter that it takes an act of heroism just to get out of bed,
No matter that their eyes are red
Because they cried so much
And kept on trying
And held their heads high so much
Their tears were washed away by the saliva from the bile
That people piled on them.
People will die
Their voices will fall silent
The iniquity will not be heard.
Their indignity will have the final word,
But still those who are left will smile in the face of tyrants
Still they will cling with grace to the ideal of non-violence.

How Are You Today

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:46:02 -0500

This is a poem about the question everyone asks but no one wants to know the answer to…

How are you today?

Me?
I’m broke.
I’ve got no coke
No dope
No smoke to toke
And every single DJ’s playing folk.
My best friend croaked.
He gagged himself on my first edition of Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke.
It’s like God’s Bob Hope
And my whole life’s his joke.
I’m a wheel without a spoke
I’m an egg without a yolk
I’m Facebook without pokes
I’m the Potteries except for Stoke
I’m the tsetse fly that woke
I’m Shep without John Noakes
I’m the New World Chardonnay they left unoaked
I’m a monogamous guy on Hollyoaks
I’m the e-mail you deleted that was not a hoax
I’m series two of Dexter without Doakes
I’m a self-employed vajazzler in a town that’s only blokes.

Me?
Oh, yeah, you know, I’m OKie-doke.

from Allographic at The Emperor in Cambridge on February 13th,...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:07:14 -0500

from Allographic at The Emperor in Cambridge on February 13th, featuring Fay Roberts, J S Watts, Mal Faloon and some very unliterary loos!

Ghosts at the Dinner Table and He Is In the Stars - two fabulous...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:37:54 -0500

Ghosts at the Dinner Table and He Is In the Stars - two fabulous poetry zines by the brilliant Anna Percy

Words in Pictures #7 The New Libertines at Three Minute Theatre,...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:05:44 -0500

Words in Pictures #7 The New Libertines at Three Minute Theatre, Afflecks - and afterwards at The Castle

Words in pictures #6 The New Libertines at Three Minute Theatre,...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:40:31 -0500

Words in pictures #6 The New Libertines at Three Minute Theatre, Afflecks, Manchester - our marvellous programme of performers - Laura Jarratt, Rachel Genn, Paul Askew, Claire Robertson, Elizabeth Baines, Sarah-Clare Conlon, Michael Stewart and Sian Rathore

“It was this long before I edited it” Dan Carpenter...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:21 -0500

“It was this long before I edited it” Dan Carpenter explains the secret of flash fiction. At least I think that’s what’s causing Sian Rathore’s look of consternation, and I can only assume it’s subconscious concision-envy that’s behind Paul Askew’s discretely-raised finger.

From the New Libertines afterparty at The Castle

Words in Pictures #5 - the first of three sets of photos from...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:20:04 -0500

Words in Pictures #5 - the first of three sets of photos from The New Libertines at Three Minute Theatre in Afflecks. In this set, pictures of one of the best venues out there.

#4 in the words in pictures series. This is what I did after...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:06:38 -0500

#4 in the words in pictures series. This is what I did after recording poetry on January 19th. Went to a Blackwell’s workshop given by the wonderful Nicola Morgan

#3 of my words in pictures series. A recording session in the...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:58:45 -0500

#3 of my words in pictures series. A recording session in the back room at The Fir Tree with Maura and Phil from The Unfixed - a new poetry video site. Recordings of Monsters, Alibi, Her Body and This Is Oxford, including artful use of mirrors, shortly to appear!

Synopsis and Shoes

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:56:44 -0500

Synopsis and Shoes:

over at the blog today I got to ask all kinds of questions about writing a synopsis to the really rather super Nicola Morgan. A must-read for anyone who wants a publisher.