Poetry and a paypal party

It is eleven a.m now so I’m not going to say good morning in case it’s not morning by the time I finish.  I’m currently on half term which equals sitting in my onesie for most of the day reading until hunger drives me outdoors to go and get food.

My half term started last Friday at 3pm.  I finished school and then went and picked the husband up and went to a wedding reception.  I stayed there till 6pm – the hubby is a psychotherapist and it was a psychotherapist getting married – consequently the whole wedding was full of psychotherapists!  That is all I’m going to say about that!  I had to leave early as I was MCing the Brewery Poets event  The Brewery Poets are a group that meet once a month to critique each other’s poetry – they also put on events twice a year.  I say ‘they’ but the organisational force behind the readings is concentrated in the form of Pauline Yarwood who was actually a guest poet this time alongside Jean Harrison, another member of Brewery Poets.

I’ve seen Pauline read three times in the last couple of months – once she came and did a ‘local poet spot’ at Poem and A Pint, once at ‘April Poets’ in Lancaster and then on Friday as well.  It’s been great to see Pauline growing in confidence over the three readings – at all three events she read her poems really well but she is starting to develop the elusive skill of ‘setting up’ her poems – I think introducing a poem is a skill in itself.  Not all poems require an introduction – but if they do, I like the introductions that don’t tell you what a poem is about but that open a door into the poem for the audience and Pauline was really good at this on Friday.

Jean Harrison read and it was lovely to see that she has a new book out with Cinnamon Press called ‘Terrain’.  Jean is a careful observer and she brings this exacting eye to her poetry.  I bought a copy, but haven’t got around to reading it yet.  It is on a pile of things to read this week which include the new Rialto, Poetry London, Claire Dyer’s ‘Eleven Rooms’, the new ‘Artemis’ and I’m still only half way through ‘How to Read a Poem’ by Terry Eagleton although so far I am managing with reading the poems, despite not having finished a book which purports to tell me how!  Still, as I boasted to someone the other day, I now know what a signified and a signifier is – although how far that knowledge will get me I don’t know!

On Monday I managed to work out how to get a paypal button on here!  That means, lovely people who haven’t already bought my pamphlet – and I am wondering how many there are left of you – I think most of the poets I know bought one, so maybe I am running out of audience – anyway you can now buy my pamphlet at the click of a button.  If you are quick it will also come wrapped in lovely pink tissue paper (the tissue paper may run out) and with a nice arty postcard from Abbots Hall Gallery (the postcards may run out) and a note expressing my gratitude and affection.  That, surely is worth £5.50!  If the arty postcards do run out, by the way, I have some postcards of Barrow that I bought from a charity shop.  They are hilarious and they look as if they were made in the 70’s and then have just sat in the charity shop gathering dust until I rescued them.

I’ve been trying out some new developments on the blog as well – I’ve changed the Home Page – I’ve put in some tabs – I’ve made a page with all the past readings on that I’ve done because I didn’t like deleting them from the ‘Readings and Workshops’ page as if they didn’t exist.  Feel free to let me know what you think – if you feel so moved!

Tonight I’m going to an open mic night at Zefferellis in Ambleside, organised by the Wordsworth Trust.  Jane Routh is the guest poet – I was at last months because I was the guest poet – and it was a really good night – I’m taking lovely friend Helen and we are going to scoff pizza before it starts.

On the 8th of June   I am reading at the launch of the ‘North West Poets Anthology’ at the Jerwood Centre in Grasmere.  There is some information on the Wordsworth Trust site here https://wordsworth.org.uk/attend-events/2013/06/08/launch-of-north-west-poets-anthology-sculpted.html but the North West Poets also have their own website here http://northwestpoets.wordpress.com

And then I am hot footing it back to Barrow to get ready for Poem and A Pint in the evening with lovely guest poet Hannah Lowe.  We have a big venue to fill for this one, so please, if you can get there come along.  Hannah is a great reader as well.  You can find more information on this event here: http://www.apoemandapint.co.uk/

And I think that’s me!  I’m off to Leicester this weekend to see the family – then it’s seven weeks till the summer holidays!  Not that I’m counting or anything!