Spoken Folk

An evolving post of signposts to a process, a performance and then an archive of texts and recordings.

X-Files

An atheist, materialist, anticapitalist poetry that trusts no one, not even itself? What kind of cultural capital does poetry have? How is that capital distributed and redistributed? And how does the distribution of that capital relate to the distribution or redistribution of any other kind of capital?

Verve Poetry Festival Celebration of Live Poetry

I am celebrating in Birmingham tonight at the Hippodrome for the Verve Poetry Festival https://vervepoetryfestival.com/ celebration of four different Brum open mic scenes. There will be a few open mic slots. I hope to get one but won't mind if I don't. Should be an inspiring night. Poetry filling a big theatre.

What I want from my poetry

I like clusters, soups and smoothies, putting things together and feeling the energy generated between the one and the many. My cluster of three: individuation, compassion and capacity. Individuation: each person, place and thing is unique, a moment, a point, an instance. Compassion: treat each and all with kindness. Capacity: know your shit; have allies. … Continue reading What I want from my poetry

Poetry in the sauna

The time I recited one of my poems to a Premier League player in the sauna of a local gym

Reflecting on process

Forty years ago I started on a journey that I had been planning for at least a couple of years before that. I wanted to be a poet. I came to Oxford to study language. I liked to say, as a sculptor needs to know how stone cracks, a poet needs to know how language … Continue reading Reflecting on process

Living in instances

Most artists do not inhabit all the instances of their art once they have released the piece in whatever form it may take. Performing writers, poets, monologists inhabit the moments of their performance but not that of each of the audience, who brings all their "stuff" to bear: difficult upbringings, hard money, out of the … Continue reading Living in instances

Riffing on the big themes

Nature, War and Love were the three headings in When Life Looks Like Easy Street. I still believe poetry has to engage with such big themes: archetypes and myths. And it has to live in instances. I have undertaken to submit five poems to the Verve Poetry competition. They are to have been never published, … Continue reading Riffing on the big themes

Good at anything

It is really hard to be really good at anything... thinking of athletics and poetry. The step from fun-run to club runner is huge. And, from club to national team is almost inconceivable. In any sport. Art is different. The rules are unwritten. The class boundaries, permeable. Tastes change. The courage it takes to set … Continue reading Good at anything

Foldy Things

I have been making "Foldy Things": small pamphlets, one A6 (two-fold from A4) and one A7 on light card. The current versions of these are in print and on soundcloud, and posted here with links, below. I have realised I need a QR code... Looking for another story Bringing the timber home. A poem is … Continue reading Foldy Things