WRITE ANGLE PLAYS AGAINST BUCKINGHAM PALACE – WITH AFRIC MCGLINCHEY NOVEMBER GIG

Even though competing with the Palace's performance poetry reception (200 poets) for the Queen and Duke - a poetry 'fan', November's Write Angle still managed to pull in a full house! A cold night but warm and welcoming evening, high in spirit – lasting past 11pm!

Afric McGlinchey, special guest, who flew in from Ireland, read poetry with the music of Africa and Ireland, two countries she knows – her poetry, personal, erotically charged, accessible and powerful. She expresses love and its pains.'that last night, he was just an arm's length away but it may as well have been a continent'. 'No need to tell me that I'm made of stone. I'm one half a couple'...suddenly he was buying Calvin Klein and Boss, had his teeth cosmetically enhanced, picked fights three times a day.....' 'You did the main course. Here's dessert, baby!' (how could anyone who's ever been in a relationship not relate??)! 'Do not lie to a lover- on the other hand, do not tell him the whole truth.' In 'Moving in', she asks 'will you have me as I am with just a satchel and a laptop...my heart can shred to tatters still'.
She seduces and enthrals with her innovative style.. 'Outside the sky is white as snow. The slow languid sway of sun people. Already Africa is melting away'. 'She belongs to an endangered species; she sees the world through the eyes of her soul'. (Paul Duncan). Afric had moved 18 times before her marriage – then 17 times more.

Expressing her daughter's love of horses, 'She searches country roads until she finds one...Her hands open with an apple core invitation. He shivers, snorts, bends to the scent. Then, blood-warm attention, as she steals to the feast of his back' ('Girl without a Horse)'. Her son, when 19, took a road trip. 'My son's Nairobi to Harare Motorbike Odyssey'.

Afric gets ideas from headlines, 'Bohdran (drum) Makers Suspected as Goats Go Missing'. Beautiful description of the wild herd in moonlight, the van releasing sheepdogs and 'a night for stripping skin'. Three poems dedicated to Tokoloshe, an evil spirit, who had to be exorcised; people slept on mattresses held up on bricks; a witch doctor was called. Her year in London produced 'A Different Skin', about immigrants. 'even to the bus driver who takes your fare, you are invisible. Many of Afric's poems come from her latest book, 'The Lucky Star of Hidden Things', highly recommended. Could go on and on but will stop with a special tribute to the title 'At not flicking my tea towel at his departing behind'. Wanna know what it's about? Buy the book!

There were 15 open mikers! Although themes varied, they seemed more serious than usual. Ageing, politics, corruption. Michael Sherman, inspired by words he heard on the radio, read 'Have you taken your pills, Tommy?', then went on to how young people never think they'll get old: 'outside feels like inside without walls'. He then described his street - very descriptive: 'People still sucking on the oxygen of hope' and 'The Far Shore: 'How did I lose her. She was inside her joy. Night falls like a tear'. Beautiful language. Maria Hewett followed with 'Winter on the Army Ranges' and 'Entanglement', 'Plants surviving steadily..sometimes tangling till strangling', and 'Hello Adam'. Barry Smith read of 'MacBeth living in NE Asia. 'Man's hardness to man' and 'the pains of technology and the trials of art'. Also 'the poet in the meadow'. The impressed and the oppressed. He talked of Lou Reed, 'Me and Herbie down at the Poetry & Jazz Cafe'.

Chris Sangster asked 'Why do they do it' - performers who return with their same music. Then, 'A New Train of Thought', about a woman working under the trains, her mum waiting. But when she sings in the choir, she feels joy!'. Then, 'My Little Black Bag': There's no dog poo fairy! Helen Whitten, first timer, took us around the world. 'Tsunami Forces' 'The image froze in my mind' and 'Censored Pages', Moscow to Siberia. 'The Tsar lived beyond his death.' and Nigeria. 'Closer to God'. Leah read 'Ancestry Bug' dedicated to David Stone (their video-man): why search the past? Dave Allen, always funny and a favourite, performed 'Climate Change': 'The World that's around you is ready to drown you', 'ice caps collapse'. 'It isn't black gold. It's black blood'.

Jack Warshaw, singer/guitarist, taken by Ken Loach's film 'The Spirit of '45, did 'There's no country for poor people'. Whether nationalised or privatised, same hard faced men make decisions running them. They don't work! Then 'No Time to Love' (1977, Warshaw) condemns the injustice to political prisoners. The song's well known in UK, Ireland and Europe and translated to other languages. Dave Roberts did 'Ronnie the Rabbit' – who controls his mother's house but seems much more at home making Woody Allen's films into poems! 'Sleeper' and 'Midnight in Paris' where he settles down with a young French girl to write a worthless novel! Bruce Parry did 'A Discarded Edwardian Tram', bringing back Hansom Cabs, feathered ladies. Then, 'Three Moons': the lovers', harvest and spiritual. Chris Sparkes visited 'Church Norton 2013' where his dad, died ('93) now his mum ('13): 'Myself in the dark shadow created by the bright sun they walked in'. Then, 'All Our Loving', the days of the space race, free love, Dillon, Drop-outs...

Jimmy Lee, another newcomer – great guitarist and singer, did his 'Lament to the loss of their chalk stream; 'Someone broke into my heart and stole my chalk stream water. Best was 'My First Love', when he was 8 and fell in love with Lucy Cartwright. But then she moved away. audi maserati performed 'Charlie Montana', sometimes a cowboy. Sometimes a spaceman. 'Howdy Ma', with ma answering 'Would you care for a sandwich, stranger', a wonderful story that almost brought tears.

Michael Ray, Afric's partner and a poet in his own right, did 'How's the water? What the hell is water? 'How repulsive you all are' 'Crap is choice and crap is crass' 'The world turns and all I do is tread water'. The evening definitely had common themes and, even though it may have been more serious than usual, there was still that element of tongue-in-cheek humour, the stuff that happens when you're least aware! Afric finished her second round of poetry to an appreciative audience and a raffle number was picked out of a hat to award two free meals at 'Nag's Head', Chichester.

All in all, a very full and exhilarating evening! Next month, being Christmas, we'll have savouries and sweets to celebrate the season, along with guest performer, Speech Painter and some 'surprises for Write Angle' which he won't reveal. We do know he's planning to have others join him. We'll just have to wait and see!

Review is about WRITE ANGLE POETRY & MUSIC +OPEN MIC on 19 Nov 2013 (event)

Hi Shirley

On each Christmas
a card delivered
Mum and Dad
for every gift
you gave me
I would return
to have you
both with me.

Comment is about Shirley Smothers (poet profile)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Hey Andy,

Thank you so much for your recent comments, means a lot coming from some one with so much experience.

Emma xx

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Yeh I like it too. The metre is tight, and there are some lovely lines in it. It's delicate, poignant. Almost like an upturned face.

Tiny typo alert - 2nd line, 2nd verse - should be 'were'.

Comment is about And then the heart does flutter. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson

Nice and tight this Ray, and I think that penultimate line is one of the best I've ever read.

Comment is about And when we were sat in the Odeon (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

Steve - many thanks for your latest JFK post.
LBJ was one of a number of influential Texan
politicians with powerful (oil/land) friends
who kept him in the game. Your mention of that
memorandum effectively cancelling JFK's own
earlier issue really does seem sinister in the
context of events...especially the DATES
involved. It was LBJ who insisted on being
sworn in as president on the plane at Dallas
and had a friendly judge called to do it. They
even had to use a bible said to belong to the
murdered JFK - with his blood-stained wife
standing there. One photograph notoriously
captures LBJ and a Texan crony/politician
exchanging winks - as if to say "We did it!".
Being president (with a close friend in J. Edgar Hoover) and a Bobby Kennedy out of power
meant any investigation that threatened his
downfall and possible jail time could be shut
down. There are SO many various factors that
with the knowledge of hindsight, indicates that
there were dirty deeds done and not necessarily
by Oswald (whose FPs were never traced on the
rifle allegedly used) whilst he himself passed
the Dallas Police firearm residue test 100% clean. Incidentally, the pistol he carried
on arrest was found to be defective and could not be fired. What was it he said in custody
(before he was silenced forever by a Mafia "gopher") about being a "patsy"???
I was intrigued to learn that Time-Life, the
organisation that bought the famous Zapruder
film for a fortune then effectively "sat on it"
for ten years when it was then said to have been tampered with, was anti-Kennedy and had connections with the CIA - a number of whose
people were on its payroll, with the man who
authorised the purchase of the film among them!
Check "Operation Mongoose" for the CIA and the media. It all gets SO murky, doesn't it?

Comment is about Steve Higgins (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Higgins

lot said in a few lines here, i think it takes more skill to write short, little pieces as skifully as this than a lot of longer pieces. excellent stuff x

Comment is about Under the covers (blog)

Original item by emmy92

the first stanza is my favourite here, dave but it felt like a journey to me defo. excellent piece m8

Comment is about People who climb K2 (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

know london a bit, can see parts of this really well.. good piece

Comment is about A London view (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

enjoyed this, ian in particlar the first stanza but a strong piece all round

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

like the short sharp lines here, mike. flow really well..

Comment is about VEILED (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

not sure if cute is the right word here but i like this..

Comment is about Share my Umbrella (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

Thanks for the comments of 'And then the heart does flutter'

Also

I love you lots like Jelly Tots XXXX

See you on the 5TH xxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

fearsomely cogent prose, Isobel!Awestruck.

Comment is about Joy France in Manchester, 2013 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Great work Steve,
Spoken to the tune of 'a whiter shade of Grey' I surmise.

Comment is about The reception (blog)

Original item by Steve O'Connor

Hi Ged,
Thanks for looking in on my stuff and much appreciate your enthusiastic comments for 'Bigger Man Than Me'
All the best,
Steve

Comment is about Ged Thompson (poet profile)

Original item by Ged Thompson

MC, here's something from a JFK newsletter I Get;
NSAM263;Getting out of Vietnam — On Oct. 11, 1963, Kennedy signed National Security Action Memorandum 263. This ordered a withdrawal of 1,000 troops out of roughly 16,000 Americans stationed in Vietnam by the end of 1963, with the complete withdrawal by the end of 1965.

NSAM 273: Mysterious timing — Signed on Nov. 26, 1963, this was the first National Security Action Memorandum on Vietnam under President Lyndon Johnson. NSAM 273 effectively overturned Kennedy's NSAM 263 and ordered the planning of increased activity in Vietnam. The memorandum also authorized open-ended covert operations against North Vietnam. This, in turn, led to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which President Johnson used to obtain congressional authorization for a drastic escalation of the war. The draft of NSAM 273 was dated Nov. 21, 1963, the day before the assassination; however, Kennedy had not ordered its creation and did not see it. Newly sworn-in President Johnson signed 273 on Nov. 26, the day after Kennedy was buried.

As you know, this is a subject thats we could go on talking about forever. Interesting stuff though . .

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I like this Ged - there are some lovely parts to it. I love the idea of falling to grace - it's beautiful. x

Comment is about And then the heart does flutter. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson

Thanks for the comment Steve.
I always respect what JC has to say & wonder if
the "16000" advisers he has mentioned were, in
fact, the 16000 troops that were in Vietnam.
You are right. LBJ escalated the war. He had
a very strong connection with vested interests
and Eisenhower was probably using his own
experience as a top army general as well as president when he warned against the might of
the military/industrial complex in that hugely
wealthy but often corruptly administered country, with some states - like LBJ's Texas -
as big and rich as some foreign countries.

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

thanks phillip. i am a little dyslexic and you are right. will get onto this when i can but thanks again.

Comment is about If I were a proper poet (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

we enjoyed this too Ian.We refer you to a similar poem by us,called,'By horizons divided'.


Cheers chum.xx

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I love this

No need to analyse it, it is, what it is, a piece of writing from the heart

Well done

Brilliant poem!!!!!

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Well done Shirley XXXX

Comment is about Ninety one Word Story of My Life (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Awww Jade!so very sorry for late reply to your comments on 'Mater'please accept my apologies.

Thanks very much.x

Comment is about Jade Eloise (poet profile)

Original item by Jade Eloise

good poem young man!x

Comment is about VEILED (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

I hope I never have to pass through here in me Lamborghini-what?-and come out tuther side wiv no wheels? which number do you live at Ian?is the 'ouse with the dirty 'coitunz? great and grim tale-told so very very well-dont panic! I can wait till the cows cum 'ome for yer response!(but ta chuck for the apollywollogy on me profile page.)


haha-x

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks all. What has happened in the world of cricket? More football manager-speak and though it wasn't initially my intention, I began to think about Gary Speed.

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

Despite what John Coopey says JFK was about to withdraw his advisors from Vietnam. It was LBJ who escalated the conflict! Quite a few Kennedy poems on WOL and I've commented on Simon Austens 'Kennedy' so I won't go on and on here except to say, nice work MC,
Steve

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Starfish, Thanks for looking in on my latest piece,
Steve

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Dave,
thanks for looking in on 'A Bigger man Than me'. best wishes, Steve

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

As this is a poetry blog we really should be discussing poetry not history but here's my view for what it's worth;
Ian, if you want to read about the JFK assassination, why not choose a classic? ‘Rush to Judgement’ by Mark Lane or ‘Six Seconds in Dallas’ by Josiah Thompson or even ‘Death of a President’ by William Manchester?
I could go on forever and pick up on various minor points that themselves alone make it unlikely that Oswald shot Kennedy like the rifle for instance; The FBI tested the weapon and found that the telescopic sight was not aligned, on further investigation they found that the sight could not be aligned at all, so they added metal shims to make the sight align. It was tested fired in an orientation not available to Oswald and they still couldn't match his shooting as MC mentions below.
Anyway, excellent poem Simon, powerful and thought provoking!
Steve

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

I suspect that DNA testing would show very little Anglo-Saxon traces in any of us, MC, which, personally, is not an issue for me. My own name is said to be of Dutch origin.
With regard to the Northumberland castles, we hope to take a caravan holiday there next year.
And another thing - whilst it is historic dross don't you just love "The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis? A real romp even though the Northumbrian castle of Saxon King Aelle was filmed in Brittany.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Glad you enjoyed it Ray - but no - it's not meant to be racist - just a gentle poke at the Hispanics.

And to answer your question - no - I've never been manhandled by any other race. Someone did once offer to buy me for a case of whisky - but when I found out that they planned to send it to my father, I declined ;)

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Isobel

IW looks to this establishment lawyer's book as his reference but almost as soon as the shock
of the original event wore off, it became
doubtful that Oswald could have acted alone,
based in so many glaring discrepancies. But if
you were a trusting 1960s American, what would you
prefer to believe - that your president was killed
by a nutter, or that powerful influential elements
wanted him dead and would use that power to cover
it up? No prizes for the answer! In the Hughes-
Wilson book just published - on the subject of
who fired, the author writes:
"Gunnery Sergeant Hancock, an ex-senior instructor at the USMC Sniper School at
Quantico - with 93 kills in Vietnam -(confirms)
"We have constructed the whole thing: angle,
range, moving target, time limit, obstacles,
everything...but we couldn't duplicate what the Warren Commission said Oswald did."
And that's one vital aspect of all that has
become known since. How about the knowledge
that LBJ ( a whisper away from the presidency)
was under investigation for matters that could
have seen him jailed - and was in line to be
dropped from JFK's ticket in the 1965 election?
Personally, I find this LONG-DISTANCE killing
completely contrary to the behaviour of lone nut/obsessives. History shows that all OTHER
presidential murders/ attempts have been CLOSE
RANGE as befits the mindset of the deranged
hate-filled individual. Another reason perhaps
to see the murder of JFK as something much more complex than one man with a rifle unfit for the job.
We may never know the complete truth but it's a
healthy sign that we are less trusting now
about the deeds and the deceit committed by those in power when they think they can "get
away with it".
Cheers.

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

Enjoyed the poem. Is it just a Mediterranean thing? I bet UKIP would love this!

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Enjoyed. The 2nd stanza works well, the piece repetition.

Comment is about People who climb K2 (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

A comment on another's post mentioned that I lost
my own father when I was five. You have your grief but you also have your years with him.
Try to be positive and give thanks for what they
gave you (both of you!).

Comment is about Difficult Haiku (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

A stimulating very personal "tour" through London
- a place I've known since I came here to work
in 1960. I enjoyed the various comments about
its parts - and could have added a few of my own!
I still live here after retirement: in Westminster
as it happens, JM. I'll forgive your opinion
about it, happily assuming you refer to the
politicians down the road!

Comment is about A London view (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Will new centuries see the Saxon blood make
way for the offspring (in their multitudes)
of the modern "invasion" from contemporary hordes?
Weird - or should that be "Wyrd"?
On a personal note, I still have a number of pics.
taken years ago on a memorable visit to Lindisfarne,
Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh. Wonderful open (and
very bracing!) territory that easily evokes the
images of those feared visitors from across the
North Sea.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

My own father died when I was five and I never
knew him - but I can understand the feelings
set out so strongly in this piece and I enjoyed
it for its own sake.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

An extraordinarily affecting essay about a visit
to that country of "a fine madness". The style
is difficult to follow at first but then it
seems to fall into place in the context of the
piece when emotions and a sense of place take
precedence and we are treated to what is almost
"a running commentary of the heart" - with the
feel of the power of being torn between two
worlds: so close, yet so far apart in many ways.
There are some infidelities in spelling and the like but the overall effect overrides those and this post bears repeated reading.

Comment is about Going Back To Askeaton (blog)

Original item by SPACEGHOST

No charge for the tutorial, Starfish.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks S.F. for your very kind remarks.
I don't like to use my leisure time being serious

Cheers K.E.D.

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

I really enjoyed this. Thank you for the added explanation of terms used. See, I said WOL was an education.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Very poignant tribute to your father. Lovely.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Comatose and Dave - Many thanks for your kind comments.
As for your wife having a large amount of Viking in her - how lucky for the both of you!

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Sad, but very, very powerful.

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

As Izz says, great analogies for just losing it. It holds out the hovering threat that it could happen to any of us and leaves the reader wondering what it could be like (or possibly uncomfortably reminded of what it was like)

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

I really like this Steve. It stands well in the blogs next to Shirley's poem. Two people writing about how much their dads meant to them - and writing very well.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Some poems seem to punch the reader in the stomach and this is one. So few words about something so massive, but so effective.

Comment is about Difficult Haiku (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers