Cremin, Bernadette
Award-winning poet and performer who has published four collections of poetry: Perfect Mess (2006, Biscuit Publishing), Speechless (2007, Waterloo Press), Miming Silence (2009, Waterloo Press) a pamphlet, Loose Ends (2012, Pighog Press) and Papercuts – New & Selected Poems (2015, Salmon Poetry).
She has performed frequently at venues in Britain and Ireland, including major festivals such as Glastonbury, The Big Green, Replay Festival and Limerick International Poetry Festival. Her work is collected in the Metropolitan University of London’s archive of Irish and Anglo-Irish Literature.
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Pregnancy / Miscarriage / Abortion / Poetry – Part 2: Making The Decision
January 15, 2022Please first read ‘Part 1: Finding Out’ here This blog discusses sensitive subject matter, so please only read it if and when you feel comfortable to do so, and take care of yourself when you do. Abortion brings out a whole spectrum of emotion, including humour, ...
642; No More War
January 13, 2022642 things to write about suggests I write about myself; physical appearance and personality as if a character in a book. I check for an oblique strategy which speaks of left channel, right channel, center channel. It's the week after the election. I cast my vote. ...
Pregnancy / Miscarriage / Abortion / Poetry – Part 1: Finding Out
January 4, 2022This blog discusses sensitive subject matter, so please only read it if and when you feel comfortable to do so, and take care of yourself when you do. In particular, if you have accidental pregnancy, miscarriage or abortion experience yourself, perhaps read this at home ...
Signs; Pull, Push, Poke
December 22, 2021Election Day today. What was your motivation for voting? Pull, Push, Poke You pull me like thisPull me like thatA empty xmas crackerBangNo giftNo hatNo jokeI push awayFrom budgetary intransigenceYour austere stanceToo much weightToo heavyLaying my finger on your shoulderI jab, I pokeYour conscious mindYou ...
Connection Across Place and Pandemic
December 22, 2021Anthony Gorin and Natasha Huynh collaborated to create a poem on the theme of connection for our series of Covid Commissions. What you see before you now, is the result of two different lives and experiences intertwining. The pandemic has triggered a universal sense of ...
The Challenge; New Leaves
December 17, 2021It’s December and the Highgate Society Poetry Group turn its thoughts to a new year setting this challenge for the January meeting; ‘Turning new leaves; epiphanies and resolutions’ New LeavesThe wheel turnsTo face the changeHer ice heart dissipatesTo find new joysHopping childlikeCross fertile groundThe change to ...
Single Window: bearing witness to the fear experienced by disabled people
December 15, 2021Daniel Sluman’s 'single window' is a starkly-realised sequence of poetry and images in the form of a journal. Review by John O'Donoghue. Disability Arts Online · Single Window Gore Vidal’s observation about English writers – that there are more literary prizes than there are authors – for ...
Realm: Instructions
December 9, 2021My work at the Realm Residency hinged on a personalised set of instructions which I first photographed. A list of which follows. This list will in time, after i’ve sorted the real ones from the fake, become a new set of poems. Until then this ...
Juice; We are Stardust
December 2, 2021Yoko’s Tape Piece IV ‘a moving piece’ is marked in my mind by song and a recent visualisation exercise at the McMillan Centre. Written today, ‘We are Stardust’ takes me back in time to a period of ideals being formed that still impinge on my ...
Initial – Another Aeroplane
November 26, 2021Recollecting a first flight with the assistance of one of Eno’s Oblique Strategies, ‘Ask your body’ and my body remembers past and future tenses from an uncomfortable seating position. Another AeroplaneI aim to pass the time with thermalsAiding the duck and dive desiredBy a body confined ...
Raymond Antrobus’ collection ‘All The Names Given’ offers poems of quiet power, beauty and raw frankness
November 22, 2021John O'Donoghue discusses the themes of colonialism, identity, deafness and spirituality in Raymond Antrobus's powerful collection All The Names Given. Raymond Antrobus comes garlanded with accolades. His collection The Perseverance was awarded The Guardian Poetry Book of the Year; The Ted Hughes Award; the Rathbones Folio ...
100 Meters; Speak
November 4, 2021A competition concerning Oxford’s Covered Market leads me to make a competition entry. Memories of what was then the Apple Trust. Now the Stammer Trust. SpeakCovered marketHubbub and AcousticsMake the spaceTo hear me speakI am come from out of WarnefordFrom the house that apples storeI have ...
642; Pot
October 26, 2021642 Things to Write about asks that I leave a small thing to a great grandchild and write a letter to them to let them know why it is now theirs. This is something I may have advocated many years ago. Now its just an ...
A Poem.
October 21, 2021People tell us to stand tall But how can when we’ll likely fall People look forward to going and getting legless But would you if you woke with no legs? It can happen to anyone So what happens when your ours to shun. Holding on to the dream An independent life With ...
CRIPtic Arts | JAMIE HALE Podcast Episode 1
October 15, 2021In the first episode the brains behind the company Jamie Hale talks to producer Mik Scarlet about all things CRIPtic, the Barbican performance on 19th and 20th November 2021 and what is next for Jamie. Grab a cuppa and come join us for the first ...
Black Widow 11
October 15, 2021New to Black Widow? Why not go back to the first installment and catch up with the fan club. Steve felt safe on the streets. Little fazed him. Crowds, gangs. He thought he had the power to simply disappear from view. The crowd, the gang; approached. ...
Signs; Standard Size
October 14, 2021The dominant medical model always sought to have its say so I guess I just rebelled and took the other direction. I didn’t always make the wisest choices. Standard Size They say wash your hands I don’t They say vaccinate I won’t They say make your plans I don't They say I ...
The Liz Bentley Delivery Woman with her Creative Future short-listed Poem that didn’t win, on National Poetry Day
October 11, 2021Chocolate Covered Honeycomb We drive along the Esplanade, sea weed air like rancid cabbage Seeping through closed windows of the Austin Traveller My heart sinks. The tide is out. Again Stoney beach with hard white dog shit hides between sand and shell Black tar smudges on legs and between toes The ...
A Poem I wrote while on Hold to PIP
October 11, 2021Congratulations, you were born disabled But be warned You’ll spend your life on hold And filling in forms Congratulations, you were born disabled Be prepared To contort and conform So they leave you alone Congratulations, you were born disabled Are you ready To beg and to borrow Just to pay the bills Congratulations, you were born disabled Welcome ...
Juice; The Next Day
October 7, 2021Inspired by Yoko’s Snow Piece, remembering one of the worse songs I know; Fairport’s “If I had a ribbon bow” and then purloining The Velvet Underground’s ‘The Gift’ plus lyrics stolen through googles searches of songs I don’t know like Dinah Washington’s ‘Make me a ...
Declaration 24; Finding Rest
September 30, 2021Finding RestHey DudeCrosstown TrafficAll Along the Watch TowerI am king of the airwavesTalking about my generationTaking my timeMotorvating along the M4Like Chuck Berry On American highwaysDorchester boundLooking for food and drinkAnd a good timeStillStill my activist (he)ArtYet in bed at nightA dream of placardsBeside a ...
My Vaccinated husband with me the Unvaccinated Delivery Woman
September 13, 2021I haven’t written for a while. Since writing the letter below last week, I realise only now how deep the effect of grief and rejection has been these last few months. It came to an almighty head at the weekend when a button was pushed ...
The Challenge; Sound Effects
September 10, 2021This months challenge set by the Highgate Society's Poetry Group.... write about sounds. These i heard on my journey to University College Hospital London where I received radiotherapy for prostrate cancer, (fully cleared now the message remains clear for men of a certain age - ...
Dave the Shouting Mute asks ‘If the Earth could speak, what would it say?’
September 9, 2021Artist, Dave the Shouting Mute reflects on his immersive poetic installation 'Partnering with Earth,' and what the process has taught him about making the arts, in general, both more sustainable and accessible. I was sitting watching the world go by on a Dorset beach browsing through ...
100 Meters; A Special School Education
August 25, 2021Woke up one morning and realised I had majored in queueing, whittling and thievery A Special School EducationA long winding snakeOf children looking for lightAt the end of the queueLight reflecting in foodReflecting in sweets, in treatsIn activity and necessary medicationsQueuing is to the tasteOf the ...
Acorn; Sunset Changes
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642; To Posterity
August 6, 2021A long term strength of my mental conditioning is an unreasonable belief in my own immortality. So what do I think about when 642 Things to Write About requires me to leave something to a great grandchild and a letter to say why I left ...
100 Meters; Lycantropic Man
July 23, 2021Howlin’Wolf, Moanin’ At Midnight.A classic cd twofer.Immersion in a wicked, enchanted version of the blues.I steal each and every song title as they appear in chronological order, spin words around them, toiling with wishes and magic, seeking to make a new being out of this ...
The Challenge; The Men Who Wear Green Socks
July 15, 2021The challenge from the Highgate Society Poetry Group placed in September to be read in October 2019 is ‘Characters(s). Real or Imagined. Men in the group were seen to be wearing green socks The Challenge; The Men with Green Socks The men wearing green socks Never seek to ...
Signs; Around the U Bend
July 13, 2021The issue with access to the smallest room in listed buildings Around the U Bend 6’6” Chosen for poetry Size 14’s Approaches A small door Raised from the floor Twists his contours Into a U bend Like a more corpulent Secretary for State Privileged and empowered Never would Have a need to When taking his seat In a larger house Where crap Is ...
Liz Bentley as The Handjob Maiden Delivery Woman
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Realm; Being There
June 30, 2021Throw away lines from 6th February (Diary entry) which were considered rubbish then but deeper now. I was caught surrounding myself with artists and supporters who would help me grow, take my title; ‘emerging socially engaged activist poet’ and put some skin on bone. Useful ...
Kuli Kohli: poetry with zest and a generous helping of home-grown wisdom
June 29, 2021Kuli Kohli's poetry collection 'A Wonder Woman', published by Offa's Press is full of down to earth, erudite observations on life, nature and humanity. Review by Neil Leadbeater This collection could so easily have been titled “Wonder Woman” but there is the important addition of the ...
Juice; Old Days Dawning
June 23, 2021Yoko Ono’s Tape Piece II requires that I take the sound of a room breathing during five timed sessions. I consider the breath in a tent as that is where I will be for the next 5 nights in Shrewsbury. Instead I think of home. ...
Initial; Walter’s Bike
June 16, 2021So what was your first bike like? Bikes and me? We rode together from time to time. Not that often. My first real memory of a bike concerned another. She had a trike. It was a mobility aid. We’d play together. We’d discover new worlds. ...
Black Widow 10
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The Walkie-Talkies
June 8, 2021The Walkie-Talkies is a multimedia artwork by socially engaged artist Michelle Baharier, based on a poem by David Morris called the Routemaster race. David was a disability advisor to the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone (and Boris Johnson) and a life-time campaigner for disabled peoples' civil-rights. His ...
100 Meters; Radical Health Outcomes
June 3, 202114th August 2021 the Mental Health Resistance Network are having a picnic in Hyde Park to protest the notion “work is a health outcome” for mental distress as cited in the NHS long term plan. I protest the notion too given that it is a blanket ...
100 Meters – The Marcher
May 25, 2021Standing in a field listening to Waterboy Mike Scott’s declamatory lyrics I hear a style that rings a bell and requires that I respond.The MarcherThey’ve gone too farI’m going on a marchStand up for my peopleSit in front of carsWe’ll turn this wrong aboutWhen we ...
Acorn; Day and Night
May 7, 2021The first two lines here are as how I remember Yoko Ono’s Earth Piece V. Her instruction must have been positive but I’m inclined some times to the negative. Today is 31st July 2019. Boris Johnson has been PM for a week. Elected by the ...
Walls. Fences, Bridges
May 3, 2021Ask anyone. I photograph trees. Less well known I photograph walls and fences. They fascinate me. Make me question. I built my own walls. I lived inside fences. I stepped outside both into new worlds by mending bridges. Walls. Fences, BridgesWalls. What are they there forTo keep in ...
We need to talk about protecting women
May 1, 2021With everything that's been going on over the last month I've been thinking about the shit women are just expected to deal with. I've been thinking a lot about the low levels of sexual harassment that are normalised in our society and how corrosive it ...
Pick Up. Pick Up.
April 21, 2021642; Pick UpApparently, I’m driving around looking for somewhere to park mate’s truck whilst also sucking up my pride. Pick Up. Pick Up.Pick Up. Pick Up.Me and the phoneDriving roundHands freeMaking contactWith a memoryOf you and meThe way we’d beTogetherPick Up Pick UpThe dog and ...
The Brown Envelope Book
April 20, 2021Selected and edited by Alan Morrison and Kate Jay-R and published by Caparison/ Culture Matters, Alan Morrison presents a showcase of work from The Brown Envelope Book poetry anthology produced in collaboration with Don’t Go Breakin' Our Arts. The Brown Envelope Book is the third Caparison ...
Blue in Green – a poet’s life laid bare
April 16, 2021Published by Dizzy Press, Blue in Green, the latest poetry collection by Joe Bidder takes the reader on a journey through the poet's vibrant life. As well as a love of jazz, the work reflects the writer's experience as co-founder of the groundbreaking mental health ...
Initial: Hair. Cut.
March 11, 2021A note on the poem: A first time for everything suggests I should recall my first ever hair cut and its consequences but I don’t remember it. I only ever remember the hair cut I wanted and I don’t remember it all that often. A note ...
100 Meters; Poem to a Tour Guide
March 3, 2021Goodness. The world gets smaller everyday. We bumped into this tour guide the day after the tour. Turned out he lived over the road from us.Poem to a Tour GuideWe were ponderous, we were sopping, but in our own way boppingTo his mellifluous tones and ...
100 Meters; To The Driver
February 28, 2021Here’s a reflection on a real life story as it happened. They say bus drivers have the most stressful jobs due to their need to interact with the public. I saw it happen on this day. New driver on a new route, given only one ...
Kay Channon in Conversation with Kizzy Wade. Activist, Analyst and Artist of Words.
February 23, 2021https://soundcloud.com/kay-channon/interview-with-kizzy-22112020-dao Please forgive any changes in audio quality. I cannot afford professional recording equipment or a home studio. Using headphones will improve the clarity of the interview. Kizzy’s poems are provided in text format as they were performed during the interview within this blog, in case ...
100 Meters; Haiku Email
February 18, 2021More and more I end emails with a silly line or two superceding the old one two of yours sincerely , faithfully or with love. Today I sent an email to the DAO editor, Colin Hambrook regarding a tour I wanna go on with fellow ...
Elephanti Sunt Personae
January 30, 2021So the third poem from the Highgate Society Poetry Group's Challenge to write on 'extinction' but also partly inspired by finding a ceramic tile of an elephant fixed to a wall with the words Elephanti Sunt Personae. Having no language other than my own I ...
Gaele Sobott: Earthly
January 22, 2021Gaele Sobott is a writer and producer living in Sydney, Australia. The selection of poems below is part of a collection Gaele is developing under the working title 'Earthly'. I allow unarticulated feelings, thoughts and knowing to direct the course of my poems. Floating, allowing the ...
Acorn; Horizon
January 19, 2021In response to Yoko Ono’s Earth Piece IVHorizonI sit looking blankly at the wallWaiting for a plan to formPages, papers, pens with nibsThe tools with which to disguiseIntentions. The scheme is called escape.Pages, papers full of wordsDesigned to empty pens of inkThe nibs remain to ...
The Challenge – Extinction
January 5, 2021https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8IAzxpps5k The Highgate Challenge on extinction actually got 3 poems out of me. I was able later to link in with Extinction Rebellion Tower Hamlets and contribute a video sequence to one of their fundraisers during lock down. Delighted to present it here. My co-reader is ...
The Challenge; Ideas for Preventing Climate Chaos
December 22, 2020In June 2019 we were surrounded by images from Extinction Rebellion. The Highgate Society Poetry Group had several members active in the movement. No surprise therefore that we chose a challenge looking at the issues. Ideas for Preventing Climate ChaosJust one camera, one news crewAnnouncing ...
Stairway to nowhere
December 17, 2020My very first memories of my grandparents’ home include the stairway to nowhere. The architect was apparently so appalled by his finished building that he climbed the pointless stairway and hung himself at the top. Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven has, for me, always been haunted. Just ...
Jennifer Lee Tsai: poetry as an offering, an incantation, an invocation
December 16, 2020Jennifer Lee Tsai is a poet, editor and critic. She was born in Bebington and grew up in Liverpool. Jennifer is a fellow of The Complete Works and a Ledbury Poetry Critic. Her work is featured in the Bloodaxe anthology Ten: Poets of the New ...
100 Meters; I Wanna Be Like Paul Crowther
December 15, 2020One thing I do, from time to time, in spoken word events is present something simple and topical based on my own prejudices. I published this on social media at the time. it may not work so well on the page so many months after ...
Signs; Ice Skating
December 4, 2020I’d have liked more years in work. More time away from the welfare line. But credit the welfare line, its written they don’t want me either. And thats fine. My situation ain’t shit. I can use my photos and photography a bit. Away form the ...
100 Meter’s; Archie
November 27, 2020This takes me back. Things I don’t like: 1) The Royal Family 2) The fawning attitude of the media towards the royal family 3) The perceived view that we all want to celebrate them and their tawdry occasions 4) Glib comments I wrote this on the 9th May 2019. I ...
The Daily Shell Fish
November 17, 2020The Daily Shell Fish is a corruption of the Daily Selfish that Keith Bray mocks me with as I project my current arts project into virtual space. Its simple. Its primitive. It depends on a) zoom, b) colour, contrast and cropping as provided by free Shotwell ...
Tesco Delivery Man, from shielder to non shielder
November 17, 2020This Tesco delivery man didn’t want to be photographed, nevertheless, I showed him my blog and photos of many of his colleagues which he enjoyed. Because of lockdown, delivery men aren’t allowed into houses to help with shopping so I sit on the piano stool ...
Access Contextualised
November 11, 2020A collection of 17 poems compiled as a contribution to UK Disability History Month. The compilation seeks to broaden the brush usually applied to access. Whilst access remains a key issue it has to be seen, in my opinion, only as a part of wider issues derived ...
Can you tell me Why?
November 11, 2020Can you tell me why? Don't you remember me? No matter how hard I try, I just can't foresee. I think I have lost my mind, I forget the simplest of things, Can you tell me why? I can't find my cup of tea. I feel lost and confused, I can't remember your name, Can ...
Juice; Slap
November 6, 2020For Yoko’s Body Sound Tape Piece. Yoko your body sounds are kinder than mine, more curious too, though I have some good ones. Here I revisit a one off incident (well, twice is more than enough really) before going back to the violence of special school and ...
I blame Marcel…
November 5, 2020Marcel Duchamp wanted to change the way we think about art, claiming to make work for the brain rather than mere pleasure for the eyes. Duchamp might only have sought to throw a spanner into the art establishment to shake up the whole concept of art, ...
This panto bites
October 29, 2020No one in my family is mentioning the C-word. As festive season creeps closer, those of you who remember pantomime will no doubt be wondering how on earth you will cope without it this year I have astonishingly good news. You won’t have to! 2020 is the year ...
For What We Are About To Receive
October 27, 2020I attended a class on Ritual once, listened to definitions, added lines of my own in order to make a prose piece. I have reviewed it. I have pointed out the errors. I have used it, used it again and used it afresh. This is ...
Initial; Patch Remembered
October 15, 2020A First Time for Everything demands memory of a first pet. Patch was his name. I remember two things about him; his vomit and him coming to see me at school Initial; Patch Remembered Patch pukes spaghetti On a linoleum floor That leads to the step To the garden Burial place Of ...
100 Meters; Sweet No Sugar
October 13, 2020Taking a sharp swerve from the concept of poetry as an expression of misery here’s something far more juvenile. Me and Jean will often throw rhymes at each other as a means of having fun. We converse about our rituals not being a sign of ...
Missing myself
October 8, 2020I miss the conversations – the basis for my artwork – the inspiration for drawing and for visualising the words in 3D sculpture. I miss the creative challenge of engaging with complete strangers for their opinions on exhibitions, performances and the value of art. I miss being ...
Tesco Delivery Man, up close and personal …
October 6, 2020This week has been another difficult week. I'll start with the Tesco Delivery Man who totally brightened up the week, by the way, for the purpose of people who are offended that we are breaking the 'rules', I'll tell you, there is a possibility this ...
Disconsortia Means
October 2, 2020Colly Metcalfe shares a creative response in British Sign Language of the impact of being part of the artists' collective 'Disconsortia' on her practice as an artist. Disconsortia is based in the north-east and supported by Disability Arts Online through our D4D project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQfd2BfsKDE Disconsortia means permission to be ...
Declaration 16; Change the Same
October 1, 2020So we were operating this conservation campaign and petitioning when we met a family on the street who seemed worthy of a poem aligned to this article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 16.1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due ...
Home
September 25, 2020Petrichor - earth-scent after fresh fallen rain - envelopes me. Cold, wet diamonds drip from the trees that close over my head. Impossibly long pine needles line my path with golden-brown hair-like strands, spongey and giving, as I move over them. Here the path forks. To ...
different battle same war, the third
September 23, 2020Disability Arts Online · different battle same war the third this text is adapted from what we wrote for the zine thats part of our show called provoked 2 madness by the brutality of wealth. in the show everyone gets a free copy of the zine ...
Communicating with the Tesco Delivery Man, nearly in the dark
September 22, 2020The nights are drawing in and so are our liberties, freedoms, human rights. I feel like I'm living in a dictatorship, not a pandemic. All these RULES, I don't understand, and can't keep up with. The rule of 6? I think Doris must have spelt ...
Apathy
September 19, 2020I've been doing most of my shopping online - just essentials. There have been no frivolous fripperies, until the leggings. I ordered them for gardening, but was hugely disappointed by the result and decided to return them in person. Maybe to find a more appropriate ...
A Day in the Life of an Artist: Deaf poet, Sahera Khan
September 11, 2020Deaf poet, Sahera Khan lets us behind the scenes of making her video BSL poem 'Hurts Me,' offering top tips for other creatives. This is followed by a performance of the poem itself. The voiceover is provided by Kuli Kohli. https://youtu.be/lNpVnz9BQJE
The Challenge; Dreams and Wishes
September 4, 2020Blue Collar, White Collar. Class War. Comrades bleed on the factory floor. The dead remain sat typing at their desks. I am put in mind of the Highgate Society Poetry Group’s monthly challenge (this one being for March 2019). I take a walk to walk ...
Haiku; Fair Minded Killers
September 2, 2020Inspired by The Daily Haiku 153 where the daily theme of darkness meets the weekly theme of water. Hands up if you remember LDAF – London Disability Arts Forum (the forerunner of Disability Arts Online)? I think it was there that I read one of our ...
Tesco Delivery Men bringing plastic I have to have and they won’t take back
September 1, 2020I hate all this extra plastic (you can't receive Tesco delivery shopping any other way now), there is no scientific evidence (and even if there was I am sceptical as science changes so fast, and each scientist changes their minds, just look into Pasteur and ...
Fringe event
August 31, 2020Tucked in behind the council offices and the police station is the Bee Garden. You can get to it through the grounds of the Arts Centre (a decommissioned church)... that's close, oh so close - certainly the closest I've got to an arts offer in ...
Acorn; Feet Firmly Planted
August 27, 2020It's another Yoko Ono Acorn response. This time to Earth Piece III. Its written two days after a REaD Rhymes Live gig, engulfed with talents full of critical voices, who rehearse themselves into states of nervousness whilst my lesser ability gets gobby again.Acorn; Feet Firmly ...
Kay Channon In Conversation with Miss Jacqui: Musician, Performance Poet and All-Round Freedom Fighter.
August 21, 2020https://soundcloud.com/kay-channon/kay-channon-in-conversation-with-miss-jacqui-final The following interview was conducted on the 21st of March 2020, more or less at the start of the lockdown period caused by COVID-19. Due to several extreme medical vulnerabilities, I was not able to leave the house or have any contact with anyone. I ...
It’s the heat
August 17, 2020I’ve always thrived in the warm. I love weather, but can’t actually cope with extended periods of cold. I like my snow and ice in short bursts so that the cold doesn’t get into my bones and cripple me with pain. Overcast and foggy days ...
642 Ems and Eh’s
August 13, 2020642 says to write a scene using only sound effects. Easily done. On 25th March 2019, I was thinking through the edifying decline of a prime minister and was reminded of the time I was given short shrift for not giving Theresa May time to speak ...
No Tesco, too busy having fun at airports
August 12, 2020...I am in one of the those 'little boy in the Emporer's new clothes' moods where I am screaming "listen all, Covid 19 is a political pandemic, the world has gone mad, don't be afraid, don't panic about anything, the more stress and cortisol you ...
Time to redefine ‘reality’ tv?
August 11, 2020The one thing I've really enjoyed about lockdown is the visibility of 'ordinary' people engaged in normal creativity, on the tv screens that have become such an integral part of our homes. By normal I mean the things we, potentially, all do - the arts ...
Initial; Dave the Dodo
August 6, 2020Rich says; “Don’t be a dodo”. Initial; Dave The Dodo Dave The Dodo Dream’t back to life Finds himself locked Behind air tight glass In the Birmingham Natural History Museum Feeling strangely stuffed He jabbers a last wock Before dying again A flat cap, uniformed Black country man Tuts, thinks to himself I’ve known a lot of Dave’s In my ...
The Autistic Marxist Motormouth: Janine Booth and the Poetry of Politics
August 6, 2020Poet, mother, Station Supervisor for the London Tubes, and co-writer of Labour’s Neurodiversity Manifesto; Janine Booth is a woman of many trades, as well as trade unions. She talks to Emma Robdale about poetry and activism. Disability Arts Online · The Autistic Marxist Motormouth: Janine Booth ...
The Girl Who Forgets How To Walk: Artists in Conversation
July 31, 2020DAO writer Richard Downes met Kate Davis and Julia Parks at the conference ‘Extreme Views’ in Art Gene in Barrow-in-Furness last year. After the recent sharing of Julia's film based on Kate’s poetry collection of the same name he spoke to them both about their ...
Am I surviving?
July 29, 2020'It's really hard the first time, but you soon get used to being out among strangers'. I was not reassured. First off I was horrified at just how 'used to it' people seemed to be - most having reverted to their old unobservant ways much too ...
Waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man – Rejection and Resignation, and trying to find the sense in the Chaos
July 28, 2020One of the reasons I love writing this blog for DAO, is that my work is totally accepted. I'm not told it needs structure, or that there have been more than 5 submissions an hour during lockdown. I love that I write and my writing ...
Spoken Word On-Screen: How To Make Your Virtual Event Really Accessible
July 23, 2020Sez Thomasin is an autistic poet and poetry host who has learned a few lessons in what to think about when producing online spoken word events. Here are some of their findings. Since the UK went into lockdown, our spoken word scene has transformed. Even as ...
Photo; Dance the Light Fandango
July 22, 2020I knew I had a photograph from one of my lock down projects which would fit in well with the Jon Adams #metaordinary project being promoted here on DAO and other places. I knew the outcome from my participation in the #metaordinary was going to ...
Her Considered View of Modern Art
July 17, 2020Following a Press Call I asked my traditionalist 1+1 for her view of the exhibition. This is;Her Considered View of Modern ArtThis is not a hitNot one bitThis is shitShit! Shit!! Shit!!! 6th March 2019 And there you have it; an informed comment expressed as criticism. We ...
TBC Beneath The Sheafs
July 15, 2020Actually another REALM poem inspired by look through photo sheets i had made from a walk in London looking for signs i could read as instruction. Dawdle is an inspiring start for me. It focuses on real life criticism from the wife as to my ...
I was out when Tesco Delivery Man came today, and home schooling ends this week
July 14, 2020I was out when Tesco came last, my husband received the Delivery Man and put the shopping away. He did it really well, I could find everything and there wasn't any wierd food in wierd places. I found carrots in the freezer recently. We are ...
Declaration 20; Free Our People
July 14, 2020Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads. 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association. I remember DAN. The Disabled People’s Direct Action Network. We networked free of association, without ...
