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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Brainwashing
May 26, 2020I'm getting quite used to my new normal, This Is A Government Broadcast, I've had to introduce some noise into my life. Not the neighbours lawnmowers or power tools, but background sounds that will distract from my tinnitus. I use This Is A Government Broadcast the ...
Corona 11; A Tissue Of Haikus
May 22, 2020Inspired by Jean Bayliss who compared our shielding with the last 3 years of her mother living in a single room in a nursing home. In memory of those who lost their lives in care homes during the pandemic. Dedicated to the ongoing struggle for fully resourced ...
Liz Bentley anti-social distancing with the Tesco Delivery Man and getting in touch with nostalgia and what that sometimes brings up….
May 20, 2020Apart from this week being horrendous, and my worse lockdown week ever, some thoughts have emerged about the past and the present. Many psychotherapists are working very much in the present, and so am I, to an extent. However, while some of us have been ...
Breaking sense
May 19, 2020As a frequent traveller, I found it impossible to keep pets. I was touched when a great friend of mine appointed me godmother to her new kitten, Alfie. Alfie was a house cat and my friend’s house was not accessible, consequently when I wanted to visit ...
Signs; Just The Ticket
May 15, 2020Happy is as happy is, whatever it may be. Its not a sense I know too well. Not something I have too many words for. But today taking stock of all these forces merging within me I think I can take a pot shot at ...
Grace
May 12, 2020I plan to visit here occasionally to share some of my writing process. Mostly thinking then, or my version of that, but maybe sometimes some practical ideas. To help my writing I try to read as much as I can. Partly this is to make up ...
Liz Bentley feeling the grief, while waiting for the ever more important smiles from the Tesco Delivery Man
May 5, 2020I really didn't know what to write about today. I asked my friend, and before she could answer, I said "Grief', loss", that's it. That really is the only sense I have right now, two deaths that are closer to me this week, one from ...
Initial; Forever Absent
May 2, 2020So, the Initials book requires today, 2 days short of my next birthday, that I write about my first memorable birthday. The book requires that I mark the age it happened, the location, remember presents, describe the cake and list the guests so I trawl ...
Declaration 19; Speak Up
April 22, 2020Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. We who speak up sometimes feel lonely, threatened. Isolated ...
Declaration 14 – Insane Asylums for the Politically Mad
April 9, 2020Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads; (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary ...
Poetic Prayers: Kay Ulanday Barrett’s New Book, More Than Organs
April 2, 2020Kay Ulanday Barrett is a pilipinx amerikan transgender queer poet, performer and educator. Their second poetry collection, More Than Organs, launched this month with Sibling Rivalry Press. It examines grief and love, and poetically dreams 'Brown, Queer and Trans futures'. Reviewed by Glasgow-based poet Etzali ...
Self Isolating
April 1, 2020I do actually like my own company - which is just as well. I have friends who pale at the mere idea of being alone with themselves. And I am fortunate in having space. With both a house and a garden, I have options. Since acquiring wheels ...
Corona 4 – My Intention
April 1, 2020Its the corona virus lock down. I have been identified as extremely vulnerable. Even though I don’t feel as if I am as labeled I am behaving, staying in. Poetry is a boon. I am following and releasing this first to Corona Verse Poems for ...
The Challenge; Grandad
March 30, 2020The Highgate Society Poets set a challenge to write about a grandparent or as they put it; a grandma, grandpa or grand other. The Challenge; Grandad The head of my clan Was a tic tac man Careless with his shop He’d sooner be off To the gee gees Or Perry Barr dogs Waving ...
‘Self’ distancing
March 27, 2020Ages ago I became a contact-free zone. People no longer offered to shake my hand. Hugging has become almost extinct. Today I reap the benefits of years of involuntary social distancing. (How good we have a name for it) And to think I moaned, crept into a ...
Valentine’s Routine
March 23, 2020This is a two hander. Bean replies to every verse. To hear her answers you need to see a perfomance of the piece. Needless to say the way its structured she’ll get the last word. Valentine’s Routine You don’t love me You wanna see me work You get the ...
Dementia
March 16, 2020You may have dementia, But don’t let it define who you really are, You are still my nanma, You’ve always been my shining star. You may have dementia, But you are independent and strong, You often enjoy a sing song, And planting poinsettia’s. You may have dementia, But you’re always smiling, Telling tales from the ...
Acorn; The Fire Goes Out and Then it Burns Again
March 13, 2020Yoko’s first earth piece asks you to think about the fire at the centre of the earth. This is my fire. Where is your fire? What does it bring you? Acorn; The Fire Goes Out and Then it Burns Again Raking over ashes To find the odd ember Pecking spitefully At ...
Liz Bentley’s thoughts on International Women’s day and Crowona virus while waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man
March 9, 2020Fancy having a granola named after me. And how exciting that Tesco are matching Aldi prices on some of their 'own brand' goods. I'm so excited. Greta would be excited too as my mint tea bags came in a box, just a box, no cellophane ...
Black Widow 3
March 9, 2020Late comers to Black Widow may wish to go back to the start which started here. Stella, the black widow, is a star. Magnetic. Attracts. Pulls them in. One by one. A drink. A cake maybe. Shall I slip a record on. Setting the scene. A ...
642; Blue Thing
March 1, 2020The instruction is to write about someone holding something blue and what they may be thinking. My instincts in this introduction are to be puerile and pun along the lines of; in the proud oral tradition of Jim Morrison's Lament to My Cock but there are ...
Liz Bentley and giardia while waiting for the Tesco Delivery Woman
February 24, 2020How exciting it was when the delivery man was a woman, and what a lovely large cucumber she bought me, well in its sell by date. This weeks shopping was hard for me to do because I had nausea. I'm too old to be pregnant and ...
Signs; Not Shutting Up
February 13, 2020I can’t remember the film poster I cribbed these lines from. It was there in my local tube station. At the bottom of the stairs. When I stole the slogan I’m sure it had another resonance for me than the lyrics formed today. Might have ...
Juice; Hit Head Bang Wall
February 6, 2020Yoko’s Wall Piece to Orchestra says only; ‘Hit a wall with your head’. How many times have we done that. How many times have we said the same thing over and over again. There are two voices in this piece. The ones like me, like ...
Introduction; To A Break Down
February 4, 2020An unusual thing for me…. I’m starting to have kittens. Where is that nerveless self when needed. Consequently, my stammer is re-appearing. Consequently, I think back to when all this was supposed to have started. The school nativity play. Play up to expectations is a piece of ...
observations i & ii
January 17, 2020i for many years i was unable even to try to write a cv as this task made me so sad i don’t think such feelings are uncommon ii one day i folded myself into a form - trimmed my edges, or everything they didn't want - flavoured myself to an unreal ...
Initial; A Father’s Gifts
January 15, 2020The book of instructions I use for this series suggests I should remember the first gift I bought for Father’s Day. Its strange to think I can barely remember a gift I gave my dad. On my next birthday I’ll be one year short of ...
Declaration 18, Joshua losing the battle, he goes
January 13, 2020Another article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which I focus on in order to create poetry for a conservation project here in deep dark Crouch End, London. Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to ...
Liz Bentley wishes you a happy newish year while waiting for the Tesco Delivery man
January 8, 2020Happy newish year. Fenton was my first Tesco delivery man of 2010. In the photo I am holding my 2020 diary. I always buy a Redstone diary and this year, the theme is 'Dreams of Europe'. The cover photo is a semi-naked Bridget Bardot sunbathing, ...
The Challenge; Message To A Son
January 2, 2020November’s Challenge from the Highgate Society’s Poetry Group, which meets on the first monday of the month, was to respond to two themes; 1) who do you think you are and 2) in praise of vandals. Traveling by train from Pallant House, Chicester, where I ...
The Challenge; Festivities
December 24, 2019December’s challenge from the Highgate Society’s Poetry Group was to do a poem on the festivities. I looked back through the prism of time and remembered my time involved in the first DPAC action on the Housing Emergency. The Challenge; Festivities A nativity scene A Norwegian tree Trafalgar Square DPAC ...
I Cannot Capitulate, I Can Only Create
December 17, 2019The Senses In the final years of lies, Only the birds will remember the truth But will we listen? In the final years of hate, Only the trees will remember love But will we touch it? In the final years of desperateness Only the stars will remember our hope But will we see it? In ...
Acorn; My Sound Pieces
December 11, 2019Yoko’s final sky piece in her book of Acorns makes me think of lines from Laurie Anderson’s Walking and Falling. Whilst Laurie falls, Yoko flies. Then sounds from what we used to call albums start to fill my head. I am transported back to the ...
642; Roomie
December 9, 2019642 things to write about instructs the writer to give testimony to a favourite room mate. I never had one. I considered giving the names and status of all those roomies who never became a favourite. DAO have recently discussed whether we are in a ...
642; Magpies
December 3, 2019‘642 Things To Write About’ instructs; ‘Write about something that was stolen from you’, not knowing about the history lesson that awaits. This is something of my time going back to special school. Tell me about your time? Say what was stolen? 642; Magpies Mopey Matilda moans ...
Liz Bentley’s thoughts about her time working in the NHS while waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man
November 27, 2019I worked for over 10 years as a psychotherapist in the NHS, managing a counselling service at a Bermondsey GP surgery. My job consisted of giving all patients who were referred for counselling as much support as they needed. We had good links with the ...
Signs; Sick Man’s Close
November 14, 2019This street does not exist in Devon. Though it nearly did. It only exists now because I blanked some letters out. It took a little time. Not a difficult task. Then it just hung around, waiting to be given verse. I tried once. I tried again. ...
Thoughts on how would I ‘pick myself up’ now? While waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man (or occasionally Woman)
November 11, 2019I love Ken Loach, I really, really love him. I’ve seen ‘Sorry We Missed You’ and ‘I Daniel Blake’ and last week I saw him on a chat show talking with a council tenant about the squalid accommodation and homelessness in our country. A man ...
Love a guide poem for a festival
November 2, 2019I was due a return to the Arts Camp at Cambridge's Strawberry Fayre. The theme for the year was love. Love is not my most concentrated theme. I needed to start putting things together. I decided to write a guide poem as a means to ...
Time for Media
October 28, 2019It’s been a very busy few months for me and I have been meaning to write a blog for the last 3 months. What have I been doing over the last few months? Well, I must say that it’s been overwhelming. In between being a full-time ...
Juice; Mysteries
October 28, 2019The latest read Piece for Orchestra by the indomitable Yoko seeks music from windows and stars. Strangely the instruction invokes a memory of heavy drug use. Please tell me what you think about the pic or poem below. Juice; Mysteries In summertime He opens the windows Plays Oye Como ...
Initial; A Mother’s Day Present
October 21, 2019So the book said remember the first mothers day gift. Where did it lead for you? Initial; A Mother’s Day Present An African Violet Deepest, dark blue petals Brightened by specks Of yellow stamen The cracked pot It lived in The stony ground It moved to Symbolic somehow Of a changed relationship 30th November 2018
Declaration 17; Our Property No Longer Ours
October 14, 2019The conservation battle we waged for a community building was lost when the council signed off a lease to an organisation from Hong Kong whose accounts are registered in the Cayman Islands. Their gain being our loss. Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ...
Declaration 15 – What is nationality?
October 7, 2019I guess we are all looking into our identities nowadays deciding which labels we choose to wear. This was written for a local campaign i was supporting in darkest Hornsey at a time when a national question engaged us all. The strategy I adopt in ...
The first frost has fallen
October 6, 2019The first frost has fallen, The leaves have turned golden, Days are becoming shorter, Squirrels are gathering their nuts, Winter clothes are back in the wardrobe, Hats and gloves are ready to be worn, Nights are becoming colder, Birds begin to fly south, Windy, wet weather seems to be constant, Wet leaves make a ...
The Challenge; 5 Random Words
September 27, 2019I am facilitating a poetry group at the Highgate Society on the first Monday of the month (6.30-8.30pm fact fans). It's basically an open mic. But the group also decided to set a poetry challenge at each meeting. And these will make up my latest ...
Signs; (The Ecology) Of Accessible Loos – A Community Exercise
September 18, 2019Disability Arts Online are planning a major exhibition/arts event Contested Spaces launching on 24 September at The Foundry in South London. I have been asked to curate poetry events acknowledging World Mental Health Day and the International Day of Disabled People on 9 October and ...
It’s easy to forgive.
September 18, 2019It is easy to forgive, Hard to forget, You had just disappeared, Without giving it a thought. You left me in the dark, When I tried to reach out to you, I was left with a broken heart, As you chose to decline my views. We were a package deal, No one said our ...
Acorn; How High We Were, The Moment That We Fell
September 17, 2019Yesterday we sat talking about the times we remember when we could climb trees. We talked about the moment we knew it was time to stop. We talked hopscotch and skipping ropes, half-remembered lines. Would we ever choose to go back there? Today I read ...
Words On A Post Card; Blank Spaces
September 6, 2019Long term readers of my blog may find a memory of me trying to use less words so as to print up post cards. This came out of that process on 16th November 2019. I think it says something's can't be said well enough so ...
Acorn; I Accept The Sun
September 2, 2019From Yoko’s Sky Piece VI. A homemade beeswax candle was proffered to me once. Ashamed I failed to accept it. It's been a long hot summer with amazing temperatures. I have not hidden from the sun. rarely worn a hat and rarely caked on lotion. ...
Shabbigentile makes the case against anti-Claimantism
August 30, 2019Alan Morrison goes into depth talking about the background to his latest poetry collection 'Shabbigentile' published by Culture Matters If 'Tan Raptures' (2017) was an A-side then 'Shabbigentile' is its experimental B-side: both collections explore the repercussions of austerity, the relentless benefits cuts, and the mass ...
Stormy skies
August 20, 2019Stormy skies, Fallen down trees, Where is the light? No chance of sleep. Rumbling all around, Followed by lightening, The pressure of feeling overwhelmed, is slightly worrying. When the storms begin to fade, The light begins to appear, and the pressure gives way, to help us see that the light was always here, Once we get out ...
Juice; From Tear to Touch to Rub
August 20, 2019Yoko’s Pieces for Orchestra depend on parts 4-6 being defined by the instructive words ‘tear’, ‘touch’ and ‘rub’; words that reach out to a humane instinct within me and feel like a life lesson or summary. I feel a connection and choose my own words. Juice; ...
Sonny Nwachukwu, Circles: The Documentary
August 19, 2019https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQP-TIiKzgk&t= Circles is a choreopoem by Sonny Nwachukwu, commissioned by Unlimited (delivered by Shape Arts and Artsadmin). Through spoken word, movement and sound, Circles is an exploration into perpetual psychospiritual clashes, provoked by the traumas of slavery. In Circles, we follow Obi and Ada a black ...
100 Meters; A Brexit Breakfast with a Failed Prime Minister
August 7, 2019Who remembers the day Theresa May was electioneering on the South Coast? She took a bag of chips from a reasonably reputable chippie and then found herself flummoxed when someone put a can of coke in her spare hand. It was like the Ed Milliband food ...
Initial; Tooth Luck
August 6, 2019It's the week of the broken promise budget and we are being told austerity is over whilst schools are being thrown peanuts, the police get nowt and universal credit remains. Meanwhile a book asks me to write about the first tooth I lost and enquires ...
100 Meters – Today’s Indulgence
July 24, 2019Aah!!! The nature of special school memories. Add your own lines below so I know it wasn't just me. Start the lines In the....... and say whatever you want to. 100 Meters – Today’s Indulgence Today’s indulgence Focuses again on me In forgetting all the other faces That met my ...
Signs; No One Shared His Space
July 7, 2019The brother or sister poem to the brother or sister poem i posted a while back called, i think, 'Share This Space'. The pain of exclusion. The thoughts that keep you awake. Godless loneliness. Uncomfortable at a time when everyone is cosy. The real need for ...
642 – Gordon’s End
July 5, 2019Tell a story starting with a ransom note 642 – Gordon’s End Walking back from the police station I consider the officers advice Accept no responsibility he said Tell the professionals who would Otherwise choose to do nothing That he’s out, he’s on the street Then watch them change Watch them change when they ...
The Woods Whistled
June 28, 2019Ray Avards was a sometime ago friend. A big fan of nature and sport and a committed solicitor focused on community care. He was prone to depression. One day it just got too much for him. We all know the social care system is buckling ...
Signs; Share This Space
June 25, 2019Signs; Share This Space is a sister poem to its brother, 'No One Shared His Space', which almost as if by magic will appear in a few weeks time. The sister is good and remains positive. Her brother not so. Just thought i'd keep you ...
Initial – Allergy
May 30, 2019This weeks challenge from ‘A First Time For Everything’ is to write about my first allergy. I do have one or two but they’re not much to write about and the news is more mortifying. Initial - Allegy 2018 Natasha Ednan-Laperouse Dies from a sesame allergen Induced by a relaxed ...
100 Meters – Clubfoot
May 22, 2019A word memory found in the Poetry Library whilst reading an old, cherished poet who used the word infrequently. I think of Clubfoot sometimes and what happened the next day following my subsequent refusal of a date. My shame will not let me name her. ...
Previous winner, Jamie Hale on the London Writers Awards, which are open for submission
May 20, 2019DAO speaks to Jamie Hale, one of 30 writers to have received a London Writers Award, Spread the Word’s annual development programme for talented London writers. The aim of the Awards, now in their second year, is to support and nurture writers from communities currently ...
The Show Must Go On
May 16, 2019A reflective Richard Downes looks back on four turns at REaD Rhymes Live his first experience of curating, MC-ing and performing at a self designed show for Disabled Poets at the Karamel Restaurant The Show Must Go On A note came out of the blue from the ...
100 Meters; English Grammar Wars
May 13, 2019From a dream 100 Meters; English Grammar Wars In a traffic jam They throw their pronoun Through the window A verb returns An unnecessary argument Over in seconds
Pick, Pick & Pick
May 6, 2019Note: I've had what many would call a habit. This habit has turned into self harm. I've been trying to give up, but it's not always easy. I hope this poem makes people realise that you can't 'just give up.' It won't happen over night. ...
Notes from the End of Time
May 3, 2019On 10 April, artist and writer Colin Hambrook read prose and poetry from Fools' Gold: Notes from the End of Time alongside a projection of illustrations that accompany the texts, as part of Art Words, a weekly event at Phoenix Brighton. Review by Elinor Rowlands. Art ...
Acorn: I Climbed The Ladder
May 2, 2019I'm not sure which of Yoko Ono's Acorns got me cogitating on my career journey but it did. Subsequently I heard a volunteer call from my old alma mater asking for career talks. I took this with me and squawked to first year students doodling ...
For What We Are About To Receive: Poetry as Ritual
May 1, 2019In response to a request from DAO to write about his journey as a socially engaged performance poet, our Associate Artist Richard goes to the essence of performance poetry, beginning with a visit to a creative writing course at the Mary Ward Centre The self styled ...
Owen Lowery’s Transitions
April 24, 2019Owen Lowery has published two major collections, Otherwise Unchanged, (2012), and Rego Retold (2015). His latest project, Transitions, has had several outings including theatrical interpretations and a film. He will be performing live alongside a screening of his Transitions film as part of 'I'm Here ...
642; Spaced and Perfect
April 22, 2019The book ‘642 Things To Write About’ told me that I was an astronaut enjoying the perfect day. Of cause; I wasn’t and perhaps I never would be. Sleep, death, suicide, stirred my brain as motifs for the perfect day. There was a time I felt ...
Signs: Stupid System
April 16, 2019Signs: One of my current hopes is to achieve more brevity, cut down on me words in order to make a point. So here’s a statement masquerading as a poem. What can I be talking about and how did it affect you? Stupid System A system that aims ...
Initial: A Medical Record
April 5, 2019Initial: A Medical Record I never broke a limb Reading Not an arm or a leg Writing My medical history Revealing Paper cuts Risking Ink poisoning Scrawling Notes on my hand Empathising With every break That never happened My paper cuts Stinging badly.
Initial; Culture Change
March 29, 2019Initial; Culture Change Remembering the first time I went to the doctors and the doctor didn’t come to me. Dr Lucas’s waiting room Green leather benches Brown flock peeling walls Patient lips holding patient cigarettes Dr Lucas presses tongues down Says, ‘say ah’ Breathes the ghosts of nicotine Into fragile lungs Dr Lucas’s stethoscope Smells of ...
It’s Rock and Roll But Not As It We Know It: On the Road with Penny Pepper, The Naked Punk
March 25, 2019It feels very rock and roll. Another week, another hotel room. I haven’t thrown the TV out the window yet. But my PA is on standby to decimate the remote control if the third one they give us fails to work. The Naked Punk Project launched ...
Shabbigentile by Alan Morrison
March 19, 2019Published by Culture Matters, Alan Morrison's latest poetry collection 'Shabbigentile' summarises the current state of our nation, satirising the wastelands of asset-stripped Britain, where the Tories and the press work together to create the scapegoating pseudo-science of Scroungerology and the DWP’s weapons of brown envelopes ...
Penny Pepper: a life in 10 Rhymes
March 14, 2019Richard Downes reviews Together 2012, Writer in Residence Penny Pepper's poetry performance at NewVic on 7th March as part of Newham Word Festival. 10 Rhymes divided by 5 years since I last saw Penny Pepper perform, equals two lives coming together on the eve of International ...
DET, The Medical Model and Me
March 8, 2019A long drawn out recovery demonstrating the next part of my Disability Equality Training Course as poetry DET, The Medical Model and Me I am impaired Where do I go to get fixed? Where can I be changed? Where can I go to get right? Where oh where do I start ...
100 Meters – Blank Verse
March 5, 2019100 Meters – Blank Verse It’s early morning. My brain is drained by sleep. There is nothing to say. Nothing I would choose to say. So, I start with a blank page. My nascent career as a performance, soon to be published, poet has begun. Deep ...
Sarah Crutwell – a woman’s place, is on the stage!
February 25, 2019As part of Lisette Auton’s Guest Editorship, she showcases the work of Sarah Crutwell, an exceptional poet, spoken word artist and facilitator who is an integral part of the Teesside scene. Sarah had a massive part in encouraging and supporting Lisette’s return to performance and ...
Introductions: A Perfect Shell
February 20, 2019Here's something I've been thinking through: making introductions to performed poems with performed poems. This has come about due to being more involved with performance and MC-ing with my current curator role at REaD Rhymes Live. I'm not sure i'll be taking it any further ...
Hopes Health and Healing ~ An Update
February 19, 2019On the 21st December 2018 I was rushed into my local hospital seriously ill with a very high temperature. I found I couldn't eat, drink or swallow anything, was in a lot of pain, struggling to breathe and vomiting blood. It all happened so fast. ...
The Autistic Temperament
February 15, 2019In a Guest Editorship looking at emerging disabled artists, Lisette Auton commissioned Sez Thomasin, autistic, gender-queer poet, to write about their experience of neurodiversity and their route into a creative life. They discuss the hurdles, the belonging, and the 'what if' for others who are ...
Susie McComb – Rhyme, Hypomania and Me
January 31, 2019Susie McComb is an emerging spoken word artist on the North East scene. Lisette Auton asked Susie to write about what the term 'emerging' means to her, her journey into spoken word, and what it feels like to finally find your tribe. 'Emerging spoken-word artist' is ...
Juice – Easy Peasy
January 28, 2019According to Yoko Ono’s Let’s Piece 1, 500 noses are more beautiful than one, 1 phone number recited by 200 people sounds better than related by 1 especially if they all say it at the same time. Yoko sends a simple word to be said ...
100 Meters – Who And What
January 16, 2019I don’t usually spend much time reflecting on the news or even listening to the news even though the news is on and all around me. At times I find the news too difficult to bear. At other times I find it full of amusement. ...
Acorn: Running
January 10, 2019Derived from Yoko’s Sky Piece V Autumn. Way back in time I enjoyed the sports I enjoyed, and hated the sports I hated. I guess I was trying to prove something. Something about someone whose running was compromised, was never so fleet, never so far ...
642 Meets Whistling Jack in the Wasted Lands
January 8, 2019642 Things To Write About instructs that I write to a house plant telling it why it needs to live or something like that. But I am on my holidays. I am south of where I usually live and that can only mean my annual ...
Declaration 13 – Freedom of Movement Versus Money
January 2, 2019Declaration 13 – Freedom of Movement Versus Money 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. 2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Whilst pursuing these collected poetic ...
Acorn; The Sky Today
December 19, 2018Sharing Yoko’s Sky Piece 1 we asked our own questions and came up with our own answers. It's what we do, when we do it. Acorn; The Sky Today She Sits lonesome in a bedroom Grieves parental loss Lifts her head and sees it The sky Elemental life force Always there, always giving She ...
100 Meters – I Nearly Wrote A Poem
December 10, 2018A guy called Stan Cryer is trying to raise funds to convert an old unused fire station into an arts centre. What else is going to happen to all the closed fire and police stations in London? I asked him if spoken word was on ...
Toni Hurford asks: What Attracts me to Poetry?
December 10, 2018Denis Joe O'Driscoll originally asked me to write this essay after a selection from my (still) forthcoming collection, A Staff of Asklepios, was published on Disability Arts Online in 2014. I've struggled to attempt to answer. Thinking too hard about it I found myself at ...
Declaration 12; Its Not A Dire Warning
December 4, 2018Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. This is from a lost ...
Juice: Between 5 and 8 O’clock
November 30, 2018Grapefruit. Yoko Ono dredges up a memory of the woods. There was a time when 5 meant waking up to an alarm and 8 indicated time for arriving at work. Then there is another situation. This was mine. Where is yours. Juice; Between 5 and 8 ...
Initial: Nick Names
November 22, 2018A hate crime officer I once knew gave me a book with ideas I could use to write from. This is the second installment from the first page. It impinges on my history. It tells a tale or two. It doesn’t mean to upbraid anyone ...
100 Meters; On the Ending of a Favoured Thing
November 19, 2018Lost to memories of place and time, dancers relate, fail to continue. Lost, the ending of a a journey. Dance the car boogie. Tell me about the last time you danced? 100 Meters; On the Ending of a Favoured Thing Fat, flushed, flash and funky You handled movement Like ...
‘Quality’ and the marginalised artist part 2: reviews of ‘identity-based’ works
November 16, 2018In a series of four pieces, writer and critic Sandra Alland examines the state of disabled and D/deaf arts criticism, with input from various artists and experts. Last month, Alland dissected what's happening for marginalised people in publishing. Today, she uses her experiences as co-editor ...
Into The Light – a journey told from the heart
November 13, 2018Corina Duyn describes her Artist Book-in-a-Box 'Into The Light' as an adventure. The result of a seventeen-year-long journey with the chronic illness ME and having taken 3 years in the making, it is a real testament to human resilience to carry on despite the slings ...
