he has, he says, three rules
three rules he lives by. We
are unloading trucks in the arena
in the heart of the city, moving
All Posts
peace de resistance
Friday night completely changed the focus of the piece I’d been intending to write, and reminded me – yet again – of the transformative power of art. You see, on Friday night I went along to Wolverhampton Arts Centre and…
and no, you cannot rewind time
Here is a thing. It is open.
You need the thing to be open, but
you do not like the people who keep
no bloody whimsy
Many years ago, when I was at Uni, a mate gave me a book he no longer wanted. It was the collected poems of Adrian Mitchell, and it had a profound effect on my understanding of what poetry could be…
musings on the national
Not for the first time the announcement of the winners in the National Poetry Competition – and congratulations to Partridge Boswell, the other winning poets, and every single person who had a poem which made it onto the longlist, because…
celebrating small spaces
Last night I was down in Luton with my fellow pandemonialists for what turned out to be an absolutely amazing gig in Luton’s Hat Factory arts centre. We’d been invited down by Lee Nelson, who runs a superb night in…
catching my breath…
Last week’s gigs involved a lot of weather – there was the snowstorm as we headed back from Bishop’s Castle on Wednesday evening, then Saturday’s monsoon rains as we drove to Kendal – as well as appreciative audiences, excellent open…
almost a tour…
Last Saturday, as part of Wolves Lit Fest, I gave my Fringe show Sweat and Mugs and RocknRoll its first proper outing. I was stepping in off the subs’ bench after one of the artists who was originally booked to…
poetry and politics
If you’ve been visiting this website (or following my Substack) for more than a couple of minutes, you’ll be well aware that I’m fairly engaged, politically, and not afraid of speaking out when I feel there’s something that needs saying.…
let us imagine a better world
where he simply steps aside
where he finishes his phone call
where he does not have a gun
horizons
These past couple of weeks I’ve been away with work, stage-managing my final tour of the year, and I’m loving it. You’re in a little bubble when you’re on the road – as anyone who’s ever been involved will know –…
You ain’t no patriot, bruv
Earlier this month, far right groups held a rally outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Wolverhampton. They were opposed by a group of women. The lines in italics in this poem are all comments from the ‘Stop the Boats’…