Sunday 15th December 2024
A great turnout for the final Holy Moly Spoken Word evening at The Mole Hole in Gravesend, Kent for 2024.
The evening was headlined by Koushik Banerjea and amongst his set was an excerpt from one of his long-form pieces that cleverly described the futile racist fervour whipped up when Alan Minter and Marvin Hagler squared up in a big Boxing bout in September 1980..
For my part, I read my poems ‘Vision Board Adored’, ‘Mozart Crystals’, ‘The Accidental Timber Merchant’ and ‘A Festive Wish Before We Close The Door On Twenty Twenty-Four.’
Saturday 14th December 2024
At a North Kent Peaky Blinders re-enactment group gig at The Northfleet Veterans Club, Northfleet, Kent, some decent money was raised for the Ellenor Hospice charity. There were at least 12 Peaky members in attendance (my daughter Beatrice, 10, attended in 1920s costume with me too) and we staged our usual dramatic walk-in at the start of proceedings. I read my Peaky intro poem ‘Let Us Be Your Reminders Of The Peaky Blinders’ and then our group leader Shane “Arthur Shelby” Milligan entertained the audience with his singing. Some of the highlights were: bingo, a raffle and specially made Peaky Blinder cupcakes. I also signed some copies of my book ‘The Road To Poetry’ for my colleagues in our tribe!
Thursday 12th December 2024
I travelled with friend and fellow Poet, Mr Anthony Hart, to the Big Trouble Spoken Word Christmas Bonanza at Rams / 12 Degrees micro pub in Rochester, Kent. The lovely hosts David Dykes and Beth Goodwill treated us all to Xmas nibbles, Xmas crackers with self-typed notes, hats and the usual brilliant poetry in the now customary speed-dating ‘one poem and sit down and repeat later’ format. David kindly asked me to open the night with a 10-minute set of poems from my new book, The Road To Poetry. I repeated my new ‘thing’ of asking the audience to call out page numbers at random and I delivered whatever poem featured on that page. There were several Poets on the night I hadn’t had the pleasure of hearing before and I was really blown away by all the talent in the room.
Friday 29th November 2024
I was invited by my friend / Yoga teacher / photographer / poet James Clark to attend an evening of Spoken Word at House of Leyla (147 Milton Road DA12 2RG) in Gravesend. House of Leyla is a high-class yoga studio and wellness workspace with mocktail bar and treatment rooms close to the Clock Tower statue. A lovely place with lovely people for sure.
There were a variety of speakers on the night. As well as poetry, we enjoyed a psychology talk, singing and a free-style floor show by young gymnast Penny! Penny (aged 9) also wowed the audience by confidently reading her poem – with a microphone - about saving the Swanscombe Peninsula.
For my part, I read in two sessions my poems “Risk It For a Biscuit”, “Resignation Letter No Longer An Upsetter”, “Sapele’s Odyssey” and “A Blinding Induction After A Peaky Seduction.” For the second session, I invited the audience to call out a couple of page numbers from my book The Road To Poetry in order to deliver more random choices of verse.
Tuesday 26th November 2024
An after-work drive to Maidstone tonight to put the finishing touches to my very first poem-to-song project. A successful evening saw my friend/musician Andi Oates (Scars Of Sense band member) oversee me cracking out the chorus and bridge that I was previously awkward with. The next step is for Andi to refine it before it gets mixed and mastered by his contact. I have listened back to a sample of the song several times and I’m very pleased and excited about it: I look forward to creating another 3 or 4 to compile my own E.P. in due course!
Monday 25th November 2024
Only the second ever meeting of the Poetic Flaws/Floors poetry club at The Three Daws in Gravesend, hosted by Anthony Hart. A fantastic evening and even better verse spoken by the performers in a jovial, supportive atmosphere. The popularity of the event from its first session in October saw us upgraded by the pub to a larger, more comfortable room. My personal highlights of the night included: a discussion about the medical condition gout, a duet poetry read by Jack and Tamilore, a brilliant Medieval folklore type short story by Neil (and interesting discussion about the shop Cash Converters) and an older gentleman from a nearby function room - a history society evening - telling me he paid to see John Keats' death bed in Rome! I tried something new tonight and invited the audience to call out random page numbers from my recently-published book The Road To Poetry and I read whichever poems featured on those pages: Without Doubt It Was A Bout Of Gout, The Hollywood Divorce,The Accidental Timber Merchant and Mums Who Can Catch / Weeing In The Sea.
Sunday 24th November 2024
A bit of an experiment. I attended The George Inn in Queen Street in central Gravesend to support a 4pm band gig by The Johns (who I have got to know recently). Probably one of my favourite "cover" bands because they play all my kind of stuff, especially The Doors. They allowed me, as did the Landlord, to read a bit of Poetry in their half-time interval. I battled through a little set against a somewhat distracted and lively/busy boozed up pub! A great experience for me but - to put it mildly - one of my biggest challenges in reading Live poetry to date!
Amongst the poems i read were: Glorious Gravesend, Busy Scissors and The Road To Poetry.
Sunday 17th November 2024
The monthly Holy Moly Spoken Word poetry club (hosted by Zack Davies) met at The Mole Hole Micro Pub in Gravesend High Street. Chika Jones was the headline Poet in an evening of three parts. In the Open Mic section, I read my new poems:
“Tis Okay, Maybe I Was Meant To Keep My Blood Today Anyway!”(07.11.2024)
“The Horror Of Burglary”(14.11.2024)
And
“That Painful Show, So That We Could Grow”(14.11.2024)
28th October saw me attend the inaugural meeting of the brand new poetry club called Poetic Flaws/Floors, hosted by local poet Anthony Hart. It was held in the smallish library room in The Three Daws pub in Gravesend, Kent and attended by 12 people, some reading, others observing/supporting. A great night and a great start to this new venture. Anthony Hart was the person that first invited me to a poetry club called Holy Moly (run by Zack Davies) in The Mole Hole micropub in the same town back in October 2023. That bar-side chat put me on my own poetry and public speaking path.
