‘D
indsencha’ is an ancient Irish term which relates to ‘Lore of place’, and refers to a body of early Irish poems and stories that explain place names and the mythologies of specific sites within the landscape. Taking this traditional bardic concept, poet Bob Beagrie and composer S.J. Forth created a collection of experimental, contemporary poems, all with musical accompaniment / sound effects which explores a sense of place, identity, visionary interpretations of specific locations – their historical and mythical resonances and the factors that impact upon a sense of self.
This month Apples and Snakes broadcast the whole album, interspersed with reflective and contextual accounts of the poems, their origins, inspirations and intentions and some of the effects employed in their form and structure, as well as discussing poems by other poets and movements which have a bearing upon the work.
We decided to apply for the commission because we felt it provided an exciting new outlet for the experimental work produced during our collaboration and hope that it will reach a new audience through its broadcast and perhaps generate interest across the Apples and Snakes network of poets and promoters. Working on the show was useful in forcing us to reconsider the ordering of the tracks for our forthcoming CD – some slight changes were made especially in terms of movement of mood and the contrasts between pieces.
It was also very useful to be able to contextualise some of the poems relating to their inspiration and aims, and to reflect upon the different ways of collaborative working we have engaged in while producing the album. Initially we found it quite difficult to establish a tone of conversation and discussion between the tracks, and it felt somewhat unnatural and forced, though as we worked on it we felt that we tuned in to a more casual and conversational mode of introduction and discussion of the work. On the whole it was a very interesting and valuable challenge and both myself and S.J. Forth felt that we had learned a great deal from the process.
You can listen to Bob’s broadcast on Thursday 9 May at 1pm on basic.fm!
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March saw the final day of the emerging artists’ workshops, which culminated in a rehearsed reading of all the new work generated by the artists involved. New Writing South were again our hosts for the day, and the event was truly inspiring. Chris Elwell, Director of Half Moon, was on hand to input to performance, and Pete and Daniela from Apples were there to video proceedings and input to discussion on taking work forward. Everyone presented great new work, which they will hopefully take forward into other settings.
Given eight artists with ten minutes each, the show was a big ask for the children in the audience, and much longer than the average performance for the age group. However, in an informal feedback session afterwards with Nicky from Apples and Snakes, the children attending generally gave the show a 7-and-upwards out of 10, which is a fantastic result, especially considering most of the artists hadn’t written for children before.
On 9th March I arrived at The Writers Place, New Writing South in Brighton, just in time to wait in the porch way for fear of disturbing Sophie Rose rehearsing her piece, and listening to it, I realised how much work the poets had put into their poems since I had heard the bones of the poems the previous week.
On Saturday 2nd March, the One Way Ticket poets – Azfa Ali, Deborah Stephenson, Michael Vidon, Katerina Quinn, Joshua Seigal, Sophie Rose, Lorianne Tika-Lemba and Jenn Hart, plus the project leader Rosemary Harris – had been in Southampton at the Nuffield Theatre for workshops and to share the half-formed pieces they were intending to present at the showcase the following week. These proto-poems were given their first airing for peer review. Everyone had managed to approach the theme of child migration from a different angle, making for varied, layered, colourful and moving pieces. Some called on personal or family experiences, whilst others put themselves into the minds and families of those who experienced the deportations. It’s a testament to Rosie’s experience at structuring workshops and to the openness of the poets, that feedback was given and taken in good faith and good heart.
On the 9th March, the group gathered in Brighton in order to share their work with the public, but first there were more exercises, tweaks and feedback. Rosie put everyone through their paces and Chris Ewell from Half Moon children’s Theatre offered his expert feedback on the run-through whilst I filmed each poet talking about the project for feedback. What struck me during the afternoon, as well as the raise in quality of the work, was the closeness of the group. The past 4 workshops had really drawn everyone together and they all cared about each other’s poems and shared personal experiences and tips and tricks for performance. As time drew closer for the showcase itself in front of … gasp! … a real audience, nerves were beginning to show and words of reassurance were shared, as, to be honest, no-one needed to be concerned about how they would perform.
Each poet had raised their game since the previous week’s workshop. The poems had been chopped and changed and honed and polished and wrestled into shape and then memorised as much as possible so that each poet could gave as good an account of themselves as possible. There were a few youngsters in the audience, who initially bore the focus of the audience participation sections of the poems until the rest of the audience were drawn in and became involved.
The ways of approaching the difficult subject of the project, child migration, were very inventive – Michaël introduced us to his family tree via the letter ë in his name, which transformed into a roving snail; Azfa shared an allegorical tale of a tortoise rebuilding its shell after it had been blown apart; Katerina became her younger self in a family who relocated to Zambia when she was a child; Sophie created a family expecting the return of a long-lost uncle who was deported in the 50’s; Lorianne explored the idea of not fitting in and how she shared her insecurities with her childhood friend – a doll; Joshua used a piece of string to help him begin to explore a family history he didn’t know he had; Jenn imagined herself being a child in a Centre For Asylum seekers , waiting for someone to claim her and Deborah introduced us to some of the harsh conditions the deported children experienced once they were in Australia.
After the show there was a great deal of chatting and hugging and congratulating amongst the poets and the buzzy atmosphere continued as we made our way to a café/bar for a winding-down drink and something to eat. Gradually everyone reluctantly drifted off, still chattering about poetry, performance and politics. There may even have been a couple of tears!
The Writing Room continues with Mark Grist and Mixy (AKA Dead Poets) 
It’s here! She’s here! It’s the big one!! Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze heads up a classy playlist at Radikal Words, 
In March we witnessed the birth of 8 new poetic pieces aimed at 8-11 year old audiences from emerging artists, as the One Way Ticket workshops lead by Rosie Harris came to fruition in Brighton. There was also a special event in Totton where Jonny Fluffypunk lead proceedings as the Headway Biscuit Poets presented their hard-bitten (see what I did?) words to a wrapt audience as part of a fundraising showcase. Voices were raised (in a good way) in Canterbury as Patience Agbabi shared her performing poetry wisdom to a full workshop, all of whom have promised to show their faces with their new-found skills at an event near you soon (possibly).
Greetings fine fellow wordsmiths and word lovers. April is a month of contemplation for Apples and Snakes SW, with preparations well under way for a busy summer – though we do have The Rememberers coming to Arnolfini 
Apples and Snakes have been working working with Writers’ Centre Norwich to develop Slam in a Box: two slam poets, Molly Naylor and Andy Bennett, spent two days with students from Caister High, giving them the skills, knowledge and tools to compose, workshop and read aloud their own poems and run their own after school slam poetry club. Check out the result in the video below!
The young poets are off on a trip round the city and its the organisers that are spending time getting to know whose who and hearing what each other are doing in their cities. There is clearly lots of common ground, regardless of programme structure or which city it takes place in. There is absolute commitment, integrity and passion from all those doing this work, they all speak about wanting to give a space for young people to be able to truly say what they think and feel. They are a dedicated and inspiring group of people, rooted in their communities and who really want to make things happen. As much as its important for the young people from other cities to meet, its also important that the organisers get to come together and build this network – and it feels good that we are involved in these conversations.
Excited, I arrive in Chicago for the first time to see Louder than a Bomb, the city’s youth slam competition now in its 13th year run by Young Chicago Authors. Disappointingly the windy city is surprisingly un-windy, although there is snow! A quick check into the hotel and I’m heading off to the Cultural Center with Jacob Sam-La Rose to see what’s going down – we’re interested in seeing how the youth poetry scene is here and what the similarities are with our scene, particularly following Shake the Dust last year.
After a successful run of 7 workshops, Power Plant has come to an end. If you attend one or more of the sessions, I’d love to hear from you – tell me what you thought of them, whether you think the series was useful, and what you would like future masterclasses to focus on. Let’s make the second season even more powerful. And, er, plant-like, I guess. There’s more – a very special Hit the Ode 
Event-wise, we’ve something for everyone this month. If you find yourself around St. Thomas’ Hospital 
No? Well how about our two participation projects, SPINE and SWITCH? If you (or someone you know!) are aged 12-19, you get to work with Malika Booker and be part of Vauxhall Voices – 
March brings a flurry of new events around the region alongside the regular open mics and slams; including a new slam in Tunbridge Wells and a veritable spring blossoming of spoken word in Southampton with both Mark Grist and Steve Larkin performing one-person shows and the Biscuit Poets of Totton performing their first ever poetry show with Jonny Fluffypunk 
Amuse Bouche comes to Live Theatre on the 19th, so all you Tynesiders can get a free dose of specially selected spoken word from Andrew Sclater, Elaine Cusack and Rowan McCabe. Scratch Tyne 
FORKED is back