Well kids, I've finally lost my virginity! And it turned out not to be as bad as I thought ... a little painful beforehand perhaps, but once we were puffing away at it, things became quite exciting!
I'm talking about my MC virginity, of course. :D
Last night saw me behind the mic in an official capacity for the first time ever, masterminding the latest PUREandGOODandRIGHT at the Toyk restaurant-bar, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa. I was worried at first, as the crowd was a trifle thin at kick-off time, 7.30pm. But we hung on for a short while and started at 8pm instead, by which time people had begun rolling in off the streets.
By 9pm, the place was absolutely heaving with poets and poetic supporters. To add to the locals and regulars, we had people from the far-flung reaches of Birmingham and the West Midlands, from Rugby, from Coventry, from Daventry, and one poet from as far afield as Gloucester! There were no spare seats at all and it was so hot, people were fighting to stand in front of the fan! But the poetry kept on coming, strong and relentless.
Our guest poet for the evening was young Kei Miller, a visiting Caribbean poet who charmed the audience with his carefully observed tales of Jamaican personalities, especially his elderly relatives and their friends, the 'church-ladies' of his home town, told with a gentle but teasing humour. His first collection of poetry, 'The Kingdom of Empty Bellies', is available from www.heaventreepress.com* in Coventry, and I can highly recommend it. Indeed, he's such a good writer, he's already been snapped up by Carcanet for his second collection. I suspect that a long and glittering career lies ahead for this personable - and rather dishy! - young Jamaican buoi.
Peter Wyton, superb performer and long-time veteran of poetry stages across the Western world, drove up from Gloucester to give us the 'ladies of the charity shop' and other witty gems from his repertoire of razor-sharp poetry. He also read from his brand-new collection of poetry, The Ship in the City, price £5, or £5.75 inc. P&P from 14, Grisedale Close, Longlevens, Gloucester, GL2 0EG. Cheques should be made out to P.I.Fisher.
Other well-known poets in the Midlands who jumped up to the mic last night included Julie Boden, former Birmingham Poet Laureate, Sheila Cooper, breeder of rare sheep, who read some of her own and David Fine's poetry, David Fine being the editor of the Midlands-based literature website, Lit-Net . We also had Jon Morley, editor of Heaventree Press in Coventry and an Eric Gregory winner this year, Martin Green, a regular at Coventry's fantastic open mic event, NIGHT BLUE FRUIT at the Tin Angel, and Dennistone, a prominent member of New October Poets in Birmingham and the POETS ON FIRE forum (though he doesn't post!).
Then there was a handful of new faces who braved the mic, always good to see, including a protege of mine, Maggie Doyle from Birmingham. Plus, of course, I performed a small handful of my own poems and even sang at one point, while the poet about to read finished paying for his drink at the bar ...
So it was a brilliant evening with some fantastic live performers entertaining the very hot crowd at TOYK last night, who were all undoubtedly PUREandGOODand SWEATY. My grateful thanks to everyone who came along and listened to the poetry or stood up to read. Money raised from a wine and chocolates raffle went to Kei -- and we all wish him a safe and pleasant journey back to Jamaica. Hopefully he'll be back in this country again soon.
Watch this forum for news of the August event, since Sean, the usual MC, is still away and the date has not yet been fixed.
* = I have not put in the actual link to Heaventree Press, as their site crashes my computer whenever it starts to load and I don't want that to happen to anyone else. But the Heaventree gang have assured me that I appear to be the only person (Mac Firefox browser) it's happening to, so feel free to visit their site and buy Kei's book.
Here's Kei Miller at last night's P&G&R
Fantastic review Jane - I almost feel like I was there. I really wanted to see Kei Miller - any of the events over the last couple of weeks would have done - but I live that bit too far away from the centre of the universe to make it possible (time, distance, money are all against me). Never mind, I'll read your review again and pretend I was there. B)
This post wasn't about what I'd hoped it was about. Losing your virginity indeed! :lol: