Thursday 26 January 2012

Leicester Shindig


On Monday night, I was invited to give a poetry reading at the Leicester Shindig. The night was run in conjunction with Crystal Clear Creators (who are publishing my pamphlet), and Nine Arches Press. The night was well attended, with many interesting and engaging poets performing. There was a real focus on the musicality of language, and even an impromptu performance of “Timorous Beasties,” in honour of fast-approaching Burns Night.

I really enjoyed the humour in Jonathan and Maria Taylor’s poems, describing a psycho and the experience of teaching Larkin, respectively. The tone contrasted nicely against Maria’s other poem, in which she explored the notion of family and roots, a subject I also like to address within my poetry. I enjoyed reading Deborah Tyler-Bennett’s “Mr. F.’s Lament” in the last issue of Hearing Voices magazine, inspired by “Harris’ List,” detailing the London prostitutes of the eighteenth century, and so I was glad to hear another from the same sequence. Roy Marshall also gave an impressive reading. Roy is another winner of the Crystal Clear Pamphlet competition, and his pamphlet entitled “Gopagilla,” will be released in March.

I have attached a video of my reading at the Shindig, with an introduction by Maria Taylor. Despite being fairly nervous before-hand, (I’m glad there was a bar), I think it went very well. Some of the poems are taken from my pamphlet, “Someone Else’s Photograph,” which will be published alongside Roy’s and the other four winners in March 2012. The Leicester Shindig was a fantastic evening, and I will definitely be attending in the future.   


2 comments:

  1. Hi Jess, great reading, and you seemed unfazed by the brief swell of noise from the public bar!
    Thanks for your comments on my poems.Looking forward to pamphlet launch.
    Roy

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  2. I really enjoyed your reading, Jessica - thanks for including poems from your forthcoming pamphlet, which I'm looking forward to reading.

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