A Fool For Poetry: I’m Reading At The Metro On 1 April

 
I’m the guest poet at Music & Poetry at the Metro this coming Sunday, 1 April. Here’s the lineup:

Guest Musicians: Ramon Oza and Susie Colien-Reid

Open Mike

Guest Poet: Tim Jones

The Metro is at 7 Lydney Place, Porirua, and the session runs from 4-6pm.

I’ll be reading from Men Briefly Explained and trying a few newer poems out as well.

If you’re on Facebook, you can sign up for the Facebook event and also see the Music at the Metro Facebook page for more news: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Music-at-the-Metro/301841379852705

Here is some more information about the guest musicians:

Black Eyed Susie

Ramon Oza and Susie Colien-Reid are the core sound of four piece original Celtic rock band Blackeyedsusie. Ramon has played electric guitar professionally for 35 years, starting with supporting his family by performing 6 nights a week for a 5 star hotel in India. Susie studied classical violin to diploma level, until her love of 70’s rock drew her to develop the freelance raw style she enjoys today. Individually both have performed for major international acts ranging from the Drifters, to the Alabama Blind Boys. As a duo their sound is a blend of high energy Celtic and Funk Blues Rock influence.

Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part Four

 
There are some things to dislike about summer nearing its end, but one of the good things is that, as the days draw in, the monthly poetry reading sessions in Wellington resume.

Earlier this week, I went to the first sessions for the year of two of Wellington’s longer-running poetry reading sessions: Poetry at the Ballroom Cafe in Newtown on Sunday afternoon and then the New Zealand Poetry Society (Facebook | Twitter | Web) at the Thistle Inn on Monday night. The respective lineups were:

* Ballroom Cafe: open mike (good mixture of performance and “page” poets), musician (jazz pianist Gilbert Haisman), and guest reader (poet Pat White). I had to leave before the end of Pat’s reading as I had something else on immediately afterwards, but there is a quiet power to his poetry that becomes evident as he reads it.
* New Zealand Poetry Society: open mike (one of the best I’ve heard at the NZPS), guest reader (poet Teresia Teaiwa).

I enjoyed both sessions very much, but the absolute highlight from me was hearing Teresia read. I’d heard her read a few poems before, but the way she put the reading together and wove her poems in with a narrative was an absolute treat. If you get the chance to hear her read, I advise you to take it!

All being well, I’ll be doing some more guest readings this year, partly on the back of Men Briefly Explained. The first of these will be in Porirua in April as part of the monthly Music at the Metro series – I am looking forward to it.

I don’t believe I will be required to sing, but if I was, I would naturally sing this, since it’s referenced in the Men Briefly Explained poem Queens of Silk, Kings of Velour: