I’m performing tonight at an event that I have just found out is sold out! Dialogue Festival promises to be an exciting mixed media night and I am honoured to be a part of it.
I shall be reading a poem written in response to a photography exhibition that is to go up at the Barbican soon. I’ve got a 3 minute slot and I’m on a balcony. I’m also slightly scared of heights.
Wish me luck!
Excitingly, I’ve been asked by Jacob Sam-La Rose to do a ten minute set at the event that he is curating on Sunday at Rich Mix.
Rich Mix has been running a number of youth takeover events and this poetry evening is just one exciting event in the programme.
Come and check it out if you can!
To my mind, this is my best poem. Happy to be contradicted though.
This is a poem based on my nana and stories that I’ve read about growing up in Ireland.
This is from a performance with my collective, Burn After Reading. We run a regular night at 7 Dials Club in Covent Garden on the first Tuesday of every month.
I’ll be posting vids from my performances over the next few days.
So, it looks like summer is shaping up to be a good ‘un.
Just received confirmation that I’ll be performing at Walthamstow Garden Party this July!
I shall be performing a group piece with some of the other Barbican Young Poets and sharing the stage with the new Barbican Junior Poets. Exciting thing to be a part of so if you’re in the area then please do come and check us out!
So NaPoWriMo has come to an end. I would say this has been pretty successful, lots of fun ideas were explored and I’ve got the seeds of some potentially great material. Some of my pieces have been stronger than others but that was sort of what I expected from writing a poem a day. I’m not sure I could keep at this much longer (though saying that, it’s never really taken up a huge amount of time) but I will definitely endeavour to post a blog exclusive poem as much as makes sense. Silly competition rules count something being up here as being published.
I’m going to do a full write up over the weekend so for now, enjoy the last of my NaPoWriMo 2015 poems!
The song list was all picked out,
music to remember me by
chosen for its rarity.
It wouldn’t do to have you breaking
down at discos,
ceasing as the glitter ball keeps spinning
and wishing it would throw you off
like tear-blurred scatterings of light.
A flower, found tenacious in a dark room,
pale and in wait of light to turn towards.
So, this is an idea that I’ve had bubbling in my notebook for some time but a very dear friend of me told me that they had similar plans so it seemed like a sign to put something out there. Hopefully, they won’t think I’ve stolen their idea.
Plant your feet far apart
and dare the world to push you over.
You will not have to ask, your
existence will cause them to try.
Learn coyness from sequoias,
demand the sharpest axes cut you down,
remind them that you’ll bring the forest with you
and you will make a sound,
oh such a sound,
though they won’t be round to hear it.
I will teach you words and how to use them,
what to do when no-one listens.
The world should know your voice,
don’t leave silence as you stride your way right through.
There are people you will want to love,
they won’t know how to let you
so show patience, in the first place,
and wisdom when it comes to let things pass.
Drink water. Even if you have a life
much happier than mine,
you’re sure to cry – don’t be caught
down on supplies. Buy a handkerchief,
it’s the kindest way to cry
when whole forests are cut down.
You matter, not because you’re mine but
cause you are made of matter
that decided to give life another try.
Make every moment matter
so that atoms speak about you
’til they all come spinning to a stop.
I was raised on bread and butter lies,
bland yet just more than enough
to stop my stomach growling
in the search for answers.
My body filled,
my soul needs something more.
The truth is a gourmet meal,
carefully prepared and served up,
garnished gently, oozing juices
ready to be sopped up by the thickest crust.
A meal so rich is indigestible,
perhaps even unpalatable.
Cameron Holleran 