Podcast: A poet's life in Borth with Rychard Carrington

This podcast comes from Borth, home of poet Rychard Carrington. Rychard explains why he decided to leave Cambridge, his home for 30 years, and live in a village on the coast of west Wales. Rychard explains how this small community has become a haven for many artists, nestled between mountains and the sea in a remote and beautiful part of the country.

"There's all sorts of artists but it isn't like there's an elite or underground. The artists are very much a part of the mainstream of the village culture."

Rychard shares some of his poems and sets a prompt to write a poem about another poet. There are also poems on Dave Daggers' prompt from the last show to write about an inflatable Elvis Presley.

Scroll down to read a poem by Rychard

Albion My Way

Of all one hundred and ninety-six countries in the world
You were allocated to me
So when the team called England scores a goal
I'm supposed to shout 'whoopee'

I ate your chips until eventually
I came to hate the word 'quintessentially'
Tomato ketchup, HP sauce
Custard for the second course
Pork scratchings for the morris dance
William the Conqueror go back to France
When Queen Victoria finally dies
I'll admit I prefer French fries

Convert your feet into Shakespeare's meter
Sherlock Holmes, Geoffrey Boycott, Blue Peter
Kenneth Williams, Sting, Boadicea
Arthur Scargill, Charles I, Edward Lear
English breakfast, there's bones in your kipper
Union Jack, Jack Tar, Jack The Ripper

We live in hope but few true glories
Half of us vote for the fucking Tories
There's great scenery in England
And in other countries too
There are good people in England
And in other countries too
All the depression and mediocrity and crime
I've witnessed have been in England, each time

What I have taken I now give back to you
And no damn foreigner is going to spoil it
Plant a flag in my patriotic deposit
English shit in an English toilet

God save the Queen and the English Band
Captain Birdseye and the ship he sails
Enough merry stiff upper lip England
I don't believe your old wives' tales
Adieu boo sucks to you dear England
I am going to live in Wales

Rychard Carrington

Podcast: Dave Daggers mixes music and poetry

Poet, photographer, musician and host of RARA open mic night Dave Daggers introduces some of his poems set to music and sets a prompt to write about an inflatable Maralyn Monroe or Elvis Presley. You can also hear my response to Bridget Leggy Tanner's 'fit' prompt from the last episode.

Dave is playing on 11th August in Cardiff and you can hear more of his music and poetry here.

Podcast: Bridget Leggy Tanner on writing a poem a day for NaPoWriMo

Bridget Leggy Tanner talks about writing a poem a day for National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) with the help of my book: Poetry Non-stop. Bridget's commitment and willingness to try writing about anything generated an impressive collection of poems about everything from rabbits to slot machines. She shares some of her poems and after a month of taking prompts from me, she challenges me to write a 'fit' poem. The prompt is open to all as always and I encourage you to submit your poems as comments below or by email. You can also hear my response to Clive Oseman's 'Family' prompt from the last podcast.



Here's another of Bridget's poems written from the prompt super hero or heroine. I'd like to see what Marvel would make of this creation!

Wheelie woman in her wheelchair
Appears before you from anywhere
Understands and empathises
She does really care
If you cross her, beware of her stare
She immobilises ‘baddies’ with a glare
Circles them in her wheelchair
Which has secret powers
So you had better beware!
Of the Steely Wheelie Woman
In her wheelchair

For more tips on writing new poems every day read this article or buy the book:

Podcast: Clive Oseman on performing poetry

Clive Oseman tells us how he went from writing haiku to performing poems that cover a full array of styles and emotions. He shares his work and challenges listeners to write a family poem. There are also poems on fear, as set by Renn Hubbuck-Melly on the last edition.

Podcast: Des Mannay

On this episode Newport poet Des Mannay looks back on an amazing year in which he has been placed in three competitions and had poems in numerous publications. He shares some of his poetry and offers tips on boosting your chances of success in competitions.
He challenges listeners to write a poem about your final message when you have three minutes left to live and offers a couple of pieces of work for inspiration: And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Dylan Thomas and Galliano - 57th minute of the 23rd hour. Share your responses in the comments or to info@patrickwiddess.co.uk. 
You can hear poems by myself and Des in response to John Eliot's baby's shoes prompt from the last podcast and a poem by Clive Oseman.
You can read more of Des's poems via the following links: 

I Am Not A Silent Poet - https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/tag/des-mannay/ 
Proletarian Poetry - http://proletarianpoetry.com/2015/09/21/and-the-dead-shall-rise-by-des-mannay/ The 'Rethinkyourmind' shop - https://rethinkyourmind.co.uk/our-shop/ 
The 2015 Creative Future Literary Awards Anthology - http://www.cfliteraryawards.org.uk/2015-clfa-anthology-impossible-things-out-now/ 
Disability Arts Cymru Poetry Competition Free Download Anthology - http://www.disabilityartscymru.co.uk/literature/dac-poetry-competition-ibook/

Music by Suhov and Zyxz 

Des Mannay by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: John Eliot

John Eliot talks about poetry's power to tell stories and connect with people if they let it in. He shares some of his favourite lines of TS Eliot and Seamus Heaney and reads some of his own work. He sets listeners a challenge to write a poem about a pair of baby's shoes like the one's from Ernest Hemingway's six-word story and there are a couple of responses to Christina Thatcher's call for mundane poems which are anything but.

To share your poems email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk

John Eliot by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Christina Thatcher

Christina Thatcher talks about how writing helped her overcome a difficult upbringing and led to her moving from the US to South Wales. In the six years she has been in Cardiff she has put herself at the heart of the creative writing and spoken word scene and completed a powerful collection of poems about coping with the loss of her father. She reads from this and other work and challenges listeners to write a poem about mundane things. You can post your responses here or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk. You can read another of Christina's poems here.

You can also hear the abuse poem I wrote in response to Reuben Woolley's prompt on the last podcast and you can read it on the Writers for Calais Refugees site here.

Christina's website is: collectingwords.wordpress.com

Christina Thatcher by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Reuben Woolley

Poet Reuben Woolley talks about his writing and why his ambition is to close down his popular online magazine I am not a silent poet – www.iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com

He reads a selection of poems and invites listeners to write a poem on the subject of abuse. Some of the poems feature strong language and graphic imagery which, while suitable for the hard-hitting subject matter, may not be suitable for all audiences.

Reuben Woolley by Headstand on Mixcloud

Here's another poem by Reuben:

This episode also features poems by myself and Bel Blue written in response to Fran Smith's prompt on trees. My poem is based on the photo Country Doctor by W. Eugene Smith which you can view here. There are no trees in the picture but there are in the poem.

Podcast: Fran Smith

Fran Smith joins me to talk about how she discovered poetry. She reads some of her poems and challenges us to write poems about trees. There are also sonnets which we both wrote in response to Jonathan Edwards' prompts in the last podcast.

Fran Smith by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Jonathan Edwards

Winner of the 2014 Costa Poetry Award Jonathan Edwards joins me in conversation and reads from his collection My Family and Other Superheroes. He also sets two writing prompts:

1) A sonnet with a twist – See the poem below for inspiration.
2) Observe people, places and animals. Use your pen as a camera and write a poem from your observations. This technique produced many of the poems in Jonathan's collection which you can buy here.

Share your poems in the comments below or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.

Brothers

You know the sort: they borrow each other’s t-shirts,
wear each other’s sweat under their armpits.
In the pub, you swear you hear one’s voice and turn
to find the other chatting up your girl,
or else you catch one, curling up his lip,
as if he’s trying on his brother’s smile,
or you go to the bar and they both show up.
One has a knackered Transit, the other jump leads.
They’ve one gym membership and their own bodies,
tell the punch lines to each other’s jokes
and if you’re fool enough to bother one,
you’ll find yourself outside with both of them.
You know the sort: the elder has a child
who’s got her mother’s mouth, her uncle’s eyes.

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Mab Jones

On this edition I am joined by Mab Jones who shares some of her poems and talks about her recent visit to Japan to learn the Japanese art of rakugo – story telling. She would also like to hear your poems on the theme of Japan. They could be about anything related to Japan or poems in a Japanese form about anything at all. Haiku are easy to go for or try one of these. You could even write in Japanese.
Post your poems in the comments or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.
You can also hear the poem I wrote in response to Will Ford's prompt on the last podcast.

Here's another of Mab's poems you can buy her book Poor Queen here.

Wonderland

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” – Lewis Carroll

Let curiosity be your guide.

Let the dark that dwells inside

Dare here. Let go of fear

As babies do their mother’s hand.

And at your feet: a doorway, now.

A smiling mouth. Step in. Slide down. 

Let yourself be swallowed whole.

Inside, all your life, you’ve yearned:

Eat me. Drink me. Let possibility

Open wide, consume the you

You thought you knew. Sink deeper.
Fall. Let go of all and, like that ancient

Apple, land. Rise up, then. Stand.

Your naked flesh on newborn feet -

Tentative. Teetering. Testing

Soft soles on an old world’s teeth.

Your eyes, unpeeled. Your heart, a seed.
Prepared for an adventure, here,

That’s furiouser and furiouser.

Mab Jones by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Will Ford

Cardiff writer Will Ford talks about his writing, performances and publications and offers advice to other writers. He also offers a writing prompt "There’s something flickering in the corner of my eye and I don’t know whether I should look at it..."
Do share your poems in the comments below or at info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.

www.willdeanford.com

Photo by: Yvette Robertshaw Photography

Here's an extract of Will's long poem The Coward which he discusses during the podcast.

The candle on the wooden table
Casts a shadow that moves in the breeze
That steals in between the planks of this hut
In my head I sink down to my knees
Clasping my hands in a desperate prayer
The blood in my veins starts to freeze
In my head I see myself
Thrashing around on the floor
A stray bullet rips at my left side
My guts open up like a door
My insides all outside
Not even the pride
Of dying a hero in war
But what's so heroic about being dead?
Every man one day must die
But not every man will use his last breath
As the fuel to ask himself why
A coward will lie forever condemned
Not just till the day that he dies

To die in battle is to die with honour
So they told us in basic training
Even if just one step is taken
And you slip in the mud that is raining
When the shell impact turns you into meat
There'll be no time for complaining
When shellfire turns you into a hero
And your remains are collected and binned
You'll be remembered for your sacrifice
And the cheerful way that you grinned
But I asked myself in my coward's crater
Where will your medal be pinned?

Will Ford by Headstand on Mixcloud

Podcast: Julie Pritchard

In the first in a series of podcasts on writers and artists based in South Wales I talk to prolific writer, walker and event organiser Julie Pritchard who shares some of her poetry and challenges listeners to write a poem about a grain of sand. Submit you poems in the comments below or email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk.

pritchardjulie5.wordpress.com

Little room big hate

Entering with no welcome

through a narrow minded passage

past ornamental stares of elitism,

misogynist painting’s look down.

Sycophant statue sits in the corner

ghostly Shadows on the wall not on the floor

disguised, whisperings behind closed doors.

Retiring to the top table, where opinions

are dished out from ego centric plates

sly sideboard glances gloat at others mistakes.

Bare shelves left bitter and unpublished

grey ashen cheerless fire

lacking flames of inspiration.

Cushions and curtains remain the same

fresh air loiters around sealed shut windows

they do not like change,

In a small room with big hate.

 By Julie Pritchard

Julie Pritchard by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: 8.7.14 with Tom Adams

It was great to be joined by musician and composer Tom Adams who talked about his soundtrack to the forthcoming film The Knife That Killed Me and played a few songs including a couple of new songs from his new solo album, due to be released next year.

8.7.14 with Tom Adams by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: Wooden Arms and Many Poets

Alex from Wooden Arms by Matt Widgery

This show features recordings from the recent Shindig/Allographic gig at the Unitarian Church featuring Wooden Arms accompanying the best poets from Cambridge and around. Wooden Arms play the next Shindig event on February 14th. Details here.

You can hear all recordings from the night at shallowrecords.co.uk.

Shindig/Allographic Special with Wooden Arms and many poets by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: 12.1.14

Join me from my private Cambridge studio for another hour of music and spoken word including Wooden Arms and Hollie Mcnish who are both performing at a special music and spoken word event with many more poets including me. Get full details from: https://www.facebook.com/events/237739173052572/?fref=ts.

12.1.14 by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show: 29.12.13

It was great to be back in the studios of Cambridge 105 for the final show of 2013. There are some favourites from the last year, some new music and spoken word from local poets and Raymond Antrobus plus a look ahead to a great music-spoken word event coming up in Cambridge next month.

29.12.13 Back on Cambridge 105! by Headstand on Mixcloud

Aidan Smith - Joni
Kimberley Rew - All I Want Is You For Christmas
Peel Carol Concert 1970 - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Robyn Hitchcock - Fix You
Melt-Banana - Lie Lied Lies
Pete Um - DVLA
The Handsome Family - Gulls
Hannah Floyd and Alex - Poetry at Romsey Poets
Ian Fisher and The Present - Regret
Holograms - Meditations
Raymond Antrobus - The Town in This Dream
Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - Nur zur Erinmerung
Sound Menagerie - Find The Line
Hella Better Dancer - Sleeptalking
Bemba Trio - Melô Do Vatapá
Jet Jaguar - Rollige 2013
808 State - Atlas 7
Dementa - Dementia

1st Show from Brighton

This first show from Brighton includes Ross Sutherland and Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip who are both playing the city this month along with the usual random mix of music and spoken word.

If you're a musician or spoken word artist and you'd like to be featured on the show please email info@patrickwiddess.co.uk or tweet @headstand. I'd particularly like to hear from Brighton based acts.

22.9.13 by Headstand on Mixcloud

Fat Boy Slim - Right here, Right now
Tom Adams and Dan Jeffries - Iceland Song
クリームチーズオブサン(Cream Cheese of Sun) -リバーシ (Reverse)
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Stunner
Ross Sutherland - Three Minor Compaints
Mega Emotion - Brains
PJ Harvey - The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore
Alfred Noyes - The Highwayman
Franka De Mille - Come On
David Francis - The Girl Got On
Pulp - I Spy
Musicforvoyeurs - Colliding Lovers
Luo - Imprints

Show: 19.5.13 with Mark Niel

This show opens with guests from the last show The Breaches and features poetry by Mark Niel from Milton Keynes - www.akickinthearts.co.uk

The Breaches - Vodka Jelly
Savages - City’s Full
Hour Hands - Design The Colours
The Handsome Family - Flies
Oh Standfast - footsteps
Tim Clare - The Girl From Donkey Kong
Mark Niel - Poetry
Teen - Paradise
Shawn Waters - Get on Home Mama
Tom Adams - A Sudden Break in the Clouds
Steve Moore - Light Echoes 1

19.5.13 with Mark Niel by Headstand on Mixcloud

Show 7.4.13

Oasis - Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
Just William and The Outlaws - Caroline
Rue Royale - Parachutes and Lifeboats
Charly “The City Mouse” Fasano - Job Seeker
Ian Keteku - Kay
Konsumprodukt - Divorcio Robot
Mwahaha - Swimmer
Nathan Leigh - Tightrope
The Bitter Springs - My Life As Dog in a Pigsty
Little Machine - The Lake Isle of Innisfree (WB Yeats)
Marika Hackman - Bath Is Black
Chris Abrahams - Stabilised Ruin
Jet Jaguar - Single-Digit High
Matthew Shaw - Dans Maen

7.4.13 by Headstand on Mixcloud