Podcast to share and inspire poetry
Recent guest Andy N hosts the excellent poetry podcast Spoken Label and he was kind enough to invite me on. It was wonderful to take the guest’s seat for a change and talk about writing, podcasting and improv comedy as well as reading a few poems.
We welcome back recent guest Andy N who invites us to use a bit of nostalgia in today’s Napowrimo prompt.
Homage to Bagpuss in Hove
Was it the third or fourth night, Sarah?
during that month, we lived in Hove
when my agent paid for us both to
move there temporarily,
that second summer, we were together,
and we stumbled onto that singer
playing alone beside the coastline
at the start of dusk.
Do you remember him asking, Sarah?
pausing in between songs
can either of us play an autoharp
or a mandolin
at the edge of the beach
a cup of hot chocolate
barely keeping
his aged fingers warm.
I’d grown up watching it like you
although I couldn’t begin
to name any of the songs
he played one after the other,
rather the names of Bagpuss’s friends
from Professor Yaffle to
The Mice on the mouse-organ
to Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine
.
I see the singer’s face even now
harmonica in his mouth
playing a melody of Song of the Flea
and Charliemouse Weaving
before eventually finishing with
the bony king of nowhere
opening up the curtain
to an unexpected love.
You didn’t get it, I should have seen
in the ash-coloured light
finding the nostalgia too strange
pausing for a few minutes
as if you were listening to something else
before hurrying on as before
underlining the differences between us both
that I only realised after you had gone.
Andy N
For more NaPoWriMo tips and writing prompts check out the book Poetry Non-Stop.
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast please consider showing your support with a donation via ko-fi.com
Books by many of the poets featured on the podcast, are available from the Poetry Non-Stop bookshop here. All books purchased via this link help to raise money to keep this podcast going.
Andy N is not only a prolific poet, novelist, podcaster among other creative roles he is also a tireless champion of other poets and artists. He reads some poems from his recent collections and looks back on a long and productive career as well as offering some creative writing ideas.
Andy’s writing prompt
Write a poem with place names. Andy included seven towns in his poems Changing Carriages at Birmingham New Street. See what places you can weave into a poem. They might be places you know well, places you visited once a long time ago or places you have never visited. Let your mind wander and see where it takes you.
Do share your responses for possible inclusion on a future podcast. You can send poems here.
Andy N is the author of numerous poetry collections including ‘The End of Summer’, ‘From the Diabetic Ward’ and ‘Changing Carriages at Birmingham New Street’ and in 2023 brought out his debut novel ‘Birth’.
His Podcast credits include – Spoken Label (Author / Poet Chat Podcast) / Cloaked in the Shadows (Paranormal / Supernatural Podcast) and Not the TV Guide (TV / Film Review Podcast).
He co-runs Chorlton Cum Hardy’s always welcoming Spoken Word Open Mic ‘Speak Easy’ and does ambient music under the name of Ocean in a Bottle and works with the band Polly Ocean.
For more info go to: https://linktr.ee/andynartist
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast please consider showing your support with a donation via ko-fi.com
Books by many of the poets featured on the podcast, are available from the Poetry Non-Stop bookshop here. All books purchased via this link help to raise money to keep this podcast going.
Poetry Non-Stop 