It’s a pleasure to welcome John Hegley to Poetry Non-Stop. John has entertained and inspired many over the years with his poetry, wit and music. He will be discussing his recent book A Scarcity of Biscuit inspired by the life and work of John Keats, as well as a fun creative writing exercise.
Here’s a taste of his work to entertain and fire up the imagination.
This podcast features a selection of poems sent in by listeners. We have heard many talented and accomplished poets in the last year. But Poetry Non-Stop was always intended to inspire everyone to write poetry and give new poets a platform.
This episode features poetry from:
Sarah Davies
Ann Walton / Kelley Allen
Ray Dunlap
Alex Blustin
Patrick Sheil
And music from Moth Conspiracy
It was particularly pleasing to receive poems in response to some of the prompts provided by guests. There are also a few inspired by prompts from the Poetry Non-Stop book which you can buy here.
Poetry Non-Stop is always open to submissions of poems inspired by writing prompts on the podcast. You can submit poems here and you could be featured on the blog or a future podcast.
This week musician and performance poet Pete Bearder joins me on the podcast to discuss his book on spoken word and performance poetry Stage Invasion.
Described by Ian McMillan as “a manifesto, party invitation, learned tome, history of ideas and soundtrack for exciting and scary times” and “the book we’ve all been waiting for”, Stage Invasion draws on academic scholarship, interviews with key figures in UK spoken word, and Bearder’s own decades of experience, to take us on a tour of our long ‘oral tradition’ from Homer to hip hop and the global poetic movements that have shaped history, exploring the artistry and unexpected science at work in the communal dynamics of live literature, and examining the role performance poetry can play in politics and protest.
You can order the book here.
Writing can be a lonely business but collaboration has always been at the heart of Wesley Freeman Smith’s practice. The Cambridge-based writer and artist began promoting events which brought together musicians, poets and visual artists in churches, basements and other grand and modest venues to perform, collaborate and share their creativity side-by-side.
From promoting others work he has stepped up to the mic himself on his latest project Catching Shadows a collaboration between himself and musician Theresa Elflein. Their debut release Fuse features Wesley’s abstract poetry set to music provided by guest collaborator Anna Schuschu.
Wesley talks about his latest project and working with artists across borders – artistic and geographical – to create art which is more than the sum of its parts.
Wesley also invites you to write a poem in response to one or more of these images he sourced for a ghost story writing project. You can hear a couple of his poems and one written by Patrick. Please share your own on social media using #poetrynonstop or via email here.
If you have enjoyed this podcast please help fund more episodes by donating via Patreon or Paypal. All contributions gratefully received.
This week poet and artist Wesley Freeman-Smith talks about recent projects and the works he has created and curated through collaboration with artists working across a variety of discipline. His latest project Catching Shadows sees him sharing his poetry for the first time on a series of spoken word tracks accompanied by music from Leipzig-based experimental pop artist Anna SchuSchu with production from fellow Leipzig-based musician Theresa Elflein. The three artists shared recordings back and forth across the border ‘like pass the parcel’. You can listen to the results on debut EP Fuse now.
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