Sunday 24 May 2015

Super Crazy Busy Week

 

As a freelance, every now and again, work and engagements seem to congregate in the same small corner of the calendar. This week is the culmination of so many months of diverse work and I share not to boast but to encourage those of you working freelance in the arts, that hard work does sometime pay off and offsets the rejections and failed bids for funding.

 

I am learning that finding partners is a key to finding successful projects and I am grateful to all of the partners and organisations that are helping me live the life I have always sought.

 

On Monday and Tuesday I have the privilege of performing at How The Light Gets In Festival at Hay on Wye. A solo show on Monday evening at 7pm and part of an all day Poetry event.

 


 

On Wednesday, I will be working at the Parks Trust helping to promote activities at the MK Rose (more later) and in the evening, I am delighted that one of my short theatre pieces “Walking on Bombshells” will receive its debut by the wonderful Carabosse Theatre Company at their Real Ale and Drama Shots night alongside six other new theatre pieces. There is a run from Wednesday to Saturday at the Buszy in Milton Keynes

 


 

On Thursday evening, I will be reading at the opening of an exhibition called Here I am at the chapel in Milton Keynes Hospital for Arts on Prescription. I have conducted workshops with a group from a retirement village around the theme of the five senses of memory and some of the poems will be part of the exhibition.

 


 

On Saturday evening, I will be singing with Heart and Music, the choir at a concert to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Newport Pagnell Methodist Chapel. I also do a short poetry set as part of the concert.

 


 

Finally, to round off a wonderfully varied week, I am reading a commissioned poem as part of the Motus Dance Company project Response. This is a site-specific dance project starting at the MK Gallery and finishing at the MK Rose in Campbell Park. As to whether I end up taking part in the Dance, you will just have to turn up and see!

 


 

Have a great week yourself and hopefully see you at an event.

 

Keep writin’ and recitin’

 

Mark x

Thursday 7 May 2015

Fire: VE Day 70th anniversary poem

Fire
Written for VE Day’s 70th Anniversary Celebrations

This was the day the nation exhaled,
Loosened up, unstiffened its lip.
Shook free its hair and
Shook its hips as
Bands played from balconies
Turning squares into dance floors,
Bottles hidden for special occasions,
Are sprung from secret stores.

Joy unrestrained, black bordered with relief,
Class and other differences set aside,
The postponed shudders of grief
Lost in the communal pride
Of celebration. The endorphin rush of
Finding the hot spot crush at
The Palace, the Circus, or Trafalgar Square.
The day we’d dared

Hope for but never mentioned
Finally, tangibly, here.
So in true British style,
We raised and sank many beers,
Called our darkest fears, liars.
So tonight, we light fires
A symbol of returning light
On the day when the black and white

Of war gave way to the fresh colours of peace.
The Bells of St Paul’s sang treble to tug horn bass.
Strangers kissed anyone in uniform
Full in the face.
An end to that stage of conflict,
A start of recovery from all the hits.
That day when even our future Queen
Danced the conga in the Ritz.