Silent Sunday - Porto

Big Trouble at Little Roc - Open Mic

A terrific evening of spoken word awaits you at the Little Roc cafe in Rochester. Come and join us, be swept away by the scorching words burned out by the fire in our heads

#cpcfire Camden Chocolate poetry club

Billing at the Camden chocolate poetry club, May 2018

The noisiest and liveliest spoken word event I've been to so far in London, the Chocolate Poetry club spoken word night in Camden is also one of the most inviting. I'd recommend a visit. It's regular open mic is held at the Camden Eye pub but they also host spoken word gigs at festivals out and about in the UK.

Details here: http://chocolatepoetry.com/

punch drunk dreams

punch drunk dreams : SM Jenkin

punch drunk dreams

those languid peach dreams
recall light in petals
his honey drunk friends
sing deliriously
but never
could she have
you
 here

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Fridge poem by SM Jenkin

Words of the month: Skull, Ghost, Twitch

The Veil Blinks by SM Jenkin

Photo:Pixabay (creative commons)

The veil blinks,

is noticed to twitch, 

once, from the other side

as children dance from

door to door,

cheap plastic caressing

their faces; 

skulls, green drowned

faces melting into innocent

necks. Tonight, it’s 

dad’s turn

and he is glad there have been

no sexy vampires, yet.

It was their game, 

once.

And he watches from the gate,

as some other man’s child wobbles 

past in a dirty white duvet,

scissored holes for eyes.

And he chances a brief look

at his watch, feeling the 

hour hand spinning 

like a helicopter,

lifting his hand.

Until the veil twitches

shut again, for another year.

And he didn’t think of her

once.

Inspired by Lisa Vigor’s Inspirational words of the month, Oct 2017  #Ghost #Twitch #Skull as posted by Lisa on youtube here

Silent Sunday - green

Image: S.M Jenkin

The Admiral's Tea Party

One thing that seems to slip many peoples minds is that the majority of Chatham dockyard is based in neighboring Gillingham (New Brompton).

From the beginnings of old Gillingham as a fishing village, there has been a strong naval tradition in the area. You can imagine there is a lot of naval history that is unknown about the area, or not widely known. One of the most surprising things that I have found out is that the Admiral of the whole British fleet held "fabulous" tea parties on the lawn of his residence on the lower lines park. (I'm still quite surprised that he lived in Gillingham).

To celebrate and illuminate this history, Sam of Wordsmithery fame is helping local people create a show commissioned as part of the Paint The Town Festival to be performed at the Lower Lines Park in Gillingham on Saturday, 8 July.

A day-long workshop is planned at the Brook Theatre on Saturday, 24 June for people who would like to take part. To book or for further info contact wordsmithery.info@gmail.com

See this article about the Great Lines Admiral's Gardens by the Kent Gardens Trust

Turning the tide at Turner

When did it happen? I was convinced that the Medway poets had moved on and for poetry now you had to look to London. But here we are - drowning in a sea of artistic talent in Medway. I was wrong. And now I've discovered the Thanet poets are giving it some.

Image credit: S.M Jenkin

My perception is that the Medway poets of the 70s moved around much in pubs. As much as I can admire pub culture - and frequently do - I've noticed that something has changed. We're being noticed outside of the pubs now.

Among the pub and cafe events, there's a regular poetry gig at the Turner Gallery, run by the extraordinarily energetic Neanderthal Bard. Does this mean we're respectable now? I'm not entirely convinced that poets should be. Aren't we supposed to say the unsayable? Are we anything more than an event that ticks some funding box?

Try the Neanderthal Bard's social media feed - his listing of events is not to be missed. It's one way of holding onto the horses neck on the current merry go round of open mics, poetry slams and gigs.

Either way I'm going to be reading at the poetry gig at the Turner on Sunday, 9 July. The event (please note the new date) will be part of the Margate Festival. The poetry starts at 1pm. See you there...?

  

Where the Medway Delta meets The World....

Coming soon, Issue #4 of Confluence Medway... Where the Medway Delta Meets The World.

Portmeirion Estuary: S.M Jenkin

Issue #4 is shaping up well, prose and poems beautifully illustrated by Duncan Grant.

Submissions for Issue #5 are now open and the deadline is 12 July 2017. There is no theme so you can send any short stories/prose, short plays and poetry on any topic.

Only original unpublished work submitted by the author will be considered. If you would like your work to be considered for inclusion in the next edition, email your submission as an attachment to: confluencemedway(at)gmail.com with ‘POETRY / PLAY / STORY TITLE by NAME’ in the subject line. (Eg ‘6 poems by Wanda Wax’ / ‘Waiting for Charlie by Herbert Berry’.)

In your email please include your full contact details including postcode, and a short biography, no more than 50 words

More details about how to submit work to Confluence are available from the Confluence Blog.

Inspirational Nights - Let's play!

Join Lisa Vigour at the one and only interactive open mic night in Medway. Come to perform or to appreciate the silken words and notes woven onstage for your pleasure.

Can't think of anything to say or to play? Pick one of the prompts on a peg and get going, you may surprise yourself...

Inspirational Nights Rochester, Kent

Mics and PA are provided. There is a piano at the venue you'll be welcome to play. If you want to play another instrument please bring it. All performers at this event get a free drink...

The next Inspirational Night will be at the Northern Seaman on 18 May 2017, from 8.30pm onwards. The Northern Seaman is at 378 Rochester Highstreet, ME1 1DJ Rochester, Medway.

Inspirational Nights are held on the third Thursday of every month. It's a lovely relaxed atmosphere. Come and play.

Kochi Fish Cemetery - a warning

You will find a fish cemetery on display at Fort Kochi South Beach, behind the Dutch cemetary.

Image credit: SM Jenkin

It's a beautiful installation created by artists Manoj Brahmamangalam and Pramod Gopalakrishnanan, described as "a warning, for the sustenance of life". 

Dr V Kripa, head of Fishery Environmental and Management Division principal scientist at the CMFRI says. “Plastic has become one of the biggest threats to aquatic ecosystems and their resources...Large plastic sheets have been found in the stomach of mackerel, tuna, queen fish, ribbon fish and whale, which clearly indicates that plastic has entered our marine food chain"

It beautifully illustrates the damage done to our ecosystem by the dumping of plastic waste on land, but is it necessary? Don't we know this by now, or is it a case of a problem being seen as "out of sight, out of mind...?"

Confluence Launch Party - 28 August

Confluence is being launched soon - where the Delta meets the world...

Come join us for a smorgasbord of verbal delights Sunday, 28 August at Only Connect 32 Cubitt Street, London, WC1X 0LR

It's FREE and with an open mic available on the night ready to be filled.

We'll be using material from our debut edition, but we'll be looking for contributions for our second edition, due October 2016...

Confluence Medway - online
Confluence Medway - Facebook

Silent Sunday

Blogging and competitions

After a long break, I've started to send out work to competitions and for consideration for publication. I have come across some restrictions on what I can send out that I haven't encountered before, and I find it somewhat perplexing.

Some editors now consider work posted to blogs etc as self-published and therefore ineligible for their prize or their magazine. Others go further and consider work posted to social media as being "published". I can understand why editors will want to limit their input to material that has not been published elsewhere, avoiding the "I can get it free somewhere else so why bother buying". This also limits the possibility - perhaps - of plagiarism and the messy business of trying to put it right.

However, the restrictions on material published online in forums/ social media is proving difficult for people who want to workshop material, especially those facing barriers to joining the traditional ways of work shopping new material. For those of us without a suitable editor/ critical friend, or the chance to join a writers group, how do we access a suitable critique? If there aren't any writers groups meeting locally, or if our work pattern or caring responsibilities means we can't go, what then?

Writers don't work alone - we are a part of a community. How do you manage to get feedback from your friends without self publishing on shared sites?
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Picture sourced from Pixabay

Silent Sunday