Altho' I'd known I'd be reading at L'Bro Uni for some while I was only told
precisely when in the week before, AND that anyone who wished to see me read
would have to pay for an all-day ticket (£10) although my slot was just 20
minutes ( I was reading for free btw)
For that reason I didn't encourage friends to come. This was just part of
the strangeness. CAD was reading the night before (it was a three-day event)
same ticket price tho' I imagine she was paid. And met, showed round,
introduced, all of which luxuries were neglected for us on the Sunday.
Having said that, I enjoyed reading, and the audience were responsive. It
was just weird going to a reading where the organizers didn't bother
speaking to the readers or the audience. Really really weird.
More later.
2009/7/31 Judy Prince <[log in to unmask]>
> Hey, how come I didn't know you read at L'Bro U! We'd've been there! Why
> was it strange?
> I keep wishing I'd glow with delight at C Duff's poems, but it don't
> happen.
>
> Her serious mission seems off, somehow. I know folks who cave to her
> almost
> religious sincerity regarding poetry-making. Separate that from her actual
> poems and you have . . . a religiously serious-sounding poet whose poetry
> isn't all that good.
>
> How did this happen, David? And the Padel thing, too. I'll be voting for
> Stephen Moss for P o P of OU.
>
> Egad, let's find you a room at the Curve! Or in the parsonage across the
> road.
>
> Best,
>
> Judy
>
> 2009/7/30 David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > It read rather like the commissioned poem it is, and as if something
> > readymade for the school syllabus. I dunno: it seemed made out of things
> > she'd read, but she's the same age as me and would have grown up in a
> > childhood where there were lots of people around who fought in the
> trenches
> > and would have a relationship with that, well I do anyhow. The memories
> of
> > both wars were all about me, walking. Some of them were my grandfathers
> > even.
> >
> > (It seemed curiously unreal as just after I wrote the police called
> asking
> > if I'd heard anything overnight: a guy on the floor above had been found
> > hanged out of his window)
> >
> > (ps I read at Loughborough University on Sunday; that was strange too!)
> >
> >
> > 2009/7/30 Judy Prince <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > > Haven't checked these out yet, but wanna know your take on it, Dave.
> > > Best,
> > >
> > > Judy
> > >
> > > 2009/7/30 David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
> > >
> > > > Carol Ann Duffy is certainly being very visible, audible:
> > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8175000/8175790.stm
> > > >
> > > > <http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8175000/8175790.stm
> > > > >commissioned
> > > > by BBC Radio 4 to commemorate the deaths of the last British
> survivors
> > of
> > > > the battles of WWI.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > David Bircumshaw
> > > > "A window./Big enough to hold screams/
> > > > You say are poems" - DMeltzer
> > > > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> > > > http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> > > > The Animal Subsides
> http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> > > > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > David Bircumshaw
> > "A window./Big enough to hold screams/
> > You say are poems" - DMeltzer
> > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> > http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
> >
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"A window./Big enough to hold screams/
You say are poems" - DMeltzer
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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