Having so rudely exposed poor Ernest's uncertain roots, I feel duty bound
to introduce myself.
I was born in the UK (I'm fairly certain of that :)) and attended art
schools here, including the Royal College of Art where I completed an MA. I
currently work in a UK art school as a middle-manager (ha ha! - there was a
time when the words 'manager' & 'art school' would not be seen in the same
sentence.) I began writing fairly seriously in the mid-eighties and became
a member of Slope-G a Clapham based performance poetry group. Shortly after
this, I began attending the 'Poems & Pints' sessions at Brentford Arts
Centre, hosted by Robert Rankin (of Brentford Trilogy fame). When this
closed, a new group formed ('Wooden Lambs') which met regularly in
Chiswick. I performed my poems throughout London in the mid to late
eighties at many well-known venues including Riverside Studios, Troubador,
Torriano's, Oscar's, the Voice club and many more. I never attempted to
publish my poetry, being at that stage content with performance.
I now live outside London. After a short spell without writing (long story
here which I will not bore you with), I began to write again when I became
interested in the Internet. For the last two years, I've been writing
poetry mainly for (and often about) the net. That is not to say that the
texts I write aren't valid in other contexts such as performance or for
conventional publication, but I have found that being 'connected' has
provided me with a fresh impetus to write. By this, I think I mean a new
audience and a new set of parameters. Having said that, performance work
still interests me greatly, and I plan to try to resurrect my activities in
this area at some point.
Orlando
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