Self Improvement: 1000 ways is 100 days

Posted on March 30, 2010 by sophiegps

A poet, a painter, a music maker: what have you always wanted to be, or be able to do?

Could you do one thing each day to get you that  little bit closer?

As part of the London Word Festival more than 1000 participants made daily self improvements in the 100 days to make me a better person project captained by comedienne Josie Long. Adventurous artist and inventor Twentington wrote a sixteen line poem everyday, whilst poet Chrissie Williams embarked on a quest to learn 100 new words, discovering such dictionary quirks as porraceous (leek-green?!) and endeavouring to use them in conversation. Other participants learnt French, spoke to strangers and mastered the art of knitting.  

  In the spirit of trying something new, Southbank Centre Members claimed the mic at the recent Members’ Poetry event, with artist in residence Lemn Sissay bringing the laughs and his distinctive poetic dynamics to the mix .

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry.  In keeping with our exploration of poetry and place, this week we recommend Tom Chivers’ How to Build a City for a poetic tour of London from all sorts of alternative angles. You can find his book in the Poetry Library here at Southbank Centre.

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The Aural Acrobatics of Music and Poetry

Posted on March 16, 2010 by sophiegps


The fusion of poetry and music is filling Southbank Centre with its sweet sounds this month, with the eclectic jazz sound of Polar Bear meeting the serene and unforgettable voice of Zena Edwards in a collaboration on the 23rd of March. Following that, April is set to bring more aural acrobatics as jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch and the South African Poet Laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile (Bra Willie) headline Salon Shebeen .

Collaborations and fusions like these seem to be growing in popularity. More and more artists are stepping out of their boxes as poets or musicians and meeting in the colourful spaces in-between.

A recent upload to the Global Poetry System website shows the words of the Romantic writer Jean Paul Richter, which were discovered on the wall of a pub. He eloquently describes music as ‘the poetry of the air’, reminding us that this mingling of genres has a long standing tradition. The relationship between poetry and music has always been a symbiotic one, with ballads and their musical poetics adopted by storytellers and news bearers as early as the thirteenth century.  Can modern day lyrics be described as poetry? Perhaps it depends on the song, or what it means to the listener.

Blue, Joni Mitchell

This month, Global Poetry System will be exploring this connection. Everyone has songs that could contribute to the mixtape of their life; maybe the lyrics that define a first festival, a wedding, or a childhood memory.  Music can conjure old sights and sounds, car rides and summers. It can remind us of something, or help us to forget. Personally, for better or worse, The Seekers Train Whistle Blowing will always remind me of setting out for early morning camping trips in my parents orange Lada, half the contents of our household strapped to the roof-rack. Which are the tracks that can take you back to a different place at a different time? Scribble your favourite lyrics where you will: on your feet, in the street, or get creative and record them as audio. If ‘songs are like tattoos’, then why not give your skin some temporary decoration? Take inspiration from this weeks featured poets, who have all captured their favourite lyrics in unusual places, or visit the Poetry Library here at Southbank Centre. The collection includes an interesting array of books by musicians from Bob Dylan to composer John Cage, find out more on their website.

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry. Put your musical memory on the Global Poetry System map.

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Celebrate World Book Day at the Dylan Thomas Centre

Posted on February 26, 2010 by dylanthomascentre

The Dylan Thomas Centre celebrates World Book Day on 4 March with offers in our bookshop throughout the day, and a special, free evening event at 7pm.

Our bookshop is open from 10am to 4.30pm, and there will be thousands of second-hand books on offer at half-price, and reductions on many new books. Relax in the unique surroundings of the Dylan Thomas Centre, and browse the bookshelves while enjoying coffee and cake.

Join us at 7pm for ‘Stuff Happens’ on World Book Day. Inspired by the GPS project, and run in partnership with The Crunch poetry night at Mozarts, the Stuff Happens events bring together new and established voices from Swansea’s diverse poetry scene. To celebrate World Book Day, Stuff Happens readers will be discussing some of the authors who have influenced and inspired their own writing, and reading a poem or two. Those taking part include Nigel Jenkins, Margot Morgan, Emily Vanderploeg, Richard Jones, Alan Kellermann, Rhys Owain Williams, Liza Penn Thomas and Kelly Constanza, and the evening will be compered by Adam Sillman. There will be books and magazines for sale, dadaist poetry fun, and plenty of time to enjoy a drink and good conversation in between the readings.
Contact the Dylan Thomas Centre on 01792 463980 for more information.

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In Other News: A DIY Guide to Newspaper Poetry

Posted on February 23, 2010 by sophiegps

Instead of writing poetry about current affairs, why not have a go at making poetry out of them? Newspaper and magazine articles provide an abundance of words ready for poetic manipulation. Cartoonist and poet Austin Kleon crafts his Blackout Poetry by erasing words in news articles with a marker pen. Often moving and always interesting, these poems push the boundaries of the poetic form and reveal surprising snapshots of beauty in blocks of newsprint.

The practise of text alchemy has been a long standing one, with poet Tom Phillips creating visual masterpieces such as these in the 1970’s.

 

With a pair of scissors and a bit of imagination a news article can be turned into a thing of beauty. The radical Dadist movement of the 1920’s shook up the news by cutting up and rearranging its parts. Here is a word from the father of the Dadist movement on how it’s done:  

  • -Take a newspaper.
  • -Take a pair of scissors.
  • -Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.
  • -Cut out the article.
  • -Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.
  • -Shake it gently.
  • -Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.
  • -Copy conscientiously.
  • -The poem will be like you.
  • -And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar.

-Tristan Tzara

Why not pick up your local paper and make news into poetry? Upload your alchemic creations to the GPS website to put them on the global poetry map.

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry found at www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gps

 For more newspaper poets and text alchemists, including Tom Phillips and Sam Winston, visit the poetry library website.

IN OTHER NEWS: Jane Gardam tells The Guardian about how she is taking poetry out onto the streets of Sandwich

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Appear on Global Poetry System flyer!

Posted on December 9, 2009 by ryan
Global Poetry System is coming up with a new flyer to let people who aren’t already in the know catch up!
HipHop ChipShop

 We will feature the most visually arresting and interesting posts, especially those with stories behind them, or just a funny/enlightening description. So take your camera or other image capturing device with you today, find poetry, upload, and you may find your findings distributed all over!

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This month’s theme: See the World like Ed Ruscha

Posted on November 25, 2009 by ryan

Each month the GPS team will help sharpen your poetic eye by suggesting themes for your GPS posts. This month’s theme is inspired by Ed Ruscha and the 50-year retrospective of his work that is now on show in the Hayward Gallery.

Ed Ruscha: OOF, 1962 (reworked 1963)

Ed Ruscha’s paintings explore the range of associations that come with how a word looks or sounds, and the ambiguous responses that everyday words can evoke. Just as Ed Ruscha began to see common typography as art, so you can begin to see found words as poetry. Familiar or seemingly innocuous words can sometimes appear abstract, with some unintended or mystical meaning. These are the words that form this month’s GPS theme. So find them, map them, and share them!

Here are some GPS posts to help get you in the mood…

Lost: Poster or Poem found by The Scottish Poetry Library’s Ryan Van Winkle

Please Play found by GPS’s Lucy

Abandon Ship found by Tom Chivers

Survival Cache found by Kathleen M. Heideman

The GPS team hope to feature content that catches their eye, so think eye-catching! Often it is the context of the word that is striking or strangely associative. Words in a text sit in context with other words, but a cluster of isolated words can be a ’text’ in itself, and the environment it inhabits becomes its context.

GPS connects these isolated incidents on an online map, and allows photographs of poetry to be uploaded, creating a new kind of virtual text exhibition. Look out for the exhibits!

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry in partnership with these orgainsations.

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Podcast by Ryan @ Scottish Poetry Library

Posted on November 18, 2009 by ryan

Yesterday we had a very pleasant meeting with Ryan Van Winkle, Reader in Residence at The Scottish Poetry Library, one of our partners. Here is Ryan’s highly entertainting and informative blog. Ryan is a very active poetry workshop leader in the region and wonderfully enthusiastic about GPS.  Here are Ryan’s great GPS posts - expect more to come!

The most recent in SPL’s series of podcasts featuring Ryan at the helm picks up GPS’s notion of ‘poetry is all around you’ and runs with it (metaphorically. I seem to remember Ryan raising an eyebrow to an idea that combines poetry with actual running). You can listen to the podcast here, and why not subscribe to the whole series for free via RSS or iTunes? It will make the journey to work far more envigorating, no running required.

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry in partnership with these orgainsations.

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Salt Publishing’s Campaign to Reinstate Sue Hubbard poem

Posted on November 4, 2009 by ryan

dream of

Global Poetry System has learned via Salt Publishing that Sue Hubbard’s poem installation in a tunnel near Waterloo Station has been painted over. This is a real shame and we support Salt’s campaign to bring it back. Sue’s poem, being so near to the Southbank  Centre, was an inspiration during the development of the project and we hope to see it back where it belongs.  I have posted one word of the poem as a GPS post here – perhaps we can share photos of the rest and post on GPS? Join Salt’s campaign here.

me

Global Poetry System is a user generated world map of poetry in partnership with these orgainsations.

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PoetCasting at the Dylan Thomas Festival

Posted on October 29, 2009 by dylanthomascentre

PoetCasting is at the Dylan Thomas Festival – 31 October from 10am to 5pm!

PoetCasting is a poetry podcasting project which works with poets throughout the United Kingdom. The project features published, performance, emerging and established poets reading their own work online and out loud. The project has been live since April 2007. There are currently 507 poems online from 174 individual poets.
PoetCasting is the UK’s foremost poetry podcasting enterprise, and we’re delighted that it’s returning to Swansea with an innovative new literature event, where it will be in residence throughout the day alongside the Lynette Roberts Conference. At last year’s Dylan Thomas Festival, a number of poets were recorded for the project, including Aeronwy Thomas. Come this year and hear the best emerging and established poets writing in the UK today. Hundreds of poems from over 150 poets will be available on iPod Shuffles for you to listen to. All are welcome – whether you are a web wizard, or haven’t even heard of an RSS feed.
To get a flavour of the exciting work PoetCasting does, visit the website at http://www.poetcasting.co.uk

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The Dylan Thomas Festival is underway

Posted on October 28, 2009 by dylanthomascentre

and it’s been a flying start so far. We opened with readings from Dannie Abse and Peter Finch, two of Wales’ most established and well respected poets. Contrasting in style, both were gripping in their different ways; Abse with his more traditional lyrics, and Finch combining the experimental with the personal. What a hard act to follow – and who better than Cerys Matthews, former Catatonia frontwoman and successful solo artist? Her intimate set at the Dylan Thomas Centre enthralled a sell-out crowd, and her readings of Dylan Thomas’ poetry were some of the best we’ve ever heard. She also read an extract of ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’, which was both funny and moving. Afterwards, she signed not only CD cases, but also a T Shirt – and a set of crutches. Only in Swansea, someone was heard to mutter…

Next up is a new one-man Richard Burton show by Gwynne Edwards, starring Rhodri Miles. Burton’s admiration of Dylan is well documented – he made the role of First Voice in ‘Under Milk Wood’ his own, and asked to be buried with a copy of Dylan’s ‘Collected Poems’.

So three days of poetry, music and drama – and that’s just from the audience. Plenty more to come – the festival runs until 9 November, and there’ s events every day. See http://www.dylanthomas.com for the full programme.

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