Poetry Gala at Lawnswood School

Richard Wilcocks writes:

John Siddique

The acoustics are fine in the drama studio at Lawnswood School, so microphones were unnecessary, and the audience of parents, staff and visitors was rapt as the young poets, most of them from Year Nine, read from their work, introduced by teacher Sarah Davies. To mention some really special contributions: Wisdom's Addictions and The Ghetto showed impressive sophistication, Ola's Identity and Prejudice were cleverly emotive, Simran and Jess's Looking in the Mirror and Immobilised gave them an opportunity to perform a well-rehearsed double-act, Rupo's Inside and Looking Beyond were brisk and well-honed, Owen with his violin showed that he has the makings of a maestro and Torin was amazing.

Torin, who is in the Sixth Form, overcame her nerves to deliver her two stanza poem The Mountain in three languages, all of which she speaks fluently - English, Danish and Kurdish. Born in Denmark of Kurdish parents, she came to the UK a couple of years ago and is thriving at Lawnswood. She told me that her favourite poem is To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell, which she has studied for A Level English Literature. She received the loudest applause of the evening.

Guest poet John Siddique also charmed the audience, which joined in his reading by repeating lines from one of his children's poems. "Poetry is the art of noticing," he asserted. He is very wary of publishers who choose book covers for their authors (most of them) and he is proud that one of his poems - about love and sincerity - was apparently banned in Russia (in translation) after it was handed out in photocopied form by supporters of the controversial Pussy Riot protestors, who were imprisoned for dancing in a Moscow cathedral. 

His most moving poems came towards the end - for example one about his eighty-four year-old mother. "I worry about her every time I see her," he told us. "She never hugged us once we'd stopped being small." the poem deals with an emotional meeting during which he massaged moisturiser into the palm of her hand. He finished his reading with a poem about a walk through Manchester, in which he notices the sounds and music of other cultures - Romanian, African and French - that he encounters. He hears the music of the kora (West African stringed instrument) and an accordion, and befriends a woman called Maria, who plays the same three chords in the street over and over again. "We would not have had the poetry we had tonight if it hadn't been for the most natural thing on the planet, migration," he told us. "Just look around the room."

In a series of workshops preceding the Poetry Gala, John had given guidelines for private writing and plenty of general advice, like "Be vulnerable. Run ahead of your own ego." He led creative writing sessions (poems which are lists, poems about things which people carry around with them, poems about the place where you grew up, for example) and read out one or two of his personal favourites - like extracts from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Flowers in May by D H Lawrence and somewhere i have never travelled by e e cummings. Some of the poems read by the students in the course of the evening were the result of the workshops, some were not and some are still being worked upon.

Audience Comments

Wonderful opportunity for our students to work with John. Fabulous performances and great to hear the context behind the poems. Shame it wasn't better attended. (Head Teacher)

Wonderful event. A lovely end to a challenging day. Uplifting and thought provoking. Thank you.

Inspiring! Great to hear the young poets (illegible section) and musician.

John Siddique quite amazing - remarkable poetry (illegible section) Many thanks!

Some powerful readings from pupils and excellent poems from John Siddique. Very enjoyable for a poetry 'newbie' and maths teacher

It was great, poetry was powerful. I loved the violin playing.

Fantastic event! Great way to get children involved in learning. The poetry reading was super and the children did great! Really enjoyed the evening. Thank you.

Inspiring, beautiful work.

It's very nice. It's really nice evening. Thank you so much for all of you.

I really enjoyed the close knit setting of the place - it felt like a conversation not a presentation. John Siddique breaking/halting his poems to talk about the background and experiences of his poems. Torin reading her poem in Danish - it sounded so beautiful. Owen - his involvement in the music

The guy playing the music so well was really impressive.

Great stuff. Needed more student poetry and some info/background from John perhaps on the provenance of the pieces

I really enjoyed all the performances it was beautiful.

Excellent to hear students reading deep and meaningful poetry that they have written. John Siddique - excellent.

A dozen poems but one very strong theme - angst, worry (illegible). How well these youngsters express themselves and good they have an opportunity to be able to express their darker feelings through such personal poetry.

A lovely opportunity to explore their own writing skills and perform to an audience. Who knows where it may lead?

Lovely to include music in the poetry showcase.

Good to hear John Siddique (illegible) read some of his own work. What a chance for the young people in the audience!

Brilliant

An Evening with Andrew McMillan and Linda Black

Linda Black and Andrew McMillan                               Photo by Richard Wilcocks

Richard Wilcocks writes on Linda Black:

To be challenged, even tormented, by Linda Black’s poetry is pleasurable, because she usually gets the riddling right. Delivering her work as if she was in a cheerful but fragmented conversation with the audience and with herself, she took us into her gallery to scrutinize fragments of perception, tiny details plucked out of transience, hand-scoops from her beck of consciousness. She was glad to be in Headingley Library, away from London and up in Leeds, where she was once at the old Art School, and where local people speak like those in her childhood memories. I was taken aback, at first, not just by the fact that prose poems are not run-of-the-mill, especially when her juxtapositions and rhythms are in them, but by the startling, rawly honest-sounding treatments of her family, her father for instance, though I was never absolutely sure who the ‘her’ and the ‘she’ was throughout the reading. I assume that the ‘she’ is Linda Black, often detaching herself like an omniscient observer. The pleasure comes partly from not being absolutely sure about anything and partly from being invited to supply the rest of a narrative, which may or may not be there in the poet’s mind. The torment comes partly from many of her endings, which tend to be jumps into the blue. Often, it was as if I was anticipating the final notes in a piece of music which would normally complete a sequence, which do not come.

By the time in the reading when she reached her new collection Slant, a departure from prose poetry, I was really engaged. Here were the minute observations again, along with allusions and references to gardens and the countryside:

A crispen  leaf  a cleft shell  a corridor

Of earthworm  growth

Clipped  (she prunes)   cut

&  the more  will grow

Here too were homages to other writers, their actual words beautifully arranged with great skill. Virginia Woolf, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Bishop all got the treatment. This little stretch of life (from the letters of Elizabeth Bishop) was breathtaking. Does she wield a craft knife on printed pages to slice out what is needed? Or does she live with a poet’s notebook (she has a note-taker’s fondness for the ampersand) full of lists and collections of fine-sounding words – especially amusing pairs linked by hyphens – to create her own sprung rhythms, her own music?

Audience Comments:

Particularly enjoyed Andrew's poetry but overall great readings.

Linda's poetry was beautifully delivered by Linda herself from earlier prose poetry and her latest verse poetry to give a true flavour of her work. I have never listened to either poet read aloud before and it really aided my understanding.

Excellent. 

Lovely to hear poetry read by the author - gives a different feel to the words on the page. A local treat. Thank you.

Excellent. Lovely cosy venue. Such a pleasure. Thank you.

Wonderful readings - really enjoyed it.

Love being read to. Liked 2 poets - different styles.

Very enjoyable event - lovely readings from quite singular poets.

Fantastic event bringing poetry to Leeds.

Great readings - thanks!                

The Booles and the Hintons - Gerry Kennedy

Ming Wei Chong writes:

Gerry adopted a unique approach in The Booles and The Hintons, with narrative ownership, as opposed to mainstream biography of figures. It constitutes a hybrid of travel, politics, opinion and biography, as well as an intimate touch with excerpts from his travel diary. Gerry reminisced his early childhood days and the discovery of kinship and familial ties subsequent to him attending the funeral of a relative in 2000. With a quasi-political personality, he narrated his involvement in the peace movement.

We gained a very fascinating insight where there was reflection of stark contrasts between today’s world and the early days. There was a comparison between the computer-dominated world, and the era when The Booles and the Hintons advocated egalitarian doctrines, and were proponents of social change. There was amalgamation between science and religion - the co-existence of scientific discoveries along with spiritual beliefs.

It was especially intriguing to learn about the British physicist and mathematician, whom I idolise very much when learning about his work- Sir Geoffrey Taylor. It was exciting to gain some insight into his personal life and his biography as a major figure in fluid dynamics and wave theory, as well as his contribution to the Manhattan Project.

In particular, James Hinton- father of Charles Hinton attempted to uncover the mystery of pain and pleasure. Being an advocate of polygamy, he proposed for the need for change in the concept of marriage as a social institution. Liberation, as the realisation of nature, led him to explore the role allocation/ assignment between genders. He considered that men are vested with the responsibility of loving women who are innately more altruistic, while endorsing the theory of mutual respect.

The link between prayer and music was also briefly pondered over. The notion of prostitution was examined, especially the reason behind men turning to prostitution. The stand was a pioneering attitude towards prostitution, particularly during a relatively conservative era. Gerry also took us through his personal experience in Moscow, where he elaborated on his travels as well as his encounters while undertaking the task of smuggling some documents.

It was a captivating and thought-provoking exposition of the story of the Booles and the Hintons, illustrating ‘two dynasties who helped shape the modern world’.

A Manxman in Leeds

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Doug Sandle

It was just right for a pleasant Sunday afternoon - homely, intimate and indulgently nostalgic. We were invited to share the thoughts and memories of Doug Sandle, who was, of course, brought up on the Isle of Man even though, in his words, he "doesn't share the genes" because his parents were "come-overs" during the Second World War. Fortunately, he did not dwell on the genetic side of things. His mother had no idea where the place was when his father first invited her to join him there, and looked for it in the South China Sea. With the aid of slides on a Powerpoint, Doug soon filled us in with plenty of facts and figures: it is in the Irish Sea, one third the size of Hertfordshire, had a population of 84,000 last year, is not part of the UK (so will people there be voting in the coming Referendum?) and has the oldest parliament in the world, called Tynwald. So far, so tourist board. It is old-fashioned in many ways, its legislation lagging behind the mainland's sometimes in terms of progressive thinking, but it has had comprehensive secondary education since 1946 and it gave women the vote in 1919. The film industry has used it for location work (it was used for Letter to Brezhnev and Alfred Hitchcock's last silent movie, entitled The Manxman) and it has plenty of heather-clad hills, craggy cliffs and beautiful beaches, which turned it into a popular holiday resort in Edwardian times. In the popular English mind (if there is such a thing) it is well-known for its three-legged swastika badge, kippers, tail-less cats and motorcycle racing. So far, so tourist board.

Maria Sandle

Doug then made a series of quite surprising connections, not just by telling us well-I-never facts (how many people know that the Bee Gees were born and brought up on the Isle of Man?) but by making connections specific to Leeds. He did this on a personal, autobiographical level with anecdotes about when he first arrived in the city, for example when he bought a pint in the dour and unfriendly Three Legs pub on the Headrow, eagerly anticipating that it would be full of warm-hearted compatriots, and by reading his own poetry, some of it dating back a long time, like the lively descriptive poem he wrote about the journey from Liverpool, where the ship docked, to Leeds by train. He read from prose that he has written too - for example the account of when in his early years he played the drums in a group and found himself sitting at the kit of the drummer of the Ivy Benson All Girl Band. He is very fond of the memory of Ivy Benson, who was born in Holbeck, Leeds. She played during the summer season on the IOM during the 1950s, where Doug and his pals at school knew the group as "Ivy Bunsen and the Bunsen Burners". 

The Retrolettes

Perhaps the most surprising link between the island and the city was the poet Eliza Craven Green, who was born in 1803, and lived for a time in Meanwood Road. She spent some time as a thespian on the IOM before leaving to live in Manchester and then eventually back to Leeds - she is buried in St Mark's graveyard. She wrote the words for the IOM's unofficial national anthem - Ellan Vannin - in 1854. This was amongst the songs about the island sung by Maria Sandle. We later heard the Bee Gees version, which is on their last album.

Maria, along with the two charming Retrolettes (Teresa and John) produced some new songs about the IOM which I had not heard before, some with a music hall flavour which must have been aimed at holidaymakers a century ago. People can easily get entranced by the Isle of Man, sometimes literally, as Ray Brown's worrying tale about bad luck following his venture into an ancient burial site showed. Respectful visitors should be nice to the fairies, especially when crossing a certain bridge. They are a superstitious lot back there, says Doug. Do they also believe in homeopathy? He is entranced by the place where he was brought up, and his entrancement was catching. It was a fascinating afternoon.

Opening of Ellan Vannin

Ming Wei Chong writes:

This splendid performance resonates with me - being a University of Leeds graduate and having come from another country. The links between Leeds and the Isle of Man, history, personal experiences - beautifully encapsulated in the poetry, music, story and song. Very insightful and entertaining, Doug illustrates his strong sense of cultural and national identity as well as his encounters as 'A Manxman in Leeds'. 

The attraction of the Island for writers and painters were exemplified throughout. Doug reinforced the Island as a superb holiday destination, whilst reminding us to say 'good morning/ afternoon little ones' when we visit the Fairy Bridge in the south of the Island!

Audience comments

Excellent talk and slides also music from Maria Sandle and The Retrolettes.

A very enjoyable afternoon.

A personal pleasurable indulgence. Brilliant prose and music and entertainment. Surprising facts and a real bonus of a show!

Brilliant - a great mix of history, story and song and very entertaining.

Very interesting and felt privileged to be part of this event. Though Irish and an admirer of the Isle of Man I will definitely be visiting soon - much more informed now. Thank you.

An entertaining and moving afternoon with Doug and friends. Music, memories and 'spooky stories'. Thank you.

Excellent talk and songs - especially as I have strong Manx connections.

Brought a tear to my eye.

Fascinating historical and geographical information and coincident - beautifully helped by lovely apt songs.

Very enjoyable afternoon. Learnt a lot about the Isle of Man - and songs complemented the performance.

This is a fine cosy venue. The performance was very warm and entertaining.

A very nice afternoon with Doug Sandle giving us some information from him having grown up on the Isle of Man. I also enjoyed the singing from his wife Maria and The Retrolettes. I did think though that the venue was a bit packed out.

Informative, entertaining and quirky!

Very enjoyable mix of music and memories

Excellent entertainment.

Good event especially The Retrollettes who are simply Divine - but seriously - very entertaining a bit chaotic but nice and informal.

Delightfully disorganised event. Interesting and entertaining collection of memories and poems. Loved Doug's poems - not so sure about the music.

Interesting and informative

Lovely

Interesting (illegible) mix

Good - the singers; the tea and biscuits. Entertaining. Not so good - The speaker didn't appear to have rehearsed his talk and tripped over his words. The projector was badly sited so someone's head was in the way of the beam. The lights needed to be dimmed when screening slides. a centre isle is needed so people can move about. The singers were not introduced properly so that we knew who they were and their connections. Small children should not be admitted as they are disruptive. The ticket showed the wrong address for the venue. Venue too small.