"I’m here today writing poems for people"

“Hi, my name’s Henry, I’m here today writing poems for people.  Would you like to challenge me to write a poem on any topic you’d like?”

This is usually the spiel I deliver, all smiles and safe distance, trying desperately to prove that my pitch is not due to an obsessive fixation with that person, or fuelled by a intense desire to write poems by any means necessary.  I am, in fact, supported by Suffolk Libraries and Creative Arts East, and by extension Arts Council England, to write poems for anyone who wants one.

I visited Haverhill & Brandon Library, followed by the Heart of Norfolk in, well, Norfolk.  While there I performed to classes of Year 5 and 6s and met all manner of very nice, some very intense, people and savagely hunted for veggie food in their high streets.

I returned two weeks later armed with 39 poems written for 39 people, and hopefully everyone who gets their poem will appreciate it fits their request.  I also came back with Travels By Telephone, aka Jamie Wilson, and we performed several sets of solo material, and then our fusion show Practise Patience.  You can check out the show here.

So I now have to actually write a couple more pieces, and catch up on other work.  But I wanted to just add some thoughts here.  A lot of the time, people are amazed by my ‘ability’ to write poems for people based on their requests.  There’s no great trick, and the ‘talent’ lies within the practise and preparation.  I try to break down an pretence of being A Poet, break down any dividing line between me as an artist, and them as a audience.  The poem is based on their suggestions, their ideas and their input.

I hope this proves how writing poetry is so easy, a simple question, a few scribbled thoughts and then we’re away writing poems and stories.  Libraries and pubs are spaces where this can happen, a public space without the hang-ups that theatres instil in people.

So if you’re reading this and you gave me a suggestion, thank you so much!  I hope the poem you got was appropriate and inspired you to write something too!  But if you felt the poem could have been better or not quite about what you had in mind, then by all mean…go forth and write!

SAY OWT SLAM #1

Below is a copy of a preview I wrote for YorkMix for their website:

SAY OWT SLAM #1

28^th October, City Screen Basement, 7.30, £5

www.facebook.com/sayowtslam

@SayOwtSlam

S.O.S. is the brainchild of Henry Raby (@HenryRabyPoetry) and Stu Freestone (@StuFreestone).  We both consider ourselves ‘performance poets’ which essentially boils down to the fact we gig a lot.  Together, we’re proud to present SAY OWT POETRY SLAM.

The rules of a poetry slam vary from place-to-place, but our version will give 15 poets 3 minutes each to perform a piece.  There will be 5 audience members tasked as judges who will give each poet a score out of 10.  This means that poets are in competition, albeit a friendly one.  The top 5 poets will then perform once more and the highest score from those will be named Say Owt Slam Champ!

The stakes are raised, the energy is upped, the performance is sharper and the poems are stronger.  It also hands agency to the audience, even if they’re not judging.  A well-timed whoop or extra loud clap can affect the judges’ decision.  It also means afterwards strangers will debate who was the best poet (“no, you’re wrong, that metaphor was ace”).

York is very rich in poets and writers, with regular nights like Speaking In Tongues, Spokes, The Spoken Word and Speaker’s Corner, plus York Literature Festival and the yearly night I run at York Theatre Royal, Words & Whippets.  Hopefully, Say Owt Slam will be a melting pot for these poets, with the raw heat of a competitive night.

The response has been incredible.  Within 12 hours all our slots were filled.  It will be a bit nerve-wracking, but mostly very fun. Most slammers are from York, but some are travelling from Harrogate, Newcastle, Leeds and Hull!

Mark Grist, Girls Who Read:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWwXJT4LA5A

We also hope to bring a headliner each slam well-versed in performance poetry.  For the first one, we’re incredibly excited to have Mark Grist.  Mark was a teacher who became part of the Peterborough rap scene.  Mark brought his gentlemanly, nerdy and traditional poetry style to the rap battle circuit, and proved a cult favourite.  One recording of a battle went viral on youtube, attracting 3 million views.  He’s also done Bestival, Latitude, Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and a host of other UK festivals.

This is the first York slam for at least 3 years (as far as I’m aware), and we’re already looking at a date for the 2^nd slam in January.  If you fancy having a go at the second slam, or want more info, email us sosyork@hotmail.com.  Also, this looks like selling out so make sure you grab a ticket asap here:  http://www.thebasementyork.co.uk/event/2235/

Farewell Cockpit, Leeds

Thanks to the medium of Facebook, I found out that The Cockpit in Leeds is closing down.  An integral part of the Leeds music scene, though the venue was far from a perfect space, it did host bands of all genres and sizes and no student in Leeds (07-10 for myself) could exist within the city without encountering the underground venue at some point.

I got to DJ thanks to the Non-Stop boys a couple of times, and danced merrily to the odd punk/ska tune they would occasionally play at Slam Dunk nights.  I was a member of Punk Soc, and we often dragged poor freshers along.

So here’s a list of cool bands I caught with memories:

Slam Dunk all-dayer saw farewell to The Hydropaths (though they’ve reformed for a few shows in November) and hosted the Creepshow, The Skinks and Random Hand, pretty much a perfect line-up.  It was also one of the first dates I went on with my girlfriend, even though I abandoned her to go dance…

First time I saw Frank Turner was at the Cockpit, which was a very exciting time just as he was riding on the waves of Love, ire & Song, supported by Chris T-T  I’ve lost count how many times I saw Sonic Boom Six & Random Hand, and grateful the Skints played a fair few shows before seeming to mainly stick to festival circuits.  King Blues were another favourite.  Saw The Beat and had some punx shout the wrong Exploited lyrics at me.  The Undertones with my mate John was a fun 1^st year highlight.  The amount of times I dashed there/back for gigs, both while still living in Leeds or back in York. 

It cemented itself as a venue you knew bands would play, and a hub for a scene.  Even if it didn’t actively promote scenes or a DIY ethic like smaller venues, it was a hub for familiar faces.  I’ve not been for a long time, but was keen to see Against Me!.  The show’s been moved, so now I’ll never squash into that small space and sticky floor, but thanks for the memories Cockpit!

Galtres Festival, zines & privilege

Last week I had a wicked time at Galtres Festival, hoe-downing to The Levellers, dancing along to Holy Moly & The Crackers, singing along to The Franceens, giggling thanks to John Otway and grooving to the Human League.  I also had the privilege of programming spoken word/poetry and comedy/stand-up for the Snapping Turtle and Little Top stages.

I use the word ‘privilege’ not to mean ‘honour’, but rather a sense of power.

I am armed with many tools of privilege.  I’m a white male, born in the UK, from a working class family but never fell into poverty.  I’m hetrosexual and cisgender, though adhere to queer theory and don’t believe in gender binaries.  My school wasn’t great, but it was still gave me a good enough education allowing me to use the system to eventually get a degree from a red brick university.

So many other people have spoken much more passionately and articulately about the issue.  Check out Jay The Nerd Kid, for example.

To say:  “I don’t walk into a room and see gender, ability or colour, I see human beings” if such a problematic statement.  It is complete erasure of people’s experiences, treatment by society & patriarchy, struggles, representation in the media and opportunities.  The same goes for poets, comedians, bands, musicians etc.  Saying “I just book acts I want not based on gender/colour” as if even acknowledging gender or colour or disability would somehow be sexist/racist/transphobic/ableist.

Some argue to give artists a platform just because of their colour or gender is unfair, and that every artist should be judged based on their skill.  Of course quality control has to be a factor, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I don’t consider this.  But there is an abundance of quality POC, female, trans, queer and disabled poets on the scene, and of course the more these artists are given a platform the more it encourages other people to try their hand at writing, reading and performing.

At York Theatre Royal, I programme a night called Words & Whippets.  In 2013 we had 6 acts (including myself).  This was split 50/50 male and female.  For W&W 2014 we had 5 acts, 2 women and 3 men.  Galtres Festival had 12 acts, and 5 of them were women.  Unfortunately several female comedians had to pull out of the comedy stage, so in the end we only had a single female comedian.  However the slam we ran was all-female.  I put on Hannah Nicklin’s solo show earlier this year, with 3 female acts, and 2 male acts (including myself).  Myself and Stu Freestone are putting on a new regular slam called Say Owt Slam.  The first event is 28th October, and we have gone for a very safe choice in Mark Grist as a headline act to help raise the profile with a well-known act.  But I'm keen as part of our platform, once the event has been established, to book a variety of acts from across the UK from the LBGTQ, Black, Disabled communities and scenes.

Last week I put out a zine based on 26 different interviews with female musicians from York, about their influences, experiences and opinions.  The zine can be found here:  https://henryraby.bandcamp.com/merch/nice-outfit-who-are-you-supposed-to-be-cyndi-lauper

I’m not saying we need to pat ourselves on the back, and neither do we beat ourselves up.  I’m not saying I’m a hero, nor a failure, because there’s no way to get it right/wrong.  But it’s always worth thinking about.  It’s an issue that needs considering and evaluating.  I am very grateful to have so many awesome feminist and queer friends I can learn from.

Always check your privilege.  Check your perspective, check your place in the world, check how you are assuming how the world works.  If you are a promoter, check your acts, check your line-ups, how you run events.  All I can do is ask you to at least consider it, for the moment.  But if real social change needs to happen then the next stage is to change it.  Deeds not words!

Summer meltings

This is an important announcement for those of you who haven’t melted yet.

My summer will mostly be spent distributing sweat amongst my black t-shirts as I desperately try to prove wearing black punk band t-shirts is still cool despite the sun melting the Earth to liquid.

Saturday 2^nd August I’m compering another Down By The River event at City Screen Basement, these are always lovely showcases of various acts and talents, details here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/321439824687096/?fref=ts

I’ll be at Boomtown Fair 8-10^th August, performing at 4pm on the Wandering Word stage on the Friday afternoon, which gives me plenty of time the following days to enjoy plenty of ska, reggae, folk, gypsy and The Street Dogs (flatcaps at the ready!)

Tues 19^th I’ll be performed at Reclaim The Power.  But that’s hush hush.  So ssshh.

Wed 20^th at the Woolpack, I’m launching a new zine featuring interviews with a variety of female musicians from York with ace poet Jenn Hart, musician Chrissy Barnacle, queercore band KINKY and local garage rockers Freaks + Geeks.  More details soon.

Then Fri 22^nd-23^rd August is the big one:  Galtres Festival where I’ve put together the Spoken word section of the Little Top and the Snapping Turtle stage.  It’s going to be a wicked festival of folk, rock, theatre, comedy and poetry and you should come.  All of you.  We can melt together.

Then I’m finishing off the summer by supporting Chris Clavin in Norwich and York.  Chris founded legendary Plan-It-X Records and plays in Ghost Mice, both hugely influential DIY cornerstones of my life.  Sat 30^th sees me saying some words at the Big Gay Bar all-dayer at the Woolpack, where I’m also launching their zine.

All through the month when I get chance, I’ll be adapting The Circle of Chalk/Caucasian Chalk Circle for York Youth Theatre’s 16+ November performance and I promise it’ll be my best play yet.  Ever.

See you around!

Comics & Comix

On Tuesday I managed to pop along to the Comics Unmasked:  Art & Anarchy in the UK at the British Library.  I got there nice and early, and it was pretty quiet as I dipped in and out of the strangely shaped rooms of comics on display from the early satirical publications dating back to Hogarth and jibes at the Napoleonic War through to strange 60s & 70s freaky comix and, of course, endless silent watchful mannequins of what the British Libraries assumes to be protestors adorned with V masks.

I have a deep love for the strange and wonderful world beneath the accessible establishment-sanctioned Beano comics and the American glean of Marvel & DC, though I don’t profess to be an expert by any means.  But as I always understand it, the medium of comics has always fought to be a recognised and respectable genre, and yet there are many comic-writers and artists trying specifically not to be accessible, attempting the spikey and the subversive.

My main issues with the exhibition was the focus on writers and artists like Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore and Pat Mills who inevitable did huge amounts for the genre, but whose creations are well and truly part of the establishment now no matter their humble punky origins.

I wanted a focus on the nerdy, DIY comix being made for zine fairs and Etsy shops, the ones you find in the corner of independent shops like OK Comics in Leeds.  I wanted to thumb through some comics, read up some short stories, feel the story unfold in my hands, as comics are designed for.  Instead they were caged in glass.  I caught a page of a Nemesis The Warlock story which looked interesting, but couldn’t see which collection it was from.  I would have nipped to a comic shop to guy it if I could have peered round the glass to see.

But I suppose my main issue is this question of Anarchy in Comics.  I think there’s a distinct difference between politics in comics and ‘anarchy’ in comics.  Anarchy, for me, means a rejection of the current system of organising, designing, publicising, writing or thinking.  Morrison’s Arkham Asylum:  A Serious House on Serious Earth may have been a revolutionary take on psycho-analysis and artwork for the medium, but was still a massive cashcow for its writer and DC comics.  V For Vendetta is an exciting look at Anarchy vs. Fascism which was turned into a Hollywood star-studded film about Conservatism vs. Liberalism, which wasn’t really unpacked much from where I was standing.

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, or indeed what I’m even looking for, but there’s something saturating about putting comics about politics, LGBTQ, sex and anarchy behind glass in a British institution, there’s a loss of rawness which I feel and love when I visit independent comic shops, zine fairs or get a load of new zines in the post.

Also, where were the mention of Fight The Power, Wild Cat, Anarchy Comics or Breaking Free?  It’s possible I missed them, but those were REAL anarchist comics.

Anyway, I have read a few new comics recently and wanted to quickly shout their praise/shout them down

SAGA

Me and my girlfriend have been totally hooked on this book, now in it’s 3^rd collected volume.  Essentially Romeo & Juliet in space, the booked manages to create a huge and varied cast of soldiers, mercenaries, writers, wizards, Princes and ghosts and, in very carefully crafted writing, I’m totally invested in all of them.  It also has huge possibilities for a whole new world to explore and take the characters across a universe not limited by exiting canon.  Plus, I want to be Lying Cat’s friend.

BATTLING BOY

Another huge universe I can’t wait to explore, the premise is a city overrun by monsters and ghouls relies on a young God, Battling Boy, to defeat the baddies.  Very much a 80s Young Hero Saves The Day style romp (think Karate Kid meets The Never Ending Story).  The art work is really cool and unique, there’s a nice nod to Marvel’s Thor and bizarre cartoon baddies you’d likely see in TMNT, Street Sharks or Biker Mice From Mars.  Can’t wait to give this a re-read.

OCCUPY COMICS

Very much like Occupy itself, the comics spends a lot of its time trying to justify its existence.  Plenty of heroic and images of people (non-violently) standing their ground, references to the political issues and a strong sense of commendable spirit.  Unfortunately this feels (a bit like Occupy) a bit flimsily and more admirable than inspiring.  Also…where are the people of colour of the LGTBQ  community?  Sometimes I feel like our movement digs its own grave…

SEX CRIMINALS

I haven’t given this a proper read yet, but I do really like it.  Someone recommended it to me when I was on tour (sorry…can’t remember who you were…but thanks!).  It’s about a couple who can freeze time when they orgasm.  It’s a lot about perceptions of sex growing up, and I think most people will relate to both characters and their awkward-heavy teenage years.  It’s pretty explicit, but has quite a lot of heart actually, and does what good sci-fi should, use the fantastical plotline to explore relationships and love.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR

Thanks York Library!  I never normally read romance graphic novels but this was a really sweet story about love and the oppression of society on lesbian and queer couples.  Though I ‘ve been told the sex scenes are quite fantastical and unrealistic, overall it’s a touching tale you need to read.

TANK GIRL

Yeah, I know.  I should have read this year ago.  But I’m getting round to it, honestly.  I have Vol 1-3 and loving it.  Such madcap artwork, it wish that paradoxically messy & sharp style was around a lot more.

HINTERKIND

Bought this on a whim, don’t know if it’s because I read a negative review but it’s not inspired me all that much.  Feels like it’s cashing in on the Walking Dead-style maxi-series rolling-cast-of-characters style hoping to be commissioned for TV.  Feels a bit more TV-ish than comic, actually.  I feel like it should be better, but characters all seem a bit derivative.  Maybe it’s because all the way through the series, the magical creatures accuse the humans of being evil and monstrous, when I can’t quite see much difference between the humans and Hinterknd, and maybe that’s the point, but that lacks a punch of philosophy.  Compared to Saga, which takes a good dark look at war, this feels the weakest comic I’ve taken a punt on, sorry.

NOWHERE MEN

Been out a while now, and I’m eagerly awaiting vol 2, this has a really cool (albeit predictable) premise about a bunch of scientists being turned into super-beings by a plague in space, this pays true to the Fantastic Four but uses the Ultimate Marvel style of sweary grumpy characters, nasty corporate businessmen and secret government agencies to tell a super-hero story with very few heroics.  It could go the Ultimate route (the final chapter is mostly a crash-bang-wallop affair) but what I love is the Watchmen-style background it weaves, with little hints, clues and riddles to secrets behind the scenes.  It’s very much going to be a comic I’m looking forward to re-reading.

Hey, Neil Gaiman, finish Sandman:  Preludes so I can judge it, will ya!?

Nerd Punk Article

For those of you know don’t know me, I love nerdy stuff.  Mainly cartoons.  I never stopped watching cartoons when I hit teens, and I have recently picked up on some ace stuff, finally working through Regular Show, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls.

The first time I learned about Michael Jackson, Citizen Kane & Soviet Russia was watching The Simpsons.  Many children’s first experience with cultural references are through cartoons and film/TV.  Ash Ketchum and Luke Skywalker and the lessons they have taught us mean a lot more to a lot of us than Jesus or the Prime Minister.  So if a programme aimed at children does deal with a politically important subject matter, in this case Trade Unionism, it bears some analysis, because that child’s parents could be striking the following week, or that child could one day be in that position when industrial action is an option placed before them in the battle for worker’s rights.  Plus, y’know, it’s fun to rewatch old cartoons from the early 00s.

That was the essential theme of my first solo show, Letter To The Man (from the boy) and continues to crop up throughout my work.

Here’s the article:  http://zeitheistzine.com/2014/06/30/red-black-porous-is-he-workers-rights-trade-unionism-in-spongebob-sqaurepants-by-henry-raby/