and now for something completely different..

experimental poetry night at word power books.

things I remember
1) word power books is an amazing bookshop. I want to mentally lick every book on every shelf
2) they were running a much needed fringe to the book festival
3) my old tutor Nick e-Melville has an experimental poetry night on with Tom Leonard. Leonard is as radical, unsettling, brave and thought provoking as ever. He struggled to breath, so every word counts. He punches through his rasps right to the last round, boxing his lungs to speak. He did "past participle". It was electrifying.
4) this isn't him, this is the unassuming looking guy at the end who did the most amazing, poignant and powerful love poetry I've heard in some time.
5) also notable, the girl poet who slept on arthur's seat her first night in edinburgh and started a poem "colour drop.."
6) also remembered, the guy with a shopping bag of numbered balls who sang folk songs and his own songs while playing a boxed harmonium. In between he sang "who wants a rummage in my baw bag.." to encourage us to work his random selection device.
7) that he was quite hot, actually.. but 2 days later when I saw him in a cafe at the next table I was too shy to look at him then either. sheesh.
8) also that Nick's work was good, and then a girl followed him doing a poem about him doing a poem, but also some other poems that were good.
9) I was there with anniken and we chatted about a new ghost story she sent me that I loved. Her work is always so dreamy and disturbing.
10) that I really needed this night. While I enjoy spoken word and community arts projects and a week of the inky mini fest, I was craving something DIFFERENT and HARD and CHALLENGING.. stuff I couldn't see coming but that runs you down at 300 mph and leaves you rippled and bubbly like a cartoon cat in your chair. This night did that for me.