Donna Williams | awritersfountain

Hit the Ode – was a superb night, as always. We were treated to a night of BSL – British Sign Language and it added something special to everyone’s performances.

The women who did the spontaneous signing were incredible.

I went to support Andrea Shorrick or Swingerella as she has become known. Her set was a real treat – very rude and almost at the end of the end of the night, she was the final open mic slot with a very special Sat Nav!

The rest I leave to the words of Bohdan Piasecki, as he says it best;

Hit the Ode brings the most exciting poets from the region, the country and the world to the heart of Birmingham.

Featuring From Wolverhampton Martin Glynn has gained a national and international reputation for his commissioned work in theatre, radio drama, live performance and poetry, as well as pursuing an active career as a screenplay writer. Martin has worked with Education and Arts establishments in North America, The Caribbean, Europe, and extensively in the UK, developing literature initiatives, producing and directing performances. His most recent poetry collections include Ancestral Whispers (Triangle Press – 1993) and Griot Excursion (Shomari Productions – 1995), and poems published in anthologies including Unzip your lips (Macmillan – 1998) and Dear Future (Macmillan – 1999).

From Bristol Donna Williams is a British Sign Language poet based near Bristol, keen on exploring the interplay between spoken / BSL poetry in search of a ‘perfect balance’ where sign language poems are understood and enjoyed by all, irrespective of previous knowledge of sign language. Her ambition is to create beautiful poetry that everyone can access. Donna is a contributing editor for the Limping Chicken, a successful deaf webzine; she has written short plays for Deafinitely Theatre; and her poetry has appeared in anthologies, notably ‘When The Dead Are Cured’ for Deaf Lit Extravaganza, edited by John Lee Clark.

From Scotland Rachel McCrum is an award winning poet and performer who has been living and performing in Edinburgh since 2010. She is a poet, performer and promoter of spoken word, a member of Inky Fingers collective and one half of the Rally & Broad literary cabaret. She was a finalist in the 2012 BBC Edinburgh Festival Slam and winner of the International Woman’s Day Slam. In the past year, she has shared stages with Liz Lochead, Phil Jupitus, Carol Ann Duffy, Josie Long and Caroline Bird. Her first pamphlet ‘The Glassblower Dances’ won the 2013 Callum MacDonald Award from the National Library of Scotland. She has recently spent two weeks as the Michael Marks Poet in Residence at the Harvard Centre for Hellenic Studies in Greece.

The open mic slots were all incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed the headliners. It was amazing to watch Donna Williams perform both spoken word with BSL and BSL poems that her interpreter spoke, very moving performance. Captivating.

Martin Glynn was thought provoking – I loved his jazz poems and his Mature Cheddar Cheese poem! He has been off the circuit for a while and we made him feel right at home!

Good to see him back – I was a baby the first time and missed his career completely!

Rachel McCrum – I love her surname was a real treat! And she managed to follow Swingerella! I bought her poetry pamphlet ‘The Glassblower Dances’ with the last of my money and she was sweet enough to check I had enough money to get home!

A great set.