What’s The Agenda – The MAC 21st-23rd March

Last Wednesday I wrote 21 Haikus for What’s the Agenda – a project organised and facilitated by Hayley Frances for the MAC.
The deadline for submissions was the 20th.

I missed the workshop because I couldn’t get tickets from the website, due to an error in the sign up form. I contacted Hayley directly and followed the tasks covered by the workshop.

When I saw the submission details advertised it read – isolation in a digital world – yet the workshop dealt with heritage as well as loneliness. Freewriting tasks I wrote about loneliness and how times have changed – in past generations people lived close to their families or stayed with their families. The world today is open globally, many children move away, across country or continents.
The network support isn’t instantly there – if you are lucky and able you make friends and these become your new family.
The pressures of 21st century living on young people and the changing world they are growing up in can cause all sorts of issues.

I then read up on Hikikomori, including some personal accounts and articles. From here I started freewriting Haikus. I wrote 7 in my lunch break at work, the next 14 flowed out of me in the afternoon, after work and before heading out to perform at Confab Cabaret.

I emailed Hayley and she has used them. Not sure if she used all 21 but they form part of the Agenda weekend exhibition down at the

Quick Mini-Update! The Past 3 Days of Poetry Me.

I plan to write separate posts over the weekend for the events of the past 3 days… for now – having just come home from the MAC (Midlands Art Centre) I am buzzing and too excited to write blog posts!
Surging energy….
news in brief….

WEDS
Wrote 21 Haikus on Hikikomori for What’s the Agenda, a project Hayley Frances is producing, isolation in a digital world, this weekend at The MAC.
Then I went to CONFAB CABARET which was a superb night. I performed and my poem went down well.
I finally got to see the Decadent Divas and Men in General would have blown me off my chair, had I been sitting on one. Fortunately the settee was up against a very solid wall!
I came away from the silliest raffle with a silly prize and there was free CAKE!

Then Thursday I managed to HIT THE ODE and support my friend Andrea Shorrick in her new SWINGERELLA persona, as well as catching 3 amazing headliners, chatting to many poets and buying a new pamphlet of poetry!
I got in on a high and was up until 2 a.m….

Tonight I went to the MAC to see The Quiet Compere a show created by Sarah Dixon across the country. I know 8/10 poets and have been lucky enough to perform at the same events and open mics as 8 of them in the past 6 months too.
It was a great mix and I discovered 2 new, very talented poets.
My Worcester poetry friends blended with my Birmingham Poetry Friends and it was a bit weird for me cross mingling -torn, I wanted to be a part of everyone’s conversations… I am glad they had the opportunity to meet and hear the talent that I discovered at the very start of my journey back in September!
Homegrown talent!

I have come home and written 2 new poems for 42 next week. A themed birthday edition.

An Evening of Catching Up & Writing Haikus

Tonight there was an open mic in Coventry where I would have had the opportunity to watch Stephen Morrison-Burke (Poet Laureate of Birmingham 2012-13) perform again. I decided that I was too tired to manage the drive and the late night – I am already out tomorrow performing at an open mic and Friday at the MAC watching The Quiet Compere – which features many of my poetry friends, I am also hoping to make it back to Hit The Ode in Birmingham on Thursday night to support my friend who is making her debut! It will go better than mine at least she knows the words.
So instead of going out I have caught up with my writing diary – planned and scheduled the next fortnight of writing.
My goal after tea is to write Haiku poetry for ‘What’s the Agenda’.

The next Mouth & Music (in April) is themed ‘Dualogue’ we have been encouraged to buddy up with another artist and work out a 10 minute set. I am delighted that the person I asked accepted AND that our raw ideas seem to match. We are having a rehearsal brain storm this Monday morning and possibly the Monday after that – we have 3 weeks until we perform!

What’s The Agenda?

On Sunday I missed a workshop at Arts Centre, original post – I managed to contact Hayley Frances (who I performed alongside at the Amphitheatre at the Library – Poetry For Lunch, earlier this year.) The Festival takes place this weekend, there was already a note in my diary to submit some work for this and the writing produced in this workshop is also being used.

I may have missed out on the workshop, but I won’t miss out on the writing.