Category: Poetry and spoken word

In which the reader is invited to consider the A-Z of charges laid at the door of Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Steve and Tim discuss how Tim plans to mark 100 days since leaving Cassandra, and how great it is that there’s no racism in the UK. Catch up on their previous conversations too!

Steve and Tim have been discussing the importance of flying the Union Jack, and the troubling issue of crisis actors at protests. Catch up on their previous conversations too!

A year ago, as we entered a thing called lockdown, people dealt with it in different ways. As is often the case when in denial facing a traumatic situation, people routinely announced via social media that this was their opportunity to paint the fence, write THAT novel, take up ceramics or learn the clarinet. In […]

Steve and Tim discuss the magic money tree that can fund a £37 billion failed test and trace programme, but can’t fund a proper pay rise for nurses.

Steve and Tim discuss the huge possibilities on offer when growing vegetables in your car boot. And tunnels. Catch up with the conversation!

Steve and Tim discuss the deep fake behind the recent Mars space mission and the relative cost of the UK’s test and trace programme.

Steve and Tim discuss the difficulty of maintaining cleanliness while living in a car, and how hard it is to still access all the facilities and services, once you’ve exited a long-standing relationship.

A pensioner performing a poem about male breast cancer, a York indie publisher, and a whole heap of persistence, have come together to produce a debut poetry collection for one writer at the tender age of 68.

Poem, by Steve Pottinger

Steve and Tim discuss the importance of statues, how they are under threat from woke mobs and antifa, and how Spaffa really is doing his best to help.

I don’t suppose Donald Trump was living in Wolverhampton in the 90’s. And I don’t suppose, even if he was there, he went dancing in The Web with his blonde Lego hair.

Steve’s friend Tim suspects his plumber may be part of the Big Plumbing corporate machine, controlling his life.

Steve’s friend Tim can’t get his ex to accept his offer of fish, and is struggling to get by on the “specialist catering” offered by his mate Spaffa for £30

Steve’s friend Tim believes the protests in Washington DC were organised by Antifa and were not the work of Trump supporters …

Steve’s friend Tim has to reassess his options having left his partner Cassandra to move into his car. “There’s been a certain element of re-evaluation, Steve.”

“Doing more work on your car then, Tim?” “Nope.” “But – ” “Not this time.” “Quite a few modifications there, though.” “Yep.” “So…?” “Nothing to do with me, Steve.” “Really?” “I’ve learned my lesson…” “That’s great news, Tim.”  “…and I’ve got an expert in.” “Music to my ears, Tim. Who is it?” “Spaffa.” “Spaffa??!!” “Yep, […]

Orange Zombie, by Rose Drew

Huddersfield singer Johnny Campbell has got together with other artists to release a charity song, raising money for The Welcome Centre foodbank in Huddersfield, and the charity Help Musicians UK.

“Working on your car again, Tim?” “Yep.” “Checking the spark plugs? Topping up the oil?” “Nah, mate. Taking out the airbags.” “The airbags??!!” “That’s right.” “But why on earth…?” “Don’t want anything to do with them, mate.” “Well, none of us want anything to *do* with them, Tim. They’re just there for emergencies.” “They’re a […]

How a Holmfirth musician battled the Brexit Blues with electronica and a sense of community. A new book tells the story of an underground revolution in music where no-one got rich or famous but everyone got happy. “The early days were like turning over a stone and finding this whole new world of music-making crawling underneath.“

On a visit to South Eastern Michigan poetry group

On the Penistone train derailment, February 1916 When I look up at the seamed sky, the black teeth of girders, the cracks of fresh air, I think this is not an accident, but a moment of refusal, a point I can look on and describe in bricks of words, then knock down again before it […]

And will those winds from ‘58That blew Armada back to SpainNow make the wind turbines rotateAnd help us triumph once again? And will our Covid stance be seenAs something we should celebrate?We’re proud of everything we’ve been;Like the Olympics – we are great! Back in the war, amid the gloomA new Jerusalem was planned;So now […]

You Ask Me Where I Want to Live, My Love… by Steve Pottinger it can be the tundra, a desert, a forest, a boat high on a mountain or out on the coast an apartment, a terrace, a van or a castle, a tent, yurt, or igloo, it really don’t matter but it must be […]

If you’re a writer in dark times what do you write about? Most choose to write about the darkness and tell you little else apart from (a) how dark it is and (b) that darkness is very, very bad.  However, Ossett poet Simon Widdop is bucking the trend. His new collection, Poet from the Black […]

There’s a lot to be said for raffles. In these times where arts funding has become national news, a poetry night that is in its tenth year, which has been funded by nothing grander than the humble tombola, is something to be celebrated. At the heart of Away With Words is Jim Higo, the Bard […]

A Barnsley spoken word artist has produced a poetic tribute to the town’s hospital volunteers. Jeff ‘Jethro’ Platts was asked by Barnsley Hospital Charity to produce the piece as a way of saying thank you to a much valued, but sometimes forgotten, group of people who have continued to give their time in a variety […]

“Put it away, put it away, put it away now!” Spoken word artist Rose Condo wants us to put away our phones. For an hour at least. In The Empathy Experiment, the Huddersfield-based poet’s third spoken word show, shortlisted for Best Spoken Word Show at the 2020 Saboteur Awards, she asks the audience to hand over […]