I’m not long back from a week-long trip to the Guadalajara Bookfair, still feeling jetlagged and gobsmacked by the cold, still aglow with traces of the vivid pinkgreenyellowblues, the tequila and lime and sunshine of Mexico, still drugged by strange time zones so that I suddenly nod off midday, come sharp awake just as my head hits the pillow – in a state of displacement. <:::::::and having written that, went down with a stomach bug…

This poem was created as part of Byron’s My Place or Yours commission and performed at Bristol’s Arnolfini in September. Sorry about the wonky camera-work at the beginning -- it does settle down!

Jay Bernard’s My Place or Yours residency on two allotments -- one in London and one in Oxford -- inspired some wonderful new poems. She performed these for the first time at Apples & Snakes in Soho in June 2009.

This is part one:

Been in the library earlier doing some writing and people watching/chatting. Below is another work in progress based on a conversation i had with an older gentleman who uses the library and something i heard a friend of his say to the lady behind the desk regarding ‘bringing back the stamp.’

He says ‘You used to have a stamp. Now it’s all lasers and barcodes.’

He knows he’s getting old but he’s not averse to change.

He doesn’t mind the smooth lines,

Or the multicoloured scatter cushions.

He’s not phased by the computers or the coffee maker.

The fact that the Quiet Room has gone doesn’t bother him.

He knows the wall-pinned newspapers,

Were on the way out even then.

But if he misses one thing,

 If he had one wish,

He would bring back the stamp.

That reassuring thud.

The rhythmic thump,

That takes him back

To visiting the library as a lad.

His dad unfolding Ordnance Survey maps,

Whilst he would head for Westerns and Crime.

Stamp.

Pulpy covers show square jawed men, fedora hats.

Stamp.

 His dad’s rough fingers trace lines and tracks, plan next weeks hike.

Stamp.

Blotchy ink, muddy dates, the book’s history like a well-worn path.

Stamp.

His dad lifting him on to his lap, smell of ash and grass.

Stamp.

His dad’s crusty laugh, ‘not another cowboy’ and ‘two pages and we’ll head back.’

He says ‘You used to have a stamp. Now it’s all lasers and barcodes.’

Okay so here is the actual final written piece… the first piece (That was the first time) is an introduction..  and has no connection to the main story…After that the actual story starts.. it’s about 20 pages… so grab a cup of tea and some biscuits…lol

1 City 2 Sides 3 People (Part Four)

1 City 2 Sides 3 People (Part Three)

1 City 2 Sides 3 People (Part Two)

SO, so, so sorry it has taken me this long to get it up.. I have so much footage 2 edit but so little time.. lol…  Thanks Steph Hernandez for directing… I must add it is a work in progress…. and I am hoping to to ‘develop and build’ on this. Thanks for your time 1gone.

Another session in the library yesterday. I had a wander around Thornaby town centre, a mix of slightly foreboding 60s architecture merging into newly regenerated areas and familiar high street shops. I wrote the first few lines of the ‘Journey’s poem  for the book based on my journey to the library and, hopefully, left it open for someone to carry it on. I’ve also been working on some pieces based on the centre and how it has changed. Until recently the centre was so 60s, lots of heavy set grey buildings, harsh lines, curly gangways and multi story flats. I was chatting to a guy in his forties yesterday who said he remembers hating the centre even as a kid . “Too much concrete.” The centre was dominated by The Pavillion, a community leisure centre which has also been refurbished. The library was inside (and is still on the site). I started thinking generally of how modern that must have been when it was built and that is forming the basis of The Leisure Centre, a work in progress.

The New Leisure Centre

 Wasn’t designed as a monstrosity

Each brick was laid with optimism

A desire to experience the velocity

Of cities in the sky

How high they stacked its car park!

Monolithic and square shouldered

Dissected by shafts and gangways

The New Leisure Centre

Is a state of the art community facility

Incorporating an ice rink

A multi-purpose gym

 Olympic sized swimming pool

Squash courts, saunas, children’s soft play

An array of high quality dining and refreshment spaces   

A Brave New World of sleek lockers

Burnished badminton courts

Where shuttlecocks floated like satellites

The neon reception

The machines vending powered soup

The stuf astronauts drink!

Just think

(well, like i said, it’s a work in progress)