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Poetry Express21 the Survivors’ Poetry Quarterly Spring/Summer 05 Jeremy Reed on Lee Harwood’s Collected Poems John Horder on Alan Bennett’s The History Boys Xochitl Tuck on Frank Bangay Brendan Wilson’s Goodbye Asylum Sixties Press Gregory Fellows Poetry Anthology Bristol Survivors’ Stepping Out Theatre Company plus Broadsheet and Reviews Check out the new Survivors’ Poetry website www.survivorspoetry.com latest news, archives, features on artists plus Poetry Express online Search this site Home Localgroups Magazine Artists Archive About Us Contact Us LDAF London Disability Arts Forum LDAF was the first Disability Arts forum in the UK and continues to lead on national and international terms with unique, cutting edge arts and media programmes, which include Disability Film Festival An annual film festival showcasing the work of disabled filmmakers and artists, currently in its seventh year DAIL (Disability Arts in London) a bi-monthly magazine and Visual arts exhibitions Training and mentoring of disabled artists and filmmakers Advice and consultancy LDAF is shortly moving to new larger accessible premises based in the heart of London’s Hoxton/Shoreditch arts and cultural locality London Disability Arts Forum Ltd Tel: 020 7916 5484 The Diorama Arts Centre Textphone: 020 7691 4201 34 Osnaburgh Street Email: [email protected] London NW1 3ND Web: www.Ldaf.org Swindon Success – Roy Birch on Survivors at Contents the Swindon Festival of Literature 23 New Direction – Dr Simon Jenner 2 Describing The Healer – Razz on Survivors’ Tate Modern workshop 24 National Outreach Spring Diary – Roy Birch 3 Photographs from the Edge – Snapshots of SHE Who Must Be Conveyed – Introduction to Brendan Wilson’s Goodbye Asylum 27 Survivors Helping Each Other by Jacqui Lewis 4 The Magnificent Twelve – Alan Morrison and Stepping Out in Bristol and London – Simon Jenner on the Sixties Press Anthology Steve Hennessy on Bristol Survivors’ of Gregory Fellows’ Poetry (Eds. Debjani Stepping Out Theatre Company 7 Chatterjee and Barry Tebb) 29 THE POETRY EXPRESS BROADSHEET 12 Holding Back the Years – John Horder on Alan Bennett’s new play The History Boys 34 The Importance of Being Frank – Xochitl Tuck on survivor poet Frank Bangay 18 REVIEWS 36 Surviving It All – Xochitl Tuck on Survivors at Your Eyes Only – Jeremy Reed on the WestWords Literary Festival 19 Lee Harwood’s Collected Poems 43 A Mini-Fest for the Senses – Roy Birch on Workshops – Razz Manchester Survivors 20 Events – Xochitl Tuck 48 POETRY EXPRESS SURVIVORS’ POETRY Reviews Editors: Alan Morrison and Roy Holland Staff: Poetry Editors: Alan Morrison and Roy Holland Sub-editing, design and layout: Alan Morrison Roy Birch (National Outreach Co-ordinator), Roy Cover Art: Paul Murphy Holland (Information and Editorial), Simon Jenner (Director), Alan Morrison (National Mentoring Printed by: Chandlers, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex and Editorial), Xochitl Tuck (Events Co-ordinator) Poetry Express is a quarterly publication produced by Freelance staff: Survivors’ Poetry. It is mailed free to all members: contact us to join our mailing list. Razz (Camden Workshop Co-ordinator), Eamer O’Keeffe (Volunteer Outreach Co-ordinator) We welcome submissions: poetry, articles, new items, and other matter which may be of interest to our readers. We Volunteers: cannot guarantee publication and reserve the right to edit any contributions. The views expressed in this publication Lloyd Lindsay (Office Volunteer), Dave Russell are those of the individual authors, and do not represent (London Events Flyers), John Weedon (Office the views of Survivors’ Poetry. All poems printed herein are Volunteer), Alistair Brinkley (Events) the copyright of the authors whose names appear beneath them. Trustees: Survivors’ Poetry Moniza Alvi, Pauline Bradley, Charles Lind, Piers Studio 11 Marter, John O’Donoghue (Chair), Celia Potterton, Bickerton House Neil Swire (Secretary), Djamal Ticemal, Helena Twist 25-27 Bickerton Road Archway Advisory Group: London N19 5JT Tel: 0207 2814654 Paul Beasley, Christina Dunhill, Miriam Hastings, John [email protected] Hirst, Danielle Hope www.survivorspoetry.com 1 New Direction From the Director, Dr Simon Jenner ello! Our ruthless deforestation program continues Two other volumes are nearing completion: a Survivors’ Hunremittingly with the stripping of yet another anthology in which survivor poets both known and new part of Epping Forest, to provide you with another will feature alongside each other. More on this soon. 48pp Poetry Express. From now till the end of the forest. Another volume is an old friend. Fresher Than Green, Enjoy this ruthless policy of nurture before nature. This Brighter Than Orange was an acclaimed sell-out 42pp juggernaut continues unabated, even to our office space. pamphlet of Irish women poets in London when it first appeared in 1999. This will re-emerge soon, edited again Since 1993, we’ve lived in a quaint 445 sq ft of No-Man’s- by Eamer O’Keeffe, and expanded by over 30 pages. Land somewhere between Health and Safety. I can’t even pace the floor and dictate comfortably, so things had Eamer O’Keeffe brings us to another new chapter at to change. In fact, change for us; since, in a Hitchhiker’s SP. As I mentioned last time, Maureen McKarkiel gave Guide moment, the Crown realised what a brownfield us six vibrant months as London Outreach Worker site was dormant in this reverent tube-training centre before pursuing her film projects and Islington Music (deceased). So they’ll knock it down to create a hyper- Forum. Eamer O’Keefe is coming to work for us as pass to Great Portland Street. We’re out of here. Volunteer Outreach Co-ordinator. We’ve long planned this ever since we knew she’d be free by mid-June. We’re So here we are, in the ruins of a 5th century fort awaiting delighted to have her take on women’s, feminist, older the barbarians and removals van. Our new premises lesbian/gay, Irish and other outreach profiles. (a new proposition), 800 square feet of a converted schoolroom, host the most fantastic fenestration this James Ferguson, with us since February 2002, also felt side of the North Circular. It’s on the cusp of Archway that after three years he could finally leave Survivors’ and Highgate, so has pretentions. It’s also on the ground Poetry without it collapsing as he closed the door, to floor with an amazing access lift with enough room for a focus on his own poetry. He’d resigned in October three-wheeler Morgan car to do a three-point turn in. 2003, just before I arrived; it’s a measure of his loyalty, not least to me, that he agreed to stay on and double his In all seriousness, this is a fantastic opportunity and original span. James has been something of an institution. we’re grateful to ACE for providing the capital funds There’s now a more collective editorial to Poetry Express. for the move and refurbishment. And particularly to Alan’s superb journalist skills sub and furnish all you see. Steve Mannix of SHAPE for organising the funding and playing the benign Godfather, without the smoking jacket. This all leaves room for both Roy Birch’s Outreach remit We’re also delighted that Julie McNamara, Director of to expand to London for the next year – something he LDAF, a good friend to Survivors’ Poetry, has secured knows intimately; and for the new post of Administrator, a similar residence in Shoreditch. Opportunities are something ACE and ourselves have long desired. Trips truly dynamic. The Diorama has been a good friend to to Cornwall (twice), to Poole, and the Swindon Literary Survivors too, for 12 years, but the conditions were at Festival, have resulted in an email SP, a website and best cramped and the accrued paper the inheritance of group, and an invite back respectively. Read on inside. the Roman Empire’s orts and greasy relics c. 5th century: broken mosaics. Seeing that up to the 2nd century, Most excitingly, we’ve featured in a 90 minute Clearspot, everything was quite pristine and documented, we’re the first of many, on Resonance fM (see back cover), restoring 2nd century aesthetics to the last couple of with poetry, music, interviews. Thanks to all regions who years. We now have floors we can interpret. took part, and yes, CDs of the broadcast are available free plus £2 p&p. We’ll advertise ahead with new dates. We’re something of an interpreters’ house. Survivors’ And look! our new website is up and interactive at Poetry has a proud tradition of championing translated www.survivorspoetry.com. You can even click regions. verse, and the Selected Poems of Dino Campana (brilliantly translated by Christina Viti, an excerpt from Finally, a deeper note from the bowels of Government which was featured last issue) is the latest in a line now policy: ACE has its funding frozen till 2008. They’ve extending to Mandelstam, Nazrul Islam and Mir. The iced some admin costs and one solution is to similarly Campana volume will be published alongside the first by freeze grants to all RFOs. Another, to cut 118 of them one of our mentees, Lee Wilson. His poetry is already to enable a 2.5% rise in the remainder. Several of these widely published in such places as The Rialto, and his own 118 are still primed with exciting creative projects, so series of inimitable pamphlets, but this is his first full- many great things are potentially at stake. We deem this length collection – a brilliant debut. a retrorgade step and trust the wisest heads will prevail. 2 National Outreach Spring Diary Roy Birch on National Outreach in March, April & May arch 3: I attended a session of the North Herts has asked me to help her set up a Workshop programme.