Beyond Words

unmissable NOV 4th evening

Gordon Burn
16 January 1948 - 17 July 2009

Guardian Obituary here
Faber & Faber here

Cool Cat Blues at Morden Tower

Review copied from bepopspokenhere.blogspot.com


Morden Tower, secreted into the medieval West Walls of the old city of Newcastle upon Tyne, is a hidden gem. The intimate tower is approached via a cobbled back lane off China Town. On a dark winter's night one could well stumble upon a witches' coven but this was a mid-summer's evening and it was the spirit of poets past walking the walls as the cool cats listened, intently, then momentarily distracted, then focussing once more on the words and music of Frank Reeve and friends. Reeve, a tall, seemingly intense, yet genial American sat in front of the cats and read. 'The Blue Cat Walks the Earth' is Reeve's third volume of poems about a cat and things...the politics of being a cat, a knowing cat. Rhythm and meter, jazz rhythm and meter were to the fore. Our cat, at times, wasn't word perfect; it didn't matter, he was a jazz cat. 'The Apology' and 'May Day in Moscow' were but two of many 'jazz' poems - Brighton based John Lake and Phil Paton, multi-instrumentalists both, played cool cat blues - to be heard this night on West Walls. A diversion, a hoedown - 'The Blue Cat Calls a Country Dance' - was a delight; Reeve, Lake and Paton got it just right. An evening of jazz 'n' blues, of New Orleans, Steinbeck, the Dust Bowl, of the stevedore on New York's docks, of solidarity.

'The Blue Cat Walks the Earth' by FD Reeve is published by Smokestack Books www.smokestack-books.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-9560431-0-6. £8.95. (inc.CD). The CD features American musicians Don Davis (sax) & Joe Deleault (piano). Frank Reeve's website: www.fdreeve.org . Morden Tower's website: www.mordentower.org .

John Lake and Phil Paton should take a well-deserved bow. They met up with Reeve the day before the Morden Tower performance. Their contribution was as if they were long-time associates of Reeve. Cool, cats.

45 Years of Poetry and Music

A great big thanks to everyone who helped organise and celebrate the Morden Tower's 45 Birthday. On June the 16 some of the northeast's finest came together to celebrate nearly half a century of poetry and music in the medieval walls of the city. With special thanks to Lee Etherington, Stevie Ronnie, Paul Summers, Nev Clay, Rosie, Christina La Provost, Chris Phillips and everyone who joined us.

BHS North East Haiku Workshop

The second BHS North East Haiku Workshop to be held at Newcastle's Morden Tower on 24 May 2009 proved popular, with many new faces turning up. Peter Mortimer, founder and editor of Iron Press, led the afternoon, not an easy task given our varied levels of experience. What was lovely was how quickly our reserve faded and trust developed, so that we felt able to express our opinions without fear of giving offence. This was in no small part owing to Pete's friendly, enthusiastic but, overall, sensitive approach. Well done, Pete!

People brought along two haiku, one by themselves (optional) and one other. There was no theme (despite the apparent emergence of one in the haiku below). The workshop was supposed to be in two parts: a discussion of the haiku, followed by a ginko in the local area and the writing of city haiku. The discussion took longer than expected, however, so the walk has been postponed until our meeting in September.

I should like to thank Connie Picard for her continued kindness in allowing the haiku workshops to take place at Morden Tower. All proceeds from the entry fee were donated to the upkeep of the Tower.

Some haiku from the day:

So many birds on the walnut bough!
Has the tree grown birds
or the walnuts wings?
Alireza Hassani

on the path
trodden on unseen
a white down feather
Jean McCallum

cherry petals
dance in the spring wind-
my thrush sings
Mandana Mashayekhi

A happin' o' fog is aal noo thor is
Wheer warriors fo't an' dee'd, thor
Dreamin' an' ettlin
Bill Griffiths
(After Basho: summer grasses all that remains of soldiers' dreams)


Thank you to everyone present for making the day so enjoyable.

Chris Phillips (Co-ordinator)

International Women's Day