Something Else – The Sydney Writers’ Festival Edition
This Friday 21 May at 11.30am on Something Else, monthly contributor Justine Poon will be bringing in two poets who are presenting work at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Miles Merrill and Angela Stretch will be continuing on the theme started in Justine’s first two shows, looking at the spaces where writing collaborations happen and words and audience come intimately together.
As well as what is sure to be a lively discussion, Justine will also be playing some spoken word tracks throughout the show.
Update (21 May – after the show)
Playlist:
Miles Merrill
The Golden Mean by Dorothy Hewett
singer Katherine Ellis
composed and arranged by Ashley Chatto
Dirty Curly 2009; Vitamin Records
Miles Merrill and Morganics
Track 1. Curly Jones Hits the Streets
Many Moons by Janelle Monae
Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase
Post-show thoughts
Both poets were incredibly generous with their thoughts leading to extensive ruminations on the connection of poetry with life. There is a lot I want to say about this show but I think what I will do is post a transcript up eventually and hopefully the recording of the show itself. Miles and Angela are incredibly articulate, passionate speakers in a way that cannot be easily encapsulated in a blog post. The discussion started off with the primary motivation of promoting some Sydney Writers’ Festival events and then eventually veered off into discussions about the expressive, meditative and collaborative capabilities of poetry and particularly how making poetic works impacts on and is deeply connected with the persons of Miles and Angela.
poetry rises from the grave
Katherine and I were inspired and struck by the thoughtfulness, humility and competence of our two guests. In a wider context, I have been reading a few things here and there lately about the death of poetry. I think perhaps some of the arguments eulogising poetry (generally negatively – no relevance, too removed, too academic and esoteric) is based upon a memory of poetry – poetry in the abstract, poetry as an anachronism – rather than the actual poetry that is happening now, which is far from dead but may twitch and lurch occasionally like a zombie for comedic effect.
I am not sure how many people read these posts but if there are any of you out there and you are interested in questions about the place of poetry in 2010, please feel free to leave a comment.
Miles Merrill
Miles Merrill
Born in Chicago, now living in Sydney, recently Merrill opened for Saul Williams, wrote and co-directed a show in the Sydney Festival, performed solo at the Sydney Opera House, created Australia’s first spoken-word festival – The Night Words Festival and is co-creator/co-organiser of the national literary performance competition: The Australian Poetry Slam
His upcoming events at the Sydney Writers’ Festival is at Hip-Hop versus Spoken Word: A Battle of theories, a panel discussing the various perspectives on the art of performing words, and The Spoken Four where he will be joining some stellar wordsmiths for a night of amazing spoken word. These events will be on Saturday 22 May.
Hip Hop versus the Spoken Word
Miles will also be appearing at Lofty Words on Wednesday 26 May. Lofty Words is the flagship event of the UTS Writers’ Society and is held twice a semester featuring a guest performer, musical performances and open mic. The public is welcome to attend this event held by passionate students at the University of Technology Sydney. More information is available on the Society’s blog.
Angela Stretch
Angela Stretch is involved at two events at the festival which mixes poetry with music and visuals into a stunning series of collaborative words that showcases some of the best in Australian poetry.
Love at the Bar
Love at the Bar is (please see link for times and ticketing) a selection of Australian love poems that explore the mysterious affairs of the heart through contemporary musical performance and poignant accounts on the eternal nature of love and loss. Composed by the accomplished musician Ashley Chatto, featuring the evocative vocals and playful theatrics of Kath Ellis and the debonair vocal style of David Stephenson. On screen is the pop-culture video art by JD Young and the experiential sound-scapes by sound artist Geir Gunnarrsson. The music is a special cast of Sydney musicians who accompany Ashley Chatto on baby grand piano and guitar; Scott Leishman on bass and guitar and Marc Vandoornoom on flamenco guitar. The production is produced and directed by Angela Stretch. Martin Langford conceived the theme and selected the poems.
The Book of Water is a selection of video poems playing during the festival at the Heritage Pier, upstairs Pier 2/3 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay. The videos feature work by artists John Bennett & John Laidler, Alana Hicks, Carol Jenkins, Gareth Jenkins, Patrick Jones, Jayne Fenton Keane, Ruark Lewis, Ken Simpson & Jacqui Fitzgerald and Steve Smart, and curated by Angela Stretch. Let poets navigate you through the rhythms of our times as the book dissolves into new technological experimentations in writing. Duration: 15 minutes, played on a loop.