Caldmore Open Mic

This afternoon, as part of our series of events bringing poetry to Caldmore Community Gardens, we held an open mic event for anyone who wanted to share their poems (especially ones on the theme of nature). It was a cold, grey October day, but we had twenty-five people turn up. Not too shabby!

Our thanks to MC Gracey Bee, to Jane Flint Bridgwater for some wonderfully atmospheric harp music, to Anna, Anna, and Estelle for the coffee, cakes, and samosas, and to everyone who shared their work. It was great to hear so many different voices – and to have people say how much our series of workshops has helped build their confidence in their writing. That’s a huge result in our book!

The next Caldmore workshop? Sunday 20th October, when we’ll be writing poems and doing a seed swap. Bring seeds from your garden, take some new ones back with you. See you there!

Busy weekend for the pandemonialists!

Tomorrow, we’re at BlackBerry Fair in Whitchurch. This is one of our favourite events of the year – we spend all day sitting on a sofa at the side of the high street, writing bespoke poems for folk who’ve come along to enjoy and take part in the festival. Over the years, we’ve written dozens: for grandparents and grandchildren, pet dogs and pirates. We can’t say how much we love this – although that love has been tested in years when the weather’s been a bit grim. We get to chat with so many fascinating people, and we never know what we’re going to be asked to write about next. It may not be every poet’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely ours! If you’re there, pop by and say hallo.

On Sunday afternoon we’re back in the West Midlands, at Caldmore Community Gardens in Walsall, running an open mic to celebrate nature (and National Poetry Day). Gracey Bee is our MC, it’s free to attend, it’ll be fun and friendly, and there may well be samosas. If you’ve a poem you want to read, or just want to come along and listen, you’ll be very welcome.

And once that’s finished, we hotfoot it over to Zoom for October’s Yes We Cant. Our headliner this month is Jonathan Humble, the man behind Dirigible Balloon, and our ‘Alf Ender is Ash Bainbridge. All the open mic spots have been filled already, but there’s still time to join our audience. Get in touch if you fancy curling up on your sofa with some great poetry to round off your weekend.

Yes We Cant – October 6th 2024

Yes We Cant, for those of you who don’t know – and yes, it’s cant without the apostrophe, cant as in natter or blather or chat – is our long-running poetry night. Held on the first Sunday of the month, originally in the Pretty Bricks pub in Walsall, then moving online during the pandemic. It’s stayed online since then, partly because we built up a loyal audience of folk who wouldn’t necessarily be able to make it to a physical event, and partly because we haven’t yet found a venue which meets all our needs about accessibility, cost, and the facility for us to host a hybrid poetry night which can be attended by folk in both the real and the virtual world.

At each Yes We Cant we have ten open-mic poets (a strict four minutes each), an ‘Alf Ender (a poet who’s recently had a collection of their work published) and a headline poet (who’s, er, the headliner). And over the years we’ve put on some of the very biggest and best names in UK poetry while creating a friendly, welcoming, pay-as-you-feel space for poets and audience alike.

All this preamble is by way of letting you know that the next Yes We Cant is on Sunday October 6th, on Zoom, at 7.30pm. Our headliner is Jonathan Humble, the force behind Dirigible Balloon; our ‘Alf Ender is Ash Bainbridge; there are ten open mic spots waiting to be claimed. As always, first dibs on those go to folk who’ve never read with us before, or haven’t read at Yes We Cant for a while. Get in touch if you’d like to read, or if you simply want to join our audience.

And there’ll be a half-time video of something obscure and wonderful, courtesy of our very own Dave Pitt. What’s not to like, folks? What’s not to like?

Mappa Mundi

Many years ago, when the world was still young [2018: ed] we found ourselves looking for an easily accessible listing of West Midlands poetry events, with all the necessary details for folk who might be interested in going along to them, and found… nothing. So we decided to do something about it, and – being cheeky wee scraps – we created our very own Mappa Mundi, listing all the events and venues we could. We still believe that in doing so, we corrected the appalling oversight in the original Hereford map, which – for all its qualities – is next to useless for poets.

Then Covid happened, live poetry took something of a back seat, and the need for our Mappa Mundi fell away. We put it in the back of a dusty cyber-drawer, and forgot about it. Almost. Finding ourselves with a little time on our hands this summer, we unrolled it, laid it out on a table, and set about updating it. It turns out that some of the poetry nights from our 2018 map are still flourishing. Others have disappeared. And there are a fair few new kids on the block, too, as the regional poetry scene evolves and changes, ebbs and flows.

You’ll find all of them here https://pandemonialists.co.uk/mappa-mundi/ There’s the wonderful image designed by artist Catherine Pascall Moore, which tips its hat at the Hereford Mappa, while all the poetry and spoken word events are on a slightly more modern and tech-friendly Google map. We’ve included nights which lie just outside the West Mids county too, because why not? Who wouldn’t fancy a trip to Worcester, or Ironbridge, or Hinckley to listen to poetry once in a while? And if you run a regular event we don’t know of, get in touch and we’ll add it to the listing.

The poets list on the map? We know that’s not up to date. And we’ll get round to revamping that at some point. But for now, use this list of events to get out there, listen to poetry, share your own, meet people, and keep this regional, grassroots arts scene thriving.

PASTA September 2024

Whenever you return to a gig after a bit of a break for the Summer you always wonder if it will have a negative impact. Will everyone have suddenly discovered a new poetry night which is split into two halves with the first half being on a theme and the second half being on any subject and all held together with shambolic professionalism? It’s possible. We imagine there are thousands out there. Somewhere.

If there are, it didn’t have a negative effect. What a night! As always a wide mix of voices took their turns to entertain what we’re sure is one of our biggest PASTA audiences ever. It didn’t matter if it was juxtaposing football with a new term at Uni, talking about a dream world where writing is financially viable or expert use of the word “protozoa” – we had big laughs, rich language and provoked thoughts. 

Now I don’t want to bring the vibe down, but you know the Pandemic? It was bonkers, wasn’t it? So it was nice to not only see some new faces trying their hand but also seeing some old faces us PPPers hadn’t seen since the “before times” of a pre-pandemic world. We miss your faces. We hope you’ll be back.

As always, seeing those people who trust the event enough to make it the first time they read their work in front of an audience proves we’re doing something right. And it also shows how nice and supportive you all are as an audience. 

Thinking about it, it’s amazing there aren’t thousands of nights like this. People obviously want this stuff. Then again, maybe it’s because in that place, with these people, there’s a bit of magic happening you can’t get elsewhere. 

Whatever makes the magic next month will be worth a punt. If you want to pop along it’s 15th October at The Arena Theatre and the theme is “BUSES” or maybe “BUZZES” if you’re Black Country.

Dave Pitt
18th September 2024

Ironbridge Slam – September 2024

It was an incredible Ironbridge Slam 2024 yesterday. A lovely venue and an almost impossible job for the judges. Top notch poetry and performance all afternoon until we finally crowned our winner Brenda Read-Brown. With David Braziel in 2nd place and Ryan Kenny in 3rd. Thanks to everyone who joined us, to the venue for being such wonderful hosts and the techs who made everything go seamlessly.

See you next year.

And if you enjoyed the music played before the event and during the interval…

After the Night Before

Last night, we celebrated seven years of Yes We Cant. That’s seven years of putting on top-notch poetry events – originally in a Walsall pub and now online – which is no mean feat, and we felt we should mark the occasion with something a little bit special. So we did.

Our headliner was the incredible Liz Berry – who did a set made up of requests from our audience on the night, which was just phenomenal. ‘Alf Ender Tim Brookes explained how he’s relatively new to the world of poetry, and then showed us why he’s taking it by storm. Our open mic poets ranged from people performing live for the first time, through to poets with reams of experience. All of them were great. Oh, and NOFB Pitt drank mead. Well, it was a birthday. What else you going to do?

Thanks to everyone who came along, and to all the people who’ve supported us and our night over the last seven years. Let’s make the next seven better still.

Strength to strength

You might think that after running Yes We Cant for some considerable time – originally in the Pretty Bricks pub in Walsall, moving online when the pandemic happened, and still there now – we’d be a little jaded. That we’ve seen it all. That it’s next to impossible to find quality poets to join us on the first Sunday of each month and share their work.

Dear reader, you’d be wrong. Each month, we’re stunned by the quality of the open mic poets, and awed by the craft of our features. And last night was no exception. Our ‘Alf Ender was Carol J Forrester, and if you’ve not heard her read yet, we recommend you do. Her work is beautifully layered and crafted. The quality of the open mics? We’re glad you asked. They were astounding. And our headliner, Nafeesa Hamid, knocked it right out of the park.

Nafeesa first headlined for us back in July 2019, when we were still in the Pretty Bricks and her book ‘Besharam’ had been published by Verve Poetry Press just a few months earlier. It was truly wonderful to see how she’s grown as a performer and a writer over the years – her set was utterly compelling.

Next month, we’ll be celebrating our seventh anniversary. Seven years of putting on a monthly event which brings the best of contemporary poetry to our part of the world. We can scarcely believe we’ve done it, and you’d better believe we have something really special planned. Sunday June 2nd. Put it in your diary. We’ll see you there.

Scary PASTA

When the theme was choosen for PASTA in March and it came out as “Scary Panda” I can’t have been the only one who thought, “Oh! That will be tough.” But one thing PASTA always brings out is a level of creativity which is varied, sublime and astonishing.

A close up of a microphone with theatre seats in the background blurred out. Text at the top reads, "PASTA. Poets and Storytellers Assemble" On the right, next to the microphone are the words "This month's theme: SCARY PANDA " At the bottom are the words, "Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton. wlv.ac.uk/arena Tuesday 19th March 2024. 7.30pm. Free Entry" Also in the bottom right is an AI generated image of a scary panda. The prompt was "A scary panda but in a fun and cartoony style. if you can have them chasing a poet through a bamboo field then even better." It's done a pretty good job to be fair but that was down to the quality of the prompt.

So yes we had work on scary pandas, and scary Panda-monialists and creatures in general. Then in the second half everyone stretched their wings (or would a more suitable metaphor be “puffed up their fur”) and the mix of subjects, voices and emotions was immense.

It’s great to see how PASTA has grown over time and the variety of faces and experiences which are coming through our little night.

The truth is, when you dare to assemble poets and storytellers you shouldn’t really be surprised at the magic which comes out and it always does. We’ll see you in June.

Tavern In The Town

Over the past six months, as well as running our poetry events, we’ve been beavering away on a project to commemorate the Tavern in the Town, which was a legendary rock pub in the heart of Wolverhampton through the 1970s and the 1980s. The project has been made possible by a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund (thank you, National Lottery players!) and we’re extremely grateful to them for that.

The Tavern was at the heart of the city’s rock subculture until it finally closed in 1987, when it became Moriarty’s. This was not – by any stretch of the imagination – a popular move, and Moriarty’s shut its doors for good at the beginning of 1991. During the Tavern years, however, the pub was often rammed, and walking in through the pub door which opened onto Queen Square – and which was the only part of the pub visible to passers-by – took you into a different world where denim and leather ruled supreme.

We’re passionate about our city and its rich history, and wanted to make sure this slice of  Wolverhampton’s past was recorded, not forgotten. So we’ve been busy researching the history of the pub, collecting photos from back in the day, and interviewing and photographing people who drank in the Tavern and who remember it fondly.

We’re now at the business end of our project, when the results of our work become clear. Earlier this week, two thousand copies of our free newspaper – titled Tavern in the Town and packed with images and edited interviews – arrived from the printers. Over the next week or two we’ll be distributing them to pubs, libraries, shops, and cafes across Wolverhampton.

We’ve also arranged an exhibition at the Mander Centre Community Hub from 19-21 April, where we’ll be displaying portrait photographs and selected texts on the walls, and playing audio clips through a small PA. Copies of the free newspaper will also be available here.We’ve also arranged an exhibition at the Mander Centre Community Hub from 19-21 April, where we’ll be displaying portrait photographs and selected texts on the walls, and playing audio clips through a small PA. Copies of the free newspaper will also be available here.

Thirdly, we’ve created a website taverninthetown.co.uk Over the next two weeks we’ll be adding pages and populating them with stories, interviews, photographs, and memories of the Tavern days. You’ll also find a Spotify playlist of tunes which folk remembered from afternoons and evenings happily spent in the Tavern. There’s over seven hours of music there. Seven hours! If there’s a tune you remember which isn’t in the list, email [email protected] and let us know, and we’ll add it. If you’ve photos of the Tavern from back in the day, send them too.

Once this project has closed, the website will remain live for five years, until Spring 2029. All the information we’ve gathered over the course of this project will go to the Wolverhampton City Archives so it is available in perpetuity. Our sincere thanks to all the people who took part in this project. We hope we’ve done your memories justice.

Made Possible with Funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players.