So our 30th birthday party went swimmingly. Christian decked the place out with sparkling eighties fare from First Scene (thank you, First Scene!) and DJ Andy Flyboy rocked it out with his eighties vinyl collection. We gave spot prizes to people who could answer Poetry Live trivia questions - which saw Michael Morrissey winning the beautiful pair of over-sized pink sunglasses - the person with the winning line from our collaborative poem (posted on the message board) and other things we liked during the night. Mike Hamblin dug out some of his original teen poems from the eighties, and took home the sparkley bowler hat for his efforts. It was a good night.
Michael Morrissey jumped up and told us how after people read, David Mitchel (who started Poetry Live) used to say "welcome back, anytime" if he liked your poem and "thank you for those whimsical words" if he didn't. I was thinking about that, at first it made me smile, but then I think it's not that much different now. There's always been a mixture of poetry at Poetry Live, and we still give everyone a thank you for reading.
I've been putting together the next Poetry Live fundraiser event, which will be on June 29th, one of the rare nights I still MC. On June 29th it's going to be Live Improvised Music Open Mic - haven't been able to come up with a snappier title. What that means is that the first section of open mic (and possibly beyond) will give poets an opportunity to have Otis Mace and Matt Reece, two fabulous musicians, improvising music to their work. As usual, there's a 5-minute limit per person, but you can still fit two decent poems into that time frame. We had great fun when Christian got Mark McGill-Smith the flautist to improvise with open mic. Doug Poole is going to be our guest poet and Stuart Allan will be our guest musician - some people may remember Stuart from a previous guest performance back in the Classic days.
We have also been organising our National Poetry Day event - which as usual will take the form of a Poetry Day Prelude, this year on July 27th. The last three years we have run Resurrection Night, where poets come along and perform as their favourite dead poet, thus 'resurrecting' them for the night. People would dress up and there were prizes for best resurrection performance and best costume.
This year is going to be different. This year we are doing Living Poets Night. This year you can participate in a number of different ways. We invite you to come along and perform a poem by your favourite living poet OR to read an original composition that was inspired by your favourite living poet. You can sign up on the night by putting your name in the open mic book. The open mic book is usually on the end of the bar.
The guest poets on the night will be Albert Wendt and Kevin Ireland, two living New Zealand poet legends, and one other TBC. Our guests will both be presenting some of their own work as well as reading a poem by one of of their favourite living poets.
Don't forget that submissions for Live Lines volume IV are open and will close on September 30th. Send your best 5, UNPUBLISHED poems to Poetry Live, 770A Mount Eden Road, Auckland.
And if you haven't yet got your copy of Live Lines volume III, they are available at Parson's Bookshop, Poetry Live @ Thirsty Dog on Tuesday nights or by emailing poetrylive@gmail.com to request copies by mail.
Over and Out
- Miriam
Michael Morrissey jumped up and told us how after people read, David Mitchel (who started Poetry Live) used to say "welcome back, anytime" if he liked your poem and "thank you for those whimsical words" if he didn't. I was thinking about that, at first it made me smile, but then I think it's not that much different now. There's always been a mixture of poetry at Poetry Live, and we still give everyone a thank you for reading.
I've been putting together the next Poetry Live fundraiser event, which will be on June 29th, one of the rare nights I still MC. On June 29th it's going to be Live Improvised Music Open Mic - haven't been able to come up with a snappier title. What that means is that the first section of open mic (and possibly beyond) will give poets an opportunity to have Otis Mace and Matt Reece, two fabulous musicians, improvising music to their work. As usual, there's a 5-minute limit per person, but you can still fit two decent poems into that time frame. We had great fun when Christian got Mark McGill-Smith the flautist to improvise with open mic. Doug Poole is going to be our guest poet and Stuart Allan will be our guest musician - some people may remember Stuart from a previous guest performance back in the Classic days.
We have also been organising our National Poetry Day event - which as usual will take the form of a Poetry Day Prelude, this year on July 27th. The last three years we have run Resurrection Night, where poets come along and perform as their favourite dead poet, thus 'resurrecting' them for the night. People would dress up and there were prizes for best resurrection performance and best costume.
This year is going to be different. This year we are doing Living Poets Night. This year you can participate in a number of different ways. We invite you to come along and perform a poem by your favourite living poet OR to read an original composition that was inspired by your favourite living poet. You can sign up on the night by putting your name in the open mic book. The open mic book is usually on the end of the bar.
The guest poets on the night will be Albert Wendt and Kevin Ireland, two living New Zealand poet legends, and one other TBC. Our guests will both be presenting some of their own work as well as reading a poem by one of of their favourite living poets.
Don't forget that submissions for Live Lines volume IV are open and will close on September 30th. Send your best 5, UNPUBLISHED poems to Poetry Live, 770A Mount Eden Road, Auckland.
And if you haven't yet got your copy of Live Lines volume III, they are available at Parson's Bookshop, Poetry Live @ Thirsty Dog on Tuesday nights or by emailing poetrylive@gmail.com to request copies by mail.
Over and Out
- Miriam
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