Genesis Breyer P-Orridge interview on Radio Valencia 3rd February 2012

"Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has worn many faces to many people, even before plastic surgery sliced its way into the picture. Whether as a pioneer, a deviant, a devil, a saint, a shaman, a prankster, a philosopher, an occultist, a prophet - or, as one member of British parliament infamously declared, a “wrecker of civilization”

16.00 until 18.00 San Francisco time a Radio Valencia interview along with filmmaker Marie Losier to promote The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (and you know I love a ballad).

More on Radio Valencia here http://radiovalencia.fm/ and the documentary http://www.balladofgenesisandladyjaye.com/ballad/. And Genesis' blog http://genesisporridgearchive.blogspot.com/?zx=ee4c9692427a6c04 - you'll get a scary adult content warning off blogger but press on...

Bolaji St.Ramos tweet poetry

Bolaji St.Ramos is a Nigerian poet, playwright, writer and lawyer with collections of poetry and children stories to his credit. His work is also published in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

poetandgeek poetandgeek.com 

Changing chameleon in the think woods Donning the duty of villagers and explorers I was the child farmer tilling the soil

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Extract from Ode to my childhood

Changing chameleon in the think woods,
Donning the duty of villagers and explorers.
I was the child farmer tilling the soil,
And the child of curiosity doing the toil,
The child fisherman toiling giver rivers,
The child crab hunter digging the holes,
The child snail gatherer, the wood wanderer
My childhood, oh my gallant childhood
A pinnacle perhaps more powerful than adulthood,
Changing chameleon in the urban wood,
Donning the duty of the villagers and explorers.

You can find more of his work here: http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=47427.

Neu! Reekie! A double birthday celebration 27th January 2012 Edinburgh, UK

Neu! Reekie! A Double Birthday Celebration For Robert Burns & Paul Reekie with Michael Pedersen, Kevin Williamson, Sally Evans and films from Alistair Cook. House band Emelle confect a picnic of Burns favourites - glazed with their unquashable gypsy-folk. Plus raffle of the absurd.

Tonight only from 19.00 until 22.00 at the den of the Scottish Book Trust in Sandeman House, Trunk's Close, 55 High Street, EH1 1SR Edinburgh.

More on the whole shebang can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/events/194827917279627/

Drone

Could this be a poetic form? With all its associations with a minimalist musical style.

Two things to consider:

first, there is already a term in poetry that refers directly to drone, burden.It even derives from the French bourdon, a staff; or a pipe made in the form of a staff. So drone in music refers to the bass in some musical instruments, and the pipe or part that plays it, is found in pipes and strings in instruments as diverse as the bagpipe, sitar, hurdy gurdy, sarod, sarangi, rudra veena and the pedal point in an organ. From this root burden came to refer to a part of a song that is repeated at the end of each stanza, i.e. the chorus or refrain. And this repetition maintains its interest to the formal poet.

second, modern dronescape is rich with poetic possibility. Its use and emphasis of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters. Its often colloborative and experimental nature. Its improvisation. All can be explored when the voice becomes another drone. And this is happening (check out how Droneshift 2011 includes voice improvisors among its participants) and we would like to hear more about its current practice from you.

More here: http://folktek.blogspot.com/2010/07/drone-scape.html and http://www.facebook.com/events/186497024756643/.

Call for poetry, reviews and essays...Issue 4 2012 poetandgeek.com

Call for poetry (4 poems or less), images and reviews (literary and technical) for Issue 4 2012. Deadline for copy is March 30th 2012.

The theme for this issue is borders (but we may accept poems on other subjects).

Essays, by prior discussion so please send an outline of your ideas first. Contact for submissions and all other enquiries is poetandgeek at gmail.com. You can check out previous issues at poetandgeek.com.

poetandgeek.com poetry place and informatics

Petr Řehoř: Kirjainten ruumi/The Body of Letters, Oulu, Finland

Still time to visit this exhibition in Kulttuuritalo Valve (Valvegalleria), 7th - 29th of January 2012  and open daily from 10 AM to 8 PM. Address is Hallituskatu 7,Oulun kaupunki (Oulu).

Petr Rehor, a czech painter who has lived in Finland since the 80s, says of its genesis "When I walked along the streets of Helsinki in the early 1990's, I noticed that the neon signs of the bank departments were being removed. The bank crisis was going on full speed and the banks that had gotten into bankruptcy could not pay back even the financial support that had been issued from the taxpayers' money. When I asked where the letters and logos were going to be taken, I got the answer "To the dump yard". I suggested whether I could get the letters to myself, as material for my art pieces. I pondered how the logos and letters of such marvellous bank departments could change into waste. What were their lives like? I started using with the abandoned letters and started to form new words with new meanings. These letters became the carriers of hidden meanings that slowly reveal the life of their own. I built objects, painted and photographied them. These letters have an inner, deeper meaning to me. They became symbols of power that may vanish in the next moment. I want to continue working with this project."

Find more here http://www.kulttuurivalve.fi/sivu/en/uusi_sivu/the_body_of_letters/ and here http://www.kulttuurivalve.fi/tiedostot/TiedoteRehor.pdf.

Pathlight magazine: New Chinese Writing

Pathlight magazine is a new English-language literary magazine produced by Paper Republic and People's Literature Magazine (《人民文学》杂志社). It is currently in trial publication period—the first issue came out on November 20, and the second issue will be published in advance of the 2012 London Book Fair, where China will be the Market Focus.

Authors in the first edition include: 

Bei Dao (北岛), Jiang Rong (姜戎), Leung Man-tao (梁文道),  Yang Lian (杨炼) and their many talented translators.

You can find out more and order details from here: http://paper-republic.org/pathlight/

It has got some excellent reviews - http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-01/06/content_14390047.htm. (The first edition of Pathlight: New Chinese Writing shows the best of Chinese literature to the rest of the world, in the estimation of Chitralekha Basu.)