Poetry: Exeter Poetry Festival 7th to 10th October 2010

While I'm updating, it looks like Exeter Poetry Festival will go ahead 7 - 10 October 2010 so keep an eye on its blog for updates.

Already confirmed are Ronald Tamplin, Jen Hadfield, Julia Copus and Greta Stoddart...


Liv Torc will be poet in residence. Anyone who lives in Exeter and is half awake will have come across the Wondermentalist Bard in performance or promoting the spoken word.

You can catch her at the Phoenix Arts Centre every third Wednesday of the month hosting an open mic night.

My co-host Rachel McCarthy is also involved and will be deploying the energies that have made Excite the most active Poetry Society Stanza.

She hosts the open mic sessions at Otto Retro every second Thursday.

Tony Frazer, editor of Shearsman Books, is also assisting in curating the festival.

He co-hosts Uncut Poets at the Black Box in Exeter's Phoenix Centre every fourth Thursday which features open mic slots and a monthly guest poet.

So that's three open mic poetry shows every month, not counting the regular book launches and other performances. When it comes to the arts in general, Exeter may sometimes seem comatose, but the poetry scene is alive and kicking.

Come and join us in October! We're hoping for a festival special of The Blah Blah Blah Show on  October 3rd to launch the event.

Poetry Review: Liv Torc at Otto Retro

I like Lic Torc. She does what she does - sassy performance poetry, off by heart, acted not just recited - and she does it well. I'm not the only one who says so. She won the South-West final of the Radio 4 Slam, is one of Matt Harvey's Wondermentalist cabaret troupe, and is an indefatigable presence on the local spoken word scene.

I like her work, or rather I like her performing her work. I like the title of her book too - 'Take Your Monkey and Get Out of My Life' - which isn't to say I bought a copy. Truth is, I'd only read it to remind me of her bringing it to life on stage. That's the problem with performance poetry on the page - with an active local scene giving plenty of opportunities to check out its good - and not so good - practitioners, and youtube as a backup if I ever feel like a fix of the same, I reserve my reading hours for other stuff.

Which isn't to say I don't regard Liv as a poet, I do, her and some - though not all - of her tribe - Amazonian and otherwise. Several were up there with her at Otto Retro - Exeter's funky junk store, one of the several homes of East Devon's poetry Stanza, Excite. In a funny kind of way, the setting was like the inside of her mind - eclectic bric-a-brac you probably don't need, but find yourself being charmed by all the same.

Some had her pizazz and the ones that didn't, at least they had a go. I can listen to the worst of them for five minutes, once, on an open mic. By the third or fourth time my democratic instincts are being tested, but I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity. It's how wannabe poets test themselves against an audience, alongside other wannabes, the odd should've-been and the occasional real thing. It's like eating canapes - if you don't like what you've got, there's another one coming along to soak up your glass of wine.

And I kind of regret not buying a copy of that book for the title alone. It would have made a quirky present for one of my younger sisters or elder nieces. I might just have done that but then she was chaired as the Bard of Exeter, made to wear robes and take a vow after a long speech by the Grand Bard about what the recently interred tradition should mean to her and us. That sickle lacked a cutting edge. So I slipped out the door and rushed home to watch Larry David's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' instead. And I'd advise performance poets with a comedic wit and sense of the ridiculous to do the same.