http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog en-us Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:14:29 +0100 Main Page Blogware lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/5/3778391.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/5/3778391.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:33:00 +0100 “It’s Smita Lemn do you have a minute” Each time I was in a meeting but the third time I finally spoke to the BBC Producer Smita Patel. “I know you’ve done a lot of work for radio four” said Smita, I noted to myself that by now she had done a little research. Patel then followed a lengthy ramble to which I had to say, “what’s the upshot Smita”. In my world it is very rare that I have to say so clearly more than once “smita, what’s the upshot” meaning what’s the outcome. I sensed very strongly that there was something an outcome about this call but I couldn’t have expected what was to come. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/3/3777994.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/3/3777994.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:20:11 +0100 I sent the reply today to Smita at the BBC. Mrs Catherine Greenwood is the foster mother whom with her husband for the first eleven years of my life, abused me (there is no other one word for it) and whom has for the first time - having been approached on various occassions over the years - informed the BBC that I have been lieing for twenty years. No change there then. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/2/3776740.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/2/3776740.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:50:24 +0100 Patel spoke in the way a news or current affairs worker, with clipped assertiveness. The question arose, as it had to. My foster father died some years ago, but my foster mother was alive. “Shall we find her” I paused. I replied each time “If you would like to”. I was aware that the narrative path Patel was following was nudging towards my my foster mother, the surviving member of the couple who abused me. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/28/3767554.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/28/3767554.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:59:49 +0100 my Ghanain driver’s been working all night. It doesn’t stop him sharing his taxi driver philosophy. We discuss Zimbabwe and Britain’s duplicitous role as both coloniser of its past and arbiter of its present. "White people", he tells me, "you can not trust them, I’m not saying black people are perfect, but you can’t trust white people". I know why he is saying what he is saying. However you look at it, if a white person said the same about a black person it would have a totally different root cause. "How did they hurt you" I think to myself. "How did they hurt you". Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/28/3767691.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/28/3767691.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:55:57 +0100 Here is the final verse of the poem I read at Glastonbury as part of Music Through Unconventional means, with shlomo and the vocal Orchestra. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/27/3767935.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/27/3767935.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:43:46 +0100 In the sixties and early seventies, in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa was swinging. Addis was the Monaco of Africa. The men and women wore the best Italian clothes and the clubs were swinging. Drive-by Coffee houses would begin the evening and stay open as the club revelers returned from the dance. . By day time the Ethiopian jazz musicians would be playing in the Imperial Guard Band for the Emperor and in the night they’d play the hip joints of downtown Addis. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/26/3764698.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/26/3764698.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:19:29 +0100 "Whereas received opinion states Two’s company threes a crowd in terms of the Liverpool poets, two’s company, three’s allowed. Under the Influence of Mersey Sound, How it came about and what the influence is, is some of what I would like to share this evening. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/25/3764725.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/25/3764725.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:36:00 +0100 One of the greatest ensembles of our time - San Fransisco chronicle A performance of definitive greatness. - Daily Telegraph Last night I took part in an historical moment by being part of the audience at the final concert of The Alban Berg Quartet. They are a world class quartet and have been together for over thirty years. One year after the death of Thomas Kakuska they have decided to gracefully end their illustrious career. I was commissioned to write a poem for them and did. It is called Rosin and was placed inside the final programme of this concert after which I read the poem for them, to them at a private reception held in their honour on 6th floor of The Royal Festival Hall. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/23/3767731.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/23/3767731.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:43:28 +0100 Tonight I’m curating an event to launch Architecture Week through Futurecity arts at Chelsea Space Gallery. It will be the first public reading of The Gilt of Cain, the poem to be placed inside a sculptor near Liverpool Street Station as a commission from The City of London Commission on the abolition of the slave trade act. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/19/3756202.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/19/3756202.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:11:25 +0100 Tonight’s full moon viewed from the top of the hill amongst sleepy whisps of clouds is a bit gorgeous. It happened on the late night walk. “Look” bridget said. I couldn’t see a bean, Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/16/3752172.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/16/3752172.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:20:09 +0100 We shall be teaching these fifteen people, strangers, to write and to be with the most important part of their lives, creativity. They will be lawyers and scientists, restaurateur and arts administrators. They have leapt from their comfort zones into the unknown. They have taken a risk without which there is no benefit. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/16/3756127.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/16/3756127.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:23:00 +0100 After the protest the journalist and I go over the River Thames to The South Bank. It’s buzzing. Elbow are rehearsing with an all male choir in The Blue Room situated in the lusciously named Spirit Level beneath the royal festival hall. I walk into the room and there they are in all their glory. Rehearsal is the greatest thing. Mary King is directing the Male voice Choir while Elbow play and Guy sings. The string section is lined up against the wall. The joint is right “lemn” Guy Garvey says “Guy” I say at precisely the same time. Hugs all round and kisses for Mary King. I then stand back and listen to the magic. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/14/3744559.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/14/3744559.html Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:27:37 +0100 Here are the two poems read on BBC radio Fours Saturday Live today and broadcast to the nation. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/14/3744520.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/14/3744520.html Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:00:34 +0100 Don't get me wrong I know this feels like sacrilege especially to either the uninformed, the unflexible, the inexperienced, or boundary poet, (a boundary poet is one who clings to boundaries without exploring the unknown), but they would be ungracefully wrong, in truth it is truly an exercise in the power of creativity to seek out it's reason. If I match my experience to the process of excavation I am bound to find the poem. All my senses are alerted, cranked up. It is somehow magical. If not the end piece then the concentrated act of seeking the poem is for me, an affirmation of why I'm alive. to seek creativity. and I've found it. It's as if the ink is running a split second ahead of my writing and I am following it with the pen. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/12/3741142.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/12/3741142.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:07:08 +0100 On Sunday 15 June, US President George W. Bush is visiting London as part of his valedictory world tour, and will be having tea with the Queen and dinner with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/11/3740301.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/11/3740301.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:52:34 +0100 Out of the blue, today I receive a call "George Bush is coming to London, on Sunday" Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/8/3740921.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/8/3740921.html Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:17:16 +0100 I amateurishly remind Patti that I have read with her before and that I shall be reading with her tonight. She doesn’t remember but she’s nods graciously. Autograph hunters descend the second before we enter the stage door. I immediately get out my pen and set up a little table and chair so they can form a Que only to realise my name is not Patti Smith. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/7/3740269.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/7/3740269.html Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:19:39 +0100 Mid poem on the second reading a drunken man walks to the stage and starts shouting to me. It would be ignorant to ignore. None of the organisers offer to help and instead they watch as I cope. Eventually after repeating our conversation on the microphone “you’re name’s michael…. You want to say something… on here....”. I invite him on stage where he gets seriosly involved in a Donald Duck impression. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/27/3723468.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/27/3723468.html Tue, 27 May 2008 19:45:46 +0100 I walk into the artists section of the dining tent and introduce myself to John Bird. Within the first two minutes of meeting Mr Bird he says “I used to be a racist. Now I have a pubjabi wife and support Obama”. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/27/3723472.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/27/3723472.html Tue, 27 May 2008 13:51:11 +0100 “Mummy mummy Granny’s Cafe” an excited child says to her mother as they speed past “look look Granny’s Cafe”. There’s an innocently irritated expression on her mothers untidying face.This is a literary festival she scowls. “It’s the granary cafe” she says “GRA-NA-RY”. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723419.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723419.html Mon, 26 May 2008 19:19:50 +0100 The train is now passing through town of Honeybourne and thankfully the onslaught of rain has stopped. Above my desk at The Southbank centre it reads “It ain’t where you go, It’s where your at”. The line comes from a song I wrote abut seven years ago. After all any seemingly big move has never been to find a better place outside oneself but to satisfy the place within. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723431.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723431.html Mon, 26 May 2008 15:30:01 +0100 “What a good looking young boy” says the hotel owner Mr Gwynne as Mrs Gwynne busies herself past him and back into the kitchen for the keys to my room. They’re cheery enough. They could be two friendly voles in toad of toad hall. This small bed and breakfast Belmont House, is warm and friendly and perfectly situated in the centre of Hay. I am here for the Hay on Wye Literature festival, the most famous literary festival in the United Kingdom tucked gently but confidently into the collar bone of The Black Hills of Wales. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723440.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3723440.html Mon, 26 May 2008 13:38:39 +0100 The festival bus takes ten minutes and arrives at a field with gigantic white tents. It’s like a quidditch world cup final. The Sky TV banners flap high in the sky. A mini white city of canvas concert halls has been erected with a warren of walkways that lead to a bewildering program of events. The sound of applause spills out into from somewhere: where (?) nobody knows. This festival is gorgeous. I enter the green room a place where artists settle, drink, chat. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/25/3723386.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/25/3723386.html Sun, 25 May 2008 23:54:24 +0100 Of my own free will I joined Face book. The free will went a bit like this: One minute I was fixing up some dinner and then I heard a bleep from the computer screen in the office and then I heard myself saying “Must. Join. Computer. Facebook. Must. Join. Computer. Facebook.” And it was as natural as that. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/22/3721754.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/22/3721754.html Thu, 22 May 2008 23:59:59 +0100 There's five minutes until the day begins. It's nearly midnight. I open the kitchen door and..... Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/21/3710178.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/21/3710178.html Wed, 21 May 2008 23:59:14 +0100 I am searching for flowers. I am getting more and more tense as I reclose each door. What does it matter anyway I tell myself. You can't miss what you didn't have. I've been telling myself that one all my life. It's just that today is the day that I do miss what I didn't have. I'll allow myself that. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/21/3702934.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/21/3702934.html Tue, 20 May 2008 07:02:15 +0100 So there we were writers the three of us, fed up. By fed up I mean, we had just eaten! A cab was hailed, Gwenyth went to her hotel in Kings Cross while the journalist and I continued. Home draws closer under a full, full moon. The best performance of the evening goes to The Full Moon. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/15/3695403.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/15/3695403.html Thu, 15 May 2008 23:11:58 +0100 “If as Marx said ‘Religion is the opiate of the people’ then surely nationalism is the crack cocaine” – Gaim Kibreab Birkbeck College. Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/14/3691685.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/14/3691685.html Wed, 14 May 2008 07:03:41 +0100 I first met Tenzin in South Africa where he read his poems on stage at The Poetry Africa Festival in Durban. He was campaigning for Tibet - by walking - long before it gained the worlds attention. He has walked around the world to raise its consciousness of Tibet. Amazingly this has happened/is happening. This is his latest post Main Page lemn sissay http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3690087.html http://blog.lemnsissay.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3690087.html Tue, 13 May 2008 06:23:27 +0100 In the evening I travelled to Hammersmith and the home of George Devine, the founder of the rebirth of The Royal Court Theatre. His home has a blue plaque on the wall and looks out upon the Thames. Five of us, the judging panel for The George Devine Award finally whittled down the scripts to one clear winner. The prize is £10,000, ($20,000) - it's alot of money Main Page