HANDOVER

Due to personal circumstances Jim Harwood has had to stand down as Chairperson of the Wordup committee, and has proposed Simone Mansell Broome as his replacement, which was seconded by Sue Hamblen in accordance with the Constitution.
He has thoroughly enjoyed his time at Wordup, and hopes that this change is every bit as good as a rest. December's meeting is to be a Local Poet's Night featuring the marvellous Sue Hamblen, before the club closes it doors and battens down its hatches for the winter, so please give it your continued support.

ROB GEE

THURSDAY 1ST NOVEMBER sees that human catherine wheel ROB GEE return for his third (yes third) appearance at the Word Up! Night. Guess what the theme for the floorspot competition is?

MORE EMMA PURSEHOUSE PHOTOS

EMMA PURSEHOUSE REVIEW

EMMA PURSEHOUSE REVIEWED.
...before I start on the daunting task of telling you what Emma did, I'd like to give a big thankyou to Simone, who
did a marvellous job of compereing the whole evening. I'm still recovering from my operation, and just wanted to spend
the evening huddled in a corner nursing a warm beer, and thanks to Sue and Simone I was mostly able to do exactly that.
Thanks also to the many floorspots, who were all up to the usual high standard, and as diverse as ever.
So, to the task in hand.
To say that Emma needs to be seen to be believed is a massive understatement - it's difficult at times to believe what
you're seeing when you are there. The first set started with her dressed in multilayered and disparate items of clothing,
which were removed one by one with each poem, so a sort of literary striptease if you will, without the nudity. The poems
quickwitted, sharp, bouncy, poignant and funny.
During the interval a bizzarre collection of shopwindow dummies resembling a bad charity shop display was arranged across the stage.
These costumes were to figure prominently in the Magnum Opus which made up the second half, which was a 40 minute
one-person verse-play which placed the traditional Punch and Judy story firmly in the middle of the medium of daytime telly,
on the Jeremy Kyle Show.
As a veteran performer I've noticed that if you perform for more than 5 minutes without having to look at a book or a scrap
of paper you will blind your audience to the wit, elan and precision of your writing with your amazing feat of memory.
(I was sat by Emma's partner Dave who was following the whole thing with a script on his knee, ready to prompt,
but he was happily redundant).
At 40 odd minutes, with scarce a moment to draw breath, let alone buy a drink or go to the lavvy, you're going to put test
your audience's patience and attention span to the limit, but the room was held in rapt attention throughout, so deft
was the writing and skilful the performing. The piece is written to be performed in a proper Punch and Judy booth with
proper puppets, but the booth wouldn't fit into the confines of the Cellar Bar, and it's credit to Emma's improvisation that
the whole thing worked perfectly. It's only the 3rd time this show has been aired Live, which I find incredible. Next time it appears,
BE THERE!

jim harwood

EMMA PURSEHOUSE

THURSDAY 4TH OCTOBER 2007

About the Show…..

What would happen if Punch and Judy were guests
on the Jeremy Kyle Show?

This poetry performance transplants characters from the traditional
Punch and Judy puppet show into the culture of day time television.

“A splendid mixture of social comment and comedy” written and performed by
Wolverhampton based
performance poet Emma Purshouse.



About Emma…

Emma Purshouse is a performance poet, stand up comedienne and published
writer.

This year she has been working as a writer in residence for Wolverhampton
Libraries and has received Arts Council funding to write and produce her one
woman poetry play ‘The Professor Vyle Show’.

She is very excited to be returning for a second visit to Word-up!!!

STAR OF CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL COMES TO CARDIGAN

One of the leading figures in performance poetry in the UK is coming to the Word Up night at the Cellar Bar, Cardigan, on Thursday September 6th thanks to generous financial support from the Welsh Academi. Marcus Moore has been a key figure at the Cheltenham Festival for the last fifteen years, where he hosts the UK Allstars Poetry Slam and contributes to the ‘Voices Off’ programme he initiated ten years ago. He also helped to establish the prestigious Ledbury Poetry Festival. He writes and performs regularly for radio and television, including Call My Bluff, and his work is published by Macmillan Books. He has performed at venues as diverse as the Oxford Union and Her Majesty’s Prisons, countless schools, Arts Centres, theatres, festivals and bus queues. There will be a competition on the theme ‘Locks & Keys’ or ‘Lochs & Quays’ or any other spelling or interpretation you can think of. Anyone wishing to enter should arrive at the venue by 8.00pm. As usual members are welcome to read their own poems on any topic in the early parts of the evening. To book in advance for this event telephone 01239 621621 or call in at the Castle Café, The Shire Music Department, or Cardigan Music. Tickets are £5.00 including meal.

3 POEMS FROM SIMONE

Lenny,(who sold me a ticket at 08.20hrs).

Lenny – Lenny Everett,

hearing was hard for you,

and working your computer,

well that was harder too.

You stumbled when you spoke to me;

your hands – I saw them shaking;

your fingers slow, flat, pudgy,

and me so close to waking.

You said sorry for your keyboard,

for your printer on go-slow,

as you passed me ticket and itinerary,

advice on best times, best routes to go.

And as you puffed and panted,

a public-serving heavy breather,

Lenny, you were a gentleman

and I was sad to leave yer.

And when I’d struggled onto my train,

and left your kiosk far behind,

I wished you days of clear-voiced punters

who’d give you no grief, would smile, be kind.

Ode to Mister Fox

Wow! Your fabled tail, your lustrous bustling bushy tail, it

struts the question – am I fabulous, am I fantastic??

Are you hell? Now I’m in thrall

to that pelt, the luscious sweep of your back, the swell of your

russet chest rising to that strong neck, those long yellow teeth,

those gold sleepy eyes, neat feet,

fleetfooted, hold on… I can’t wait! I’m in hock to the shock

of that dark musky scent, sexy and bosky, promising

plenty: I’m disarmed by your sangfroid,

your je ne sais quoi. One flickering look, one flare of white

and I’m snared somehow; hooked by that smell, that tail, those

tawny charms, I’ll be your flame, vixen, doxy…oh

foxyfoxy.

Reason (or I’ve lost my marbles)

Elgin – can this really come from Elgin?

Did he lose something…I thought he gained;

or did all that excess baggage

weigh him down with mental strain?

And if after suffering comes amnesia,

then experience brings familiar pain.

It’s a hamster wheel, a goldfish bowl; judgement,

common-sense, whatever – let’s just lose it all again.

And marbles, glassy marbles, where do they get their name,

with their so-cold candy spirals, their fixed swivel twists,

nothing like carrera or table-tops in pizza parlours,

and as for links to David, well these I must have missed.

And if forgiving you’s irrational,

then I really must have lost my mind,

and if you’d only return my raison d’etre,

surely my reason can’t be far behind?

HELEN THOMAS REVIEW

Helen has been an outstanding character on the performance poetry circuit
for many years, and more recently she has also gained a reputation as half
of the highly successful “We are Poets” who are successfully bringing poetry
into schools with their plays and workshops.

This was Helen’s second appearance for Word Up. Many who had caught her
performance at the Cellar Bar last year turned up with friends, and this was
probably the best attended gig that Word Up has run so far.

As ever Helen’s performance was hilarious. With her assured performance
style Helen sounds like no other, and finds humour in the most unlikely
topics, from soda bread to pubic hair. The audience loved her work, and
were extremely enthusiastic in their response.

Open Mic contributions and competition entries were many and varied, and of
an extremely high standard. The competition, on the topic “Deeply Strange”
was won by Viviana Nomad.

The evening was part funded by the Wales Academi.
Prizes were donated by Pages bookshop, High St, Cardigan

ALISON BRUMFITT REVIEW

Alison Brumfitt is having a great Year. She recently won the prestigious
Swindon Poetry Slam, and featured on Saturday Live on Radio Four just two
weeks before appearing for Word Up in the Cellar Bar.

Alison treated us to a highly varied programme of her work exploring the
daily frustrations we face in our lives – the food we eat, the cars we
drive, and the countless pressures we face to conform – subjects we can all
relate to you.

Then she delivered a poem on Anglo-American politics, and the ‘special
relationship’ which resonated so clearly with the audience that you could
have heard a pin drop. A great entertainer, displaying both wit and depth
in her themes, and masterful use of rhythm and the spoken word. A hugely
successful night.

The evening was well attended, and, as ever, the floor poets were also
excellent. April Greenhalgh won the competition with the most original
entry on the topic “I don’t care about your car.”

Lion Sharks and Prolifics provided interval entertainment, their first time
in the cellar bar. Excallent wordsmiths in their own right they gave the
evening an added new dimension.

This evening was part funded by the Wales Academi.
Prizes were very kindly donated by Pages bookshop.

THE ACADEMI

This year we have received partial funding from The Academi Wales, which will help us continue to bring you the very best in contemporary performance poetry. Click on the headline to go to the Academi website to find out more about what they do to help the Arts in Wales.