Poetry : Fri 18 Aug
Why not give your soul a jerk with some Cajun Jerk Chicken - or one of the Jambalayas on offer? - meat or veggie (they're from the Southern States, not the Himalayas!). And if you're feeling creative, enter our daily poetry competition and you could win a couple of free bowls of great soul food.
Today's Topic is 'Favourite Food'. Look out for the 'Buckets of Inspiration' dotted around the Soul Food Shack area at the Pleasance Dome. You'll find paper, pens, post-it notes, and some other goodies to inspire you. Pop your entry on the poetry board near the Box Office at the Pleasance Dome or in one of the buckets. Let us know what food you love the most, why you like it, and/or how it feels to it eat. Is it something you'd never leave home without? Or is it something you'd travel halfway across the world for? Remember to leave your name and email or telephone number on the back - and good luck!
The café at the Pleasance Dome last night was a café of contrasts - locals, foreigners, teenagers and older folk, able bodied and physically challenged, people relaxing, people in a rush. The latter contrast inspired the following couple of poems
In a rush they sit down,
Jackets thrown over chair backs
And it's action: devouring food and wine,
Eyes darting to bags chucked near them on the ground
Then to watches -
Bite, swallow -
No time for chewing food.
Finger tooth-picking, Hand nose-smearing,
A sensual, primal attack
On food.
A private world
Within a buzzing café
A pale white pillow
Balanced on the sofa
But not used -
Pillow talk with eyes,
lips, voice and mobile phone.
An uncomplicated courtship
In a misunderstanding world.
Ironically, the poem on the slow and sensual subject was written much more quickly than the other one. I met some friends from London who popped into the café as they were up here because one of them was giving a talk for the Book Festival, and we got talking about the difference between meandering and moseying. One of the group came up with this which I liked ...and I could easily see it developing into a poem.
But we mosey through the town.
Later on, after a few drinks, Antonio, the DJ asks me whether I would write a poem on a subject of his choice. I say yes, so he asks me to write a poem on an extremely large bra, amply filled. I ask him for more details - and learn more about him than about the subject in the process.
spin him tales
Of a pair of stretched out parasol covers
without the metal rods
Or an enormous pair of fabric pans
on an old-fashioned pair of scales
Ample, pendant, replete,
containing more than nectar of the gods.
Is it their size which so intrigues him
Or is it the sensuality of the dugs within
Which inspires him to ask me
To pen him a hymn
Glorifying an enormous brassiere
Or just a fantasy - of hot air?
The topic for our daily poetry competition yesterday was 'Haggis' - and out of over 30 entries, Hannah Horsley's entry, illustrated in cartoon style, was chosen as the winning entry by Lucy Eveleigh, assistant to Anthony Alderson, Director of the Pleasance.
(1) One lonely haggis
Off to see a show,
Lovely Luke Wright
At the Pleasance Dome
(2) But there on the front row
A lady haggis sits
Smiling at the poetry
With nice big ... Lips
(3) Now there's 2 haggises
Or should that be haggi?
Strolling hand in hand
Down the Royal Mile
(4) Happy happy they would be
But on the horizon looms
The sad and oh so scary news ...
It's Burns night soon!