One Night Stanzas

If you wanted to enter the recent ONS giveaway contest to win one of two copies of JoAnne McKay’s brilliant pamphet The Fat Plant, well tough — it’s too late! The deadline was 25th and the entries were varied and brilliant, much better than my own pathetic efforts! I asked you to tell me who’d be on your ultimate poetry slam team, and you responded in brilliant style. It was a tricky decision but Read This Press intern Martyna and I picked out the two slam teams we thought could really sweep the board… and here they are!

Philippa’s huge, diverse monster of a slam team (the genius inclusion of David Bowie did it for us!):

Scroobius Pip, because he is fabulous live - he turns every poem into a play with multiple characters! I also love how layered his poetry is - his words are laced with so much tongue-in-cheek but it’s heartbreaking at the same time. His poems hold up a mirror to a world most of us wouldn’t like to admit we live in.

Sylvia Plath, of course. What she’d think of Scroobius though, I don’t know. She might not like “The Magician’s Assistant”!

Ivy Alvarez, who loves Sylvia as much as I, and whose work just begs to be spoken out loud.

Clive and Ruth Sansom, who were founding members of the London Verse Choir in the 1930s, and who did the one of the first (it may have even been the very first) public performances of The Wasteland. Clive’s most famous poem, “The Witnesses”, would definitely be on the programme, there’d be something for everyone in there. Scroobius could play John the Baptist, Sylvia could play Mary Magdalene….etc :)

John Keats - who would read prior to the intermission refreshments of piles of quinces and other ripe autumn fruits….

Gwen Harwood - I love how feisty she was. I’d want her to read her “F*ck All Editors” poem.”

Does David Bowie count as a poet? There are spoken sections (segues, he called them) on his album “Outside” that are just stunning. He’d have to get out his guitar as well.

And Regina’s team — her angle would be seducing the audience, apparently — nice! (and Anne Sexton would be perfect — OBVIOUSLY! Why didn’t I think of her?!):

“My line-up would include Pablo Neruda, simply because, well, it’s Pablo and the idea of him reading one of his Odes or love poems would have all the women leaning into the stage just to be near him and asking for more wine!

Then, a little Sandra Cisneros wouldn’t hurt- her poetry is sensual and raucous and completely satisfying.

And finally, Anne Sexton who would certainly raise a few eyebrows and keep everyone in their seats. Poignant and maddening- it’s all there for everyone to see…

I know, two dead ones and one living… but there you go. Oh, and I do like ONS Featured Poet, Heather Bell — a LOT! She would be a great addition to this crew!”

So you two — congratulations! Email me at claire@onenightstanzas.com with your postal addresses and I’ll get the books sent out to you asap! Sorry to those of you who missed out — there were some other brilliant entries. Bonus points go to Col, who cooked up an all-Beats team… it nearly swayed me, I tell you! Nearly!
Watch this space for more giveaways in the near future!

Don’t forget The One Night Stanzas Store, my Etsy store, and their little sister, Edinburgh Vintage!

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Tags: advice for young writers, ons giveaway, publishing, resources for young writers, young poets

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Participate!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.