One Night Stanzas

This cool sterling silver owl is on sale.

These cute kitty cats are on sale.

This magical sweater is on sale.

This set of sweet trinket boxes are on sale.

This cosy alpaca hat is on sale.

This breezy striped dress is on sale.

You get the gist, right? EVERY SINGLE ITEM AT EDINBURGH VINTAGE IS CURRENTLY ON SALE OR IN THE FINAL CLEARANCE SECTION! See something you like? Snap it up!

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You can also visit Read This Press for more poetry (and typewriter paraphernalia!). If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

Casebook

The last king, by the entrails of the last priest, in the conservatory.

The speaking clock, by the candlestick, in the director’s cut.

The bull, by the horns, in the china shop.

My honey, by the light of the silvery moon, in June.

The mourner, by the waters of Babylon, in high tide.

The hospital, by the Conservative, in the bill.

The author, by the post-structuralist, in the library.

Roddy Shippin is a young (though greying) Edinburgh-based writer/call centre lackey. He’s had poems on the Poetry Scotland Open Mouse and a handful of stones, as well as various incarnations of the St Andrews student writing society (Inklight) journal. He probably spends more time thinking about snooker than is technically necessary.

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Want to see YOUR poem featured on ONS? Read this post first: submission guidelines are at the bottom. Good luck!

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You can also visit Read This Press for more poetry (and typewriter paraphernalia!). Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

(Photo credit)

The lovely and talented Hayley Shields, reading in Round 1.

So, this happened on Tuesday 6th March.

It almost didn’t. In the 72 hours prior to the event, I had three performers drop off the bill, which obviously threw everything into flux and got me in quite a flap. Luckily, I’m fortunate enough to be acquainted with two extremely classy, very brave and super dedicated female poets who were willing to step into the breach with less than 48 hours to prepare. They are Rose Ritchie and Elizabeth Rimmer, and without them the slam might well have been cancelled! Thank you so much, Rose and Elizabeth. You literally saved the show.

So cancelled it was not. We arrived at the Banshee Labyrinth to find our room beautifully set up for us: chairs set out, a projector screen with my hastily-felt-tipped poster glowing upon it, and even candles lit on stage to provide some ambience! Edd, who runs the Banshee, is the coolest, most laid-back, and most accomodating venue manager I have ever worked with. He’d even rigged up a TV link in the next bar, so folk who couldn’t get a seat in the main room could still watch the action and hear the poems — by my next event (which will almost certainly take place at the Banshee — I can’t imagine ever going elsewhere), he says the bar will have the capability to record performances, too. SO. TOTALLY. COOL. Thank you, Edd, and all the lovely staff at the Banshee. You, quite literally, rock.

It was evident that folk were pretty keen about this whole slam business, because by 7.15pm we were already running out of chairs and the space was full of excited chatter. All my performers showed up, some of them very nervous, but all with notebookfulls of great poems to share. As many of them were slam virgins, I’d emotionally blackmailed three brilliant male poets to volunteer as “sacrifices” — to read first at the start of each round, break the ice and warm up the room for our competitors. This was a pretty intimidating gig for these guys, I’d imagine: a room full of poetry feministas vying for prizes of wine and chocolate! But they stepped up to the plate with aplomb. Total pro Harry Giles went first, followed in the second round by Matt McDonald. Matt took the opportunity to declare himself a rape survivor ally, and his piece was poignant, quietly angry and beautifully hopeful. Many an audience member came up to me to say his was their favourite poem of the night. Finally, Colin McGuire came up to introduce the final and brought the house down, as usual. Thank you a million billion, guys: you are legends.

Then, of course, it was the turn of my wonderful bill of competitors. They’re all people I’ve seen read before, at open mics, stand-up readings or “quiet” slams, and they’re all people whose work I’ve been desperate to hear more of. I wanted the focus of the event to be the promotion of lesser-known female poetic talent first and foremost, and if possible, I also wanted it to be as intersectional — something that can be problematic in Scotland — as possible. I’m happy to say that I think the event succeeded on both counts — no thanks to me, but thanks to the bravery of the women who were willing to say “yes” to my invitations. The stage played host to explorations of such themes as nationality, sexuality, gender orientation, relationships, travel, writing and creativity, and of course, food! The poems we heard were by turns hilariously funny and deeply touching, seethingly angry and sweetly loving. Above all, the quality was consistently, breathtakingly high.
Thanks upon thanks upon thanks upon thanks to Gayle Smith, Hayley Shields, Tracey S Rosenberg, Rose Ritchie, Elizabeth Rimmer, Theresa Munoz, Katherine McMahon, Rachel McCrum, Sally Evans, Katie Craig, Camilla Chen and the last-minute ever-so-nearly-wildcard Lara S. Williams. You were all so excellent — the judges must’ve been tearing their hair out…

…and yes, the judges. Slam aficionados, all of them, and yet scoring these ladies’ words must have been a damn hard job. A great big tip of the hat to Kevin Cadwallender, Jenny Lindsay and Sophia. You did well, young Jedis.

Big thanks too to Stephen Welsh, who helped put up posters, carried things, calmed me down when I raged and fretted, made endless bar trips on the night, and acted as primary score-keeper. And to Helen Askew, who worked as secondary score-keeper, keeping Steve right, as well as taking photos of the event while I bobbed up and down to and from the stage all night. (She also carried some things.) You were INVALUABLE, you two.

Finally, last but by no means least — in fact quite the opposite — THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who sent words of encouragement, who promoted the event on their Facebook or their blog, who spread the word to other interested folk, and who came along on the night. Best of all were all the people who dropped some pennies into our fundraising bucket. From your small change, we managed to make £70 for Scottish Women’s Aid. THANK YOU A MILLION GAZILLION SQUILLION!

The excellent and extremely deserving winner, Rachel McCrum.

One Night Stanzas loves mail. Say hello via claire@onenightstanzas.com. NB: I am physically unable to reply to non-urgent stuff unless I have a free afternoon and a cup of tea in my hand. Please be patient!

OK, I’ll admit: Edinburgh Vintage is not exactly the obvious choice when it comes to presents for writers. However, I am a writer and if you bought someone something from my shop this Christmas, it would be a lovely Christmas present for me! So you’ll have pleased at least one poet…

Edinburgh Vintage is my sometime online secondhand clothing business, which I’ve been running on and off for two years. It was born of a need to make some extra pennies as a temporary (read: impoverished) lecturer trying to juggle a whole load of unpaid creative projects (literary magazine, small press, community arts initiative, etc). Since, it’s become a handy way to keep my collection of second-hand clothing at a reasonably manageable size. I also find it loads of fun.

The super gorgeous tattooed goddess Martyna, modelling one of my favourite pieces currently for sale.

Etsy’s vintage shops seem to be all too often populated by two types of item: one, things that look exactly like the kind of stock you get at Urban Outfitters and two, vastly expensive genuine 1950s bespoke ballgowns that were each made for a woman with the measurements of a particularly skinny whippet (example). Edinburgh Vintage attempts to buck that trend by stocking clothes that a) aren’t obnoxiously hipsterish, b) you might actually wear out of doors and c) come in real sizes. I like certain clothing eras and styles: Mod, Skinhead, Ska, punk and anything 1960s, primarily. Mostly, that’s what you’ll find in my store.

A very pretty embroidered kimono, also modelled by the lovely Martyna.

As the Christmas shopping frenzy is upon us, I’ll be uploading new items as often as I can in the next little while. If you like what you see in the shop or in my previously sold items, stick around and check back regularly. Please note: I am totally open to handing out mates’ discounts, so drop me a line if you see something you fancy and I may well be willing to haggle! Enquiries to claire[at]onenightstanzas[dot]com.
Merry Christmas Shopping!

One Night Stanzas has been going for two and a half years and has never had a blogroll, til now. Why? Because for the vast majority of that time, there was a Procrastination Station post every single Friday, without fail. Procrastination Station exists to document cool stuff from the web that week, and it seemed much more cool to plug a different happening from a favourite blog every week, than just to have a single link sitting in the ONS sidebar.

However, Procrastination Station posts have become less regular — sorry guys, I’m just super busy! — and I feel like I owe some folk a bit of limelight. Please do have a browse of the blogs and sites below… each has a wee description so you can decide before you click if it sounds like your kind of thing. But I guarantee they’re all packed with gold. Happy reading!

Stephen Welsh at Concrete Void Stephen Welsh is also known in these parts as Lovely Boyfriend — a title which automatically gets him top spot on my blogroll (among other priviledges, obviously). He is a damn fine experimental/concrete/visual poet and he’s just new to the poetry scene and the blogosphere. Please go check out his stuff, and give him some love.

McGuire at Notes from a Glaswegian Immaturity I’d class McGuire as one of the most exciting new poets working in Scotland at the moment. Writing in Scots and English and blurring the lines between page and performance, he’s been compared to Neruda, Ginsberg and Corso by more folk than just me. Check him out.

Chris Lindores at Non The Road Chris is another great upcoming young Scottish poet, recently described as “a beardy man of quick wit and self-deprecating humour” and, according to his pamphlet blurb, “a fucking funny guy.” See his latest work here, or check out his rarely-updated blog, Shit Stuff About Good Things.

Stephen Nelson at afterlights Scotland’s premiere visual poet — Stephen posts examples of his latest work here, and updates his readers on his publication progress. Really unique and exciting vispo and concrete stuff here. Check it out!

Kerri Ni Dochartaigh at she writes from a paper aeroplane One of Edinburgh’s most exciting young female poets. Read Kerri’s latest work here, and be amazed.

Dave Coates at Dave Poems A fabulous upcoming Edinburgh poet, Dave posts his latest poems here, and writes excellent, honest reviews of contemporary collections and anthologies. You can check out some of his older work here, too.

Daniel Watkins at Nothing to Report Daniel is a poet and playwright and he blogs about his latest projects (he just wrote, produced and directed a panto!), other stuff he’s up to, and er… Anna Kendrick.

Heather Bell at queenhrosie The latest work from brilliant US poet Heather Bell. Quirky, original, honest, dazzlingly brilliant poems.

Rob A Mackenzie at Surroundings Rob is a poet, reviewer and events organiser, and he blogs about all manner of contemporary poetry, arts and pop culture issues. He also writes reviews of new poetry collections and anthologies, and organises the popular Edinburgh poetry night Poetry At The…

Andrew Philip at Tonguefire Andrew posts his latest works, writes about contemporary Scottish poetic happenings and keeps his readers updated on his latest publications.

Morgan Downie at The Swiss Lounge Morgan, aka Swiss, posts great poems he’s come across on his travels, as well as chatting about his poetic activities and his passion for cycling. He also blogs occasionally at Travels in the Floating Elvis, where he posts his own work.

Mairi Campbell-Jack at a lump in the throat Mairi blogs about her life, work, poetry in general, politics, women’s issues and heaps more. She is also the editor of small poetry press Marvelou.

Jenny Lindsay at It’s The Party Line And I’ll Cry If I Want To Jenny is one of Scotland’s foremost performance poets, and an all-round excellent writer. She mostly blogs about politics here, but some poetry sneaks in there every so often.

Jim Murdoch at The Truth About Lies Frank, detailed reviews of books of all kinds; editorial-style posts on contemporary poetic issues. Jim is a legend of the literary blogosphere — go and see what he has to say.

Dr Julian Derry at OSqualitude Writer and academic Julian Derry gives his thoughts on topics as diverse as poetry, Darwin and the pros and cons of Twitter.

Michael MacLeod at The Guardian: Literary Edinburgh Beatblog Loads of info on Edinburgh’s literary and arts events, with guest posts from various Scottish poetry, literary and publishing types.

William Soule at fllnthblnk William is one of the most exciting young voices writing from the US at the moment — keep an eye on his work, he’s about to go supernova. He’s also the editor of the very fine Utah-based quarterly, The Clearfield Review.

Regina C Green at Red Bird Chronicles Regina is a US poet whose work is fun, sparky and original. Read her latest stuff, check out her numerous publications, and dig her passion for words.

Alex Williamson at Alex Williamson Poetry Brilliant poems. That is all.

Juliet Wilson at Crafty Green Poet A blog about Juliet’s own poetry, about her day-to-day life as a conservationist and ardent nature lover, about her work with Gorgie City Farm, and about her artwork and crafty activities. Juliet also edits the literary blogzine Bolts of Silk, which is well worth a look.

Marion McCready at Poetry in Progress Marion, aka Sorlil, blogs first drafts of her poems, talks about her publication highs and lows, comments on current poetry events and plenty more besides.

Chris Emslie at Quoi le Phoque? Chris describes himself as ‘a poet in training,’ and blogs about all things contemporary poetry, with some of his own work getting a look-in occasionally, too.

Russell Jones Russell blogs mainly about his publications, numerous speaking appearances and conferences, with some occasional opinion pieces, too.

Rachel Fox at More About The Song Rachel is currently on blog-holiday here, but More About The Song will not lie dormant forever. Poems, opinion, occasional rants and great warmth can all be found here.

JoAnne McKay at Titus the Dog JoAnne, aka Titus, uses her blog to post new work and to write generally about the writing life. She is a veteran of the Poetry Bus project and promotes her two excellent pamphlets, The Fat Plant and Venti via her blog, too.

Colin Will at Sunny Dunny Colin blogs from his hometown of Dunbar on all manner of poetic goings-on around Scotland, and beyond.

Kona Macphee at That Elusive Clarity One of Scotland’s best contemporary poets, Kona writes about everything Scottish, poetic, writerly and publishing-related.

Eric Hamilton at oldestboy Brilliant new work from New Jersey performance poet and hip-hop artist Eric, also known as Left Ginsberg.

Cassandra at Ophelia Blooming Poems, pretty pictures, whimsical thoughts. I like all of these things.

Howard Good at Apocalypse Mambo Oft-published US poet Howard Good posts new work, interviews, and links to publications, along with the occasional review.

Lindis Kipp at Miss Lovelace’s Cabinet of Curiosities Lindis is a writer and academic, but this is not a poetry blog as such. It’s just a tumblr full of awesome stuff, from lush photos of incredible libraries to geeky in-jokes from Star Wars and Super Mario. Hello escapism.

Lucy Baker at Dear Fish Lucy is a poet, Beat Generation enthusiast and one of my besties. This blog is primarily about her amazing travels and adventures, along with some very pretty outfits.

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It’s been three years in the making — I’ve been a total perfectionist, and more latterly, a total idiot, about releasing it, and as a result, I’ve been nagged, mocked and nagged some more about it. But after much blood, sweat, tears and nerves, it’s here: my debut poetry pamphlet, The Mermaid and the Sailors.

CLICK THE BUTTON TO BUY THE MERMAID AND THE SAILORS HERE!

Praise for “The Mermaid and the Sailors”:

‘Claire Askew’s verse can be enjoyed for its playfulness and sharp wit. More rarely, it can also be treasured for its sureness of voice, its rich linguistic texture and deep emotional core. Rooted in the everyday, she has an ability to make the ordinary startling. Often funny, frequently startling in her imagery, she is adept at giving us the surprises, anxieties and estrangements of the modern world. But a series of poems about grandparents, of vividly rendered domestic interiors and Northern landscapes, also haunt with their poignant sense of belonging and loss. The Mermaid and the Sailors offers a procession of poems that have been honed with precision and skill, but which are effortlessly entertaining, echoing in the mind long after one has read them. This generous debut pamphlet confirms that Claire Askew is one of the most distinctive young poets to emerge in Britain in recent years.’

– ALAN GILLIS

‘These finely tuned poems, studded with arresting and memorable images, often resonate with loss and longing, absences and distances, yet many are shot through with a wry and sometimes very dark humour which unsettles even as it delights. People’s inner lives come alive in these poised and telling narratives. Claire Askew is a fresh and highly distinctive new voice.’

– BRIAN McCABE

‘Askew’s debut pamphlet displays great assurance. Her poems impact immediately, offering brief yet memorable vignettes of quiet lives and moments … one senses a major talent emergent in The Mermaid and the Sailors.’

– ROBERT ALAN JAMIESON

‘Claire Askew is a young poet at once cosmopolitan and distinctively northern, with a fine ear for the aptly-placed colloquialism, the unusual word. A skilful and understated user of form, at times she is painterly, allowing sequences of images to play out like stills from a lost reel of footage, and at other times joyously musical, creating an interplay of word-sounds whose sheer energy draws the reader onward. “The Mermaid and the Sailors” is a welcome first publication from a sparky new writer.’

– KONA MACPHEE

‘Askew writes with haunting precision, bringing to life the magic and wonder of the things we ordinarily overlook or take for granted. These are poems to savor, poems of electrifying intimacy and startling beauty.’

– SAM MEEKINGS

CONVINCED?

Any questions? Want to let me know what you thought of it? I’d love to hear from you! Email claire@onenightstanzas.com

Cover image: Miriam Parker // Cover design: Leon Crosby (leon.a.crosby@gmail.com) // Editor: Kevin Cadwallender // Publisher: Red Squirrel Press

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