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The Purple Patch and The success of such an event is based not so much on what goes right but on the absence of any major disaster. There were a few disappointments; John Hirst and Ronnie Goodyer were too ill to come and some old friends like J.F.Haines and Carolyn King had prior arrangements. Fortunately John’s place was taken at short notice by Rebecca Mee, a former editor of Poetry Now and Associate Editor of Sole Surviivors. Also, one of our Workshop organisers failed to materialise but we survived that. But most things went more than okay because people, in the main, enjoyed themselves. They appreciated the work of others and were duly appreciated themselves and what can be better than that? The Friday evening session consisted of open mike readings and a crowded bar/lounge venue coupled with a rapid-fire presentation of poets was an introduction to the variety of talent that was to be on offer over the weekend. It was good also to have a previously unseen local poet, when Claudine Weekes made her debut. The practice of having two events simultaneously, lounge bar and stage performances, has rather isolated the book and magazine sellers in their rehearsal room enclave, in previous years, so we tried to boost attention by holding a raffle with book tokens as prizes and holding a painting and photography display in the same room, but this was only partially successful. A lot of old favourites read during the day on Saturday, including a Stourbridge contingent headed by John Stevenson, a bunch of "poetry festival comrades" which include Peter Tomlinson, Trish O'Brien, Eamer O'Keeffe, Geoffrey Clarke, and Steve Langley, and three fine poets from Rain Dog magazine in Manchester. Poetry Wednesbury split its contingent; the bulkier (an apt word indeed for some of us) contingent included Brendan Hawthorne, Alex Barzdo, Tim Jarman, Keith Melbourne and myself, while John Hickman, June Wood and Emma Pursehouse read earlier. It was good to see Bob Mee, boxing correspondent as he is, in the corner for his talented stable of readers and Charles Johnson suitably "obsessed” with publicity for a new pamphlet. I was unable to view Paul Francis’ Shropshire trio presentation of Scenes and Snapshots of their county, but a did get a glimpse at some of the Oxford Backroom Poets who did so well at presenting last year's small press poetry festival in Oxford. I remember the enthusiasm of Magpie's Nest editor Bal Saini when I met him in the 80's and it was good to see it still there when we met again. He seemed to be here, there and everywhere with a big smile on his face. Another smiler is Les Merton, who was active with his book sales, and in action with a Dialect Show presentation, which featured participants from Cornwall, Liverpool (originally), South Wales, and the Black Country. A lady from Stratford upon Avon took time to comment on how she'd enjoyed Roger de Boer's talk on Mathew Arnold and Steve Sneyd once again organised an enthusiastic workshop group, as well as introducing himself, Andy Robson and Cardinal Cox in their reading slot. Anthony Delgrado kindly filled the vacant spot left by the cancellation of our other workshop and, as well as briefly describing the aims of Bluechrome Publishing, manfully answered questions and dealt with enthusiastic would-be authors. It had been intended to have, as a bit of light-relief, a "grumpy-old-men panel" that would spout forth on modern innovations that upset them, but only Ted Smith-Orr and myself were thought suitable material, though one previously unknown convention attendee would have qualified if we'd have known his disposition earlier. Instead it was the serious subject of "War, Peace and Poetry" that was introduced by Rip Bulkeley, and discussed by all, that took the midday slot. In the evening, Brendan Hawthorne, whose music-inspired poetry from Read The Music magazine was presented earlier, introduced a bevy (I would like to point out at this juncture that a collection of male poets would be a bevvy, given the draw of the bar area) of fine women poets and musicians. Heather Wastie led with inspired keyboard playing and a rendering of her own witty songs and there were fine short readings by Angela France, Eamer O'Keeffe, Trish O'Brien, Chris Kinsey and Jane Kinninmont between excellent performances by Chester's Invisible Lipstick trio (Maureen Weldon, Liz Loxley and Helen Hill), Di Neoh and Emma Pursehouse. And Zaza Murray, accompanied by Phil's Earth Hum sound accompaniment provided a mime/music hall act of spectacular proportion, the likes of which many of us have not seen before. The rehearsed and polished presentation from these ladies showed us men up not a little; and why not, it might do us good. Sunday welcomed recent heart-op poet Michael Newman and Murray Dewar to their reading spots and they were accompanied by an open mike session. Then Raw Edge Magazine presented a discussion on "Digital Publishing - finger on the button or poke in the eye" which was received with interest and lively debate. Brendan Hawthorne, Martin Holroyd (co-organiser), Alex Barzdo, and Bob Mee amongst others were kind enough to introduce sessions and Lynn Hawthorne efficiently staffed the reception desk. Geoff Stevens Poets who attend the 2004 event included:-: and (in alphabetical order of surname):-:
With apologies to any whose name has been missed - please contact@poetrywednesbury.co.uk
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