Poems are well good, aren’t they?
Well, the ones from our Glastonbury Festival Poetry&Words stage are. I had an ace time experiencing many perform at Tongue Fu last night. Following that, here come a few thoughts on their sets and an insight what you might expect from our mighty Poetry&Words stage for the next few days!
Oh yeah. I am Dominic Berry, your Poetry&Words blogger. Previously here, I promised you some musings upon the magnificence of DEMI ANTER and Demi’s delightful verses. Here we go, here we go, here we go!
DEMI ANTER
One of Demi’s (many) big HIT SINGLES is EYE LASHES. To hear EYE LASHES live was and is fantastic. Many a person way wiser than me has praised this beautiful piece of poetry. For me, much of the greatest poetry succeeds when it takes a tiny detail, such as here with the eyelashes of a person for whom an intense love is felt, and magnifies that minute detail into an epic. That’s what this poem does. WELL EPIC!!!! Yeah, EYE LASHES does this wonderfully. In this poem, Demi describes how she is ‘blossoming’ in the presence of these eye lashes, as indeed the crowd blossomed with joy and love hearing this awesome art.
Yay Demi!
See Demi on the Poetry&Words stage today at 12.35 and also Saturday at4.
Who else was on and who else is on?
LAUREN McNAMARA
Lauren McNamara made us laugh and feel all the deep stuff with their honest and heartfelt ode to the Nintendo 64 (now you’re speaking my language!) and the many terrors of a QUARTER LIFE CRISIS. A poem as enrapturing as the most radical retro video game. Truth!
Lauren will perform all of their show ‘HELLO, I’M SINGLE’ at ten to two on Sunday.
ARIELLE COTTINGHAM
Arielle Cottingham reacted to the unique vibes of the improvised musicians at Tongue Fu in an inspiring and compelling way. ‘SEA WITCH’, a stupendous set piece (containing an adjective – ‘medusic’ – of Arielle’s creation – with which I was heartily impressed) was and is stunning. Arielle’s wildly weaving words and wildly weaving gesticulations created a joyful magic which had the crowd spell-bound.
See Arielle on the Poetry&Words stage at 16.35 today and half two tomorrow.
KEVIN McCLEAN
Kevin Mcclean! One of Scotland’s lovely LOUD POETS, performed ‘LASCAUX’, a tremendous journey from cave paintings to the finger paintings of modern preschoolers, celebrating and embracing the arms which reach between us. Wow! His time on stage left the legacy of an unforgettable performance encapsulating the weight and power of so much history in an impressively concise work of art.
Kevin is on today, just gone 4pm.
Lastly, I’ll say a little on Tony Walsh.
TONY WALSH
Tony is a living legend. A true documenter of the triumphs and challenges which have shaken the nations worldwide, Tony has an unflinching commitment to powerful, skilful rhythms and multisyllabic rhymes which are expertly crafted and delivered with maximum heart. The intelligence and commitment to quality in every syllable is supremely impressive. It was cool to hear a poem with which I am familiar performed in a different way to usual, and the experimental nature created a great success. I warmly recall the high quality of Tony’s set at the last Glastonbury festival Poetry&Words stage.
Tony will pull big crowds so please get down early tomorrow because at 18.17 he will be wowing our space with his always excellent art.
What a treat what a treat what a treat.
WOOOOOOOOOO HOO!
Right, it’s all about to start for real, innit? GECKO is gonna be sparking our stage in just a few minutes time!
I’m off to enjoy his stuff. Join me there, Poetry&Words stage, today, opening at 11.30am – it’s gonna be UNFORGETTABLE!
Poetry&Words at Glastonbury Festival 