Unwanted Words

Featured Poem

This month’s featured poem is Unwanted Words; I hope it makes you smile. I know it is a funny poem because it made me smile when I was writing it. Is that a real measure of comedy effectiveness? When I was studying for my MA in Playwrighting I was fortunate to have as one of my lecturers a wonderful, quirky playwright, Bryony Lavery. She asked me one day what I was writing, and I told her, adding: ‘It makes me laugh.’ She replied: ‘That’s a good job; if it doesn’t make you laugh you can be sure it won’t make anyone else laugh.’ A gem of learning and one that I pass on all the time. That it makes me laugh does not guarantee that it will make others laugh, but at least I am in with a chance.

So, Unwanted Words is a comedy poem; but it has a serious idea (a Big Idea) behind it nevertheless. And it is carefully written’; being funny is a serious business.

The idea of having unwanted words you have to have taken away is ridiculous of course, but I think it works in two ways. Firstly, no words are unwanted, words are wonderful and precious, secondly, you have to get rid of a lot of words when you are writing to be left with only the right words.

This idea is backed up with careful choice of words. Sometimes they are unusual words, sometimes they satirize bureaucratic language, sometimes they are completely made up. In a way, the poet flaunts his power of language and swaggers around with it. But he is laughing at his swank and inviting you to laugh and swank with him.

The poem may be tasteless in parts; excellent, enjoy the brazenness of it.

You may or may not notice, that the poet finishes us with a totally irreverent pastiche of a famous quatrain from one of the greatest poets in the English language, T S Eliot.

You may hate the poem, of course; in that case, OK, but the poem is not written for you.

What is the Big Idea behind it? Language (words) are special, wonderful, magic.

Reading

I have just finished reading a thriller, Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett. It is set in Egypt during the second World War, a sort of spy thriller. Not usually my taste, but it is well written, a good past-time reader. On to a Ruth Rendell now.

Writing

I have written quite a batch of poems over the past few weeks. In different tones.

And styles. This has sort of been light relief from endeavouring to sign of my Arts Council project. Two parts of this are on my website; guides to working as a Vision Impaired Director and Vision Impaired Poet.

I performed a short set of poems at the Warehouse Cafe, Digbeth for the Queer Open Mic Night orgnisised by the lovely Will from Birmingham Mind. A warm response from the audience – thanks all of you.

There are new additions to my YouTube channel, including soon some videos, extracts from the General Guidance workshops and the Clowns and Wellbeing work I produced. Plays are also going up on the site.

Thanks for your time; good luck with your endeavours.