under another sun

Back on the boards Well... My centre stage moment came quickly. I took myself down to the Sanctuary Cafe in Hove for an open mic night of poetry and song... And read my first poems at a real venue for about 13 years. Despite being rusty and strangely nervous, what I read was well enough received. And I was delighted to have broken through a mental barrier. I associated performing poetry (which I did for years, often several times a week) with my friend Tim who died of AIDS, and also with being continually skint. What I found however, was that I really enjoyed myself. The poetry was great, and very well performed with one or two excellent poems cropping up. The influence of rap is filtering through, since I went away, and there was one guy doing poetry improvised on the spot - a bit like the freestyling of rappers. Veered into logorrhoea sometimes but was still interesting. The evening was recorded, and the odd poem may be broadcast on a new local radio. There was a genuinely wonderful ...