Podcast of recent work - Leeds Met
I did a reading this summer at Leeds Metropolitan University as part of their contemporary women writers series. It was a chance to air some new work. Here is a link to a podcast of the reading and other writers to listen to that were part of the same programme: http://www.the-cwwa.org/conversations/conversations-with-contemporary-women-writers-anne-caldwell/
A link on facebook by Alicia Stubbersfield
A link by my friend and poet Alicia Stubbersfield prompted me to share this poem based on working at the South Bank Centre in the 90’s.
Seems a long time ago, don’t you think? But I loved the sense that the area was used by some many people there in the heart of London. Does anyone else have memories of the place at the time?
Underworld
A barge full of bin-bags
heads out towards the Isle of Dogs:
London flushes itself downstream
as I leg it across Hungerford Bridge.
The Festival Hall is a block of light in the river.
I run past Dreadlocks-Mike, banjo in hand,
nails yellow as vellum, greyhound
hunkered down beside him,
dash by security guards with their
broken-veined cheeks, arms folded
against hoodies skateboarding
the underbelly of the building.
The Camerata tunes to a high G.
I scramble into my uniform behind the till.
The bookshop’s crammed with
Opera lovers swigging Bollinger
spending fifty quid each
on coffee-table art with their Visas.
When Offenbach’s Orpheus
strikes up, I sneak out to throw coins
in Mike’s hat, his greyhound shivering
in a blanket; let the skaters in for a warm
when the guards are off for a fag.
I work a feet-swelling, ten hour shift,
get the last train home
to Thornton Heath via Brixton.
I have my keys out, ready to stab
any bugger with designs on my handbag.
I haunt the South Bank on my day off.
The Hayward’s showing Diego Riviera.
I stare at his giant Mexicans: workers
in overalls, standing shoulder to shoulder.
Anne Caldwell
Reading - 23rd May, Leeds
I am reading at Waterstones in Leeds on the 23rd May at 7.00pm with the wonderful poets
Cara Brennan and Jonathan Davidson. Here is a link to the facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/147777118736894/
Look forward to seeing you if you can make it.
Darkenss and Spring
I have been writing about the theme of darkness recently. and working on some poems that have sat on the laptop in an unfinished state for what feels like ages. This one below, has finally found the shape I want. It started off as a long poem and has ended up very condensed. The poem just did not feel right and was trying to say too much. I think because I was in a different country and getting very excited about the landscape without being able to focus on what the poem needed. Does anyone else recognise this process? Particularly if you are writing after walking or being somewhere very new? The photo above is West Yorkshire yesterday. Good grief. It could be Canada!
Bow River, Banff
‘Then, up to our chins, we will pull the dark blanket of earth
and rest together at the end of the working day.’
Sharon Olds, The Ferryer
Tectonic plates rub together
like a conversation beneath a quilt.
Below us, the river splits in two.
The slower stream is silting up,
meandering into ox bow lakes
like a string of half-smiles.
Can you hold still — carry the long view
in your guts as mountain air
bites our lips red?
Can you stop to listen
to the trembling aspen,
a shift in season,
the incremental murmur
of snow from the west?
Anne Caldwell, March 2013
Theatre in Ireland and Spain
The Actors Space, Barcelona, Spain
15th - 22nd June 2013
Characterisation
Bandon, West Cork, Ireland
A Mind set Free - war poetry and Owen Lowery
Article by Owen Lowery
You may have heard of Owen Lowery who is a Creative PhD student studying at the University of Bolton, where I teach. His first book has just come out with Carcanet Northern House. This has largely been with the help and encouragement of Professor Michael Schmidt. He is now going to be a Visiting Professor here helping us to devise more Post Grad work.
This major piece by Owen Lowery appeared this last Saturday in The Independent and I found it moving, illuminating and informative. As you will see, University of Bolton gets a mention!
Poetry on the Nose - Saturday 8th Dec, 8pm
I am taking part in the second half of an event at The Square Chapel in Halifax tomorrow if you are free and don’t mind the freezing weather!
Poetry on the Nose
“Classy stuff, unfailingly elegant, blazingly powerful” The Scotsman
“The collaboration between Roy Hutchins and Heathcote Williams is special. Long may it last… see this show” British Theatre Guide
Join performer Roy Hutchins for ‘Poetry on the Nose’, an evening of the work of Heathcote Williams followed by a showcase for local guest poets.
Winner of a coveted Herald Archangel Award ‘Poetry on the Nose’ is a series of short, powerful pieces by iconic counter-cultural writer Heathcote Williams performed by Roy Hutchins.
Heathcote Williams is probably most famous for his epic poems ‘Autogeddon’ and ‘Sacred Elephant’ about environmental issues, and the celebrated work ‘Whale Nation’ his call for a worldwide ban on whaling. As Williams is Co-Director of ‘Poetry on the Nose’ fans of his work can be sure that Hutchins delivers every word as the author intended.
Roy Hutchins is a versatile comic, actor, director and writer. He has twice been nominated for a Perrier award and was the first comedian to have a solo run at The Comedy Store. His gift for humour ensures that this show has plenty of laughs as well as layer upon layer of Williams’ searing intellect. If ever there was a show that demonstrates the velvet glove covering the iron fist - this is it.
After the interval there will be an open mic event compered by Roy, which will showcase the work of some local guest poets. If you are interested in performing contact Ben Rothera on 01422 353073 or email ben@squarechapel.co.uk.
More information and online booking…
Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Halifax
Poetry on the Nose
Saturday 8 December 8pm
Tickets £11 & £9 in advance, £12 & £10 on the day
How to book
Give us a call: Box Office 01422 349422
Pop in to see us: Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm, Sat 11am-3pm
Send an email: info@squarechapel.co.uk
Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, 10 Square Road, Halifax HX1 1QG
www.squarechapel.co.uk
Event with International Poets, Hebden Bridge 5.30pm Sunday 21st October
Myself and Amanda Dalton are reading alongside this fantastic line up this sunday in Hebden Bridge at ‘The Hole in the Wall’ pub - Please come if you can.
This is part of the publisher ARC’s international tour:
arcpublications.co.uk/events.php for details
arcpublications.co.uk/blog.php for commentary
Arc Publications
@Arc_Poetry
Ventures
AUTUMN 2012Tour
World Poets in Hebden Bridge:
Iceland and Turkey
Sun 21 Oct, 5.30pm | The Hole in the Wall, Hangingroyd Lane, HX7 7DD
BEJAN MATUR was born of an Alevi Kurdish family in 1968 in Southeast
Turkey. How Abraham Abandoned Me is a philosophical pilgrimage
in the Anatolian desert, rich in Islamic iconography. Currently, Matur
devotes all her time to writing poetry, and contributes to newspapers,
writing on Kurdish politics, Armenian and women’s issues.
AMANDA DALTON is based in Hebden Bridge. Her second collection, Stray,
was published earlier this year. It’s about the lost and being lost, searching
for home, and about the extraordinary places we sometimes discover
when we’re off the beaten track.
ANNE CALDWELL, also from Hebden Bridge, has published a pamphlet
and full length collection, displaying a fascination with the surreal side of
life. She is currently writing poems from memory, travel experiences and
heard stories.
GERÐUR KRISTNÝ is a phenomenally energetic Icelandic writer, having
produced 18 books of fi ction and non-fi ction prose, as well as children’s
books and poetry, in the 16 years since the appearance of her first. She
won the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2010 for Bloodhoof. Bloodhoof is the
re-casting into spare modern verse of an ancient Eddic poem.
arcpublications.co.uk/events.php for details
Clip of Reading - Manchester Book Market
A clip of me reading at Manchester Book Market - produced by Literature NorthWest
Summer 2012
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National Poetry Day - book launch
The wonderful Jean Harrison is launching her new book, ‘Terrain’ with Cinnamon Press and I am supporting her on National Poetry Day:
Join Jean Harrison
launching Terrain
& Anne Caldwell
reading from Talking With the Dead
Thursday 4th October, 7.00 p.m.
@ Hebden Bridge Library
free event with refreshments
All welcome
rsvp jan@cinnamonpress.com
This second collection from Jean Harrison features an increasingly mature and confident poet, able to take in the terrain and map every detail with precision. Here is a poet ‘sitting and watching’, taking in the ‘full details’ ‘as a hunter might, or a surveyor’; a poet who can merge into the background, as though ‘half-asleep’ yet be ‘alert the moment a mouse scratches’; a poet who senses the smallest of disturbances and who ‘seems to know something most of us don’t, but what?’
Bursting with incisive wit, with a deft tenderness that defies sentimentality, as when her ‘thoughts slip / through the walls to a friend / who struggles to hold on…’ Jean Harrison invites the reader to become with her, ‘porous to greens, black, pinks, reds that flame off walls’; to savour places that are ‘desolate in a satisfactory way’ and to finally, ‘Go home / shut your eyes, remember the silence / of a day without wind.’
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About
Anne Caldwell is a poet and literature consultant. She works for NAWE, The University of Bolton, The Open University and runs workshops in schools and community settings.
Contact Tel. 07818 052108
email a.caldwell@nawe.co.uk
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Read This
Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
