Miner Poets

A benefit for the striking miners, co-programmed by Apples & Snakes and the Poetry Society, and supported by the GLC.  If the ticks on the back of the flyer are indicative of A&S’s contribution, then it comprised Hegley, Gilbey, Fred Williams, McGee, Agard, Joolz, LKJ, Prescod, Fell, Condell and African Dawn.

The show also featured poetry from members of the NUM and the Federation of Worker Writers, plus a speech from Jack Collins of Kent NUM.

For something motivated by solidarity, it seems ironic that the event highlighted the supposed ‘page/stage’ divide, if one is to take Gavin Ewart’s review at face value: ‘What can I say about Joolz? If I were 8 years old instead of 68 perhaps I would like her better … When a lass from Bradford dressed like a tattered black leather Robinson Crusoe with flame-orange spiky hair can command applause for such devastating lack of talent, we know for sure that we are living in a visual age.’

This from the man behind such desperately mature lines as ‘I am the ghost of WH Auden’s cock’…