chain coral Chorus
The Chain Coral Chorus is really picking up pace, and I'm thrilled to have been involved with some really exciting things over the last month. My travels across the geosites have been really productive and I'm enjoying using these cutting-edge poetics. At the beginning of October, I had the great pleasure of sharing some of my work and ideas at Geopoetry2020; an amazing all day online conference of geopoetry and geopoetics organised by the Geological Society, the Scottish Poetry Library, the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics and the Edinburgh Geological Society. It was lovely to represent the University of Wolverhampton and the BCGS alongside so many impressive thinkers and writers, including Norman Bissel, Yvonne Reddick, Alyson Hallet and John Hegley. You can watch the event here: It's also been an honour to give a public talk and workshop on Black Country Geopoetics at the University of Wolverhampton's ArtsFest Online, organised by the brilliant, Claire Buckerfield. I asked participants to write cinquains based on my ideas of digging into the earth to find the bedrock of place-identity. One person said that the event had a similar effect on her as two weeks by the seaside. I got a lot of really great and useful feedback from this event and have been touched by how people have seen the worth in these deep time poetics. If you missed it, you can join the fun here: There's more to come too.
On 3rd November I'll be giving a talk and running a workshop for UoW Stafford called Geopoetic Landscapes. It's a free online event and you can book a place here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/geopoetic-landscapes-tickets-124091491993 A week or so later and it's the annual Being Human Festival, the UK's only festival of the Humanities. Supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the School of Advanced Study and the British Academy This year I'll be involved in a virtual poetry tour of Wren's Nest Nature Reserve, talking about the important geological features and industrial heritage, and running more writing exercises. Again, this free and you can sign up here: beinghumanfestival.org/event/rich-soils-a-geopoetry-workshop/ If you're curious about what's under our feet, how the makeup of the lands impact our sense of place, and how we can use Earth Sciences for creative means then please come along. I'll leave you with a geopoem as a little taster. Overhanging Olistoliths slump-slide as resisting stresses buckle and atavistic avalanches - submarine, like hangover guilt: that dew-drenched dawn when we grazed feet along New Year frosts and we didn’t speak a word and we didn't hold hands and we didn't see anyone and badgers were hibernating just like the trees - seem unstill. Up Dolerite dyke, the Heathen Coal underhung in extract where brittle bramble waits dusk-strike. She says, there's something in the extraction, something seeding, imbedding, gulfing us. |
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January 2022
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