Arts of the Earth
James Baldwin’s Beale Street, now Sam Cooke – reminded me – of the richness of that voice – have had the song going through my head for days!
Under the cold bridge steel
of the motorway and cars
homeless people strive to survive
poverty is what divides us
we must not turn our eyes away
from the pain – the pain.
©040319robcullen
Performers:
Amelia Unity – having cut her teeth performing with Rufus Mufasa at the end of 2017 as writers in residence for Tactile Bosch’s Lost Vegas Hotel and at Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea, Unity won Swansea’s poetry slam last year. She went on to support Hollie McNish and Clare Potter as the opening act for Swansea Fringe Festival. A regular at Voices on the Bridge Pontypridd and Company of Words Cardiff, Unity is also a founding member of Ladies of Rage, a collective of females into Spoken word, Hiphop, Grime and Drum & Bass. A recently commissioned piece for Manchester University about Merthyr’s Gurnos is due to be released soon and her poem Self Medication will be available in May as an AR video for TAE Edinburgh.
Nicholas McGaughey is an actor living in Pontypridd. He is part of the Literature Wales Mentoring Scheme 2019. His poetry has appeared recently in Ink Sweat and Tears/Poetry Scotland/Lampeter Review/ London Grip and An Outbreak of Peace Anthology. He has work forthcoming in Prole / Edify Fiction and the anthologies Story Cities/Noon and As You Were.
Ben Smith born 1972, Birmingham. Released two albums of original songs. Literature Wales Bursary recipient, Hay Festival Writer at Work, once sang for Slade. Winner 2005 Raw Edge Monologue Competition.
Bryan Marshall was born in Edinburgh in 1975, grew up in the Scottish Borders. He writes mainly poetry, but also short fiction, and has a short novel in a drawer awaiting further attention. He has won first prize for his flash fiction pieces Nowhere and The Washer of the Ford (The Word Hut, November 2012 and Darker Times, May 2013), has had short pieces published in Thief and Postcard Poems and Prose (both of which are illustrated by collaborating artists), and has had a short story, The Grin Thief, published in The Ghastling Book 5. His poem Constellate was published in the 1st issue of Lumin journal in 2018, he has haiku scattered across several websites and he has a number of poems published in anthologies issued by Roath Writers, the largest writing group in Wales. Pieces published online in 2018 feature in The Sirens Call eZine and Independent Variable. Every week he runs Cardiff Bay Writing Group, where like-minded people meet to read, discuss and write poetry and short prose
Mike McNamara was born in Northern Ireland but lives in S. Wales. He has had a collection of poetry ‘Overhearing The Incoherent’ published by Grevatt and Grevatt in 1997. His poetry has been published in Envoi, Orbis, Tears in the Fence, New Welsh Review, Acumen, International Times etc. Mike also had a selection of poems published in The Pterodactyl’s Wing (Parthian, 2003).
Rob Cullen lives in Pontypridd. He grew up in a council house in the Rhondda. Rob’s first collection of poetry “Uncertain Times” was published in 2016. His poetry has regularly been published in I AM NOT A SILENT POET, The Bezine, The Learned Pig and Red Poets issue 34 & 35. He has a short story published in the anthology “Love – A Fall into Grace”. A psychological novel “Under the stone eyes of Mary” awaits representation. He is currently working on a second novel examining the long term impact of extreme trauma. He has completed a second collection of poetry “Notes from a small garden”.
Rob organises Voices on the Bridge.
www.celfypridd.com robcullenauthor.wordpress.com robcullen4@twitter and Facebook.
Walking through dunes with a dog allowing the mind to settle!
