Gigs and Readings

Reading, with many others, at TERRY HETHERINGTON EVENING. Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea Friday 3 April 2009 7p.m.

Reading, with David Greenslade, at Oriel Gallery, Hay on Wye, Saturday 30th May 2009. 7.30 p.m. Not in a tent, but in a gallery, with pubs nearby!

Reading, with many others, at BENEATH THE UNDERGROUND Poetry and Music festival, at Hen and Chicks, Flannel Street, Abergavenny, Saturday 1st August 2009. 7-11p.m.

Early in the 1960's. a group of young people, "The Mob", meeting regularly at the Greyhound Hotel, Carshalton. started a magazine called ORIGINS DIVERSIONS. Over 40 years later, many of the original personnel involved will be at the 3rd reunion event.  Unlike the previous 2 reunions, this one will take place in the evening rather than in the afternoon. The evening will be a feast of poetry & jazz and other acts. Chris is hoping to bring at least one musician with him into the gig. Other veterans reading & performing will include Roger Yates, Bill Wyatt,, & Richard Downing. Watch this space for a full lineup later

                             

 

POEMS BY CHRIS TORRANCE

 

A Brief Meditation on Snyder's

"Raven's Beak River at the End"

 

Hypnotic    lulling    caressing rhythm

of  "Raven's Beak River at the End"

 

I've read his work down the years,

but now, maybe because I'm older, I've

 

Been swept away more than before. There's

a rhythm of images propelled by a "slow

 

river", & by the sense of him moving among

things (no words but in things..." William

 

Carlos Williams). 4 major beats every

2 lines is the staple, creating effect of

 

"circle in the square" - yet the poem moves

elegant as a snake, or a coyote, embracing

 

the texture of the ground, seductively as a

vixen, aided by loving repetitions, re-

 

placing; & the grand flow, if you like,

that so vitally energises, animates the poem,

 

that keeps the bright waters dancing, like

"something" briefly rippling the surface;

 

here & there the 2-liners possess extra licks,

extra beats, thus inducing a further feeling of

 

circularity, or layering. The beat, then, is

not exact, is pliable; can be smoothed out,

 

carried before or after - but a swaying beat, like

waves incoming, successive waves of awareness. It's

 

very quiet, as a glacial river can be; but very

powerful, resonating deep in the eco-cortex.

__________________________________

 

"Raven's Beak River at the End" is in

MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END,

(Counterpoint. Washington 1996)

__________________________________

 

Is this a Phil Whalen Poem?

 

grind roar & clank of council roadmen

repairing the stretch from Pont Y Melin

up to the hairpin

    "preferring his ease to his will"

        mind a blank

 

            Sleep essays

                Dull water in a butt

no energy bustle

                        no idea storms

    pigeon feathers

                scattered under the window

            gunshot to the North

 

                    very small birds

nibbling in birch tops   leaves mostly gone

Los Angeles rich pastoral rock

                                                leaves me unmoved

                            strangers the world over suffer

                            strenuously Sisyphean labours

Can it Canute,

                    who sounds like some sort of

experimental Indian, "The Canutes" " The Piutes"

                                            "The Kerouacs"

                    Hello, Jack.

 

28 October 1985

 

Hare Pie

HARE PIE was written during the visits of a hare to my garden in the summer of 2007. I was set a moral, ethical, ecological & spiritual dilemma. I wanted to get rid of the hare, which was eating my garden plants, but I wanted to respect her. The poem is obviously a threat, even a curse. There's an old wives tale that a hare can be a witch in disguise, a shape shifter. Who was I to go against that?

In the end, she left; hares are nomadic by nature. In the poem I had to be careful not to cross a certain (invisible) line. When I'd written it I sent it to artist Deidre Farrell, who designed & produced the card with the poem in it. These cards are on sale, prices given below.

 

Prices

Small Card £2.50  Large Card   £3.00
Small card signed by poet & artist and numbered 1-20   £4.00  Large card signed by poet & artist and numbered 1-12   £5.00

All Prices inclusive of postage  Please send cheques only to

Chris Torrance
Glynmercher Isaf
Pontneathvaughan
Nr NEATH
Glam
SA 11 5US

 

Poems

Biography and mission statement.

Beneath the Underground Poetry Festival 2008 - a record of the day with words by Chris Torrance and photos by Val Maillard

Publications - a list of CDs and books and link to order form

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