Charlie – Page 6 – Charlie Gracie

Charlie reading @ The Muse @ St Louis Cafe Glasgow

Posted on June 11, 2016Leave a comment

Lin da Jackson is hosting another night of spoken word at the St Louis Cafe Bar in Partick next Wednesday night, 15th June. Come along to The Summer Speak Out @ The Muse @ St Louis to hear me read alongside Stephen Watt, Frances Corr, Finola Scott and others. There’ll be music from Linda Jackson andÂ Marc Mooney andÂ all!

Linda is well kown as a blues singer, poet, performer and teacher of creative writiing.

Sait Louis Cafe Bar is a vibrant place with lots of live music, great food and a magic atmosphere.

Come along and give it your support… and have a good time with great words and music.

Scotia Extremis Week 18

Posted on May 23, 2016Leave a comment

This project has been going for a few months now and pulls out some wonderful poetry. Scotia Extremis Week 18 is no different, with a beautiful juxtaposition of poetic and artistic styles from Tariq Latif and Dawn Wood.

They have written about two artists who are very much at extremes: Edwin Landseer and Joan Eardley. The first, fromÂ Tariq Latif, captures so much of the political, social and economic history in Landseer’s world as well as his work. The second, from Dawn Wood, refelcts the sensitive powere of Eardley’s work, here eye.

More lovely sfuff from Scotia Extremis.

WEEK EIGHTEEN -Edwin Landseer/Joan Eardley

Pefkin performs ‘Jackdaws’

Posted on May 20, 2016Leave a comment

Pefkin and Tom — Tom and Gayle in rehearsal for The Old Hairdressers

Gayle Brogan as Pefkin will put on a great show on Friday with Jazzhandstemazzepamman. Gayle will be doing lots of superb stuff, including a piece based on my poem ‘Jackdaws’.

Pefkin has played live in lots of places, including the Xposed Club-MVI 0143 in Cheltenham, 2015 and HillGigs in 2016.

Jazzhandstemazepamman

Jazzhandstemazepamman (Tom Dalzell) will be doing lots of lovely stuff too. He, of course, objects to the ‘lovely stuff’ descriptionÂ and I’m not sure he’s wrong. Grief Porn will feature. Everything wil be an aural and emotional challenge. Brilliant!

Charlie Gracie reading poetry out loud

Posted on May 16, 2016Leave a comment

cg at SWC — Charlie reading poetry out loud in October 2015

I’ll be reading poetry in the Scottish Writers’ Centre Speakeasy on Tuesday 24th May in the CCA in Glasgow. These nights are great fun, with a range of writers sharing some of their ongoing projects.

On Wednesday 15th June, I’ll be taking part in a night run by Linda Jackson at the St. Louis Cafe Bar in Partick. I’ve never been there before, but I’ve heard that they are pretty groovy things, these nights.

Look out for more stuff happening in the near future.

‘Jackdaws’ shortlisted for Fish Poetry Prize

Posted on May 15, 20162 Comments

‘Jackdaws’ shortlisted for Fish Poetry Prize

My poem ‘Jackdaws’ is part of a larger sequence I am writing based around the Dartry Mountains in Ireland. The poem was shortlised for the Fish Poetry Prize 2016, run by Fish Publishing who operate from Bantry in Cork. Well done to the winners.

back of Arroo — Arroo Mountain, inspiration for Jackdaws

The Dartry Mountains includes Benbulben in Sligo (Yeats’s mountain) and travel north to Arroo, overlooking Lough Melvin, a lough that is part in the Republic and part in the UK. It is an area full of natural beauty, geological wonder, political and social history and, for me, family history, with my mother being born in Glenade.

I’m off to Ireland again this month to spend more time among the hills and to write, write, write. I’ll do what Liz Lochhead suggests: tie myself to a chair and tie the chair to the desk. There might be time for a night or two out in Bundoran for a pint or two of the black stuff in Brennan’s Bar or a bite to eat at Madden’s Bridge Bar. That and a hallo to my family there.

So, with all that, my Irish poems will be more and more formed. Perhaps I’ll have others for the Fish Poetry Prize next year.

Northwords Now poetry reviews

Posted on April 4, 2016Leave a comment

Northwords Now is an excellent Scottish literary journal, produced and published in the north of the country. Edited by the poet and academic, Chris Powici, Northwords Now brings good quality writng to the whole of the country and beyond.

Chris asked me to review some new poetry books and pamphlets, and these are available on-line, along with the latest edition of the magazine.Â Read the reviews in Northwords Now 31 , but more importantly, buy the books and pamphlets that grab you and dip into the wonderful creative minds there. They are a pleasure.

These short reviews cover the work of ten poets: Ron Butlin; Eileen Carney Hulme; Jackie Kay; Stuart A Paterson; Sheena Blackhall; Donald Adamson; William Bonar; Robin Lindsay Wilson; Anne Connolly and Tracey Herd.

It is impossible for me to pick out a favourite among these; the voices mingle, refelcting the diverse way that Scotland is. From the intense, packed pamphlets of Sheena Blackhall to the spare, powerful poems of Eileen Carney Hulme to the diversity of Ron Butlin, there is such a lot to be digesting.

The new Makar, Jackie Kay, features beautifully here, and hers is one of several publications that are designed and typeset by Gerry Cambridge. When you read poetry, it is, of course, all about the words. However, the words that he brings so skillfully to the page sit easier, and are therefore better on the eye.

Poetry book and pamphlet production is not only about the poet, but about the commitment of those who produce the work, and Gerry’s artistry adds to the feel and shape wonderfully. The publishers too, to bring such a lot of poetry to our tables: Red Squirrel (ten years on); Mariscat; Indigo Dreams; Cinammon, among others (not forgetting diehard, of course).

While you are in Northwords Now 31, take the time to read Richie McCaffery’s review of In Casting Off, a short novel by J O Morgan, also in the on-line section. Other delights await in the paper version.

Scotia Extremis: week ten

Posted on March 28, 2016Leave a comment

You’ve got to love the place whaur extremes meet: Scotia Extremis, now at week 10 of a year-long exploration of the edges of Scotland and Scottish poetry.

Week 10 is of the west, of the islands. The Balamorie of Sheenagh Pugh’s True Places is in the past, but very real in her extrapolation, despite Balamory being unreal on almost all its literal levels. Summerisle, by Hugh McMillan is almost super-real in its insight into this remote place and its resonances.

Callander Haiku

Posted on March 21, 2016Leave a comment

Sally Evans, poet and editor at diehard, has produced a great collection of haiku whose inspiration comes from Callander and the Callander Poetry Weekend that she and husband Ian run annually. Callander Haiku is tightly packed with work from a wide range of poets from all over Scotland and beyond.

I am very pleased to say that there is a small batch from Charlie Gracie. Katrina Shepherd, one of Scotland’s best and most prolific haiku poets, features among the 39 poets, as do Elizabeth Rimmer, Colin Will and Finola Scott.

Here is one of my poems that are included. Hens feature very strongly in the Callander Poetry Weekends.

clack clack of hens

breeze through the garden

a poet speaks

The form is played around with by some of the poets and this adds to the joy of this book. Sally has a knack for picking out ideas like this and making them happen. This is a lovely production and one that I will leaf through often.

Moniack Mhor writing weekend

Posted on March 5, 2016Leave a comment

I’m having a whale of a time here at Moniack Mhor with my friends in the G2 writers’ group.

It is a real joy to be in such a special place, with its hugely important place in supporting Scottish writing. I have been progressing my sequence Tales From The Dartry Mountains. Getting the chance, with other writers, to write and talk through ideas is great. Serious writing, serious eating, serious evenings of fun.

20160304_160155 — The view from my bedroom windae

Of course, procrastination is our constant friend: I do things like take lovely photos and write posts about Moniack Mhor for my website. Get back to work, Charlie!!

You can find out mmore about the work of Moniack Mhor by looking in their website. If you ahven’t had the chance to be here, you should. The whole place is geared to supporting our writing and the staff here are focussed on making it as useful as possible. Great place.

Hector Bizerk at Stirling Tolbooth

Posted on February 29, 2016Leave a comment

Poetry in action big style when Hector Bizerk, the Glasgow Hip Hop band, came to the Tolbooth in Stirling on 27 February.

Hector Bizerk by Claire Brunton — photo by Claire Brunton

The poetry of Louie and the beats of Audrey Tait and the rest of the band wove in out of each other like a tsunami of sound. From the first moments of “They Made a Porno on a Mobile Phone and Everybody Laughed” through to “Festival Boy”, it was mad, stamping chaos; a joyful, sometimes angry chaos. “Empty Jackets”, with Be Charlotte making a colourful appearance, is a manifesto for artistic integrity.

The place was jumping, and that’s something you hardly ever see in the Tolbooth, a venue that is all too often under-supported by the folks of Stirling.

The support band was Other Humans, also good to hear. They have a strong 80’s vibe going on which appeals to my auld heid.

Louie had two young MCs from Stirling on stage with Hector Bizerk: a great hand out to young artists from a band that seem to understand the way things really are.

After, I listened to my new copy of “The Tree That Never Grew”. Fantastic production values in there (that’s that Audrey Tait again).