[Jayne Osborn]

(No, it's not my two cats!)
I'm talking about Benjamin Zephaniah and Felix Dennis, two of the UK's top poets, whom I met last night.

The venue was a theatre in Milton Keynes, for Felix's 'Did I Mention the Free Wine' tour: http://www.didimentionthefreewine.com/ The show has a fantastic backdrop of photos and images to go with the poems as Felix reads them, which he does very well.

Benjamin was in the audience, at the next table to me, and Felix read one of his poems. It was a great night and I had a lengthy chat with the utterly delightful Mr Zephaniah. I even have a nice photo of me (that's a rarity) with his arm around me. I'll post it if I can figure out how to get it here from my phone.

Felix was signing his latest book of poems and we shared a joke about me being 'Jayne Oz' (for those who may not have heard of him, he was jailed in 1971 following the (in)famous 'OZ magazine obscenity trial'). He's now one of the country's wealthiest men.

The poems, the wine, the canapés, chatting with Benjamin and Felix - all in all, an evening to remember.

[Julie Steiner]

Sounds fun! Thanks for sharing with us! I feel vicariously cultured now.

[Ed Shacklee]

Thanks, Jayne; it sounds like it was a delightful evening, and I'm glad you're feeling spry enough to go out and about again. I'd never heard of either of these poets -- which probably says little about them, but plenty about me, the state of poetry in general, or both -- however now I'll check them out.

Ed

[John Whitworth]

I will tell you a tale of Benjamin Zephaniah. Quite a few years ag I was working for the BBC for a few days - poems about the news. Ben said he wanted to do something about racial prejudice in Scotland (where he had been recently) Oh yes! Said the Beebers. So he recorded a three minute spot about Scots racism against the English. Consternation at the Beeb! Could they let it go out? That was not what they meant at all. Ben grinned behind his dreadlocks. And won! The poem went out.

Bless him!

[Janice D. Soderling]

In case others are as ignorant as I was.

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth105

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1512


(Jayne, here is my report from the village. It has been foggy here today and now it is raining. )

[Jayne Osborn]

Julie, sorry you're only feeling vicariously cultured - would have been great to have you there!
Ed, thanks - you're very kind - I'm fit as a fiddle again now, but I ain't old enough yet to be called 'spry'
John, lovely tale about a truly lovely guy.
and Janice, luv, thanks for finding those great links - I fished around but didn't find any as good as the ones you posted.

I hope everyone will enjoy learning more about these two men and their poetry.

[Adam Elgar]

Jayne, you've startled me a lot.
Felix Dennis? When did he get recognised as a good poet? I know Stephen Fry thinks he's hot stuff, but even so.......

[Jayne Osborn]

Adam,
I'm startled a lot that I've startled you a lot!

I've just been reading some of Felix's poems from the new book I bought on Friday night and some of them brought a lump to my throat. Of course, not all of his stuff is brilliant - but then, whose is?
Stephen Fry can do no wrong in many people's eyes, so his endorsement of Felix carries a great deal of weight. However, his own book, "The Ode Less Travelled" demonstrates that Fry does know a thing or two about poetry, so his opinion is valued other than by those who are merely 'star-struck'.

I saw this "Did I Mention The Free Wine?" event last year as welll in Stratford on Avon (I guess I'm a sucker for a free drink!) and it was a sell-out, with loads of people queuing to get in, in case ticket-holders didn't turn up. The man does know how to put on a damn good show!

[Adam Elgar]

I knew nothing about Dennis’s post-Oz life till a year or two ago, when the Poetry Society mailed out to all members a glossy piece of tat called “Island Dreams” (can you believe it?) – “99 Poems from Mustique” (can you believe that?). All colour photos and an embossed cover like an airport novel. Apparently Dennis had used his millions, or a friend’s millions, for this sleazy piece of self-promotion.

And then there were the contents!
Stuff like this:

“The first and second tides bleat soft, like sheep;
So soft are they, their waters barely creep
Past infant castles patted in a heap.....”


Or how’s this for a New Year poem:

“Moonlight waltzes in the clouds
To stir the silver sea,
The palms are waving in the wind:
‘Goodbye, goodbye, ’03’.”


Here’s a fave moment:

“My floating fort lies safe in port,
And not a drop is spilt,
A creeping tide buoys up my pride:
Was that why ships were built?”

Compassion for my fellow-Spherians makes me stop there. Imagine it, 99 of these things!

I open the book occasionally for reassurance. It's nice knowing there's at least one worse poet than me in the world.

Still, it's great if he's also capable of writing good stuff.

[Jayne Osborn]

Oh, Adam, that's hardly fair! Haven't we all written silly stuff like that New Year poem?
I'm not going to start a "...but what about this? Here's a good one..." type of discussion. Felix has written hundreds of poems, some of which are bad, some of which are very good, but I'm not a fan to the extent that I'm going to defend him, or his honour, to the hilt.

'Island Dreams' is a bit twee for a title, I agree, but the book is beautifully produced with some stunning photos; I don't understand how you can see it as a 'glossy piece of tat'. The poems cover a wide range, some of them daft (deliberately so!). We'll just have to beg to differ on this one, my friend.

The guy's a multi-millionaire - a bit of 'self-promotion' isn't such a bad thing IMO. Beats praying for a Speccie win!