TO the Scouse House caff in old Birkenhead last night for an open mic poetry session run by my friend Malevolent Malc.
'Twas a good night, a very good night, and I performed two newly minted poems.
One was an examination on the nature of rebellion, which hinted at the alternative virtue to rebellion, obedience, which, of course, is not considered attractive to the modern mind.
That new poem, A Rebel's Heart, also evoked the ultimate battle ever, with Lucifer the proud angel leading his "stars of the morning" in a war against God in Heaven.
The second piece was a two-hander, and more of a comedy sketch than a poem. It is titled A Dalek's Special Love and is about a dalek who's in a romantic relationship with a human, a woman.
(Yes, a woman. I am not going down the gay daleks route; the comedian Victor Lewis-Smith has already done that.)
At the Scouse House premiere of my piece, I had to get Malevolent Malcolm to read the part of the human girlfriend to my role as the demented dalek. That raised some eyebrow as it is quite a physical piece of comedy.
My real-life girlfriend is a shy sort and she didn't feel she could do the woman's part justice in a public rendition without having a few practice sessions first.
However, she will be reading it with me at our next session of the Bards of New Brighton poetry group, at the Magazine pub, New Brighton, on Monday 11 August, starting 8pm.
I am increasingly fascinated by daleks. Though they are not sophisticated in design, they have always had a powerful though malevolent identity.
What's more, since the revival of Doctor Who by the BBC (something I campaigned for in my years as Sam Brady, the vituperative TV critic of ORACLE and Teletext), the dalek is probably the only British "brand" that retains any force around the world.
It has a charisma that the bland, dumb Superlambanana utterly lacks.
What are those plonkers who run culture events in Liverpool thinking of in giving such prominence to something so very, very boring?
In my above-mentioned dalek piece, I raise the serious poetic subject of what it means to be a sentient being without the redeeming qualities that humans have - such as niceness, faithfulness, and selflessness.
I raise those qualities only in the sense that I show how baffling and horrible life must be without them, as the daleks discover - which is why they are always in a nark. Well, it's not the only reason for their narkiness; there is their intrinsic evil to consider.
Mostly, however, my new dalek routine works on a vulgar comedy level. It also involves me, in parts, screeching like a lust-filled fascist, which is good fun, though only on a comedic level.
In my personal politics, I am, of course, a classic woolly liberal - albeit in an era when liberalism and socialism are busy turning themselves into a new and sinister form of Nazi-ism which increasingly orders all of us how to act, speak and even think.
Beware of the daleks. They are already in Government. Just look at Harriet Harperson, our Deputy Labour Leader and Minister for Wimmin.
Trampling over freedom and crushing all signs of human personality is clearly something she relishes.
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Ieuan Cilgwri wrote...
Steve, I really enjoyed your poems last night, I particularly enjoyed the one you did on St. Andrew, which I've heard before but resonates with me all the more - it's rare he gets any recognition and I like the thoughtful, spiritual images you conjure.
On "Harperson" I had the misfortune, whilst driving to a meeting in Chester this morning, to get to listen to her on Woman's Hour on Radio 4 - I truly believed that the self righteous and shrill self-deluded rabid arrogance of the left was was dead in the Labour Party. However, that misconception was dispelled on hearing her justify and front the amendment to the law on murder (which I've got no problem with as long as it's applied, in a measured way, to both genders) shamelessly portraying herself as a "Feminine Crusader" and taking the credit for herself.
If she ever becomes PM, I'm seriously going to join my ancient forebears and flee to Brittany at the same time donning a beret, black and white sweater, grow a curly moustache and ride a bike selling onions.
REGAN REPLIED: Hi, Ieuan, thanks for your kind remarks. Readers, you might like to know that Ieuan is a very fine poet and a regular performer at the Bards of New Brighton sessions.
Ieuan, for the record, I put your name on my voting slip for best poet of the night at the Scouse House the other might, though I was also tempted to vote for Dermott (who won the vote, as it happens). Dermott came to the Bards session on the 14th July and I am hoping he'll return for the 11 August meeting, though he does have to travel a long way to be with us. Folks, hear Ieuan and all the other great local poets and singers at the Bards next month! Come along. It sure beats sitting at home, drinking tinned beer and watching the increasingly moronic British TV services.
Posted by: Ieuan Cilgwri | July 30, 2008 1:56 PM