At the beginning of this year, while I was planning the Rise! Spoken Word programme for The Bureau Centre for The Arts, I felt inspired to write a poem of the same name. Scott Jackson wanted to make a film of it, so we managed to get it recorded in February, luckily just before lockdown. Scott has done an amazing job editing the recording, and here it is!
If you’d like to hear me performing this live, we still have some tickets left for the first Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau on Tuesday 17th November. We are currently hosting these events online during lockdown, which means you can join us wherever you are!
We have an amazing lineup of spoken word artists for you, plus a poetry open mic. Our headliner is Rose Condo and we also have Guerrilla Lips and Roz Weaver as featured performers.
The event will be on Zoom and Booking is essential. Tickets are £5 and can be purchased here:
I’m so excited about our first Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau poetry event which is coming up soon on Tuesday 17th November 7-8.30pm, and will be hosted online via Zoom. Tickets are £5, and for this very reasonable price you get to see three amazing featured spoken word performers, me as your host, and a selection of open mic poets. This is the same incredible lineup as the event we had to cancel in the Spring due to lockdown. Booking is essential and tickets can be purchased by clicking on this link here. Open mic slots are first come first served and can be booked from 6 pm this evening, Monday 2nd November by emailing me at janeycolbournepoet[at]gmail.com
Rose Condo
Rose Condo is an award-winning Canadian Spoken Word Artist living in the UK. A multiple slam champion, she has performed at spoken word nights and festivals throughout the UK and internationally since 2013. Her debut poetry collection, ‘After the Storm’ is being published by Flapjack Press and will be available in November 2020. For more info visit http://www.rosecondo.net
Featured poet:
Roz Weaver
Roz is a spoken word performer and internationally published poet living in West Yorkshire, England. She has been published in a number of journals, zines and anthologies, including most recently with The Resilience of Being, Disquiet Arts and Token Magazine. Her work has been on exhibit with Chicago based Awakenings Art Gallery and London Design Festival, and she has performed at Leeds International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her first poetry collection, Smoke the Peace Pipe, was released by Yellow Arrow Publishing in August 2020.
Featured poet:
Gerry Clarkson (Guerrilla Lips)
A graduate in International Journalism, Gerry describes himself as a grass roots poet with an introspective global perspective, who delivers “searing” bullets of truth with an often brutal, but always beautiful honesty. Of mixed African/Caribbean heritage, Gerry grew up on a suburban council estate in Liverpool, which has influenced his writing. His work covers topics such as race and ethnicity, gender and perceptions of masculinity as well as exploring issues influencing our current social and political climate from a very personal perspective.
Wigan poet George Melling described Gerry as, “An exciting new breed of poet who will raise you to the rafters then slowly bring you back down to earth before delivering his coup-de-grace.” And claimed he was left “shaking” after attending one of his performances.
Event host:
Janey Colbourne is a spoken word performer who grew up in Blackburn, and has been a regular at the Bureau’s Artspace open mic. She was recently a featured performer at Wigan Diggers’ Festival, Truth to Power Cafe, We Shall Overcome, That’s What She Said, and King St Festival, Manchester. She is a regular contributor writer for Earth Pathways Diary, and has a poem published in the anthology Peterloo Poems by Manchester People. Janey sees spoken word as a means to connect and empower communities, whilst also having fun.
For the fifth year running I am delighted to be a contributor to Earth Pathways Diary. This is so much more than a diary. It’s a beautiful collection of inspiring and heartwarming art and writing. Two pieces of my writing are included in the 2021 diary. I am selling copies for £14.50 each plus £3.50 postage and packing. I can take payment via my PayPal link here. Please confirm your delivery address in the message. In the past I’ve had an issue with diaries going astray due to people forgetting to update their address on PayPal.
For the last few years I have been honoured to be a contributing writer to Earth Pathways Diary. The 2020 edition includes one of my poems, overlaid against Lucy Pearce’s beautiful ammonite spiral art. This diary is, every year, such a gorgeous piece of work I have kept every single copy I have owned, and I guarantee you will want to do the same. As well as being a very useful, practical diary, with a weekly view per page, plus a calendar at the back, and including detailed phases of the moon and other astrological information, it is brimming with wise, positive and inspiring words, beautiful artwork and photography, and helpful articles on the seasons and celebrations. It is printed on recycled paper and spiral bound so it is easy to open out flat. As a contributor, I have copies of next year’s diary for sale. The diaries are £14 each plus £3 postage & packing. For two diaries to the same address the postage is £4. If you would like more than two copies to the same address, contact me for a price. They make lovely gifts, and always sell out before the end of the year, so I recommend getting your order in as soon as possible. You can order diaries by using the link below to pay by PayPal. Please confirm your delivery address in the PayPal message box, as I have had issues before with customers who hadn’t realised their addresses were not updated on PayPal. If you have any questions you can contact me via email plantseer@icloud.com
Earth Pathways are a nonprofit cooperative organisation and they have a Seed Fund, which they use to support ethical small business start ups, so when you buy a diary, you are supporting the contributing artists, writers, ethical small businesses, and environmentally conscious initiatives, such as tree planting, as well the continuation of the diary itself.
I also have a few copies of my own poetry booklet ‘Outspoken Words’ for sale, at £2.50 each plus £1.30 postage & packing. As the title suggests, this is quite a fiery, sometimes fierce, outspoken selection of the poems I perform at spoken word events. If you want to purchase a poetry booklet along with your diary order, I can include them in the same parcel at just the diary postage rate. Please state in the PayPal message which items you are ordering.
I don’t know how to teach writing. This is the best I can do.
I don’t know how to teach writing.
Read a thousand books,
watch the news, engage your rage,
listen to those spoken word poets that blow your mind,
break open the armour of fear,
remember you once knew play was meaningful.
It is worth your time.
And you are worthy to take that time.
Then, pick up your pen.
Your first attempts will be shit, possibly,
or you may suddenly release your genius from the lamp,
but as long as those words are on fire, don’t stop,
they will carry you,
Until your mind becomes a gushing torrent,
a glacier melt,
roaring and relentless.
You will learn to read your own spider scrawl,
as your pen cannot dance fast enough
to the booming of your brain.
Wherever you go, all you want to do is write,
walking down the street, on the train,
as you stagger home at night,
reciting in your head,
must not forget this thread.
From all the moments touching souls,
every shade of feeling flows.
No pain can take your power,
only feed it as
you cast into your crucible
to be transformed,
each glance, each word, each churning hurt.
And resolution comes,
as in the telling you rewrite the meaning of our lives,
rewrite the future,
weaving hope in bleeding ink,
to blaze a trail across the hearts of all who look
for solace, and for words that say,
I see you, and yes I feel it too.
Thank you for following my blog. All likes, shares and comments are appreciated. If you would like to support me further to continue in this work by making a one-off donation securely via PayPal, please click here and accept my undying gratitude.
Janey Colbourne 
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