Report From Aberdeen's Dead Good Poets

I didn’t get to bed until after 1am last night after taking the last train to Edinburgh from Aberdeen where Andrew Philip and I had been reading at the Dead Good Poets. The venue, an independent bookshop/café in Belmont Street called Books and Beans, was a great place to read and does a fine chai latte, which we both took advantage of. The evening started with an enjoyable open mic, which included everything from Rapunzel Wizard's (I’d first met him at one of the Utter! Edinburgh Fringe shows) very funny rant against Donald Trump to the calm precision of 2009 Foyle Young Poet of the Year, Bryony Harrower. There was a good audience, positive and friendly, and they bought our books too (very much appreciated, folks!). The only regret is that there isn’t much time to have proper conversations with people when you have to sit at a table to sell and sign books, but it was good to have a pint afterwards with Gerard Rochford, Eddie Gibbons and Osob Dahir.

Andy and I had been given 25 minutes each to read. Rather than doing two separate sets, we decided to integrate them. I think the approach worked well and the contrast in the alternating voices and styles might have kept people awake (clearly, only the audience could verify that – they seemed to be awake).

Here’s the set-list. Andy’s poems are in red and mine are in blue:

Summa
Pedestrian
The Preacher’s Ear
The White Dot
In the Last Few Seconds
The Loser
Via Negativa
In Question to the Answers
The Ambulance Box
Everyone Will Go Crazy
Berlin, Berlin, Berlin
Jacko Holed Up in Blackfriars Street B and B?
The Meisure o a Nation
Scottish Sonnet Ending in American
(Sevenling) Elizabeth had II
The Invention of Zero
Light Storms from a Dark Country
Lullaby
Dream Family Holiday
Aileen’s Cupboard
Notes to Self
In Praise of Dust
How New York You Are