A good review of Day & Night In The Damaged Goods Factory by Mike Watts

We have had a good run of reviews lately for Burning Eye books and that continues with this Amazon reader review for Day and Night in the Damaged Goods Factory, the new collection from Mike Watts:

“Mike Watts’ second collection is darker than his debut, dealing with relationships, sex, debts and the difficulty of chasing your dreams while still making ends meet. But despite the gravity and grit of the subject matter, the poems always have a kind of exuberance to them, and energy that’s almost infectious.”

 

Read the full review here over at Amazon.

OUT NOW – Gingering The World From The Inside by Anna Freeman

Gingering The World From The Inside captures the comic genius that has made Anna Freeman a leading figure on the performance poetry scene. Anna takes us into her world and with unflinching self deprecation lays open her heart. From the playground politics of My Little Pony ownership, the tortuous twists and turns of a relationship on the rocks, the thrill of a new partner and the quiet revolution of Ginger takeover, Anna’s comic touch remains deft and perfectly timed. Gingering The World From The Inside is an assured debut and demonstrates that honing work in performance before committing it to the page is, in the right hands, the creative engine of brilliance.

‘Anna Freeman’s work makes me feel like I made a new friend in a warm, leaning, drunk heart-to-heart that left my cheeks sore from laughing and my neck aching from all the nodding. She twists up the awkward, the confusing and the painful, into a slick balloon animal, escaping zoos; makes me wanna spill my guts, hand her my secret side, just to see what treasures she can make from the vulnerability.’ - Buddy Wakefield

‘Anna Freeman is bright, brilliant and brutally honest, these poems beautifully illustrate the modern woman in all of her mess and glory.’ – Salena Godden

£7.99 Incl. FREE UK P&P

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OUT NOW – Day & Night In The Damaged Goods Factory by Mike Watts

This second collection from Mike Watts confirms why, for some, he is the British Bukowski. But, while there is booze, bookies and sex here, Mike’s is a view from the very British streets of Hull. The streets of real life, populated by ordinary people living ordinary lives. This is the poetry of ordinary triumphs and ordinary tragedies. Sexual triumphs and bedroom tragedies. About as far from the poetry of dusty university libraries  as you can get, Day and Night in the Damaged Goods Factory is brazen, humour laden, gobby, unapologetic poetry from a poet with his own voice and the knack of telling it how it is.

 

“Love is a dog from Hull” Steve Black

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A Great Review: “Maskboy is a wake up call… An extremely powerful work”

We have had a good run of reviews lately. For Mairi Campbell-Jack’s This Is A Poem, Ray Antrobus’s Shapes & Disfigurements, for Rhyming Thunder, Sally Jenkinson’s Sweat-borne Secrets. 

On Wednesday May 22 James Wheale performed his one man show Maskboy – based on his recent Burning Eye collection of the same name – as part of Mayfest, Bristol’s festival of new theatre. Packed in amongst the full house audience in The Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol was reviewer Clara Plackett. You can read the full review here on The Public Reviews but this gives you a highlight:

The idea of memories acting as time machines is eventually deemed to be unhealthy, but Maskboy still focuses on the strength of the mind throughout, and its ability to be resilient in various forms. The light comedy towards the end – Wheale mocks himself, clad in a superman cape – is a great relief, but the message is not one to cast off. Wheale successfully stresses that darkness can be beaten in ways that might seem ridiculous to some, and his modest and honest performance mean that the audience is as elated by his victory over depression as he is. An extremely powerful work.

You can read a sample of the book here at burningeye.co.uk and the book is available from Burning Eye, Amazon or Waterstones.

 

The Speakers Corner / Tony Walsh / A Poem About The Clash?

Yep. You read it right. The Speakers Corner are a Bristol based outfit who film poets / spoken word artists / gobshites with opinions and put them on this new fangled interweb thing for your enjoyment. You could argue they are the Burning Eye of film or maybe we are the TSC of books, who knows. What we do know is that this is a film of Mr Longfella himself made on a recent foray into the wild South West. It features Tony’s poem Last Gang In Town, a sonnet about The Clash take from his fast selling Burning Eye book, Sex & Love & Rock&Roll. Billy Bragg liked it so much he told the world. Good man.

James Wheale’s Maskboy. Wardrobe Theatre Bristol. Weds 22 May. Be There.

and if you collar James after the show and buy him a drink he might just sell you a signed copy of his rather beautiful book. What? Yes of course you can buy one now. Just go here. My, you are impatient aren’t you?

OUT NOW – In Heaven The Onions Make You Laugh by Rob Auton

Ladies & Gentlemen…

In Heaven The Onions Make You Laugh is the debut collection of poems, stories and illustrations from York born writer and comedian Rob Auton.  This book is the result of a person having ideas who finds the world a magical/beautiful/ridiculous/horrific place to live.  There is a poem about a grey cat in it, so if you like grey cats you might like that one. There is a short story about going round to Hitler’s house at Christmas, so if you did that then this could bring the memories flooding back.  Dust, the sky, jury service, a rollerball pen, the devil, a Satsuma, tarmac and David Attenborough also feature.

It also includes the acclaimed A Footballer’s Life For Me which was filmed by Bang Said The Gun and broadcast as part of Channel 4′s Random Acts series.

“Charming, eccentric and uplifting, Auton is a talent to watch”

The Independent

“Surreal and Fantastic.”

Poejazzi

“A strange and magical experience.”

BroadwayBaby

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