Hannah and the Monk and the rest October 19, 2009

You can buy the CD I made for the Poetry Archive from the Poetry Book Society online shop now … details here http://www.poetrybookshop.org.uk/product.php?id=99969 

It’s got most of book on it (apart from the poem which only works if you can see it looks like photo booth photos, and the one which contains the phonetic transcription of a capuccino machine. I wasn’t about to commit my attempt at that noise to posterity) and six new ones including ‘This Does Me For Snow’, ‘To Be Shone On His Body’ and ‘Victoria Street Reel’.

More Readings … July 18, 2009

June 25th at the Poetry Cafe in London as part of the Shuffle, details here … http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=119173176528&ref=ts … and August 7th during Malmesbury Carnival in Wiltshire, details here … http://www.malmesburycarnival.co.uk/ … and September 12th in a San Francisco pottery and September 21st in a Middlesex boys’ school, details who knows where.

Hannah & the Monk now available in paperback. A lovely slim volume she is too.

Pink Floyd Poems July 12, 2009

A triple-gatefold concept-reading of poets performing new work inspired by the music of Pink Floyd. It will take place under the massive stoney gaze of Battersea Power Station, upstairs at The Duchess pub. Readers (to date) include: Simon Barraclough, Julia Bird, Patick Brandon, Jude Cowan, Claire Crowther, Isobel Dixon, Katy Evans-Bush, Dean K. Farrow, Luke Heeley, Amy Key, Roddy Lumsden, Lorraine Mariner, Chris McCabe, Jon Morrison, Helen Mort, Dave Palmer, Heather Phillipson & a few more to be added.

£3 Entance, The Duchess pub, 101 Battersea Park Road. Thurs 23rd July, 7pm onwards.

14: a txt msg poM June 17, 2009

In 2001, I won a prize in the Guardian’s text message poetry competition with this poem …

14: a txt msg poM

his Is r bunsn brnr bl%
his hair lyk fe filings
W/ac/dc going thru.
I sit by him in kemistry
my @oms  split
wen he s @ me.

(Translation? 14: a text message poem / His eyes are bunsen burner blue / his hair like iron filings / with the current going through. / I sit by him in chemistry /  my atoms split / when he smiles at me.)

It went all over the place, this poem – in a fresco on the Arts Council office wall, in a German text book, in this book about text linguistics. These are the people I love the most – the ones who asked me nicely if they could use it. By putting this golden oldie here on my site, I’m making it easy for you to find me if you want to ask me too!

Do Not Pass Go – the Monopoly Project June 15, 2009

I’m reading at The Monopoly Project – twenty five poets, many of them London born and bred, reading newly commissioned poems based on the properties and tokens of the London Monopoly board. I’ve got the Scottie Dog.

Thursday 2nd July upstairs at The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, between Bishopsgate and Aldgate (from 7.30; £5)

Poets are Angela Brodie / Luke Heeley / Tim Wells / Siobhan Campbell / Eloise Stonborough / Declan Ryan / Amanda Barokh / Amy Key / Derek Adams / Alan Buckley / Camilla Nelson / Peter Ebsworth / Tim Cumming / Charlotte Runcie / Adham Smart / Emily Berry / Cath Drake / Sophie Richmond / Ashna Sarkar / Martina Thomson / Katrina Naomi / Roddy Lumsden plus two to be confirmed.

What your ipod needs … May 7, 2009

Tomorrow, I will be making a recording for the Poetry Archive – www.poetryarchive.org . Most of ‘Hannah & the Monk’ and a handful of new ones. When the recording’s been produced & polished up, it’ll go on the website, and be sold as CD. I’ve got lots of Poetry Archive CDs, and have put ‘em on my ipod. Simon Armitage surprising your earhole in the middle of a mainly indie-rock shuffle can be a bit disconcerting, but the Archive is a marvellous enterprise, and I’m chuffed to be recording for it.

All the little birdies go tweet, tweet, tweet May 7, 2009

I’m on Twitter. Not much poetry thinking so far – today’s tweets have been about builders’ breakfast crisps, moth killer and helicopters – but it’s quite a fun place to be. juliamarybird if you want to follow me.

‘When I am sad and weary …’* January 31, 2009

I’m reading at ‘Ride the Word VI’, Weds 18th February, 7.30 for 7.45pm at Holborn Library. Me and Vincent de Souza, Elizabeth Baines, Katy Evans-Bush and Jay Merill. 

Katy is a fellow Salt poet. I’m going to read on of hers, and vice versa.

32-38 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8PA

*… When I think all hope is gone / When I walk along High Holborn / I think of you with nothing on.’ (‘Celia Celia’ by Adrian Mitchell)

… it’s like tartan. January 31, 2009

An interview about poetry, with tartan and muffins … http://nattyknitter.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/the-word-weaver-an-interview-with-poet-julia-bird/

Tears in the Beer January 16, 2009

I’m reading at Utter! on 10th February. Utter Heartbreak, this one is, which is nicely seasonal in advance of Valentine’s Day. 7.30 at the Green Note Club, 106 Camden Parkway, London NW1, more details here … http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102538500230

I shall read sad, sad love poems … but probably slip in a cheery little something to lift the mood at the end. Tears in the beer, followed by a stripy cocktail with a plastic monkey on the side of the glass. Poetic equivalent of.