Last months Tongues and Grooves had a drop of darkness in the atmosphere as Paul Birtill, was the night's must see act. Birtill described as an anti laureate, read from his lastest book, Paul Birtill's Collected Poems, with a dryness befitting of the themes of his poems.
Birtill's poetry, written with complete black humour, is daring in his openness and cynicism. Birtill cracked many a rib, with one member of the audience not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.
The evening was characterised by both light and dark tones with Mike Loveday as guest poet and 'Tangle' the headline for the music. Mike Loveday, editor of 14 Magazine, the guest poet of the evening, was described by Maggie Sawkins as an antidote to Paul Birtill.
'Tangle' lightened the mood with their romantic signature tune 'Tangle' performed in harmony. 'Tangle', Angie Sanders and John Bentley, are rapidly gaining popularity of the Portsmouth acoustic scene with their wide repertoire and beautiful harmonies. Special guests for the music were Sue Apicella and Barry Rhea performing well loved folk tunes. Janet Ayers contributed a haunting version of 'Will you Go Lassie Go (Wild Mountain Thyme)', a beautiful Irish song.
Open mic was varied with first time performers Sam Cox with a rap to a accompanied drum beat on the dehumanisation encountered in modern living. Lynda Berry, myself, performed Empty is the Gallery a poem written in the PUSH creative writing class where I volunteered. Amando made another performance of his meaningful poetry on the themes of parenthood.
On the whole the short poetry of the open mic was well received, however longer poems were less well received and it is useful for potentail open mic readers to bear in mind that shorter poems hold the attention of the audience and give a better impression of the skill of the poet.
A thoughtful night was had by all. Tongues and Grooves is on leave for a month until Sunday 26th September, when the musician Nick Molyneux will headline.
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