Mike Watts
Starting when Britain's erstwhile 'top poet' Philip Larkin arrived at Hull University as the Librarian, the UK city of Hull has gone through a massive artistic transformation, generating something like one hundred published writers, dramatists and, above all, poets.
The Hull poetry scene is very much 'Town and Gown', the Town being represented by 'street' poets like Mike Watts, Joe Hakim, Peter Knaggs, Rich Sutherland and the ThisisUll sponsored set. The Gowns include Ian Parks and Tony Flynn on this site, but also Frank Redpath, Andrew Motion, Tony Griffin, Christopher Reid and the great Philip Larkin himself.
The 'Townies' focus on what it is like to live 'real' life in this intriguing, down-to-earth, blasted, tough but spirited urban planet, sometimes described even by its occupants as being located in the back of beyond.
Mike Watts' poetry, with its humour, warm-heartedness and determinedly rigorous observation, exemplifies the writing of the 'Townies'. Don't expect many obscure academic references to Ovid or Byron (although there is a hilarious reworking of the famous Philip Larkin poem 'Annus Mirabilis'). You are more likely to get fish and chip shops, the lottery, prostitutes and life lived in the face of the constant blight of debt.
The Hull poetry scene is very much 'Town and Gown', the Town being represented by 'street' poets like Mike Watts, Joe Hakim, Peter Knaggs, Rich Sutherland and the ThisisUll sponsored set. The Gowns include Ian Parks and Tony Flynn on this site, but also Frank Redpath, Andrew Motion, Tony Griffin, Christopher Reid and the great Philip Larkin himself.
The 'Townies' focus on what it is like to live 'real' life in this intriguing, down-to-earth, blasted, tough but spirited urban planet, sometimes described even by its occupants as being located in the back of beyond.
Mike Watts' poetry, with its humour, warm-heartedness and determinedly rigorous observation, exemplifies the writing of the 'Townies'. Don't expect many obscure academic references to Ovid or Byron (although there is a hilarious reworking of the famous Philip Larkin poem 'Annus Mirabilis'). You are more likely to get fish and chip shops, the lottery, prostitutes and life lived in the face of the constant blight of debt.
Coming To A Street Near You
Available from Amazon.com - here
Available from Kindle - here
Available from Smashwords - here
THE SLOT
Toward
The venue,
Toward
The crowd
And their reaction
Toward
Those ten given minutes,
Where I'll spill
My guts
At the feet
Of strangers.
IT REALLY WAS!
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen eighty three
(Which was brilliant for me) -
Between the end of Tennessee Williams
And Madonna's first LP,
OH YES
Sometimes our lives
Are electrified with a moment
That will remain tattooed
Forever.
And my moment
Is you.
Available from Kindle - here
Available from Smashwords - here
THE SLOT
Toward
The venue,
Toward
The crowd
And their reaction
Toward
Those ten given minutes,
Where I'll spill
My guts
At the feet
Of strangers.
IT REALLY WAS!
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen eighty three
(Which was brilliant for me) -
Between the end of Tennessee Williams
And Madonna's first LP,
OH YES
Sometimes our lives
Are electrified with a moment
That will remain tattooed
Forever.
And my moment
Is you.
