Swings and Roundabouts

Being in the arts is an odd business. Last week, I went in to Phonic FM radio station, having been kindly asked to be a guest on the Waves with Words programme...and had a really good laugh - reading bits from Porlock and The Books of...Trilogy, and more importantly meeting the presenters Jennifer Mono and Eden Dart, and being part of their fresh new show. It really is a great format, mixing Q&A, extracts, banter (but not of the mindless variety!), non-playlist music (which is one of the station's flagship boasts), and all in an informal, open to ideas setting. Eden and I stayed around to talk about the next show on ancient poetry...and four hours later we really HAD to separate and get on with what we were meant to be doing! It's not often you meet someone who's read everything from Sophocles to Flaubert and asks if you've read Cicero, Catullus, and Marcus Aurelius... 

   So when I heard the news the day after that Spoken/Written's funding was to be cut...I found it hard to sink under the waves after such an injection of cultured conversation. And then the donations, most from subscribers whom I have never met, and voluntary subscriptions started coming in, words of support, offers of help in kind...it's hard to express either one's feelings of oppression when something one has worked for and with, seems as if it's all about to fold...And equally hard to express how much it means when people rally round with words of praise and support; with money to help keep Spoken/Written afloat on stormy seas; and with other kind offers. Big thanks must go especially to Rachel of the Poetry Stanza for offering to feature the Bulletin at future events, to Shirley formerly of the Glastonbury Poetry&Words Tent and close friend of the late great PVT West, to Jennifer and Eden of Phonic FM, and Keith of the Poet's Cafe at Trereife House in Penzance (looking forward to the promised tea and cake!). 

    Thanks so much to all the subscribers who have contributed so far. If you haven't done so yet, please do! The PayPal button is on the main web page of the Spoken/Written site, or you can e-mail me, the Editor for where to send a cheque.

   Here's to sun after rain.