tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58104688217600846232024-03-12T22:37:19.768-07:00clarkspeak. pillow talk for insomniacs.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger290125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-37886369502543554192019-08-29T12:14:00.001-07:002019-08-29T12:15:35.781-07:00What's spoken word?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>What's spoken word?</b>
<br />
<br />
Don't tell me you've never heard. That's absurd. You know poetry, right? For one night we do it in the spotlight, rhyming lines about life, rights and fights, completely undeterred. We each take our turn to make the crowd emotionally stirred. Spoken word the opposite of that feeling of being in a group of people singing a song you've never heard.
<br />
<br />
<b>What do people talk about?</b>
<br />
<br />
Whatever they need to get out. You can't predict which way creativity's gonna sprout. It's not just about rocking up at your nearest pub holding a bottle of Bud and seeing what you can churn out – that's a cop out.
It's about being honest and seeing who takes your hand when you hold it out. It's about getting over your self-doubt and making yourself count.
<br />
<br />
<b>What types of people perform?
</b><br />
<br />
There's not really a norm. Tutors, roofers, Chief Supers, drivers, miners and skivers – everybody can get something from this art form. Come along and you might see former drug addicts explain how they reformed, grieving widows describe a loved one they desperately mourn, and dreamers talk about the moment they were spiritually reborn. Anyone can get up on stage and cook up a storm, open hidden doors and be impossible to ignore. What did you think, we all wore uniforms?
<br />
<br />
<b>What do they sound like? </b>
<br />
<br />
It's kind of a cross between poetry, hip hop and rap, with so many blurred lines. People tear open their wounds and make them shine. Every time you turn up you don't know what you're gonna find. Some people shout, throw their weight about and look you right in the eye – others hide behind their phones, and you wonder why, because their words are powerful enough to make you cry. You'll hear rehearsed and improvised rhymes by nervous and confident kinds going up for the first or the 50th time.
<br />
<br />
<b>How does it make you feel?</b>
<br />
<br />
It's unreal. Sometimes poetry's a bit of light-hearted fun, other times it's a proper ordeal. It might be politicised and open your eyes to a human rights issue, or it might plan a seed that slowly makes you feel free and inspires you. There's nothing more real than when people reveal what destroyed them and helped them heal. We're beloved, accepted and empowered in our collective ideal.<br />
<br />
<b>
Why do you go?</b>
<br />
<br />
At first I went there to meet girls, but at the first show I went to everyone was so old. And they were so slow, their rhymes had no flow – no one there was a pro. But that was so long ago. These days I don't come to meet girls, or bring girls, or escape girls, but to rock my world watching complete pros steal the show with poems that make you go 'woah'. And I'm distant from my family, but what I've come to know, is that spoken word is my home. When I'm low my brothers and sisters here help me grow. So I'll keep coming here 'til I'm old, get all slow and lose my flow – because it's what I owe.
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
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<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-48367209148117340022019-08-29T12:04:00.000-07:002019-08-29T12:04:07.580-07:00Our love is<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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An intense love, like two tornadoes ravaging the world as they sweep towards each other <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">–</span> tearing structures to shreds, tossing debris into the air, flattening every object in their path. One tornado blasts its way across the Pacific Ocean and arrives on Asia's shores, crushing ancient civilisations as it moves purposefully, deliberately towards the other, which incinerates jungle after forest after field in its equally ferocious journey through the Americas.<br />
<br />
A complex love, like a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle we start tackling first at the corners, before building the edges and sides to slowly form a complete image over many years <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">– </span>one granular piece of detail at a time. The jigsaw is a patchwork of our individual lives, experiences and identities <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">–</span> constantly evolving misshapen pearls which, before our eyes, merge and marry into a pure picture of our shared soul.<br />
<br />
A hopeful love, like a dog walking to meet his master at the train station every day at 5.30pm without fail (and without having to be taught). A dog which, even when his master doesn't make it home one evening, because he has died at work, continues to wait at the platform. He sees his master's train come to a stop and the doors open, and his master fail to appear <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">–</span> but he stays there a while longer, just in case. His face bears the brunt of 100mph winds from a dozen subsequent trains speeding past. At midnight, the station closes. The dog returns to his master's home and sleeps in his kennel, repeating the routine the next day and <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">–</span> such is his loyalty <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">– </span>every day for his remaining 14 years.<br />
<br />
Our love is this.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
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<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-8440958805588759942019-06-16T07:25:00.000-07:002019-06-16T07:25:03.032-07:00You can't measure art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGYPNdOeR7X4dUMqpnG2cS8TTIvnVd0ViryQBWx5gBUk1xDQRJr_7e5d3IEXl-im8sSDOWnmdLubzZfOKtXF5Dpa3CobKwYO1YCk8dEpuOxS6P3cKYZrAzWhZmD_BuiRxhze2o8EavRg/s1600/mic-1132528_960_720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="960" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGYPNdOeR7X4dUMqpnG2cS8TTIvnVd0ViryQBWx5gBUk1xDQRJr_7e5d3IEXl-im8sSDOWnmdLubzZfOKtXF5Dpa3CobKwYO1YCk8dEpuOxS6P3cKYZrAzWhZmD_BuiRxhze2o8EavRg/s400/mic-1132528_960_720.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>You can’t measure art.</b><br />
<br />
Not in likes, not in subscriptions, not in hits, not in retweets, not in shares, not in video views, not in web traffic, not in session duration, not in followers, not in mentions, not in impressions, not in profile visits, not in conversions, not in post reach, not in active users, not in link clicks, not in the numbers of people "going" and "interested". Not in sales.<br />
<br />
<b>You can’t measure art. </b><br />
<br />
Not in the wide eyes, expectant faces and creative minds in the audience. Not in the nodding heads and clicking fingers, not in the decibels of cheers and applause. Not in the thoughts provoked, epiphanies experienced and perspectives changed forever.<br />
<br />
<b>You can’t measure art. </b><br />
<br />
Not in the lasting friendships and relationships built, not in the feelings of acceptance and self worth nurtured. Not in the giving of purpose, the fostering of community and respect among peers. Not in the strangers connected by ideas and experience, the new visions given, not in the transcending of life.<br />
<br />
<br />
But we need funding, so can you fill out this feedback form?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-82340352479383842572019-01-20T04:35:00.000-08:002019-01-20T07:48:17.867-08:00Off-Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwO6dGeWRdt_opuy1Mrg6zFLCnsjmM6rLR99dYU1P-3u3hX33x8rzBO1rRa7eyCLLb3BMfMSvrTaKter2SkqA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />
I'm having an off-day<br />
<br />
But it feels worse than an off-day<br />
It feels like the bad old days<br />
When I ran away from teachers I refused to obey<br />
When no one came out to play cos the sky was all grey<br />
When it all became about how much booze I could put away<br />
<br />
They said it was just a phase but it was a gateway to cocaine<br />
Comedowns on rainy days washing my young hopes down the drain<br />
I was destined for an early grave<br />
<br />
Til she came along and took away my pain<br />
Led me away from waste, hate and decay<br />
To bigger, better and brighter days<br />
She was from the other side of the tracks, her parents went to the ballet, for the matinee, drinking cabernet, on holiday in Marseille - a total cliche<br />
Though I’ve got to say, they were kind of OK<br />
<br />
But man she was my main aim<br />
She made my pain go away<br />
Made my heart fly to the Milky Way<br />
Didn't matter how much more she got paid<br />
Our love ran two ways<br />
I was so lucky and I knew she felt the same<br />
<br />
Man she set my heart ablaze<br />
Through her I learned stuff I shoulda known anyway<br />
She taught me not to expect praise<br />
Taught me how to behave<br />
Taught me not to accept come what may but find better way<br />
Taught me Uruguay isn't pronounced U R Gay<br />
Days I saw her were my favourite days<br />
Cos with her, finally, I wasn't afraid<br />
<br />
But I was easily led astray<br />
Cos I was raised a tearaway<br />
Addiction struck me down again<br />
Getting into fights, having X-Rays<br />
She never complained <br />
But I knew after that it could never be the same<br />
I'd pushed her away, my welcome outstayed<br />
And now I’d never again wake up to her beautiful face<br />
That privilege - gone to someone else unworthy to claim<br />
<br />
I felt shame cos I was to blame<br />
I wanted her back so badly I prayed <br />
And I prayed <br />
And I prayed<br />
And I prayed<br />
<br />
But nothing changed<br />
That was three years ago and I still feel the same<br />
<br />
I saw her walking with another guy just today<br />
I didn't know what to say<br />
Cos all those memories I hadn't erased<br />
Came back and burned me like old flames<br />
Then she saw me and held my gaze<br />
Gave me a cute smile and threw me a cute wave<br />
We both said "hey" and for a second we were together again<br />
<br />
One and the same<br />
Feeling pride not shame <br />
Feeling love not hate<br />
Feeling hopeful again<br />
In that moment before she drifted away<br />
<br />
Sailed past, leaving me standing there like a castaway<br />
A single tear fell down my face, forever unclaimed<br />
But I know it's me who’s to blame<br />
<br />
Sorry man I got carried away, but anyway<br />
That's why I'm having an off-day<br />
<br />
That's why I'm having an off-day
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-67179692182110856992018-12-30T05:49:00.003-08:002019-01-01T09:10:41.425-08:00Writing your life: ode to a pen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-8M2VItj9NroTInsBqknLcH875svWz6C67uZ0GzfZH4NGONwumN0dEgYLVx0gdpWZURuUUiV1y_23PUi2eL_SXaOqOh-iUiAYjFj6ZcWeRUBN7x7tzjvbT1vohKboee4O_KjhwLq-dE/s1600/47190377_10161411613480422_5821627143783710720_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="695" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-8M2VItj9NroTInsBqknLcH875svWz6C67uZ0GzfZH4NGONwumN0dEgYLVx0gdpWZURuUUiV1y_23PUi2eL_SXaOqOh-iUiAYjFj6ZcWeRUBN7x7tzjvbT1vohKboee4O_KjhwLq-dE/s400/47190377_10161411613480422_5821627143783710720_n.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
<br />
Guess what I am: easily broken, easily lost and cheap to buy<br />
That’s right, I’m a pen – and I usually help people write what they want, but listen up ‘cos this one’s all mine<br />
I’m here to ask: what if the same pen stayed with you all your life?<br />
Would you ever notice me there? Would I even catch your eye?<br />
<br />
Let me tell you the story of Garry, who I was with for many years<br />
For his 7th birthday we wrote out his wish list but he got none of it and broke down in tears<br />
He got older and when he got bored, we carved stuff on trees like GAZ WOZ ERE <br />
Once he handed me to his favourite footballer to autograph that Panini sticker album he still holds dear<br />
<br />
Garry was from a broken home you see – he had to look after his mum<br />
She made us write out shopping lists for matches, scratch cards and rum<br />
Then we went around the supermarket crossing each item off one by one<br />
And when we got back she’d start pouring trebles in the kitchen, and we’d be upstairs wondering when brighter days would come<br />
<br />
Teachers fully expected Garry to be a tearaway at school<br />
They’d give him night detentions for drumming beats on his desk, just because he thought it was cool<br />
We were writing out lines as punishment when Garry put me down and decided to stop playing the fool<br />
As he stared at the raindrops racing each other down the windows, he swore he’d be the exception to the rule<br />
<br />
Something clicked that night, and fired with a new drive Garry felt reborn<br />
We really knuckled down to his GCSEs despite the skivers and the squares’ scorn<br />
I remember Garry chewing me nervously before that first exam, because he knew this was his time to perform<br />
A couple months later his mum gave him a teary drunken hug when he told her: “I scraped into sixth form”<br />
<br />
That was the start of so many great things, because it was there Garry met Elaine<br />
To get her attention he’d roll me pensively against his lips to make him look mysterious, which felt pretty lame<br />
But it worked, and soon we were writing her romantic letters received to great acclaim<br />
Garry was falling in love for the first time – and the best part? She felt exactly the same<br />
<br />
After sixth form Garry knew it was time to fly the nest<br />
But he worried about leaving behind his mum, who was even more of a mess<br />
She said she wanted him to leave this dump and do his very best<br />
So me, him and Elaine moved to the city and signed for the cheapest flat they could find to let<br />
<br />
It turned out to the best decision Garry ever made<br />
Over the next few years he got good at that career game he played<br />
Thankful, he was, for his humble background, which gave him the grit to take on new challenges unafraid<br />
But we still sent concerned letters back home to mum, with stamped addressed envelopes for her to reply – the postage prepaid<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, things between Garry and Elaine were going very well indeed<br />
We spent some lunchbreaks and meetings doodling images of her, which is about as loved up as you can be<br />
They were still head over heels, and between you and me<br />
I wasn’t all that surprised when he got down on one knee<br />
<br />
The suit tailor and I wrote down Garry’s chest, waist and leg measurements as the Big Day drew near<br />
My proudest moment was signing the marriage certificate – we were so excited the ink was accidentally smeared<br />
For some reason it was then that Garry’s mum started acting all weird<br />
She stayed for the rest of the wedding reception but by the evening do she’d disappeared<br />
<br />
It’s fair to say that over the next few years things weren’t as fun, free and wild<br />
Garry and Elaine wanted a house, so endless lists of budgets and bills needed to be compiled<br />
Work was pretty tough for Garry too, but for the first time in ages he smiled<br />
When he got home at 10pm on a Friday and Elaine said she was expecting a child<br />
<br />
They were living the dream with their new country home and beautiful young daughter Anna<br />
Who after much debate had been named after Garry’s mum – her nanna<br />
In the family Garry took on more of a parent role, while Elaine was very much the planner<br />
Our favourite times were when we helped Anna perfect her handwriting and pen heartfelt letters to Santa<br />
<br />
Garry was determined to give Anna the childhood he’d never had<br />
He opened her eyes to the world and really was the best kind of dad<br />
Then one day in the middle of winter, his mum called up sounding lost, troubled and sad<br />
So Garry thought he’d cheer her up by taking the family to see her, but Elaine refused and that’s when things turned bad<br />
<br />
He went alone, stayed for two nights, and when he returned his life had changed beyond recognition<br />
Elaine and Anna had gone and on the table was a divorce petition<br />
Elaine had used me to sign it along with a letter explaining her decision<br />
She said Garry’s mum was to blame for creating a growing division<br />
<br />
Garry hit rock bottom the day he moved out of their family home in the hills<br />
It happened when we were writing down the meter readings to pay the final bills<br />
He felt a strong surge of sadness and a pain that more than just hurt – it killed<br />
From that day on his first glass of water on a morning was accompanied by a pill<br />
<br />
Garry moved into a two-up, two-down, and couldn’t help feeling bitter<br />
We’d write angry notes to neighbours about bad parking, stolen wheelie bins and litter<br />
Even when Anna came to visit, Garry couldn’t stop talking about the way things were<br />
It just made his daughter think her parents had it so much better before her<br />
<br />
Things got worse when Garry’s mum was suddenly rushed to hospital<br />
Liver poisoning it was – and everything the doctors could do was too late, too little<br />
For the funeral we wrote an emotional speech, but his heart felt cold as metal<br />
But he started to feel human again right after the ceremony when the dust began to settle<br />
<br />
When Garry walked through his front door that night he opened some rum and poured a glass<br />
He offered some to Anna, but she said: “no thanks, I think I’ll pass”<br />
There was no TV in the house so we did a crossword – a hard one that put us all to task<br />
Whenever we filled in a word it felt like the good old days when we’d write together in all those years past<br />
<br />
Garry felt like a different man when he rose the next morning<br />
A dark cloud had lifted and his spirits were warming<br />
Over a strong coffee we started writing a poem of his life and realised this was our calling<br />
When Anna woke up he read it to her and couldn’t stop his tears from falling<br />
<br />
As she got up to give him a hug, she knocked me off the table and I smashed on the floor<br />
They threw me into the trash and my final days were spent spooning a rotting apple core<br />
There was no emotion when Garry realised I’d gone – he just got another pen out of the drawer<br />
Don’t worry, I’m so disposable I’ve learned to expect nothing more<br />
<br />
There are billions of pens just like me, so it’s fine if you get rid without saying goodbye<br />
Just remember that we’ll spend some big moments together – happy or sad, laugh or cry<br />
See, the sun may rise then set and people are born then die<br />
But us pens remain mighty forever, and our ink will never run dry.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-91249654162636631042018-06-08T13:08:00.001-07:002018-06-08T13:18:18.396-07:00I want a relationship refund<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Now our relationship is firmly in the past tense<br />
<br />
I’ve decided I want a refund for every expense<br />
<br />
Please don’t think I’m trying to screw you over – I mean no offence<br />
<br />
But I’ve worked out you owe me 23 thousand, 8 hundred and 61 pounds and 47 pence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
How have I broken down the costs? Well, as the main provider<br />
<br />
I paid most of the rent, bills, and for all the fuel for the car – because I was the only driver<br />
<br />
Times that by each of the last 10 years and the costs get higher and higher<br />
<br />
And I forgot to include this pot of tea we’re sharing. That’s another fiver.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But what I forked out for living costs is only where I begin<br />
<br />
There’s also all the gifts, the meals out, the takeaways – that’s right, I’m calling it all in<br />
<br />
Just think if we’d had kids how much more it would have been<br />
<br />
And what about the time I booked off work for trips away – that’s one big lost earning!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
You said that buying nice meals and wine helped you feel less melancholy<br />
<br />
So I want the money back for all the posh wine and chocolate, and everything else you threw in the trolley<br />
<br />
Plus the couples' counselling sessions I paid for when things became rocky<br />
<br />
And I feel harsh for including this, but it wasn’t cheap to put down your mum’s border collie.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Let’s go right back to the start, when we were young of age<br />
<br />
For our early dates I splashed out on hair wax, deodorant and aftershave<br />
<br />
The movies and popcorn I bought on rainy days<br />
<br />
Spending 12p for every text message I sent you – what a waste.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But I guess if I was single I’d have still had to pay for rent, bills and food<br />
<br />
And I wouldn’t be the person I am if it weren’t for my experiences with you<br />
<br />
Not forgetting all the stuff you bought for me, too<br />
<br />
I want to be just as giving when I meet someone new.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
See what I mean, though? Being with someone isn’t cheap<br />
<br />
When you factor in all the special occasions and the general upkeep<br />
<br />
Things move fast and you're soon in too deep<br />
<br />
Still, there’s no need to make sure you split every receipt.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Because what’s the alternative? Being alone won’t work in the long run<br />
<br />
And being a tight arse with your partner isn’t much fun<br />
<br />
So live and let live, and accept what’s done is done
<br />
<br />
Love hard, be generous, and regret nothing and no one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-36718722154909061052018-04-04T11:27:00.001-07:002018-04-04T11:28:33.406-07:00Everyone I've ever wanted to be<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-CShpjnnK4qZHsiufm7suFWeXauAV_fjWWX-bhEW_PaIfvpgo4vOvKNQDqwY5PDgeYk_GWdSKOhMZQLYgkIUys2ltrAxZAo3H8jDddZVi00hqZ3RnvHW0ecW0eKBjNjcMwjq1eVofB0/s1600/edinburgh+%252832%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-CShpjnnK4qZHsiufm7suFWeXauAV_fjWWX-bhEW_PaIfvpgo4vOvKNQDqwY5PDgeYk_GWdSKOhMZQLYgkIUys2ltrAxZAo3H8jDddZVi00hqZ3RnvHW0ecW0eKBjNjcMwjq1eVofB0/s640/edinburgh+%252832%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
My dad.<br />
<br />
The candyfloss man at the fair.<br />
<br />
The hook-a-duck man at the fair.<br />
<br />
Julian from <i>The Famous Five.</i><br />
<br />
Aladdin.<br />
<br />
George, my guinea pig.<br />
<br />
The boy who won the running race on sports day.<br />
<br />
Linford Christie.<br />
<br />
The husband of Mrs Orland, my primary school teacher.<br />
<br />
Anyone with floppy blond hair in a centre parting.<br />
<br />
Steve McManaman.<br />
<br />
Alan Grant from<i> Jurassic Park.</i><br />
<br />
The husband of Sporty Spice, if she has one.<br />
<br />
My granddad.<br />
<br />
My scout leader.<br />
<br />
Me when I'm 18 and I can do what I want.<br />
<br />
Eminem.<br />
<br />
The husband of Sarah Michelle Gellar.<br />
<br />
Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys.<br />
<br />
Jim Morrison from the Doors.<br />
<br />
The Professor of English Literature at Glasgow University.<br />
<br />
The editor of the university newspaper.<br />
<br />
Louis Theroux.<br />
<br />
Jack Kerouac in <i>On The Road.</i><br />
<br />
The guy who dropped out of uni to focus on making music, and got signed to a record label.<br />
<br />
Chris Morris.<br />
<br />
Steve Jobs.<br />
<br />
James Franco.<br />
<br />
The husband of Grace Jones.<br />
<br />
Grace Jones.<br />
<br />
Anyone who got a good job after uni.<br />
<br />
Anyone with their own house.<br />
<br />
The friend of a friend who became a professional journalist.<br />
<br />
Me when I was 18 and I had no worries in the world.<br />
<br />
My first editor.<br />
<br />
The Head of Editorial.<br />
<br />
The Managing Director.<br />
<br />
The stock photo of a happy family.<br />
<br />
My brother.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Someone who is respected and inspired and free<br />
Who people like me aspire to be
<br />
<br />
The kind of person who leads you to hope and to try<br />
And never passes you by<br />
<br />
But look up to others without looking down with despair<br />
You're you, no one else, and you're beyond compare.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-31243242343227045562018-03-18T10:40:00.000-07:002018-03-19T03:06:43.523-07:0014 of the best buildings in Leeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnr3hQmw7-8spGUhvTFFDampxq-hZBrBZxL4fF0p7ZFFMSyU5K_3VmyfcJUHN_sWSSXTZPb88m2d_qPGZL52KoqjgSxjzKRB8bJ89XGzvDE-0Vnno3zT0AxjvhrWTAiN2QoH5-q2Zmec/s1600/IMG_4247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnr3hQmw7-8spGUhvTFFDampxq-hZBrBZxL4fF0p7ZFFMSyU5K_3VmyfcJUHN_sWSSXTZPb88m2d_qPGZL52KoqjgSxjzKRB8bJ89XGzvDE-0Vnno3zT0AxjvhrWTAiN2QoH5-q2Zmec/s640/IMG_4247.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Leeds is a modern metropolis. With a lively <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Creativity" target="_blank">creative </a>scene, a thriving digital sector and rich cultural life on every corner, it's no wonder Leeds consistently ranks as one of the best cities in the world. But let's not forget this place started life as a forested area called Loidis in the 8th century. Growing slowly throughout the medieval and Tudor eras, it came of age as an industrial powerhouse in the 18th century. Over the past 100 years it's flourished as a city of education, business and innovation.</div>
<br />
This means that its streets are adorned with the most stunning buildings - each one telling a different story about the city Leeds was and is. If these bricks could talk, we'd never stop listening.<br />
<br />
After gathering tips from locals, I've cherry picked the best buildings in Leeds and mapped out a route that will let you see them all in just a few hours. I've also included walking directions, giving you everything you need to explore these architectural delights at your own pace.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Parkinson Building
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The Parkinson Building is one of Leeds' most prominent landmarks - especially when it's lit up blue and purple at night. Opened in 1951 by HRH The Princess Royal, this art-deco construction is part of the University of Leeds and is still used for its original purpose as a library and art gallery.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOj0STKPKeVqz8bPxL2wOGmtv0tv5ILrOca2ceDUTwnRnyo2AgCYY4fKDXlAXOIZhuLsPJkdAIuLP1Df6sy49bPpDr5405DzUI6Lq4pn6jSs2UIeavK-SECy_V_2BZssAXmS-lHlPKII4/s1600/parkinson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="851" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOj0STKPKeVqz8bPxL2wOGmtv0tv5ILrOca2ceDUTwnRnyo2AgCYY4fKDXlAXOIZhuLsPJkdAIuLP1Df6sy49bPpDr5405DzUI6Lq4pn6jSs2UIeavK-SECy_V_2BZssAXmS-lHlPKII4/s640/parkinson.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Broadcasting Tower</span></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqf3kgLD5FVhcsBihbhQfkVKztx7ONrNbuI8udS_wyJOFElPczBG_QREiPZ1jLkKBVC8X-rah4XoPpRQ4k4eOkq72a_oq-t4rsyWKISluRIi4-lsFA2CLDLDOdJBlFj-ADc9iTIJCe6cw/s1600/IMG_4341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqf3kgLD5FVhcsBihbhQfkVKztx7ONrNbuI8udS_wyJOFElPczBG_QREiPZ1jLkKBVC8X-rah4XoPpRQ4k4eOkq72a_oq-t4rsyWKISluRIi4-lsFA2CLDLDOdJBlFj-ADc9iTIJCe6cw/s640/IMG_4341.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Iconic, or an eyesore? This rusty-coloured, Brutalist-inspired structure has divided opinion since it was erected in 2010. However, with its imposing height and unusual design, there's no doubt that Broadcasting Tower is one of the Leeds' most unique buildings, and was once named the Best Tall Building in the World. Today it's owned by Leeds Beckett University and consists of student flats.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSQ2dC2YCLEEDKahUjRVwFbqm90QBGVG-3iyyCwESEFPHcjniX76ZbrifDzsEJrUDmxyQJziQwOg9WFY8LePU71FEWynbDzLxw7kav7j7n4HKOL_yZmVAjY03Z_2orrJ5eOdkI3McWnE/s1600/zzxz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="895" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSQ2dC2YCLEEDKahUjRVwFbqm90QBGVG-3iyyCwESEFPHcjniX76ZbrifDzsEJrUDmxyQJziQwOg9WFY8LePU71FEWynbDzLxw7kav7j7n4HKOL_yZmVAjY03Z_2orrJ5eOdkI3McWnE/s640/zzxz.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">County Arcade, Victoria Quarter</span></b></div>
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While it's technically indoors, the County Arcade is considered one of the best buildings in Leeds for its fancy ironwork, gilded mosaics and stunning stained glass roof. It was built in 1900 by Frank Matcham - the architect who designed the London Palladium. The County Arcade is part of the Victoria Quarter, a high-end shopping arcade consisting of three blocks between Briggate and Vicar Lane.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yaDGFaPAD9z197Vh8Bq-nfTsVcS1Y-pqcj0HwYHVSqPZ_dKD6QmF1tCzpbrgzAbfyLHfb10fYFXxVMvVDxpnT2-hlCLDtsHV2jKtYCGjcrfld-qyyu0UPta1UouuLaRkq8Wn-XLtWjU/s1600/broadcastingtower.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="913" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yaDGFaPAD9z197Vh8Bq-nfTsVcS1Y-pqcj0HwYHVSqPZ_dKD6QmF1tCzpbrgzAbfyLHfb10fYFXxVMvVDxpnT2-hlCLDtsHV2jKtYCGjcrfld-qyyu0UPta1UouuLaRkq8Wn-XLtWjU/s640/broadcastingtower.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Corn Exchange
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The Corn Exchange has been at the centre of Leeds for more than 150 years. Designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, its impressive iron-crested dome, intricate exterior design and circular structure ensure it's still as well-known and well-loved today as it was when it was built in 1862. A key trading post in the Victorian era, now you'll find a range of cafes, hairdressers and boutique shops adorning its spectacular interior.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">44 Call Lane</span></b></div>
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Tetris comes to mind when you gaze at this five-storey residential building which opened in 2007. Designed by Brewster Bye, the multi-coloured patchwork cladding on 44 Call Lane recalls the dyes used to make clothes - a link to Leeds' textile history.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Waterman's Place</span></b></div>
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You'll find more Brutalist inspiration at Waterman's Place, next to the Leeds Canal Basin. As part of the recent Granary Wharf regeneration, architects CZWG unveiled this striking brick, wooden and copper clad apartment building in 2009. The award-winning structure follows its own architectural logic, making it one of Leeds' most unusual buildings.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Candle House
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The aptly-named Candle House is what I've always imagined the Tower of Babel looking like - tall, cylindrical and imposing. Designed by careyjones, Candle House opened in 2009 - and its copper and red twisting brickwork exterior has cut a dominant figure on the skyline south of the city centre ever since. Today it's home to 160 of the most sought-after apartments in Leeds.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Tower Works</span></b></div>
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Along with the Corn Exchange, Tower Works is one of the last surviving Victorian buildings in Leeds. Built in 1864 by architect Thomas Shaw, its three Italianate towers were part of a factory that made steel pins. The factory closed in 1981 after 117 years in operation, and the site is to be regenerated as part of a <a href="https://southbankleeds.co.uk/" target="_blank">£350m South Bank project</a> to bring the area back to life with a hub of offices, apartments, bars and restaurants.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Temple Works</span></b></div>
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Legend has it that the Egyptian-inspired Temple Works once had a grass covered roof where sheep used to graze. Why? Because it helped retain humidity so the linen wouldn't dry out at this former flax mill. When it opened in 1840, more than 2,600 textile employees worked in what was at the time the largest single room in the world. It's now in the hands of CEG, a developer involved in the South Bank regeneration.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Quebecs Hotel</span></b></div>
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As you'll see from the engraving at its entrance, this building first opened its doors in 1891 as the Leeds and County Liberal Club. The Liberal Party dominated the administration of Leeds at the time and this lavish club - complete with extravagant masonry, intricate patterning and a red terrcotta facade - reflected its standing in the city. The decline of the Liberal Party meant it was let out entirely to offices by 1947. It was subsequently bought by the Eton Group and renovated into a luxe hotel, where the likes of Coldplay, Joan Rivers and Russell Brand have stayed.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Bank House</span></b></div>
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Another Brutalist beauty, Bank House functioned as the Bank of England's regional headquarters when it opened in 1971. Composed of expensive Cornish granite and bronze cladding, and oddly layered as an inverse pyramid, it was originally meant to convey the bank's strength and impenetrability. Today Bank House is an office building, and listed as a site of special interest by Historic England.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Atlas House</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyYs_G3BeWR9PpcUTvw3Ku3EegjwnnnkzKoH12M6d_kTCWGuvvFoF1qHW_a_shdAZTURJ_xKe9YLP_t0esLsz_Eij9ZBpWutph8shQS7lPa16YtH3BsorHGEZokU1lgZW6Y2k4xGM1NU/s1600/IMG_4306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1347" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyYs_G3BeWR9PpcUTvw3Ku3EegjwnnnkzKoH12M6d_kTCWGuvvFoF1qHW_a_shdAZTURJ_xKe9YLP_t0esLsz_Eij9ZBpWutph8shQS7lPa16YtH3BsorHGEZokU1lgZW6Y2k4xGM1NU/s640/IMG_4306.jpg" width="538" /></a></div>
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Located on the busy corner of King Street and St Paul's Street, Atlas House stands out for its striking white marmo appearance, renaissance design and hulking sculpture of the Greek god Atlas - straining under the weight of the world. Atlas House was built in 1910 as the offices of insurance firm Perkin and Bulmer, and it's now occupied by cocktail chain Dirty Martini.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONBeiO9DtDS3rGCNCnzjeKgG9K8QYQCzoZZgLFyZnJVoKvPTRYkCF7vL22A-4DnjMutvHrc5UXRxl4mdV0TiYoGvLi2S9AD0omElnfeWuvWKNcOWNJH8cUUPHdrlGErYX88y2xmdJ7SI/s1600/bank+house.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="646" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONBeiO9DtDS3rGCNCnzjeKgG9K8QYQCzoZZgLFyZnJVoKvPTRYkCF7vL22A-4DnjMutvHrc5UXRxl4mdV0TiYoGvLi2S9AD0omElnfeWuvWKNcOWNJH8cUUPHdrlGErYX88y2xmdJ7SI/s640/bank+house.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">St Paul's House</span></b></div>
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I'm lucky enough to work just around the corner from St Paul's House - a centrepiece in Leeds' business district. Featuring a bold, Hispano-Moorish design, one of the key features on St Paul's House is the minarets - usually seen on mosques - on each corner. It was built in 1878 as a warehouse and cloth-cutting works, and extensively renovated in 1976. Today it's let out as office space.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Leeds Town Hall</span></b></div>
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Last but definitely not least is probably the best building in Leeds - Leeds Town Hall. This iconic Baroque structure is the crowning glory of Cuthbert Brodrick's architectural career. It's just as awe-inspiring today as it was when it was built in 1858, with its giant columns, stone lion statues and opulent entrance doors rendering it magnificent in every sense of the word. The interior is just as fantastic, as you'll see if you ever attend one of its many events - from beer festivals to music concerts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdIsMSOYDvq9g06-s_UgAyBItvPAwpW4UpUMZuSOZqvx2Q3Bobe4keWhI_-Ohmf6wrU1XfRmJNX7aF4AyQ8RnL0XU7f4cIAhtO1VG3W2QCGMrhtMrZ83qVU0q6_s9JCKqWVIAAWjf3PE/s1600/stpaulshouse.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="704" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdIsMSOYDvq9g06-s_UgAyBItvPAwpW4UpUMZuSOZqvx2Q3Bobe4keWhI_-Ohmf6wrU1XfRmJNX7aF4AyQ8RnL0XU7f4cIAhtO1VG3W2QCGMrhtMrZ83qVU0q6_s9JCKqWVIAAWjf3PE/s640/stpaulshouse.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Next time you're out and about in Leeds, look up. From Italian-inspired icons to Brutalist beauties, this city is full of gems.<br />
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If you think I've failed to mention one of Leeds' best buildings, let me know on <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Photography">Photography</a><br />
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Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-23940336922447942212018-03-07T13:08:00.001-08:002018-03-07T13:08:38.250-08:00Twisted proverbs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OD9SQf6loPyFLsOyzYCw9ihh_YEoHKsPdN1Bn2Jl2uzit1cGFcv12lnvtgMgG2kz7BXqDuUzlb74ikaJo_f5a4IbLtfe8c2i40v2BJe8AQIGh6Ztrp4sVSGuTz-gVGnreu_PSUJDrSw/s1600/SDC12224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OD9SQf6loPyFLsOyzYCw9ihh_YEoHKsPdN1Bn2Jl2uzit1cGFcv12lnvtgMgG2kz7BXqDuUzlb74ikaJo_f5a4IbLtfe8c2i40v2BJe8AQIGh6Ztrp4sVSGuTz-gVGnreu_PSUJDrSw/s640/SDC12224.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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All that is gold does not glitter
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Fondness makes the heart grow absent<br />
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Form is permanent, class is temporary<br />
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Never better than late<br />
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People who throw glass should live in stone houses<br />
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You want what you can't get - always<br />
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Loud words speak actions<br />
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Too much broth spoils the cooks<br />
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Don't feed the hand that bites<br />
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Must all ends come to a good thing?<br />
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If you can't join them, beat them<br />
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There's no present like time<br />
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If you can't judge, book cover<br />
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Your friends and enemies keep you close<br />
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The best medicine causes laughter<br />
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Home is no place like there<br />
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Cross the bridge until you come to it<br />
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Deep waters still run
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
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Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-20781617821927344902018-02-10T09:29:00.001-08:002018-02-10T09:30:33.455-08:00The best stories you find are the ones that find you: the #foundfiction launch party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em><strong>By staging a night of anonymously co-written stories, art-poetry crossover performance and insightful talks within the gorgeous interior of the Leeds Library, #foundfiction has made a strong bid to be part of the city's literary history - and future. Here we reflect on the night's highlights, the journey to the launch and the project itself.</strong></em></span></div>
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'Smile, it might never happen.'</div>
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'Live every day like it's your last.'</div>
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'Be true to yourself.'</div>
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Many of us have words to live by - particular phrases that define who we are and guide how we handle life's curveballs.</div>
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For #foundfiction it's 'the best stories you find are the ones that find you'. This is the idea that literature is about a reader taking the outstretched hand of a writer they might never meet, and making a powerful bond through a story they didn't know they were looking for.</div>
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The concept behind <a href="https://twitter.com/fictionfound" target="_blank">#foundfiction</a> is very simple. Writers send us their stories, which we print out, fold into envelopes marked 'READ ME', and leave in public spaces for someone to find. To date, around 100 stories have been found and shared on social media - throughout the UK and Europe, and as far away as the US, Canada and Australia. We've also published Polish stories to be distributed in Poland.</div>
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After initially starting out as a means by which one shy writer could get his work anonymously read by others, we now publish work by around 30 authors.</div>
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In July 2017 we applied for a grant from Leeds Inspired, which funds many arts projects, venues and organisations across the city. As part of our application we proposed to stage a launch event that would encourage Leeds' writers, readers and lovers of literature to join the growing #foundfiction community and help take the project to the next level.</div>
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We were awarded the grant in October 2017 - and immediately got to work planning a launch event that would capture the imagination of the city.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Thread-000046c4-Id-00000016;"><strong><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Countdown to launch</span></strong></span><br />
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Booking a venue was our first step. We were spoilt for choice, with cool bars and quirky spaces adorning every street in Leeds. But as soon as we entered the<a href="https://www.theleedslibrary.org.uk/" target="_blank"> Leeds Library</a> to discuss hiring its New Room for the night, our decision was made.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7EaqA9sOWlhT2yxzocC3yJWRduCrc0H1nycQV_RZSBvhI3s_8YHtvvXhbdpQTz62H_JIaW48uI-kywdkDKNCRndR8TRK8L24wLCqEDpBttq2G4B7IxZPeqx9Zh0gSmuMIYAiZlzFnYA/s1600/DSC08516.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1064" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7EaqA9sOWlhT2yxzocC3yJWRduCrc0H1nycQV_RZSBvhI3s_8YHtvvXhbdpQTz62H_JIaW48uI-kywdkDKNCRndR8TRK8L24wLCqEDpBttq2G4B7IxZPeqx9Zh0gSmuMIYAiZlzFnYA/s640/DSC08516.JPG" width="424" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpmi9ju3PQn7pSaASnpXBX8Ty1G2t-vUdTHYUETM35_vuBwFUR3CM37eGmuPZObp1MH52aDuzpFyEhP1D3DZVzcgcUuxa_d6wD6xZKkcFE66EvUS8NR6LcpqS1tGNsZAE9TkoiJu36L9c/s1600/DSC08492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1281" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpmi9ju3PQn7pSaASnpXBX8Ty1G2t-vUdTHYUETM35_vuBwFUR3CM37eGmuPZObp1MH52aDuzpFyEhP1D3DZVzcgcUuxa_d6wD6xZKkcFE66EvUS8NR6LcpqS1tGNsZAE9TkoiJu36L9c/s640/DSC08492.JPG" width="512" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukaEwSbQtKAdLV1tGIZT-bx8dvvXwbIRUmovzZdnqGREou4V93g1gnoPB2DGnUWqmxQpP7jXH-ufuZBMqyV5rnpQ416uG8LdRRudO16UNyLcuiCi0Kju1pNaE5tMvSTHQvJ9ouvFYVVA/s1600/DSC08515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1115" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukaEwSbQtKAdLV1tGIZT-bx8dvvXwbIRUmovzZdnqGREou4V93g1gnoPB2DGnUWqmxQpP7jXH-ufuZBMqyV5rnpQ416uG8LdRRudO16UNyLcuiCi0Kju1pNaE5tMvSTHQvJ9ouvFYVVA/s640/DSC08515.JPG" width="444" /></a></div>
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<div>
As well as being a beautiful space that was very relevant to #foundfiction, the Leeds Library was celebrating its 250th anniversary - and looking to add to its 2018 programme of events.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next we focused on creating a striking visual design for promo. Working with <a href="http://www.dogeatcog.co.uk/" target="_blank">dogeatcog</a>, we produced posters and flyers to distribute around Leeds, bookmarks to hand out on the night, and a gif to share online.</div>
<div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaR3Sev6CNHC8ZHcD-XU6g9g6OpQW3TwuqwkxMCoaIPuFKHwk8rkmIyQbShI1JKUcIgsWgEeX4ciZzXVSzhSmlehQ9CvpC3_tAbyrIGA-KDFiuagNJQcK-_JI6VArs4QoU0D8_N2l-dk/s1600/DSC08511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1064" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaR3Sev6CNHC8ZHcD-XU6g9g6OpQW3TwuqwkxMCoaIPuFKHwk8rkmIyQbShI1JKUcIgsWgEeX4ciZzXVSzhSmlehQ9CvpC3_tAbyrIGA-KDFiuagNJQcK-_JI6VArs4QoU0D8_N2l-dk/s640/DSC08511.JPG" width="424" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We also had a video made by Ben Porter, of <a href="https://www.hewittandwalker.com/" target="_blank">Hewitt & Walker</a>, to share on social media.<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oHC3-FZzhSo" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAdSa7LkRC9wimfFCb_WzSfx3ZYaHgl0v041OGn2GRKiebMpgzW5JdlnUUgdVBRjFGHnW2o2xdHD1ndPg6Mp8JvWm92c_PLCzhEkO9rd9X6CSDC4M7s9k-0mOkfxYDlwRY30iSDgwBWIg/s1600/DVHfU_qX4AAeGaR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
But we wanted to do something different to promote the launch party. Something specifically related to #foundfiction and the associated concepts of serendipity, anonymity and inspiration that are key to the project.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We bought a cheap desk, put a piece of paper on it, and encouraged members of the public to co-write a story by adding one line at a time. The #foundfiction writing desk was born. We took it on a tour of Leeds, leaving it unmanned in:</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Hyde Park...</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAdSa7LkRC9wimfFCb_WzSfx3ZYaHgl0v041OGn2GRKiebMpgzW5JdlnUUgdVBRjFGHnW2o2xdHD1ndPg6Mp8JvWm92c_PLCzhEkO9rd9X6CSDC4M7s9k-0mOkfxYDlwRY30iSDgwBWIg/s1600/DVHfU_qX4AAeGaR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAdSa7LkRC9wimfFCb_WzSfx3ZYaHgl0v041OGn2GRKiebMpgzW5JdlnUUgdVBRjFGHnW2o2xdHD1ndPg6Mp8JvWm92c_PLCzhEkO9rd9X6CSDC4M7s9k-0mOkfxYDlwRY30iSDgwBWIg/s640/DVHfU_qX4AAeGaR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Chapel Allerton...</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHakMOs8O_E6BXEoZz1kX4D8q7A8-Yp2yrbcdUihnurWsddXWtqJszdgsNGI_51yyuoQDFOxH5bnTbdwlNxrtnwJ8o9d53ZDHpSoGp9s15yimCl_IvKMJoi5LxQWW-3b2upssG_GCpZk/s1600/DVNMwedWAAA0N3e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHakMOs8O_E6BXEoZz1kX4D8q7A8-Yp2yrbcdUihnurWsddXWtqJszdgsNGI_51yyuoQDFOxH5bnTbdwlNxrtnwJ8o9d53ZDHpSoGp9s15yimCl_IvKMJoi5LxQWW-3b2upssG_GCpZk/s640/DVNMwedWAAA0N3e.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
...and outside the Leeds Library on Commercial Street.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJiYBvee_0TNrob_bD95kePAolrnn3hylobtJEUi7NcRGeXQuidIENzVkOO_6O44UwCgnc1H4Cl9-OdsShHm9wZZfJlc_am_l4RaFb-DyMQ6EjRUZimsCGbu4kHWbMi9CtAmlttVqgXc/s1600/DVMIKDXWkAABEXM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJiYBvee_0TNrob_bD95kePAolrnn3hylobtJEUi7NcRGeXQuidIENzVkOO_6O44UwCgnc1H4Cl9-OdsShHm9wZZfJlc_am_l4RaFb-DyMQ6EjRUZimsCGbu4kHWbMi9CtAmlttVqgXc/s640/DVMIKDXWkAABEXM.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Sure enough, passers by got involved, co-writing two short stories. We thought it was amazing that people were evidently keen to get creative with others they probably didn't know, in a place they were likely just passing through, for a project they'd almost certainly never heard about.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKWoDwe9V1nh3Uh1QoKlXuWpHCGrFiClsK3VLRfXz3rLD8zObvqxzdhLscrE47vYa9YlKEFyjtu51nDHDjYejJ4nvAU3YrofsMaNWLqDXXunBJeuTXfIp-Db81vrQeFzsqWLr2iO_YxU/s1600/DVNQrGnX4AEWy-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKWoDwe9V1nh3Uh1QoKlXuWpHCGrFiClsK3VLRfXz3rLD8zObvqxzdhLscrE47vYa9YlKEFyjtu51nDHDjYejJ4nvAU3YrofsMaNWLqDXXunBJeuTXfIp-Db81vrQeFzsqWLr2iO_YxU/s640/DVNQrGnX4AEWy-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>The main event</strong></span></div>
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</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Thread-000046c4-Id-00000016;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgceBALGtWLXNxDamlq5qA291Po3i-matwOEmcqYHLlStPncQk97ktmkRzJFUa0YP7VM5XWJtehBO1Oyon_XldNlFpAuN9k6gleHuW0xNBiJ5z53s_EppoIXXve-OXR7ltb9L3_7-pteiA/s1600/DSC08518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgceBALGtWLXNxDamlq5qA291Po3i-matwOEmcqYHLlStPncQk97ktmkRzJFUa0YP7VM5XWJtehBO1Oyon_XldNlFpAuN9k6gleHuW0xNBiJ5z53s_EppoIXXve-OXR7ltb9L3_7-pteiA/s640/DSC08518.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Thread-000046c4-Id-00000016;">
</span><br />
<div>
<br />
The #foundfiction launch party was a night of talks, stories, film and live art. Among the presenters on the night were:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>Carl Hutton, chief executive of the Leeds Library, who spoke about the venue's 250th anniversary programme</li>
<li>Lewis King, writer and presenter, who talked about how graffiti he'd captured in Leeds related to the concept of street art and serendipitous discovery</li>
<li>Owen Clements, co-founder of Open Letters, who discussed the personal significance of letter-writing as an art form</li>
</ul>
<div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSG9Mdx36tiY5HorBvkCbNuSDL3IroiZMYNNZ5MaovDAhVNLDkGlSTAyKttUSe1kHAZZyioCdjhrbyVD-bZ8uk8I9-viXVGQ9tXG51nzOziu5s8Gw5O5T-pehLPYwVVBo5d0pCywyUhyY/s1600/DSC08504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1571" data-original-width="1600" height="627" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSG9Mdx36tiY5HorBvkCbNuSDL3IroiZMYNNZ5MaovDAhVNLDkGlSTAyKttUSe1kHAZZyioCdjhrbyVD-bZ8uk8I9-viXVGQ9tXG51nzOziu5s8Gw5O5T-pehLPYwVVBo5d0pCywyUhyY/s640/DSC08504.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2rOr7c1gTzEwUngaGHV4S4BTiLKOozN3p6aNs5iPH4KHci_gw3oRnfrl1_IKy1TChg23KfJ-48y-_HZp3SIej5BUUIXBzeaDAr34iJoH0aqOQQfG_Ch-gOmXIP3mW2XIu3jBZp2BcSc/s1600/DSC08508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2rOr7c1gTzEwUngaGHV4S4BTiLKOozN3p6aNs5iPH4KHci_gw3oRnfrl1_IKy1TChg23KfJ-48y-_HZp3SIej5BUUIXBzeaDAr34iJoH0aqOQQfG_Ch-gOmXIP3mW2XIu3jBZp2BcSc/s640/DSC08508.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJnGmM9wra8rv61etqbcx_uVErA1MiJHJ_76_5Tev1JeymN7rG95qn7W5NJA8svUs87lXle58zBuvFxHVcolZKydkZlqF-VSWBqi3N6RagIU3lEpwuchwihT9iYQMCfFVFOKXSTGnU8U/s1600/DSC08509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJnGmM9wra8rv61etqbcx_uVErA1MiJHJ_76_5Tev1JeymN7rG95qn7W5NJA8svUs87lXle58zBuvFxHVcolZKydkZlqF-VSWBqi3N6RagIU3lEpwuchwihT9iYQMCfFVFOKXSTGnU8U/s640/DSC08509.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
We heard from Marta Polap, from Katowice in Poland, and LA-based Sol Armada, both of whom recorded video messages about how #foundfiction has touched their lives and how they've been supporting the project in their respective countries.</div>
<i class="icon-right-dir green"></i><br />
<div>
We also had three of the area's best spoken word poets - Rose Drew, Phil Pearce and Colleen Pilkenton - take part in a unique creative experiment. As the poets performed their work on stage, artist <a href="http://inkblotfilms.co.uk/" target="_blank">Jay Sillence</a> drew a visual interpretation of the poems on the screen behind them - illustrating that storytelling transcends artistic formats.<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ch-wAua5is" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<div>
Finally, we invited attendees to co-write a story by passing a notepad around the audience - producing a similar result to the #foundfiction writing desk we'd toured around Leeds. <br />
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>Looking ahead</strong></span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyI5Bn9O3gVkPJY6j1mf3AoHAwOv13fG8MO5LMgr9hChSg1ACBrduQ_Zl3FS0a4ME9zCvnyUyOVqsxTzYqalacWecVte1GU8epLf6UNcbgAJ1V_01-_PTdACeiuciUGItIC1oS1mD3Wd0/s1600/DSC08491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyI5Bn9O3gVkPJY6j1mf3AoHAwOv13fG8MO5LMgr9hChSg1ACBrduQ_Zl3FS0a4ME9zCvnyUyOVqsxTzYqalacWecVte1GU8epLf6UNcbgAJ1V_01-_PTdACeiuciUGItIC1oS1mD3Wd0/s640/DSC08491.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All photos by <a href="https://twitter.com/SLCasablanca" target="_blank">Sarah Whitehouse</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Thread-000046c4-Id-00000016;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Thread-000046c4-Id-00000016;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div>
It's always been our goal to grow #foundfiction. Ultimately, if every major city across the world had the scale of a following we have in Leeds, we'd be making a considerable impact on the way people publish and consume short fiction. Like Airbnb, Uber and Deliveroo have disrupted their respective industries, we could one day be doing the same in publishing. If we're ever going to get there, we need more writers, more distributors, and more support. We've come a long way in a few short months, so it's possible. If you want to be part of helping us get there, get involved.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the short term, the #foundfiction writing desk will be back on 3 June at the Northern Short Story Festival. And keep your eyes out for another event this year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
#foundfiction is your project too. Keep writing, keep sharing and keep in touch.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/fictionfound" target="_blank">@fictionfound</a></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/foundFiction/" target="_blank">foundfiction</a></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Instagram: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/found_fiction" target="_blank">found_fiction</a></strong><br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgceBALGtWLXNxDamlq5qA291Po3i-matwOEmcqYHLlStPncQk97ktmkRzJFUa0YP7VM5XWJtehBO1Oyon_XldNlFpAuN9k6gleHuW0xNBiJ5z53s_EppoIXXve-OXR7ltb9L3_7-pteiA/s1600/DSC08518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-77844692149432743602017-12-08T10:27:00.000-08:002017-12-08T10:27:14.480-08:00Iceland: a photo album<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Images taken on an iPhone SE, December 2017.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyjC6vjlh7_VXkkwbTLa_f7vBTzyqi_clBMJSF5aocWCuzTT0D4UDU0qELBJJI5R3GfCEyEmDaomSFmxHQ1v4IrVBfeWWcCnD14YCN3nKoqC165tBZECMmMy4ng0syzWrMBelCjwTFPao/s1600/DQiq4zGWAAEmait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="1200" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyjC6vjlh7_VXkkwbTLa_f7vBTzyqi_clBMJSF5aocWCuzTT0D4UDU0qELBJJI5R3GfCEyEmDaomSFmxHQ1v4IrVBfeWWcCnD14YCN3nKoqC165tBZECMmMy4ng0syzWrMBelCjwTFPao/s640/DQiq4zGWAAEmait.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Photography">Photography</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-33456291955444900532017-12-01T02:12:00.001-08:002017-12-01T02:14:49.928-08:00The Hipster Lord's Prayer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTp4712EHbochXVsuBbGIaFlSh_c8nD5lLoZSpawyS9WQmyXodGBRhOSu88Pyfc8AorSFGHCjSAsh289NUZB0kDFFOfCwQmOEDt3ygYKaF406oI09Tpqk3f_qQfj4H1yW5KsroVRyH8s/s1600/SDC11132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTp4712EHbochXVsuBbGIaFlSh_c8nD5lLoZSpawyS9WQmyXodGBRhOSu88Pyfc8AorSFGHCjSAsh289NUZB0kDFFOfCwQmOEDt3ygYKaF406oI09Tpqk3f_qQfj4H1yW5KsroVRyH8s/s640/SDC11132.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Our hipster father, who art in denim</div>
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Hand-sewn be thy vintage board game</div>
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Thy sourdough crumb, thy ironically pierced tongue</div>
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Is how our worth is measured at the new delicatessen</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Give us your say on these changing trends</div>
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And forgive us our knitting classes</div>
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As we relive old TV shows and buy retro trainers</div>
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And lead us not into the bus station</div>
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But deliver us in 1960s Beetles</div>
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For mine is the man bun</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The gluten-free flour and organic calamari</div>
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Forever in leather</div>
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Amen.
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———</div>
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Poetry</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-87981775032441742712017-11-29T09:59:00.001-08:002017-11-29T09:59:25.706-08:00VIDEO: I can't teach you to be a writer<div style="text-align: left;">
I was honoured to present at November's <a href="https://heyst.ac/" target="_blank">Hey! Stac</a> at Belgrave in Leeds.<br />
<br />
Having always felt that writing is a calling rather than a hobby, I asked if it's impossible to teach someone else to be a writer. Drawing on my inspiration and others', I considered the importance of self-belief, empathy and vision in writing creatively, and questioned whether these qualities are innate or conditioned.<br />
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Click below to watch a video of the talk (and apologies for the flickering projector).</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X_lUfj84jZk" width="560"></iframe>
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———<br />
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Video">Video</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a></div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-20635640776302681922017-10-22T10:56:00.000-07:002017-10-22T10:57:41.384-07:00Open Letters podcast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I sat down with Owen Clements (founder of <a href="https://www.opnletters.net/" target="_blank">Open Letters</a>) to chat about all things writing, inspiration and #foundfiction. It was recorded for the Open Letters podcast.</div>
<br />
Click the image below to listen.<br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/open-letters/id1155921830?mt=2#episodeGuid=tag%3Asoundcloud%2C2010%3Atracks%2F347801475" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUela5kBq9_GdkrwPIpZI7FkidEomTZgGS9SK2D0u2JPWzIEd-Zu0SMG4apM49zzS54Cn6dpKHdJKRYTiRJDFYRY0QTzKJ4sF5ZAQfocvPARF3z7z7dykMmIxl-00qjDzta8OsF5_JfSw/s1600/F564gAQh_400x400.jpg" /></a></div>
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———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Prose</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-65366601751915673162017-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:002017-10-19T14:16:58.516-07:00I can't teach you how to make it as a writer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A few weeks back I gave a talk about <a href="https://twitter.com/fictionfound" target="_blank">#foundfiction</a> at Bettakultcha, a monthly night of creative presentations at Belgrave in Leeds. </div>
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Off the back of that, Bettakultcha organiser <a href="https://twitter.com/ivortymchak" target="_blank">Ivor Tymchak</a> asked me if I’d give another talk – this time at the University of Leeds, to final-year students, about how to find careers in the arts and creative industries. I said yes. </div>
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The presentation was part of the arts faculty’s Expo17 event, where soon-to-be graduates went along to learn about how to take their first steps into the jobs market. Here's what I told them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEK8O0E9taSZXY9YAR79R3ooIiDfWtaE2TiM5gDP6AR9qeWzAhJV4B1nWW1EnaOSgB6GCRZ7ahH7xPcL-h6szRt4WGWrklxYJ-B8_LncfQCqkhXrTKDw6QPXdkkSrik1WlSeA28IIu7s/s1600/IMG_3042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1600" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEK8O0E9taSZXY9YAR79R3ooIiDfWtaE2TiM5gDP6AR9qeWzAhJV4B1nWW1EnaOSgB6GCRZ7ahH7xPcL-h6szRt4WGWrklxYJ-B8_LncfQCqkhXrTKDw6QPXdkkSrik1WlSeA28IIu7s/s640/IMG_3042.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<i>Sorry guys, I can’t teach you how to make it as a writer after university. I can’t teach the vision, belief and resilience you need for that. I can’t teach you that writing should be your one and one ‘thing’ – something you’re compelled to do all your life, no matter what. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>And even as your hundreds of characters wait patiently to see the light of day, I can’t teach you to feel like a seven-year-old flying your first kite, giddy on lemonade, as you create hundreds more at your keyboard. I can’t teach you to develop a fanatical obsession to keep doing this – determined to get better at writing for ever. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to believe you’ll be one of the great writers. I can’t teach you to believe in this so much that you start to see it. Millions of readers will be moved by your words, and non-readers will be aware of the many theatrical and film adaptations of your stories. Academics will say things like “the audacity of didactic prose!” in university lecture theatres, their arms outstretched, with regards to your impact on world literature. But I can’t teach you to believe that. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Even your worst stuff – the crappy teenage poetry and that student play you had to convince your housemate wasn’t pathetic, but prophetic – will be released as ‘The Early Writings of…’ to widespread critical acclaim. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>If this doesn’t happen in your lifetime, it will when you’re dead, but I can’t teach you to believe that – unwaveringly, amid the many rejections you’ll get from the smallest of literary journals, newspapers, employers, or whoever. I can’t teach you to keep going, believing that in the end you either succeed or you give up. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nWGFog5jhh_mQIhvDqtgAzOGBSO2jEhM1VUHhe774mlNspHS5I0VWIf1wY13DSsjkEFpq5heUlm6BHlZQcOfVFS5x3hc0iq1jU0WqHHTnaRvSSXOTva4_uY9kYimyuzUxSy0ZiTTyqk/s1600/Slide+13+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="600" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nWGFog5jhh_mQIhvDqtgAzOGBSO2jEhM1VUHhe774mlNspHS5I0VWIf1wY13DSsjkEFpq5heUlm6BHlZQcOfVFS5x3hc0iq1jU0WqHHTnaRvSSXOTva4_uY9kYimyuzUxSy0ZiTTyqk/s640/Slide+13+-+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to keep writing about what you know, because your life’s already novel-worthy. I can’t teach you to be brave enough to draw on the darkest moments of your life and write something from the heart that will reach out and take the hand of a reader you don’t even know, and make their life worth living. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you not to look for inspiration, but to let it find you. I can’t teach you to see the stories begging for your attention every day: the raindrops racing each other down the window; the person waiting for a bus at the wrong stop; the ‘for sale’ sign outside a house. I can’t teach you to realise inspiration is everywhere.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you how to keep your mind fertile for ideas. I can’t teach you to see how airplanes, light bulbs, skyscrapers, and everything remarkable humanity has ever built, are just shadows of ideas that have come to people. Ideas floating around our collective unconscious; a place of pure feeling, where the dots connect, which you only catch a glimpse of now and then; a place less tangible but more real than our filtered, physical world.
I can’t teach you to be comfortable spending time there. I can’t teach you how to take other people there with words – or pictures, or anything creative you do. I can’t teach you that creating something is about seeing, thinking and feeling. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to leave behind university and what Marina Keegan called ‘the opposite of loneliness’.
“It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community, it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team.” </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4quG4LwWn8LJD8HZNeARgxKvwRL5XnMi92z36z3cD41mO7hnPREdnkHb_77wQP1ohOiZnk1ks90fRMTwi-Bk5tH2vXmyAcEzmL0VQsnWLGm7eLrTqW1k2pEGG0gOkZyXD0my-0kzKCwc/s1600/Slide+11+-+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="490" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4quG4LwWn8LJD8HZNeARgxKvwRL5XnMi92z36z3cD41mO7hnPREdnkHb_77wQP1ohOiZnk1ks90fRMTwi-Bk5tH2vXmyAcEzmL0VQsnWLGm7eLrTqW1k2pEGG0gOkZyXD0my-0kzKCwc/s640/Slide+11+-+2.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you not to be afraid to do something different and take a different path just to get started on the ladder you want to climb. I can’t teach you to compromise on your dream job straight away. Why would you want it straight away? Then you’ll have nowhere to go for the next 50 years. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to be comfortable taking yourself away from your family – moving across the country to take different entry-level writing jobs – to enjoy the greatest high the world can offer: getting the words right, and feeling like you’re getting somewhere.
I can’t teach you to be cool about losing touch with your friends – and you will lose touch with most of them – as you move to different cities to pursue other opportunities, because you’ve got your eye on the bigger prize. Fulfilment. Development. Doing what you feel you were born to do. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to be happy about starting a job at a company where there are already established friendships that you have to break into – and I can’t teach you to believe me that it’ll be fine and you’ll meet great people at work just like you have at school, college and university. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to realise that, when you’ve started out in a ridiculously high-pressure job just to get yourself onto the career ladder, or if you’re unemployed, the best years of your lives are not behind you.
I can’t teach you to realise that the best years of your lives are part of you as you grow up and move to London, and away from London, and wish you did or didn’t live in London. You can still have parties when you’re 30. Guess what, I still go to parties and I’m 31. I’m planning to continue having fun when I’m old. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17bt3sgPSkoSzA_ZvpsCsktbN6VG9xzBaskfKKcAxIEPAjpEmd-LJSwdaU1nLpVFhmBIbJmNC43v2YJu-uSQCg-mcIPwr-LeXUFly0WjaRnRxh9yDx9M3z4hxPtmjQkE9VOqdLOLxNqE/s1600/Slide+10+-+1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="750" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17bt3sgPSkoSzA_ZvpsCsktbN6VG9xzBaskfKKcAxIEPAjpEmd-LJSwdaU1nLpVFhmBIbJmNC43v2YJu-uSQCg-mcIPwr-LeXUFly0WjaRnRxh9yDx9M3z4hxPtmjQkE9VOqdLOLxNqE/s640/Slide+10+-+1.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>And with all that change to adjust to – new people, new expectations, new cities – I can’t teach you to remember what’s really important: your passion and belief. You will be one of the great writers so it’s all worth it. I can’t teach you not to get rid of your inner seven-year-old. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I can’t teach you to remember that you can still do anything. You can change your mind. You can start over. Go back and do a masters. Go travelling. Whatever. The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. You’re graduating university – you’re still young enough to make mistakes.
I can’t teach you to know that you’re so young. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>You can’t, MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all you have. I’m sorry, I can’t teach you how to make it as a writer after university. I’m still working at it myself.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Prose</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-24389660717630577262017-08-20T06:33:00.000-07:002017-08-20T10:56:26.877-07:00Creative Writing Classes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_b2nXyZlBwcBWgQrZkmGYVrpMwCV6g5tzQCdWx08jnPosVbRCMHTwKhALA91nAMYR9n6_DJnYjNa_xGeXMARf4PdFY8UTT4XoMnWQ5qe9lqOm0vPCZeFCU-tmA0gC15bVNmAJwhU_TI/s1600/CYYVtSSWcAA40Bs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="842" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_b2nXyZlBwcBWgQrZkmGYVrpMwCV6g5tzQCdWx08jnPosVbRCMHTwKhALA91nAMYR9n6_DJnYjNa_xGeXMARf4PdFY8UTT4XoMnWQ5qe9lqOm0vPCZeFCU-tmA0gC15bVNmAJwhU_TI/s640/CYYVtSSWcAA40Bs.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I can’t teach you the belief, resilience and vision you need to be a writer.<br />
<br />
I can’t teach you that writing should be your one and only ‘thing’ – something you’re compelled to do all your life. I can’t teach you to take yourself away from your family and friends to enjoy the greatest high the world can offer: getting the words right.
<br />
<br />
And even with your hundreds of characters waiting patiently to see the light of day, I can’t teach you to feel like a seven-year-old flying your first kite, giddy on lemonade, as you create hundreds more at your keyboard. I can’t teach you to trust that each story you’re writing is better than your last. I can’t teach you to develop a fanatical obsession to keep doing this for ever.
<br />
<br />
I can’t teach you to believe you’ll be one of the great writers. I can’t teach you to believe in this so much that you start to see it. Millions of readers will be moved by your words, and non-readers will be aware of the many theatrical and film adaptations of your stories. Academics will say things like “the audacity of didactic prose!” in university lecture theatres, their arms outstretched, with regards to your impact on world literature. Even your worst stuff – the crappy teenage poetry and that student play you had to convince your housemate wasn’t pathetic, but prophetic – will be released as ‘The Early Writings of…’ to widespread critical acclaim.
<br />
<br />
If this doesn’t happen in your lifetime, it will when you’re dead, but I can’t teach you to believe that – unwaveringly, amid the many rejections you’ll get from the smallest of literary journals.
<br />
<br />
I can’t teach you to write about what you know, because your life’s already novel-worthy. I can’t teach you to be brave enough to draw on the darkest moments of your life and write something from the heart that will reach out and take the hand of a reader you don’t even know, and make their life worth living.
<br />
<br />
I can’t teach you to spy on your thoughts. I can’t teach you not to look for inspiration, but to let it find you. I can’t teach you to see the stories begging for your attention every day: the raindrops racing each other down the window; the person waiting for a bus at the wrong stop; the ‘for sale’ sign outside a house. I can’t teach you to look at the butter dripping through your crumpets and begin to see it as symbolic of anything.
<br />
<br />
I can’t teach you how to keep your mind fertile for ideas. I can’t teach you to see how airplanes, light bulbs, skyscrapers, and everything remarkable we’ve ever built, are just shadows of ideas that have come to people. Ideas floating around our collective unconscious; a place of pure feeling, where the dots connect, which you only catch a glimpse of now and then; a place less tangible but more real than our filtered, physical world. I can’t teach you to be comfortable spending time there. I can’t teach you how to take other people there with words. I can’t teach you that writing is about seeing, thinking and feeling.
<br />
<br />
<b>I’m sorry, I can’t teach you to be a writer.
</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Prose</a><br />
<br />
Click here to follow <a href="https://twitter.com/clarkspeak">clarkspeak on Twitter</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-45913593616944718482017-08-09T15:41:00.000-07:002017-08-09T15:41:22.862-07:00JAPAN: a photo album<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Images taken in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara, April 2015.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHPvCbqatO0AT6x0Ufr9aIeZ4-AXw51rk-qvR0OAL2dTL3R1EDtAVXWrkltiZp8mpCSVbxfYj551AcOpPWHMjXAq_kLSaWNjZ-2RIIXKo-vvdtgenbgmc5sG1tMk1vWZquHJ8vS14TUg/s1600/SAM_0995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHPvCbqatO0AT6x0Ufr9aIeZ4-AXw51rk-qvR0OAL2dTL3R1EDtAVXWrkltiZp8mpCSVbxfYj551AcOpPWHMjXAq_kLSaWNjZ-2RIIXKo-vvdtgenbgmc5sG1tMk1vWZquHJ8vS14TUg/s640/SAM_0995.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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———</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-25475966103243779992017-07-23T14:14:00.000-07:002017-07-23T14:15:50.214-07:00Candyfloss<br />
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Blue was the colour of her mother's eyes when she said sorry and left.<br />
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Brown was the colour of the drink that sent her father to sleep.<br />
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Black was the colour of her uncle's belt that clinked when he came to babysit.<br />
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Green was the colour of the exercise book she thought was her best friend.<br />
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Purple was the colour of the seat on the bus she boarded with a stolen wallet.<br />
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White was the colour of the TV that showed her the 'missing person' advert.<br />
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Orange was the colour of the apron worn by the woman who offered her a job.<br />
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Yellow was the colour of her vest when she went running with the only person she ever trusted.<br />
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Pink was the colour of the sweet candyfloss she won on a date at the fairground.<br />
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Red was the colour of the police car light that flashed through her bedroom window.<br />
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Grey was the colour of the curtains where she saw her father's familiar silhouette.
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<div style="text-align: center;">
———</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-16154790050013190472017-06-04T09:10:00.003-07:002017-06-04T09:47:10.242-07:00Show All Attachments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-90170989147177978472017-05-27T16:16:00.000-07:002017-05-27T16:16:09.465-07:00North American Road Trip: a photo album<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Images taken across the USA and Canada, September-November 2010.</div>
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Photography">Photography</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-2715491559596882982017-05-22T08:16:00.000-07:002017-05-22T09:02:40.142-07:00Good news comes in pairs!<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Two of my short stories have been published by </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Reader’s Digest and the York Literary Review.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>Viewing Is Essential</i></b> won Reader’s Digest’s 100-word-story competition, and appears in the June issue of the magazine. It was voted for by the public after making the judges’ top three shortlist. You can buy and read the magazine <a href="http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/magazine/months-magazine" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><i>Thank You For Shopping</i></b> was selected for the Spring 2017 edition of the <a href="https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/yorkliteraryreview/current-issue/" target="_blank">York Literary Review</a> – a journal of fiction, non-fiction and poetry edited by the Creative Writing department at York St John University. You can buy it at <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/bookshops/york" target="_blank">Waterstones York</a>.<br />
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The best part about these two successes is knowing that more people will be reading my work than ever before. I don’t write to win awards, or to be published, as encouraging those things are. I write because I’m compelled to. That’s why I’ve been writing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OTcLPQkGAU" target="_blank">since I was six</a>, and why I’ll keep doing it for as long as I live – regardless of whether my work sees the light of day, as most of the hundreds of characters I’ve created over the past quarter-century haven’t. But it is a bit of a dream to be recognised like this.<br />
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<br />
Special thanks to Anna Walker from Reader’s Digest, Kimberly Campanello from the York Literary Review, and everyone who supports and inspires me.
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Prose</a><br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-49491049675840766342017-05-11T10:47:00.000-07:002017-05-11T10:47:22.791-07:00This girl's eyes don't shine like jewels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<b style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">A modernisation of a Shakespeare sonnet. </span></b></div>
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<br />
William Shakespeare’s <i><b>My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun (Sonnet 130)</b>: </i><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;<br />Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;<br />If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;<br />If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.<br />I have seen roses damasked, red and white,<br />But no such roses see I in her cheeks;<br />And in some perfumes is there more delight<br />Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.<br />I love to hear her speak, yet well I know<br />That music hath a far more pleasing sound;<br />I grant I never saw a goddess go;<br />My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.<br /> And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare<br /> As any she belied with false compare.</blockquote>
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My poem <i><b>This Girl’s Eyes Don’t Shine Like Jewels</b>: </i><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This girl’s eyes don’t shine like jewels.<br />Silk is much smoother than her skin.<br />Waterfalls flow into rivers, winds blow through trees,<br />more gracefully than her hair bounces as she walks.<br />She says the most wonderful things, but music sounds sweeter.<br />Her smile reaches her eyes when she laughs,<br />but it never lights up a room.<br />She kisses me with lips not quite as soft as feather pillows.<br />While angelic statues stand tall and proud,<br />she leans awkwardly against the wall and pouts.<br />I see roses in the florist window more red than her cheeks.<br />When she stands on her tip-toes to rub her nose against mine,<br />my heart never actually skips a beat.<br /> And yet, my love for her is way more rare,<br /> than a comparison to any random what or where.</blockquote>
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Poetry">Poetry</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-5927629626374117982017-05-01T03:18:00.000-07:002017-05-01T03:49:32.222-07:00Roll two sixes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Roll a one and a three.<br />
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<b>1. </b>The night of Jack’s 11th birthday. Mum left in a hurry after what dad did. She shouted for Jack to come with her, but he stayed in his bedroom, too scared to move. A while later Jack came downstairs and sat in the living room with dad. It was really quiet. Every so often dad told him that everything would be alright and that he loved him. That nothing bad was going to happen any more, because he’d be there for him (properly, from now on). That he was sorry for what he did to mum. He brought Jack fizzy drinks and crisps, even though it was way past bedtime. He kept going to the window, and Jack didn’t dare ask who was coming. Looking at the stack of Disney videos next to the TV, Jack swore to himself he’d have a happy family someday. Then the police arrived.<br />
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<b>3.</b> Mel’s childhood home, when she was nine years old. She felt shame as she laid in another wet bed. Worried what her parents would say in the morning, she buried her head between the pillows and pulled the duvet right up to her chin. Then she heard something. It sounded like a distant firework. Mel sat up – and saw the moonlight shining through her window from the night outside. It cast a bubbly glow on the wall next to her bed. Without even thinking about it, she reached out and touched it. It felt warm. When she did this, she tried to imagine what her life might be like in the future. Friends who would never leave her. Boys who would find her attractive. Children of her own, who she wouldn’t attack for wetting the bed.<br />
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Roll a two and a five.<br />
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<b>2. </b>When Jack broke up with his girlfriend, right at the three-month mark. The girl asked Jack what he would do if she came running back to him. He said he’d say no and move on. She rolled her eyes and said it wouldn’t happen anyway. Then she gave him a hug – one of those “I’ll miss you” hugs. Over the next month or so, sometimes a nostalgic memory of the warmth of her skin would come to Jack, and he’d be on the verge of picking up the phone. But he never did.<br />
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<b>5. </b>At the cinema, where Mel was watching <i>Spiderman</i> – the first one, with Tobey Maguire. She was there with two couples, and found it hilarious that she was playing not third, but fifth, wheel. She looked away from the screen during the upside-down kiss scene, and saw the light from the film flicker on her friends’ pathetically expectant faces.<br />
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Roll a three and a four.<br />
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<b>3.</b> A restaurant in Alacati, Turkey, where the waiter brought Jack his second beer before he’d finished his first. His plate was empty, apart from the skeletal remains of the fish, and some of the sweet peppery sauce. Jack’s newspaper was paying for him to be there, but it didn’t feel like luxury to him, because he was alone. Outside the restaurant, a boy had his arms wrapped around his mother’s middle, and was leaning into her, as they sped by on a moped. After they’d disappeared around the corner, Jack lost his gaze in the middle distance, holding his pen over his notepad.<br />
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<b>4.</b> Bologna, Italy, where the sound of Mel’s heels echoed between the medieval stone walls. She was running away from the drunken shouts of “ragazza!” and creepy falsetto laughter. When she got to the corner she pushed open the heavy iron gate and felt for the apartment doorbells at the building’s entrance, her heart racing. “Please be home... please be home...” she muttered to herself, pressing hard on the buzzer for apartment 5, where her friend lived. The moonshine and the streetlights combined to make the street cobbles look like rippling water in twilight. It gave Mel’s moment of panic a filmic quality.<br />
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Roll two sixes.<br />
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<b>6. </b>When rain was battering the roof of the cottage, and Jack made sure the girls were warm in bed. Camille had her rag doll and a million and one cushions and pillows, while Jena was happy with a hot water bottle. When their eyes started to close, Jack kissed their foreheads and left the room, closing the door behind him. Downstairs in the kitchen, he poured himself some tea from the pot. He looked out at the rain, invisible in the dark outside, and caught his reflection in the window. In the background, Jack saw Mel sat in the living room behind him.<br />
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<b>6.</b> Mel by the fire, reading. She’d been turning the pages, but not taking much of it in. For once she was living completely in the present, and she was distracted by a wonderful thought: that everyone she loved was safe. Jack in the kitchen, the girls upstairs, their dog Buzz asleep on the beanbag by the door... She always wanted to remember that thought, and the feeling it gave her. She closed her eyes and felt a tingling rise from her spine to her shoulders, up her neck and into her cheeks. When Jack came to sit next to her, she leaned on his shoulder and watched the wood explode in the fire, blinking trickling tears from her eyes.<br />
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Toys were scattered around where Buzz was sleeping – and it was hard to tell which ones were his and which were the girls’. One of the toys was a furry dice, connected by a thick pink thread. Buzz was whimpering and twitching. He was having a dream. Around midnight he wagged his tail and the hit the dice, rolling them over again.
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Prose">Prose</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-69393095093549962002017-04-23T06:36:00.000-07:002017-04-23T06:42:45.416-07:00I quit<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>It’s been seven years since smoking and I broke up.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>We were together for seven years, too.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Our relationship started with ‘going twos’ at a gig, </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>and ended with a chest infection. </i></b></span><br />
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I used to love smoking, dumb as it sounds now. I didn’t mind the ‘smoker’ label one bit. Marlboros, Lucky Strikes, rollies… I was on 20 a day.<br />
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Smoking fitted around my routines: between classes… on lunch at work… before going out… if I wasn’t lighting up, I wasn’t ‘taking a break’.<br />
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I remember that kick of the first smoke of the day — it felt like taking in an icy breath of winter air at 5AM one late November morning.<br />
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Smoking was good. It was who I was, because I did it all the time. It was also <i>how I did things,</i> like writing, reading, walking — with a cigarette between my lips.*<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The break-up</b> </div>
<br />
On day 2,617 of my relationship with smoking, we broke up suddenly.<br />
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I got a chest infection, which is pretty normal for smokers, I think. I was a spluttering mess. I couldn’t smoke a cigarette, no matter how hard I tried. (I had swine flu, if I remember right.)<br />
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After a brutal coughing fit I thought to myself: <i>If you’re ever going to quit smoking, it’s probably now.</i><br />
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A few days’ cold turkey turned into a week, to two weeks, to four… and that was it. The infection disinfected me.<br />
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<i>* Whether it’s biting our nails, twiddling our hair, or whatever, “We are what we repeatedly do”, so they say.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://smokefree.nhs.org.uk/" target="_blank"><b>smokefree.nhs.org.uk</b></a></div>
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Click here for more <a href="http://clarkspeak.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Life">Life</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810468821760084623.post-57418736609818299022017-04-14T06:41:00.001-07:002017-04-14T06:44:20.450-07:00Through a wet windscreen: a photo albumAll images taken on an iPhone 5.<br />
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