Gary Carr

Biography

Gary Carr began writing more than twenty years ago, has been running Runaway Writers' Group for more than fifteen and has been organising and MCing open mics in the Midlands for more than ten years. He continued to run a range of meetings and events on Zoom throughout Covid-19 lockdowns and has used the experience to create hybrid Zoom/live events ("Distraction") as accessible open mics. His first collection, In a Town, was released in 2021 by Dream Well and he currently edits off-centre magazine for writers and visual artists.

Samples

Noise Agent What you can hear is noise. These boys can play their fucking tunes. Pitching working class anthems, one after another and another barking from an overdriven backline. Their noise is the best noise, better than noise can be, because this, this is escape; it is terrible, divine. You can smell the cordite fuse of desperation, a fear of returning to some grimy northern capital, that drives these boys. You hear their city, they can taste your need. Then their noise is gone, but carried in the drone pipe buzz of their resting Marshalls there is a subliminal certainty – success. Theirs. Yours. Perhaps it is time for a coffee. Make them wait, go to the brink, but sign them. Punters buy sweat; if not sweat, eyeliner, hype. Piss the parents off. Bowie told you that. Sign them young. Hope they die suddenly. Massive. (First published in Under the Radar magazine, by Nine Arches Press)

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.