Rosemary Dun

Biography

Rosemary Dun (sparkly host of Big Mouth) Rosemary never recovered from the halcyon days of the Thatcher-hating 80s. She still has the face of Thatcher pinned to a darts board on the back of her office door. A long-time fan of Bananarama (pure genius and from Bristol!) she was keen to turn her hobbies of staring out of the window and showing off in public into some sort of career. She is now a performance poet, writer and tutor of creative writing with the Open University. Her 2 children have survived her mothering skills of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Get yourself something from the fridge\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and her can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t be arsed to cook or clean tactics have led to her girls being more mature than her! At the fag end of the last century she set up Big Mouth Cabaret with her cantankerous assistant Tom Phillips and now organises and hosts regular Big Mouth Cabaret events, Big Mouth Poetry @ Ashton Court Festival, plus a monthly Open Mike Night at The Folk House, Bristol. She has won slams, toured and performed at festivals at Cheltenham, Manchester, Brighton, Bath, Brecon, Hay On Wye, Ledbury, Stroud, Tiverton, and others. Lately she introduced bad ukelele playing and comedy songs and performed her hour\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s show - If Love Is The Answer, What Is The Question? - at the 2011 Hay On Wye Festival, How The Light Gets In. She was also part of the global fusion poets New York publication Short Fuse and has been a member of Stroud Football Poets. She is widely published and was commissioned to write and perform a poem as part of ITV1 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The Trouble With Love.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Lately, Rosemary has gone Eurovision with poems on the school curriculum in Germany, Finland, and Estonia! According to Google \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Rosemary looks like a cheap Vegas showgirl\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"!! She reckons that\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s a compliment. What they say: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Rosemary Dun\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mojo works.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Elvis McGonagall, poet and regular on BBC Radio 4\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Saturday Live \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"witty and warm..wacky womantic wistfully wenchlike with wonderful workshops well-wicked wordplay without waffly weavings worth weccomnending wherever we wander \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Crispin The Poet \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There are very few poetry practitioners that are as good at the art of poetry and creating educational environs that actually work as Rosemary Dun. I am always delighted when called upon to work alongside Rosemary. Hers are not vanity projects they are there for the express reason of making performance poetry a valid and creative force to be reckoned with. Rosemary is one of the great unsung heroes of British poetry.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Gerry Potter aka Chloe Poems, poet, playwright and author. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I love working with Rosemary Dun - she runs workshops for all the right reasons and because of that,she creates a great atmosphere for creating poetry.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Francesca Beard, poet. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Rosemary Dun is the personification of John Lennon reincarnated as a Punk Rock Guinea Pig looking for love in the small ads and the petrol pumps of life.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Helên Thomas. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Rosemary Dun brings something sorely missing in literature for the last few years: A sense of fun.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" MC Bruce, Poet and Host of Poet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Night, California, USA. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"… one of my very favourite UK spoken word poets … she is a key player in the ever-improving performance poetry scene emerging in the UK in the 21st century.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Todd Swift, editor of Short Fuse and online magazine nthposition. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Confident wry verse on being stalked by footballer David Beckham, and the romantic drawbacks of poets.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Bristol Evening Post \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"her deceptively disarming tone hides a satirical wit that\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sharper than a pair of stilettos (and we\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re not talking shoes).\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Tom Phillips, Venue Magazine. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"…I fell in love with her vivaciousness and wanton poeticity. She is a delightful host, and really pulls together the poetry community by aesthetic will power and personal strength …\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Larry Jaffe (poet Los Angeles, U.S.A.) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Rosemary Dun is a significant figure for poetry development … A skilled and talented poet …an experienced and entertaining performer able to lead an audience a merry dance down garden paths, through garden gates and into spoken word delight … she runs a really good workshop too!\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Colin Brown, Director, Poetry Can Development Agency.

Samples

Double Bass (This poem was inspired by an American musician with a gorgeous well-loved double bass. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"She\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s my older woman,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said, as he stroked her curves.) Let me by your older curvy woman, baby C\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'mon feel my comfortably cushioned bones Pluck my strings, run your fingers all over my silky skin, baby Turn and slap me with your deep down dirty tones, I wanna vibrate to your virtuosity I wanna be your double bass, baby Take me up and down, slow then fast in a musical master class Cos I can tell from the way you play that you love a curvy older woman\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ass. Let me be your older curvy woman, baby Run your fingers up and down my silky skin Make me hum with the dum dum dum of the music, baby, play all over me Until I thrill to the skill of your man dexterity. Run those big hands like they got plans, baby Be the lover of my deep down dirty bluesy tones Turn me, slap me, c\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'mon baby, feel my womanly moans. We can thrum to the hum of lovers lost, lovers found Lust sated, recreated, on the rebound. Yeah baby, we can make such a glorious sound. You make the scatological truly biological. I want to strum with your fingers and thumb Tingle your nerves with my natural reverb. Just let me be that older curvy woman baby And run those fingers up and down my silky skin. PHILOSOPHY: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN Philosophy. It’s not an –ology It’s not a science, an over-reliance on Theosophy – whatever that is – It’s not Etymology – that’s words nor Ornithology – that’s birds It’s metaphysics or Astronomy Some would posit it’s Astrology Though it probably isn’t Russell Grant; It’s Immanel Kant. A quest for guidance from the stars - to seek out who and where we are – or is that Cosmology? It’s not Anatomy – that’s body parts or Cardiology – that’s the heart Philosophy includes the Arts, the Aesthetics, Ethics and parts The other -ologies cannot reach, I imagine that it’s a bugger to teach. It’s not Tautology – Tautology it’s not. Or Thermodynamics, which encapsulates hot. Nor is it Mammalians or Scientology Aliens. It’s uses Brain-ography, does Philosophy. It was invented by the Greeks long before science fiction geeks It’s the discipline for thinking things differently. Is Philosophy. It’s known to be bold even poets get involved though I’ve never ever heard it called: Byron-y. Sometimes there’s irony Still, it doesn’t traduce, it’s there to deduce. No Deuteronomy – which deals with sin nor Marine Biology – that’s things wot swim. Nor Phrenology – which is lumps nor Sexology – that’s raunchy humps It’s Humanology – whoops – that’s Anthropology What it’s not is Strictly Dancing Arm-ography! It’s that place where humans dream catch the zeitgeist’s heady stream It’s the string which binds us in Catch the glimpsed, and not the seen It seeks answers hard to find Does the body rule the mind? Or does the mind rule the body? That’s not Bill Oddie – but The Smiths It questions whether God does exist. Enjoy Philosophy. It’s where angels dare to tread: dance a tango on the head of a pin. It’s How The Light Gets In.

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