Biography
Shadwell’s first pleasurable experience of poetry came when he bought the album ‘Snap, Crackle and Bop’, by John Cooper Clarke. It came with a book of poems that fitted into a pocket on the front cover. There are no published works or tales of crazy collaborations. There’s just a man who likes to wear the man-made fabrics and isn’t afraid to use the odd cultural reference in his poetry. It’s not much, but it’s all he’s got. Give this man a chance.
Samples
O.C.N. (Obsessive Compulsive Nerd) To me it’s a matter of pride that I know Belgium’s GDP and that absolute zero is minus 273 degrees C, thermodynamically. And I have taken the time to know that Friesians are people as well as cows. And I can spell Oberammergau correctly. You see, I deal in exactitudes. “They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil” doesn’t cut it much for me. That’s far too crude an instrument to use - 48.09 million bags of coffee were filled in Brazil last year … yeah. My mind resides inside a box marked ‘bric-a-brac’. The quotes, the stats, the tat… the dates that tend to get away are safely chained to radiators roasting in my head overgrown with footnotes and addenda. My agenda is pretty clear. We’re not talking Professor Stephen Hawking here. I’m not an intellect of note. Ask me about Pure Maths I’d have to go and get my coat. C-O-A-T But when I’m marshalling the facts, The Trivia, I’m Wellington at Waterloo sending in the troops. The Red Baron doing loop-the-loops. An ace in a racing car. Made it ma, top of the world! When I get the questions right I’m Godzilla on his stag night dropping bombs from a tremendous height Shooting bullets from a gun Go on, if you think you’re nerd enough ask me another one. This isn’t merely lots of fun. I know, I know… but when anoraks collide facts will fly and yes, people are gonna get hurt when I begin on the length of Dr Goebbels’ chin and Nick Heyward’s favourite shirts; and the animations of Disney and Isambard Kingdom Brunel – or isn’t he? And don’t get me started on the different names of Spizz and what the Cantonese for Vorsprung Durch Technik… is. I’m on a fact fuelled bender that’s gonna end in tears and a late night take-away on half a dozen beers. I don’t wanna take the Fifth I just can’t shut my gob. It’s my job to take that ‘P’ please Bob because I am the stuff that quiz teams are made of.
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Comments
I love your stuff. I assume you are treading the open-mic boards with these? if not, you shouls. nay, you must!
Superb: Is Am barred? Excellent.
Is that really your name, or your stop on the DLR?
No, no flowers were harmed in the making of your comment! (By the way, I only happened on your comment cos I was looking at who'd updated their profiles today. If you want someone to see a comment it's best to put it on their profile page not yours :)
Thanks for the background. I was just looking at the nuts and bolts. Hope I didn't tread on any flowers.
Regards
Thanks for reading, Shadwell. I appreciate the feedback. I think the way it was written was to contrast a real but flawed (i.e human) person with an idealised man (Maxim de Winter.) It was a written as a gesture to this person (now no longer around, sadly) inspired by once more being at the place where we gazed up at the "posh" hotel while on our walk along the south west way, all scruffy and windswept. Happy days!
Hello and thank you for the welcome, Ann. Yes, I will put something up in the blog section eventually, and hope to crit as good as I get. I'm looking foward to being here.
btw, I like what DH does with butterflies but most of the rest of it leaves me scratching my head.
Hi Mr Smith - welcome to WOL. Love your poems on the profile - I went to the Damian Hurst show the other day actually - it seemed to be full of mums and dads squeezing pushchairs in between the calf and its mother. Good to get folk interested in art at an early age I guess... I rather like DH though, I have to admit. Hope you put a poem or two on the blog section.
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Greg Freeman
Sat 9th Jun 2012 13:46
Shadwell, thanks very much for looking intently at Jubilee. You're right, the middle stanza was added later, and could be removed. But it is true that the Queen and Prince Philip take their breakfast cereal from Tupperware cartons, or at least according to a documentary made quite a long time ago now. I wrote it to get a debate going; I do think there should be a place for 'political' poetry, but it's difficult to get the tone right. I did feel for her freezing in the royal barge, and look what happened to the poor old Duke. You wouldn't inflict such things on anyone else their age; social services might want to know about it. Enjoyed your Damien Hirst poem, and the feelings expressed. Sounds like the art critics are beginning to turn on him. Greg