vincent berquez

Biography

Vincent Berquez is an artist, poet, a curator and sometimes works in Broadcasting – but mostly is an artist and poet. He has published in Britain, Europe, America and New Zealand. Vincent Berquez work are in various anthologies, including ‘My Gun is Bigger Than Your Gun’and ‘A Passion For Poetry Anthology’. He was requested to write a Tribute as part of ‘Poems to the American People’ for the Hastings International Poetry Festival. He has also been commissioned to write a eulogy by the son of Chief Albert Nwanzi Okoluko, the Ogimma Obi of Ogwashi-Uku to commemorate the death of his father. He has been a judge for Manifold Magazine and had work read as part of Manifold Voices at Waltham Abbey. He has read his work many times, including at The Troubadour and at the Pitshanger Poets, in Ealing, and was nominated for Poet of the Year with the Forward Prize for Literature (although I got the letter I wondered why it all went a bit silent!). He will be contributing to a London Voices anthology soon. With his artwork he has shown world wide, winning first prize at the Novum Comum 88’ Competition in Como, Italy. He has work with an art’s group, called Eins von Hundert, from Cologne, Germany for over 16 years. He has recently shown his work at the Lambs Conduit Festival and had a one-man show at Sacred Spaces, St John the Baptist, Westbourne Park in November. The next in May will be at the Foundlings Museum where he will be exhibiting his paintings. Recent Poetry Published. The International Library of Poetry. North American semi-finalist. 2000. Available at www.poetry.com (a dubious honour!) ‘From the Mountain Top’ Anthology, June 2000, Poetry.COM. First Time. Edition 41, autumn 2001. Editions 42 spring 2002. Edition 47, autumn 2004. Poetry Monthly. Fifth Birthday Edition, Issue 61, Apr 2001. Issue 99, June 2004. Issue 104, Nov 2004. Issue 107, Feb, June 2005. Time Haiku Group. Autumn, 2001 Edition. Autumn 2002 Edition. Feb 2006. Poetry Ealing, Pitshanger Poets. May 2001 Edition. Dial 174. An article: ‘What Is Poetry?’ Issue 45, Introducing Section. Issue 46, summer 2001. Supplement to Issue 48, Letter and Poetry. Issue 50, summer 2002, Letter and Poetry. Issue 51, autumn 2002. Easter 2003, Issue 53. Summer 2003, Issue 54. Issue 55, autumn 2003. Issue 56, winter 2003. Issue 57, spring 2004. Issue 61, Spring 2005. Issue 62, Summer 2005. Issue 67, Autumn 2006. Poetry Church. Summer Anthology 2001. ‘My Gun is Bigger Than Your Gun’ Anthology. Peace and Freedom Press. Nov 2003. Rainbow Poetry Recitals. On Database for recitals. Red Lamp. Autumn Issue, 2001. Summer 2002. Linkway Magazine. Nov 2001, May 2002. Aug 2003. Prize in May 2003. Feb 2004. Aug 2004. Nov 2004. No 39, Feb 2005. No.40 May 2005. No.41 Aug 2005. Purple Patch. Issue 101, 2001. Issue Jan 2004. The Rather Hairy Issue, PEF Pony Tale Productions. Autumn Issue, 2001. Spring Issue, 2002. The Black Rose. August 2001. November 2004. Voyages Magazine. Dec/Jan 2001-2002. Fire Magazine. Sep 2002. No.25, April, 2005 Panda Quarterly Poetry. Issue 10, Apr 2002, Issue 11, June 2002. Issue 12, Oct 2002. Reflections. 2002, No43. 10th Muse. July 2002. Nov 2004. Poetry New Zealand. Issue 24. Spring 2002. Issue 30. Spring 2005. Manifold. Issue 40. Spring 2002. Honorary Mention in Issue 43, 2003. Issue 46. Summer 2004. Exile Magazine. Vol. 15. No.1 spring 2003. Curlew Magazine. Issue 46. Summer 2003. Dandelion Magazine. Issue 33. Summer 2003. Issue 34. Winter 2003. Issue 35. Summer 2004. Issue 36. Winter 2004. The Ugly Tree, Issue 6, Jun 2004. Issue 11, Jan 2006. The Student Magazine. Issue 7. Autumn 2003. Awen Magazine. Issue 29. Aug 2004. Issue 30. Oct 2004. Issue 35. Aug 2005. Day by Day. Volume 41, No.428. Nov 30, 2003. Volume 41, No.429. Dec 31, 2003. Volume 42, No.430. January 2004. Volume 43, No.432, March 2005. Reveal. Summer Issue, 2004. Monomyth Supplement. Issue 13. Apr 2004. The Wall 2 Wall Issue or PCM17 from PEF Pony Tale Productions. Spring 2004. The Numbered Issue. PCM20, Feb 2005. Polka Dot Ceiling. No5 & No 6. 2004. Oct 2004. Apr 2005. Never Bury Poetry. Dec 2004. Aug 2005. The ‘Cartoonie’ Issue or PCM19, autumn 2004. Reflections Magazine, Dec 2004. The Once Orange Poetry Supplement. Issue 4. Dec 2004. Earth Love. Issue 15 May, Issue 16 Aug, Issue 17. Nov 2005. Popularity Contest. Apr 2005. Smoke, a London Peculiar. July 2005. Dream Catcher, Issue 16, Nov 2005. Dial 174. Issue 64. Nov 2005. PCM17. Wall 2 Wall Issue. Nov 2005. Poetry Nottingham International. Issue 59/3. Oct 2005. The Journal. Sep, 2005. Poetry Monthly, Issue 117, Dec 2006. Decanto Magazine. Feb, 2006. Time Haiku. Feb Quantum Leap. Feb 2006. Issue 33. The Ugly Tree. Issue 11, Feb 2006. Dial 174. Issue 65. March 2006. Reflections. Spring 2006. Never Bury Poetry. March 2006. Issue 64. Awen. June 2006. Issue 40. Ugly Tree. Issue 12. Jun. Never Bury Poetry. July 2006. Issue 65. The Once Orange Badge Poetry Supplement. Summer. Anthology: Free-Falling – a Collection of Free Verse from Poetry Now. Nominated for the Forward Press Top 100 Poets of the Year. Anthology: The World is Your… Forward Press. Aug. The Once Orange Badge Poetry Supplement. Summer. Earth Love. Issue 20, Aug. Anthology. London Voices. Oct Poetry Film. Vertigo non Troppo. Oct. Awen Press. Issue 42. Oct. Earth Love. Issue 21. Nov. Anthology. Poets from Greater London. Anchor Books. Dec. Anthology. Greater London Poets. Poetry Now. Dec. Anthology. Aura of Life. Anchor Books. Dec. Poetic Licence. Issue 26. Dec London Voices anthology ‘Freedom and Voices’. Dec. Earth Love. Issue 22, Feb. Earth Love. Issue 23, May. Decanto Magazine. April. Issue 7. The Holy Mountain anthology. Apr. Never Bury Poetry. Issue 66. Apr. Temenos Magazine. Spring. A Little Poetry Magazine. Jun. Dispatch Literareview. Jun The Blue Fog Journal. Jun. Roving Dove. Jun. Namaste Fiji: International Anthology. Summer. Poetry Monthly. Jun. Because we write. July. Parvasedapta Magazine. Summer. The Bard. Issue 55. Aug. The Cannon’s Mouth. Sep. The Ugly Tree, Issue 16. Oct. Monkey Kettle. Issue 28. Oct. Ruminate. Issue 6. Jan Temenos. Jan. Decanto Magazine. Feb The Ugly Tree. Issue 17. Feb The Flask. Issue 3. Feb Poetry Monthly. Issue 143. Feb. Earth Love. Issue, 24, 25, 26, 27 Fire Magazine. Anglo/Greek poem. White Oak Press. First Writer. March. Decanto. Feb. Decanto. April. Decanto. June. Requested to write a Tribute as part of ‘Poems to the American People’ for the Hastings International Poetry Festival to be given to the mayor of New York, Nov 2001 after 9/11. 2 poems for the death of Chief Albert Nwanzi Okoluko, the Ogimma Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, from Nigeria for his son. Jan 2002. Exhibition of collages and poetry reading at Poetry @ Brick Lane. 18.04.02 Reading at Poets Anonymous Festival at Fairfield Hall, Croydon, June 2002. Manifold Voices, Waltham Abbey. 2002. Asked to be a judge for Manifold Magazine poetry writing competition. 2002. A Passion for Poetry anthology. 2003. Chosen Word Artist. The Dial 174 Collection. First published collection. Nov 2002. Norwich Writer’s Circle Open Poetry Competition 2003. Highly Commended. Recorded Collection, Jun 2003. 2 poems chosen for a song cycle by the composer Clive Strutt, May 2003. Poetry Library Website inclusion. June 2003. Manifold Voices, The Church of Christ the King. Poetry reading, 2003. Honorary Friend of the Keats-Shelley Association 2003-2004. Represented Dial 147 at the 50th anniversary of the Poetry Library, Southbank Centre, London. 2004. Invited to read at London Voices, Mar, Jun 2005. Invited to read at the conference for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fellowship Party for Peace Making, Social Justice & a Safe Environment. London, June 2005. Poetry Library Website inclusion. Sep, 2005. Invited to read by Paul Sutherland of Dreamcatcher at Lauderdale House, London. October 2005. Invited to read by the Catholic Worker for a Pitstop Ploughshares Celebration of Hope. October 2005. Invited to read at London Voices, Jan 2005. Invited to read at London Voices, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr 2006. Nominated for the Forward Press Top 100 of the year Award. March 2006. Free-Falling – Collection of Free Verse. Summer, 2006. The World is Your…Anthology, Aug 2006. Read from anthology ‘The Holy Mountain’ at St.Pancras Church to end Lent for the exhibition ‘Gazing on Salvation. April 2007. White Oak Press, Baltimore, USA. Anthology ‘A collection of short works’ ‘Skins’. April 2008. London Voices Anthology. 2008

Samples

Bombing the Plain English Society I shall keep you here in the electrons of my mind, the swirling passages of these unending nerve ends. I will be the bristling brush on the flesh of a rapid red fox, the squaring of roots drowning in complex mathematics, the astro-lunacy of a blinking boffin’s crazed chalk jottings scratched frantically on a worn-out university blackboard. I would be a Fascist treading in the shine of marching jackboots towards the blinding zealous pursuit of your affections, the deepest diver plunging for shellfish in dangerous waters, the oxygen breathing spaceman sucked into the inky darkness of twinkling night in the want of the unknown knowledge of you. I shall be the unfettered wild horse galloping far and wide towards you, towards the savage and the need beyond exhaustion. I would bomb the Plain English Society in search of obscure words to cover you, plundering rich language I would describe abundantly. I would forfeit rich chocolate and red wine to taste you instead, sleep on stones of fire nightly for a chance to lie next to you, with my flame burning brightly I will illuminate you in my heat. Dancing into the cream of the night You said take me dancing in the cream of the night like we did that time when the music was jasper Spanish. The seated flamenco women clapped out the velocity of chattering rhythms pushing the black and scarlet music to the edge of our half-conscious world, exciting the bloody pump with the drum of temptation that agitated our lustiness. The partnership of limbs tangled loquacious, heady, demanding. We took to the slippery dance floor where I held the spine of your wet skin in the stretch of my flexed palm – you said your heart needed to dance with me until the silver slit cracked into the shock of the smoky grey marbled morning. In charged anarchy we succumbed to fog drunkenly and lost ourselves till then. Your scent I snatch moments alone, when you have gone back on the fast train slowly. My mind wants to return to the same track, but I go back to places of inconsistency, of mathematical uncertainty, of self-recognition and the production of my art. I smell you strongly on my fingers, like a band, the phantom-jewel of our encounter remains forceful - feminine – as if your shape and form could be conjured by a wave of this hand, like a magician’s spell. I drink coffee and there you are as I sip, I put cigarettes in my mouth and you brush my lips with your scent, the memory of your senses. I touch another woman but still you remain and mingle I shower and you fall off, washed away, rinsed out but still you are very present, in the here and now. Porcelain. You wait for me patiently for my events to happen for my heart to meet yours. Sliding fingers into fingers we canter through the busy city I brush you off gently - like dusting precious porcelain. I still want the proposal offered but slowly, in measured footsteps, in calm, tame light, within my heart’s capacity. You wait patiently. Seeds will be sown as plants push through the soil, appearing like a miracle. Porcelain flowers you and I.

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

Blog entries by vincent berquez

The Lament of the HS2 Tree (25/06/2021)

Tranquil Waters (25/06/2021)

The Sound of Blossom Falling (15/06/2021)

A love song in the time of pestilence. (25/09/2020)

A love song in the time of pestilence. (25/09/2020)

Greedy Ink (26/09/2014)

Drawing (26/09/2014)

Blossom Park, 2012 (18/05/2012)

Coram Fields, 2012 (18/05/2012)

Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/vincentberquez