Big Comfy Bookshop and My Attempt At Poetry

Hello once again -  this blog is raising its heavy head, wiping the sleep away from its eyes and reaching for the nearest cup of coffee. The reason I say this is because (as you may be aware), the posts on this blog became few and far between, with items appearing sporadically when I had the inclination. Unfortunately inclination is easily triumphed by procrastination, resulting in a poorly updated blog. However, I aim to rectify this in the coming months, so stay tuned.

About a month and a half ago, I moved to Coventry (moved, not sent) as I have begun a new position as a PhD student at a nearby university. In this time, I have been exploring the city, getting to know my new surroundings and increasing my intake of caffeine. As a result of my explorations, I have been to a few events here and there, one of which I plan to make a staple of my monthly calendar. What is this event, I hear you ask? Fire and Dust Poetry Night, at The Big Comfy Bookshop (BCB).

Poetry?

Yes, poetry. This night is a monthly event, taking place at the BCB, a beautifully quaint second-hand bookshop in the heart of Fargo village in Coventry. I will admit, the name is somewhat misleading, as it isn't particularly big, but it certainly is comfortable. The event runs as follows - if you want to read some poetry, you can. If you don't have anything to read, but you'd like to hear some - you can. I went in not really knowing what to expect - my last experience of poetry was the GCSE anthology and forced rhyming schemes. Thankfully, this was not the case, as people had written about a whole variety of topics - from leaving old jobs to how their dog was the best dog in the world. It was a brilliant, relaxed evening with no judgement or scathing cut-downs, only applause and laughter (where appropriate). It made me realise that you could write about anything and more importantly, anybody could do it - even me! So, I went away feeling invigorated and ready to write some poetry.

My attempts

I quickly realised that this poetry lark was going to be quite difficult if I didn't know what to write about. Some people had written about heartbreak, some had gone for abstract themes and bizarre scenarios. Neither of those (or many of the scenarios in between) were for me, so I settled on a topic I knew all about. Things that I've done/ happened to me, with a possible focus on my idiocy. A goldmine of ideas! I'd have poems for years.

My return to the bookshop

BCB Logo. Credit: Big Comfy
Bookshop

Soon enough, a month had passed and I found myself returning to the poetry night at the BCB. I recognised several faces from the month before, along with some faces from other events I'd been to. The night was organised the same way, the main difference for me was that I was now a participant. So, speakers went up and read their works (one of my favourite was the heartbreak over falling in love with a Tory). Then it was my turn. I went up to the microphone, introduced myself and explained that my poems were mainly about stupid things I'd done. After one about my first day of work (which involved an accident report - I'll put it in a future blog post), which was pretty well received, I read out the following poem. It's about having a cold and as I explained on the night - I had a cold but I wanted to get something positive out of it! It's called "Cold Gremlin" and I forgot about syllables and a constant rhyming structure when writing it.

Cold Gremlin
Today is a Sunday,
And I have a cold,
My nose has packed in,
As earlier coughs had foretold.

How do I get rid of this gremlin of mine?
Perhaps a fire hose,
Put up in my nose,
It could work - who really knows?

So Fireman Sam turns on the tap,
As cold water surges up to my cap,
Floating my brain and turning me blue,
I'm awake now, that much is true!

And without warning,
There's an almighty pop!
Lo and behold, a gremlin did drop!

A creature so green,
With skin most foul,
He looked up at me,
And gave me a howl.

So I gave him a kick,
I had to act quick,
As now the sight of him,
Was making me sick.


It got a few laughs and went down better than I had expected - I quickly realised my nerves had been for nothing and that this was something I could do. I could write poetry about things in my life - a new hobby emerged! The rest of the night at the BCB was excellent as usual, and after chatting with the fellow speakers at the end of the event, I'd made a vow to start up my blog again - so here we are! So stay tuned for hopefully more coherent posts, poems and reviews of places and events I'd been to (mostly with a Coventry focus).