THE ONE AND ONLY "SHY YETI" SHOW OF 2015Hello beasties!
This week we're reviewing what occurred when John Smallshaw and I returned to The Poetry Café on Thursday 29th October 2015 for my recent POETIQUETTE show; my one and only event this year due to being slightly under-par in the old yeti health stakes. Still, I wasn't going to let nonsense like that completely stop me going out there and performing some daft verse on one night in 2015, oh no!!
Next up are the titles of the poems that I read on the night... I picked them pretty randomly just before the show, but was later glad to see that I hadn't repeated too many pieces from my last Poetry Café appearance in Halloween 2014. I even managed to read one or two that had never been performed before - including one very new piece written in the last 12 months. I consider that a result as I've written very few new poems during 2015. Of course, because the audience was mainly made up of people who didn't know my work, it gave me a chance to perform some of my old favourites too: THE TRUE LIGHT, A LEARNING EXPERIENCE, BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD etc. I also got to dedicate a couple of poems to Twitter friends who had requested specific titles and also celebrated the 10th anniversary since POETIQUETTE was first published; this being the 8th and final volume of my pre-Lulu books to be reissued over the last few years. But, anyway...
POETIQUETTE
POETRY CAFE, THURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2015
FIRST HALF
A YETI WAY OF THINKING
HE WAS JUST AN EVERYDAY WEREWOLF...
ALL THE RAGE
HOPELESS ROMANTIC
I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH PHOTOS OF YOUR KIDS
I WANT THEM TO SEE ME (ON TOP OF THE POPS)
MISTER BEE
JOHN SMALLSHAW
JULIE (OPEN-MIC)
CAT THIEF
A LEARNING EXPERIENCE
OH, FLORENCE!!
THE TRUE LIGHT
INTERVAL
SECOND HALF
HELLO! HELLO! I'M HALLOWEEN!!
PUTTING LIFE ON HOLD
SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN
WITH ANOTHER
LOVERS DON'T LIVE LONGER
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIVA
IF YOU WERE MY WIFE
IS IT CHRISTMAS ALREADY?
JOHN, I'M ONLY RHYMING
JOHN SMALLSHAW
JULES, RUTH, ARUN, JULIE, ANDREW (OPEN-MIC)
THE TRUE EXTENT OF MY GENIUS
THE STAND-UP CHAMELEON
YOU CRAMP MY STYLE
BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD
I WILL EAT PIES
Before we go into the detail, here are a few more photos from the night:
Now in a little more detail:
POETIQUETTE
POETRY CAFE, THURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2015
FIRST HALF
A YETI WAY OF THINKING
First posted on my blog in January 2013, this poem is the title piece from my long-delayed next collection - which has been in the pipe-line since 2012. I really am hoping to get the proofing and formatting done by early 2016. The verse itself is another of my many daft poems about the mysterious ways of yeti!
HE WAS JUST AN EVERYDAY WEREWOLF...
First posted on my blog in January 2013, this poem is the title piece from my long-delayed next collection - which has been in the pipe-line since 2012. I really am hoping to get the proofing and formatting done by early 2016. The verse itself is another of my many daft poems about the mysterious ways of yeti!
HE WAS JUST AN EVERYDAY WEREWOLF...
One of my older pieces - this one from GO 4TH AND DIVIDE, but it's nice and topical for the "spooky season"!
ALL THE RAGE
Just a daft ditty that is fun to read. It's from my AUTUMNAL E.P. collection and was last read at my 40th birthday Poetry Café show two years ago.
HOPELESS ROMANTIC // I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH PHOTOS OF YOUR KIDS // I WANT THEM TO SEE ME (ON TOP OF THE POPS) // MISTER BEE
These last four poems before John and Julie read are from POETIQUETTE - with HOPELESS ROMANTIC having been selected by the "cheeky monkey" son of my Twitter friend Lesley.
JOHN SMALLSHAW
JULIE (OPEN-MIC)
CAT THIEF
This poem, also chosen by my friend Lesley from Twitter, is originally from my collection IF POEMS WERE PIES, although it debuted here on this blog back in January 2009; it also appeared in my SHY YETI RULES OK compilation that same year. It has previously been performed at The Poetry Café during my shows in March 2009, April 2011 and July 2014.
A LEARNING EXPERIENCE // OH, FLORENCE!! // THE TRUE LIGHT
This poem, also chosen by my friend Lesley from Twitter, is originally from my collection IF POEMS WERE PIES, although it debuted here on this blog back in January 2009; it also appeared in my SHY YETI RULES OK compilation that same year. It has previously been performed at The Poetry Café during my shows in March 2009, April 2011 and July 2014.
A LEARNING EXPERIENCE // OH, FLORENCE!! // THE TRUE LIGHT
Three more poems from my SHY YETI RULES OK compilation and pieces that I have read at too many of my shows to list, both in the UK and in the States - all three of them are definitely old favourites of mine.
INTERVAL
SECOND HALF
HELLO! HELLO! I'M HALLOWEEN
Another Halloween poem from NOT AS SHY AS I WAS, which has previously been performed at The Poetry Café in both September and November 2012. You can also view a video of me performing the poem on Youtube at: http://youtu.be/WLnifWZGqb8 A number of the other poems read from this show have videos on my MRSHYYETI channel, but you can dig those ones out yourself - goodness knows what else you might find!
PUTTING LIFE ON HOLD // SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN // WITH ANOTHER
Three more poems from my POETIQUETTE collection. SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN was published here on the blog back in August 2015 when this 10th anniversary edition was released.
LOVERS DON'T LIVE LONGER
This was the newest piece read on the night - released on my blog for Valentine's 2015 and included in the 10th anniversary edition of POETIQUETTE. The poem is inspired by one of my favourite ABBA songs which claims that "Lovers" live a little longer - this verse refutes that.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIVA // IF YOU WERE MY WIFE // IS IT CHRISTMAS ALREADY? // JOHN, I'M ONLY RHYMING
I've performed all of these before at The Café - DIVA in November 2011, WIFE in April and June 2011 and CHRISTMAS in September 2014. JOHN, I'M ONLY RHYMING... made its debut on the blog and was performed at The Broadstairs Folk Festival in 2012 and at The Poetry Café in November 2012, July 2013, November 2013 and July 2014. They are all from different collections but were grouped together for my 2012 SHY YETI STILL RULES OK volume. JOHN... is inspired by both John Smallshaw himself and the David Bowie song, John, I'm Only Dancing.
JOHN SMALLSHAW
Another Halloween poem from NOT AS SHY AS I WAS, which has previously been performed at The Poetry Café in both September and November 2012. You can also view a video of me performing the poem on Youtube at: http://youtu.be/WLnifWZGqb8 A number of the other poems read from this show have videos on my MRSHYYETI channel, but you can dig those ones out yourself - goodness knows what else you might find!
PUTTING LIFE ON HOLD // SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN // WITH ANOTHER
Three more poems from my POETIQUETTE collection. SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN was published here on the blog back in August 2015 when this 10th anniversary edition was released.
LOVERS DON'T LIVE LONGER
This was the newest piece read on the night - released on my blog for Valentine's 2015 and included in the 10th anniversary edition of POETIQUETTE. The poem is inspired by one of my favourite ABBA songs which claims that "Lovers" live a little longer - this verse refutes that.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIVA // IF YOU WERE MY WIFE // IS IT CHRISTMAS ALREADY? // JOHN, I'M ONLY RHYMING
I've performed all of these before at The Café - DIVA in November 2011, WIFE in April and June 2011 and CHRISTMAS in September 2014. JOHN, I'M ONLY RHYMING... made its debut on the blog and was performed at The Broadstairs Folk Festival in 2012 and at The Poetry Café in November 2012, July 2013, November 2013 and July 2014. They are all from different collections but were grouped together for my 2012 SHY YETI STILL RULES OK volume. JOHN... is inspired by both John Smallshaw himself and the David Bowie song, John, I'm Only Dancing.
JOHN SMALLSHAW
JULES, RUTH, ARUN, JULIE, ANDREW (OPEN-MIC)
THE TRUE EXTENT OF MY GENIUS
This is a cheeky little piece, to be taken with a very big pinch of salt. I haven't performed it for a while - it has been read at The Poetry Café before in June and November 2011 and also in November 2013... It's finest moment was when it was performed at The Cobalt Café in August 2011.
THE STAND-UP CHAMELEON // YOU CRAMP MY STYLE
This is a cheeky little piece, to be taken with a very big pinch of salt. I haven't performed it for a while - it has been read at The Poetry Café before in June and November 2011 and also in November 2013... It's finest moment was when it was performed at The Cobalt Café in August 2011.
THE STAND-UP CHAMELEON // YOU CRAMP MY STYLE
THE STAND-UP CHAMELEON made its debut on this blog in July 2007 and was first performed at The Poetry Café in November 2010 and also during my September 2012 show; I also recorded it for my PIETRY IN MOTION CD and featured it in my SHY YETI GOES WILD mini-compilation in 2012. YOU CRAMP MY STYLE also made its print debut on this blog in March 2008 and was last performed at The Poetry Café in June 2012.
BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD // I WILL EAT PIES
The last two poems of the night - which I've performed at many shows and which can both be found in my SHY YETI RULES OKAY compilation from 2009... BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD I last performed at the café in September 2014 - not to mention in November 2013, November 2011, November 2010 and March 2009 - whilst I WILL EAT PIES has been the last poem of the night at most of my shows.
THE END!!
Before we depart, here are photos of almost all our open-mic readers for the night, bar Andrew. In order - Julie, Jules, Ruth and Arun; apologies if I got anyone's name wrong.
Thanks to all who came to the show, to all our open-mic readers and also to Reet and Calum W who took a number of the photos. My biggest thanks go to John Smalshaw for performing and for his help and support in the night. Thank you also to Olissa from The Poetry Cafe for helping arrange the event in the first place and to all those running the bar on the night for their encouragement and assistance. Hopefully we'll be back for my poetry shenanigans in Spring 2016 - more details when I know them!
We'll be taking a week or so off now as we're away next week - but when we return I should be sharing with you the first of two posts from my trip to Lyon for my birthday... Both posts will be diary entries - the first being what actually happened and the second being the fictional diary of a certain BEAST OF FRIENDS character named Horner, last seen spotting candy floss-eating zombies on a beach near Dartmouth. There should also be a fair few photos from the holiday. Watch this space!!
More soon!
Yeti hugs,
Paul xx
P.S. In other news I finished the first season of HOT STUFF!! this week and it should be heading off to lulu.com for a display copy once I return from my trip away. I'm not 100% sure about the cover - but we shall see - it may yet evolve!
