Another Brilliant Night of Poetry at PURE&GOOD&RIGHT

Melinda Deathgoth and Rob Gee were both fantastic at PGR last night in Leamington Spa - phenomenal live talents! Rob Gee regaled us with hilarious and superbly-delivered tales of his time mopping up after incontinent octagenarian boxers and dodging their right hooks, while Melinda Deathgoth (Leicester-based Lorna Meehan off-stage) played the jaded American goth-girl to perfection - definitely a rising star of the performance circuit. And we had all sorts of well-known poets performing or lurking behind the very comfortable sofas at The Fox.

Spoz (Birmingham Poet Laureate), for instance, was there and got up to do a few poems which had the audience rolling about in laughter. Jo Roberts, who is Coventry's Poet Laureate, was in the audience, as was dear Peter Wyton, who also got up and performed for us. Peter, by the way, has just been selected to represent the Midlands in the BBC Radio Slam thingy that everyone's been talking about recently. Except me, because I wasn't eligible to enter the heats, having never won a Slam event and, quite frankly, never being likely to in the future. But Peter Wyton is, of course, utterly brilliant and hilarious in his performances, and I'd lay good odds on him scooping the overall event. Particularly now that he's combining his extremely comic touch with a smattering of history and mythology, always a winning combination for poets.

Then there was moi, of course. And other regulars like myself. Plus some seasoned open mic performers from Leicester and three male open mic virgins. One of whom described me, rather uncomplimentarily, as a 'nightmare'. This was simply because I got a fit of the giggles during a poem - not his - which went on for nearly ten minutes and was not, to my mind, particularly coherent. It was later defended to me as - and I quote - reminiscent of T.S. Eliot. It's always interesting to see how people reinterpret the classics ...

So another brilliant evening of poetry and laughter in Leamington Spa, and I do recommend it to anyone who's able to make the trip there for next month's open mic (usually the third Sunday, 7.30pm until about 11pm). I'm not sure if I'll be able to get there myself - don't all breathe a sigh of relief at once - as next month is pretty packed with events for me, and I need to get some more work done on my next poetry collection at some point, but you never know. That evening may turn out to be free after all, and then ... watch out, Leamington!