Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Mouthtrap Cabaret in Reading & The Nail poetry magazine

For those in the vicinity, the fair town of Reading plays host on the first Wednesday of every month to Mouthtrap Cabaret, an evening of poetry organised and compered by experienced poet and performer AF Harrold.

In the most recent issue of THE NAIL, a poetry magazine with a charmingly retro look published by Hammer & Tongue, they advertise this event as taking place on the first Monday of every month, then list the forthcoming dates as March 1st, April 5th, and May 3rd. By careful deduction and the use of a calendar, I have concluded that this is a mistake. Unless the dates themselves are wrong.

More details can apparently be found at this website; I advise a brief visit. I would check it out myself but I've nearly finished an entire bottle of wine and the prospect of surfing the net for another half hour is less appealing than that of sinking slowly beneath my desk at the end of this post.

So, on Wednesday March 1st, the guest performers at this intriguing affair will be none other than Rob Gee, Steve Larkin and Helen Thomas, and it will all take place at The South Street Arts Centre, 21 South Street, Reading. Doors open at 8 for an 8.30 start. No clues as to entrance fee or lack of it, I'm afraid. But perhaps the website for this - and other Reading-based events such as Bohemian Night and the Poets' Cafe - will reveal all!


THE NAIL:
To submit work to THE NAIL performance poetry magazine, email davetodd@hotmail.co.uk or post to Dave, Hammer & Tongue, 16b Cherwell Street, Oxford, OX4 1BG. The deadline for submissions to the next issue is April 1st 2006. Poems no longer than 150 lines (incl. spaces), articles under 1000 words. Cover price £2.50, plus an A5 size envelope - that's A4 folded for the uninitiated - with minimum 35p stamp for second class. If posting your work to them, I suggest an adequate s.a.e. for return might be wise (and polite).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jane. The Nail needs a 35p stamp to go second class. Didn't realise we were charmingly retro, but I'll take that as a compliment!

If anyone out there submits a poem with a water theme for the next issue, so much the better.

Dave

Jane Holland: Editor said...

Neither a compliment nor an insult, dear Dave, merely a statement of opinion. I'll add that 35p bit to the post very soon, gotta rush off to be on the radio this afternoon in Birmingham, so no time right now except to say I'll look something out for the Nail myself. So, a themed issue, huh? How about somthing on watersports? Oops, wrong publication.

Jane x