Really excited to be bringing you a new Edinburgh artists’ collective, Far Yella, and our first event at Leith Dockers Club, 17 Academy Street, at 7pm on Sunday 24 April. It’s going to be an amazing evening, it’s just £5 for an array for incredible words and music, and I hope to see you there.
An evening of entertaiments presented by ‘Far Yella’ (a new collective featuring Faith Eliott, Hailey Beavis, Mario Cruzado, Reuben Taylor, Ryan Van Winkle, Sam Siggs & Supermoon).
There will be:
Music + Poetry + Bingo + Bread + Jumble Sale + DJs + Shit Magic (among other wonders)
Where: Leith Dockers Club — 17 Academy St, Edinburgh EH6 7EE When: 24 April, 7pm How Much: 5 quids
Really chuffed to be reading at Second Space with a whole host of great poets and performers. It’s on next Friday 7 August, 8-10pm at the Safari Lounge, 21 Cadzow Place, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh. Should be an awesome night, hope to see you there.
Featuring:
nick-e melville
rodney relax
jl williams
jess hopkins
will lorimer
craig gun
ryan van winkle
iain morrison
graeme smith
anne laure coxam
jane goldman
annie higgen
kate tough
katy hastie
ed smith
calum rodger
rob mckenzie
janette ayachi
tessa berring
mike saunders
emilia weber
tom betteridge
Very pleased to announce that a collaborative piece with Ragland will be included in the Another Athens exhibition and one-day symposium at the Forest Centre+ in Edinburgh. This interdisciplinary symposium invites speakers to investigate the city, its space(s) and how its people interact with it on a daily basis: the city as a score, the imaginary city, strategies of drift and assemblage. Speakers include – Peter Burnett / Mirja Koponen / Neil Gray / Jane Hyslop / nick-e melville / Gerry Smith / Michael Gallagher, among others – from within and without the arts and literature, will reflect the rich polyphony of views which span experience and interpretation of the city.
The symposium will run from 10am-5pm on Thursday 4 December, and is totally free.
The exhibition will run from Wednesday 26 November – Saturday 20 December (Wed-Fri 4pm-7pm; Sat 11am-2pm), and is also free. Hope to see you there.
nick-e says: This poem started as a conversation about complaint letters. As a found poet, I am very interested in subverting bureaucratic language in various ways: the replies to Ryan’s complaints provided the source material for my contribution to our collaboration. I focused on, and extracted lines which demonstrated, the banal, the inane and the ridiculous; not unlike Ryan’s initial complaints…
Ryan says: I like to complain. I was probably complaining about something when we got the idea to do this poem. I knew nick-e does work with found and officious texts and I hoped he’d find something worthwhile in the letters I’d sent out to cinemas, airlines, and phone companies over the years. Maybe I hadn’t wasted my time writing and grumbling down the phone.
complaint
Not long now
until you’re off
on your travels
It is your responsibility to check with the airline
that any onward flights you have confirmed
are operating as booked
This is an automatic notification email that cannot accept in-coming mail
*
For a long time
this is a how I thought
a person should be
phone melting
in the crook
of her shoulder
tea boiling and manager
manager I want to speak
manager manager let me finish
manager manager you’re not listening
*
Document prepared for customer
Status Confirmed (x8 potentially)
MR RYAN VAN WINKLE MEAL TYPE NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS FLIGHT (x2?)
MR RYAN VAN WINKLE ASIAN VEG MEAL (x4?)
YOU ARE NOT INSURED!
You have yet to purchase a Multiflex pass.
It may not be too late!
paper or E?
Names correct & spelt back phonetically
Travelling on US passport
Anyone
from a country belonging
BA 1440 O 26NOV 2 LHREDI HK1 1145 1310 26NOV E BA/NOSYNC
*
if I had a sunday
i would get on the phone
i would set my teeth right
i learned words like automaton
pusillanimous – i could have loved
could have whisked eggs
and fluffed pancakes, i could
have made the bed, or even
called a taxi, why not where
did we want to go. but that person
was not a person i could be. not
with my father’s tie in the closet
my mother’s cord still wet in my mouth.
for a long time
i couldn’t pick a fight
with my own wife
but i could heat up a phone
crack a rotten egg down the line.
*
your recent travel experience with US
Your comments matter to US
For this reason
I have thoroughly reviewed your case
Your concerns have been sent
to the appropriate leadership teams
We are working hard to earn
your continued patronage
I’m sorry you found the kiosk
difficult to understand
and navigate
Given the issues that our industry continues
to face in these volatile economic times
Thank you for giving us
this opportunity to address
you
I have carefully reviewed
everything in you
*
my entire body one throbbing nose relating
to the Guarantee Obligations sniffing
twitching when i try to sleep, worrying an obligation
of a downstream affiliate – the stream
is rapid, an obligation of other parties
where there is only the sense
of her perfume, an hour or less, in respect
of the Underlying Obligation of the Underlying Obligor
that is Not Subordinated. in the end, he proposed
direct obligations of the Reference Entity
*
I am angry because a woman told me
your computers are ‘never wrong’
I am familiar with technology
I am 36 years old, not 86
I am not daunted by flashing screens
*
The origins of simple, everyday things
is in the longing
for something faster, easier
the longing is building a fire
that rain or floods won’t quell
the lonesome is shifting around
with his hands in his pockets
*
Your kiosks
are not intuitive
take longer to use
are more unpleasant
than a standard human
interaction at a desk
It is insulting to imply
I was somehow dazzled
by your new-fangled machines
as if I had stepped out of a time-machine
straight from the Victoria age
*
i mean to say we always want better
than what we have, who wouldn’t
take a little bit extra, a little bit more
*
I am most offended
that I should be concerned
for your industry
in these ‘volatile economic times’
In these ‘volatile economic times’
people are losing their homes, their jobs
the costs of things like higher education ever increasing
and the gap between rich and poor ever expanding
The idea that I should pity you
rather than be furious
at your theft
is outrageous
*
i should talk with my grandmother again
about the things in my pockets
a pink handkerchief, some oil
instead, i am on hold awaiting
the dull excuse of management
while the dead stay still and silent
*
Your company is suffering
due to gross malfeasance
I thank you for your time.
nick-e melvilleis an experimental poet and artist working in found, visual and conceptual poetics. he has had several publications in various media over the last four years, including: ALERT STATE IS HEIGHTENED (sadpress 2014); me (p.ow. series, 2014) junk mail (if p then q, 2014) and selections and dissections (otoliths, 2010). DOLE (Interview Room 11, Nov 2013) was his first solo exhibition: a conceptual examination of the detritus left behind by Social Security. He teaches creative writing for OLL at Edinburgh, among other places, and was Writer (not) in Residence at HMP Edinburgh, 2010-2011. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing/English Literature at the University of Glasgow, working on a project called The Imperative Commands.
complaint live at Rich Mix, London
———-
Commiserate is a monthly experiment in poetic collaboration.
Inspired by SJ Fowler ‘Camarade’ project which pairs poets together to create new work, I’ve stolen the notion and begun to collaborate with friends and writers of interest. You can read about the project and see 2013’s poems here.
Auld Enemies was a very special project. Our friend Ross Sutherland has documented the entire experience, and you can watch the 35 minute documentary right here, or head to SJ Fowler’s YouTube channel for all the individual collaborations. Many thanks to everyone involved, please enjoy.
The Enemies project: Auld Enemies was a transnational poetry collaboration where six poets worked in rolling paired to produce original works for readings across the breadth of Scotland and where in each event also featured numerous pairs of writers from the region, who also presented brand new poetry collaborations. Beginning on July 9th and finishing on July 27th, the project visited Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Lerwick and Kirkwall, before a wrapping up in London. Auld Enemies was a groundbreaking exploration of contemporary Scottish poetics through the potential of collaboration. Supported by Creative Scotland
During the tour, Ross Sutherland documented the project in this extraordinary documentary.
Very excited to be working with SJ Fowler once again as part of the Auld Enemies Scottish tour! We’ll be heading all over the country, from Dundee to Kirkwall, it’s going to be an amazing adventure.
July 9th – Dundee – 6pm
Duncan of Jordanstone (studio & foyer space ) University Of Dundee, Perth Rd, Dundee DD1 4HT (with thanks to Peggy Hughes)
Billy Letford & nick-e melville / Ryan Van Winkle & SJ Fowler / Colin Herd & Ross Sutherland
plus AZ Jackson & Lindsay MacGregor / James Stewart & Dawn Wood / Richard Watt & more
July 10th – Glasgow – 8pm
McChulls, 40 High Street (with thanks to Henry Bell)
Ross Sutherland & Ryan Van Winkle / Billy Letford & Colin Herd / nick-e melville & SJ Fowler
plus Thomas Betteridge & Neil Davidson / Katy Hastie, Antony Autumn, Iyad Hayatleh & more
July 11th – Edinburgh – 7pm
Summerhall — Demonstration Room. 1 Summerhall EH9 1PL (with thanks to Jen White)
Colin Herd & Iain Morrison / Billy Letford & Ryan Van Winkle / SJ Fowler & Ross Sutherland
nick-e melville & Jane Goldman / Dave Coates & Rachel McCrum / JL Williams & Elspeth Murray / Luke Allan & Graeme Smith / Karen Veitch & Mike Saunders / Ed Smith & Thomas MacColl / Rob McKenzie & more
July 12th – Aberdeen 7pm Cellar 35, 35 Rosemount Viaduct (with thanks to Gerard Rochford & Richie Brown)
Billy Letford & SJ Fowler / Ryan Van Winkle & Colin Herd / Ross Sutherland & nicke melville
Gerard Rochford & Richie Brown / Maureen Ross & Catriona Macleod / & more
July 14th – Lerwick, The Shetland Islands- 7pm Mareel Arts Centre. ZE1 0WQ (with thanks to Donald Anderson)
Ross Sutherland & nick-e melville / Colin Herd & SJ Fowler / Ryan Van Winkle
Nat Hall & James Sinclair / Donald Murray / Laurajayne Friedlander & more
July 17th – Kirkwall, The Orkney Islands – 7pm Kirkwall Library, 44 Junction Rd, Highlands and Islands, Kirkwall KW15 1AG (with thanks to Pam Beasant)
Ross Sutherland & SJ Fowler / Colin Herd & nick-e melville
Rosemary Merriman, Sylvia Hays, Rosie Alexander, Lydia Harris, Pam Beasant & more
July 26th – London – 7pm The Rich Mix Arts Centre
Ross Sutherland / nick-e melville / Colin Herd / Ryan Van Winkle / SJ Fowler
Emily Berry & John Clegg / Tom Chivers & Roddy Lumsden
Nick Murray & Eley Williams / Vahni Capildeo & Jeremy Noel-Tod
Kirsty Irving & Harry Man / Daisy Lafarge & more
Auld Enemies is a transnational poetry collaboration where six poets will work in rolling pairs to produce original work for readings across the length and breadth of Scotland. Auld Enemies is a groundbreaking exploration of contemporary Scottish poetics through the potential of collaboration.
Auld Enemies will commence with a six date tour of Scotland, taking in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Lerwick in the Shetlands and finishing with Kirkwall in the Orkneys. It will conclude with an event in London, at the Rich Mix Arts Centre, on July 26th, which will feature many of the new works from the tour, new collaborations and a documentary screening about Auld Enemies.
Auld Enemies is fundamentally about the creation of new collaborative works and the integration of differing poetic communities, and has only been possible through the generosity of a series of organisational partners, first and foremost Creative Scotland, but also the Scottish Poetry Library, Literary Dundee, Summerhall, Shetland Arts, the Orkney Islands Council and Northlink Ferries.
Please find below the schedule and the poet’s involved, and if possible, do spread the word, and attend all and any of the events you can. ALL EVENTS ARE FREE
On Sunday 30 October, 6pm til late, The Golden Hour presents … BONE DIGGER, in which we don our masks & give ourselves a fright.
Really excited to be bringing you a new Edinburgh artists’ collective, Far Yella, and our first event at Leith Dockers Club, 17 Academy Street, at 7pm on Sunday 24 April. It’s going to be an amazing evening, it’s just £5 for an array for incredible words and music, and I hope to see you there.
Really chuffed to be reading at Second Space with a whole host of great poets and performers. It’s on next Friday 7 August, 8-10pm at the Safari Lounge, 21 Cadzow Place, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh. Should be an awesome night, hope to see you there.
A collaborative piece between 
Very pleased to announce that a collaborative piece with Ragland will be included in the 
Very excited to be working with SJ Fowler once again as part of the Auld Enemies Scottish tour! We’ll be heading all over the country, from Dundee to Kirkwall, it’s going to be an amazing adventure.
