fisharepeopletoo

Chatter, chatter, chatter, Noise, noise, noise. Fashion, fashion, fashion, Boys, boys, boys.

Battersea Girls.
Chatter, chatter, chatter,
Noise, noise, noise.
Fashion, fashion, fashion,
Boys, boys, boys.

*

ON THE BUS
A baby screams with every breath:
a woman phone-talks with all her breath.
Are these events connected?
She ends, the baby stops.
Seems so.

*

wedding party at the Masons Arms
many a boxer among them,
the tell-tale ears
part of their charms.

*

Summer in battersea park
picnics and cricket
and two names in bark.

*

House creaks under foot.
Love, between the Commons,
makes home sing beneath toes.

*

The Thames at Battersea
sucked back from its muddy grey gums,
revealing splintered canines of rotting timber,
crumbling stone molars,
chewed up refuse

*

TIDAL THAMES
Parsimonious rook
Strolls
Head down
Folding wings
Turning flotsam
Seeking juicy gems
Leaving no stone
Unturned

*

A crow killed a baby pigeon
on Latchmere Rd,
I looked away- am not a fan
of natures frankly brutal code -
such savagery on Latchmere Rd

*

Elspeth Road
The sign forbids feeding pigeons.
The pecking birds her only friend;
how to stop when every day
her loneliness deepens.

*

Take-Aways on Battersea Rise after midnight,
and conversation
no matter how trite,
is a ritual of friendship remembered

*

No working class on Northcote rd,
we can cook and clean and empty a bin,
but the street has long been cleansed of our kin.

*

White chimneys of industrial temple - a reminder of the old, vanquished gods.

Isambard Kingdom MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #IGFEST09

For 36 pence a click.

If you live in London, go on Facebook and are a writer...

look out for our Battersea Poems ad, it's aimed at you, for 36p a click.

Comedy Buzzwordology or A Shred of Something Meaningful by Accident?

I used "hyperlocal poetry" as a joke at first.

But when I look at the Battersea Poems page on Thumbprint, I wonder if even though it sounds crap, it does describe something real.

What the Battersea Poems writers are doing, collectively but anonymously, is making a shared meaning for Battersea as they understand it.

A process that anyone can contribute to who has a mobile phone.

Despite the marvellous technology behind it, this is and should be a folk process.

Naming the subject and archive of this process after Battersea adds a real and graspable layer of meaning.

Blot Out the Artists!

I had a smashing time at the Hide and Seek Weekender.

The Magical Monstervision Machine Mk2 and Spotter's Guide got a very positive response from families and children, and there were some unexpected insights.

The Fluffy Orange Pencil Case brought many monsters to life.

But most of all, having lots of children running around made the always unselfconscious and enthusiastic Sandpit atmosphere into one of the warmest and most enjoyable events I've been involved in.

Big thanks yous to the Cell of Inventors for the Monstervision Machine, Holly, Alex and Rosie for the invitation to such a fantastic event and Aoife for helping out on the day so ably.

MacDonaldsville and Starbucksia (and Tallstoria, Nolandia, and Aircastle)

It really really really does depend who is talking and who is listening.

The Birthday of Mixed Reality Moment

If there is now a corner of our head space that is laid out by being connected to everyone, anywhere, all the time, then it has a birthday.

In the UK it's the period between 1998 and 2001, by the end of which it felt annoying to have to make arrangements with someone who didn't have a mobile phone, even for people like me who had only just got a mobile phone themselves!

(Not having one now seems like a quaint if mannered fashion choice.)

In Finland and Japan the birthday is earlier? In America later? In Africa still to come?

And the closest comparison?

Mass literacy?

That is over stating it (though maybe not in Africa, for economic reasons) and it's not quite a direct comparison.

But being able to read is a head space.

Novels and newspapers were made to go in it. As were train timetables.

If there is a mixed reality head space, what goes in it?

Where Does Alicious Likkerish Live?

She lives at  N 51 30.397 W 000 07.035 that's where!

So beware!

ThumbBrum

Thumbprint Birmingham is now up and running thanks to a request from the emergent gamers of Barg 

Manchester, London and Birmingham at the moment.

A constellation of cities feels right somehow, especially if we could devolve enough power down to each city for them all to be different while sharing the best innovations from each among them all.

But that's a long way in the future, depending on whether Thumbprint turns out to be meaningful and valuable.

Nice to have Barg involved now though - "this is not an acronym" - what other slogan could anyone ever need!

Coming to a Festival of Social Games and Playful Experiences Near You this Summer

The Monstervision Mk2 Machine in action. The proximity reader in the bottom left hand corner is a lot of fun. Cold, getting warm, and hot readings, which is very nice and child-like.

The game will be made up of a spotters guide on paper, with picture clues to find the lair of the monsters, and questions to test participants' powers of observation when they spot the monster lurking there using the Monstervision Machine.

And questions to test their  "scientific theorising and advanced monsterology skills", for example: "What would be this monster's best friend and why?"

Treasure will be awarded for each correct answer recorded on the spotters guide, and based on a very scientific study at Sandpit 13 the most coveted treasure is Cadbury's Chocolate Eclairs (I thought it would be pic n mix cola bottles, but I got to eat all of those!).

And the nicest part of all is that the 6 monsters for Hide and Seek were specially created to be part of the game by people at Sandpit 13 at the end of last month, using the fluffy orange pencil case.