This Saturday 6th July is Frida Kahlo's birthday and to celebrate it I will be giving an illustrated reading from What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo for a special event at the Voodoo Cafe in Darlington Poems after Frida, thanks to the hard work of Jo Colley who organised this event and raised funds for it through crowdsourcing. Tickets are £5.
Poems After Frida: A Celebration of the work of Frida Kahlo with acclaimed poet Pascale Petit and music from sound artist Michael Hann. The event takes place in Darlington's award winning Mexican restaurant and bar, Voodoo Cafe. Come and celebrate Frida Kahlo's birthday, with magical words and images, amazing sounds and a perfect Margarita.
The evening starts at 7.30pm, and is at Voodoo Café, 84 Skinnergate, Darlington, DL3 7LX. Other poets reading will include Kate Fox. In the second half I will read a preview from my next collection Fauverie due October 2014.
The photo above of Frida with her pet deer Granizo was taken by Nickolas Muray. Here is one of my poems after her painting The Little Deer:
The Little Deer
Little deer, I've stuffed all the world's diseases inside you.
Your veins are thorns
and the good cells are lost in the deep dark woods
of your organs.
As for your spine, those cirrus-thin vertebrae
evaporate when the sun comes out.
Little deer too delicate for daylight,
your coat of hailstones is an icepack on my fever.
Are you thirsty?
Rest your muzzle against the wardrobe mirror
and drink my reflection –
the room pools and rivers about us
but no one comes
to stop my bed from sliding down your throat.
The book is also available in the US edition from Black Lawrence Press.
Posts
