Five Poems by Christopher Barnes

 

TOWNSCAPE 21

 

Submersed buttresses incline.

Vesicle budding uplifts moss.

Glazed tiles, daubed overlap.

The figurine looks away...

Where Pontus thrust a cranky lip.

 

TOWNSCAPE 22

 

Inky basalt groundwork.

Apoptosis disheartens metasequoia.

Ore rosettes at chute.

Party-gowned Sindy bobs in fishpond...

Where Proserpina flexed to shivers.

 

TOWNSCAPE 23

 

Listing eaves, dreary.

Encoded programs in scarlet sage, unstoppable.

Hotchpotch blocks, cracked terracotta.

Flea market quakes beneath rain...

Where Vertumnus ashened.

 

TOWNSCAPE 24

 

Embellishments hooded in slate.

Forsythia catalyses enzymes.

Diehard pretty-pretty rendering.

Seesaw pivot bolsters no weight…

Where Voltumna quivered with a squeak.

 

TOWNSCAPE 25

 

Modest folds at roof corners.

Intracellular reactions in calla lily.

Unwieldy pig-iron lattice.

Arcade’s laughing policeman, mute...

Where Thor screamed, ‘Have you seen her?’

 

In 1998 Christopher Barnes won a Northern Arts writers award. In July 2000 he read at Waterstones bookshop to promote the anthology 'Titles Are Bitches'. Christmas 2001 he debuted at Newcastle's famous Morden Tower doing a reading of poems. Each year he read for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival and partook in workshops. 2005 saw the publication of his collection LOVEBITES published by Chanticleer Press, 6/1 Jamaica Mews, Edinburgh.

On Saturday 16Th August 2003 he read at the Edinburgh Festival as a Per Verse.

Christmas 2001 The Northern Cultural Skills Partnership sponsored him to be mentored by Andy Croft in conjunction with New Writing North. He made a radio programme for Web FM community radio about his writing group. October-November 2005, he entered a poem/visual image into the art exhibition The Art Cafe Project, his piece Post-Mark was shown in Betty's Newcastle. This event was sponsored by Pride On The Tyne. He made a digital film with artists Kate Sweeney and Julie Ballands at a film making workshop called Out Of The Picture which was shown at the festival party for Proudwords, it contains his poem The Old Heave-Ho. He worked on a collaborative art and literature project called How Gay Are Your Genes, facilitated by Lisa Mathews (poet) which exhibited at The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, including a film piece by the artist Predrag Pajdic in which he read his poem On Brenkley St. The event was funded by The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute, Bio-science Centre at Newcastle's Centre for Life. He was involved in the Five Arts Cities poetry postcard event which exhibited at The Seven Stories children's literature building. In May he had 2006 a solo art/poetry exhibition at The People's Theatre.