Hello there. As our encyclopaedia project approaches the final issues, we’ve put together a downloadable little Sampler – or pick it up from various places in Kent if you want to see it the way it was intended, all folded up and pocket-sized.
The next issue should be out… soon.
ME4's Sampler
Last chance to write a poem about your town
Your poem could win you £1,000 in the Local Poem Competition.
It’s free to enter thisannual competition and it’s open to all UK residents, young or old. All you have to do is send up to three poems about life in your own home town or area to “Local Poem”, United Press Ltd, Admail 3735, London, EC1B 1JB orvisit the website www.unitedpress.co.uk and enter online, or call 0844 800 9177.
The best poem will win £1,000 cash and you can send up to three entries, which must be no more than 25 lines and 160 words each.
“The competition is designed to encourage more people to get involved in writing poetry. Your entry can be about something or someone from your home area,” explained a United Press spokesman. “We find that poems written from personal observation and experience are the most heartfelt and expressive, so we’re expecting some great entries.”
Last year’s winner was Pamela Griffiths from Sheffield and previous winners came from Bristol, Oxford, Stafford and Rotherham. Previous winning poems have been about village life, a river, a tower, a country walk and local history.
The closing date is December 31st 2011.
Podcast #3
And the cackling of the Medway crones commenced anew… And the thunder cracked and the lightning fizzled… And the third Short n Nasties podcast was born.
Download Short n Nasties 3 - the PDF booklet that accompanies the podcast.
Download Podcast 3 for your listening pleasure.
Short n Nasties #2
Welcome… (imagine this whispered in your ear by Vincent Price). In this week’s ME4 Writers presents podcast we are showcasing spooky stories by Liz Canning, Barry Fentiman and Clive Radford.
‘Sometimes, when the wind is right you can smell the rot seeping through the cracks in the ground. Down New Road or close to the river, where the crust is thin and the occasional tentacle breaches the surface. We keep it quiet, don’t like to talk about it, but no matter how they patch it up, we all know it will eventually devour us all. In the meantime it’s best to get on with it, forget those troublesome headaches and nasty nosebleeds, it’s normal, isn’t it?’
You can download the magazine of Short n Nasties 2 here.
You can download the podcast here.
Angel by Nikki Price
We have had a great response to the Short n Nasties project. The horrors of Medway have clearly piqued your interest. Ten short stories are being made into 3 podcasts and a little brochure being made as well. We have psychological, scary monsters, apocalyptic and whimsical. You can hear a preview of some of the stories at the Medway Broadside’s Horrorshow on 29 October at the Barge, Layfield Road, Gillingham, from 8pm, and once the podcasts are available – you will be able to find them on this site.
Listen to the podcast.
Or you can read the stories in a printable magazine, (podcastv21.)
We have had some submissions for our Letters Home project – but we are hoping to get some project funding to do something a little bit exciting in the new year, so in the meantime we are extending the deadline for your letter to the end of December.
The brief: Write a letter to the place you call home / are from / think of as home. Decorate it if you like – we are hoping to use these in an exhibition.
Send your Letter Home to ME4Writers@gmail.com by 25 December!
On 6 October, National Poetry Day, ME4 Writers played a game called Poetrymon.
After creating about 50 poetry postcards, using all our cutting, glittering and pasting skills, we set out with the intention of infusing Medway with poetry!
Barry Fentiman, Sam Hall, Roy Smith and Tara Moyle provided the poems. Sam, Barry, Tara and Gemma Quinnell provided the foot power.
We have done lots of live literature events and we wanted to get a bit more immersive. Poetrymon was our second game – previously we had made an Audio Walk (written by Roy Smith) as part of our ‘Seventh Traveller’ project – a series of writings and events inspired by a short story by Dickens.
Poetrymon is a treasure hunt game played around the Medway towns. The prizes are the poem cards themselves – which in themselves are works of art (we hope!) – though the first ten people to email us with a picture of themselves holding a card will also get an ME4 Writers badge.
Poetry postcard
Cryptic clues were placed on the website throughout the day as several of the writers hid the poems – some in plain sight! We also documented the day in a video film which you can see here.
We walked miles and our feet were aching the day after, but we hope our game made people smile and maybe inspired them to read a poem or even write some poetry for National Poetry Day! (We were very chuffed to receive a message from the Captain of LV21 who found our card! Ships ahoy!)
If you have been lucky enough to find a National Poetry Day Poetrymon card and would like to find out more about the author – you can find out on our Meet the Writers page – where a cunning colour coding system is in place!
Poetrymon cards
A visual clue!
Lots of our cards have gone, but you can still find some of the more well-hidden ones. Here are some visual clues. (Poetrymon clues.pdf)
You can find poetry in cracks in the wall and under rocks, in nooks and crannies, slipped behind posters, wherever there was a gap that needed filling with a poem.
The ‘making of’ Poetrymon video is coming soon!
Hey Poetrymon players – our feet are sore, we have stopped off in a Kent Hostelry for a drink, but we have put our one-off poetry postcards in more than 30 places for you to find. Good luck! We hope you find them – they should be fairly waterproof as they are in plastic bags.
Here are some clues – we will be posting a gallery of where they are if you find the clues a bit cryptic and a film documenting the day.
13) Opposite the Island, having a beer. Check the menu. Meanwhile outside, this one’s well stoned.
14) You cannot sit outside The Real China.
15) There’s (an)other cinema here.
16) At the foot of the mast your voice will chime.
17) Down the docks – this has nothing to loose but its chains.
18) In the Rochester home of the borrowers.
19) Not Charles Dickens’ garden – but not that you’d know it!
20) In the cathedral, surounded by WOW!
21) Behind bars for going up a Pilgrim’s Passage!
22) Top cat in a tree.
23) Go to the castle, stand back and light the fuse, and this one will end up in Strood!
24) Definitely not the tradesman’s entrance to the Castle.
25) Have a nice sit down under the arches.
26) Celestial therapy in Rochester High Street.
27) In Dickens’ cat’s house.
28) This monk is bulletproof, but not immune to woodworm.
29) The name of the pub depends on what side of the river you’re on.
30) Where somnambulist troopers advance to meet the 7.08 to Cannon Street. (Chatham)
31) Your oats are nice and toasty, near the station.
