Performance poets in action

Comedic poet Mark Gwynne Jones had the audience in stitches when he performed in front of an appreciative crowd in Southwell Library on Friday night.

The wordsmith was one of many taking part in Southwell Poetry Festival and he went down a storm.

Changing his voice to suit the poems in his unique sing-song style, he talked about blades of grass, falling in love with an orange girl and his home town of Matlock Bath.

The poems were thoroughly entertaining, and some used video footage.

He paid homage to the man who had inspired him — the late poet Andy Postman — and his friend John Beano Thorne, who played drums in Psychicbread who died last year — DAB.

It was Take Two on Saturday afternoon, as local poets Fiona Theokritoff and Jane Wyles read a selection of their pieces alongside work by poets who inspire them.

At the beginning of the session, the audience was asked to write five words about a piece of fruit they chose from a basket.

Half way through, Jane and Fiona used these words as the starting point for some off-the-cuff poetry, although some audience members had written their own short poems.

After much laughter at some fruity language, everyone focused for the equally enjoyable rest of the session — FT.