Pecking Disorder

The pigeons in all their darkness
Swooped like a banner to the city’s heart.
Pecking, walking, bobbing
Around the monuments of dulling glory.
Crowds stole space
Individuals stole even more space
Grey, white, brown, no space.
Swarms of hungry noisy birds
Just like me yet not like me at all.
Rob Smith picked about
Across the sea of feathers
Pinched and dived at the nearest breasts.
Some flew, fought, strutted, hurt
One scrap fell on another.
Dominoes of violence crashed, withdrew.
A ginger tom ran at us
And we breathed into the air.

Christopher Barnes: In 1998 Christopher Barnes won a Northern Arts writers award. In July 200 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 his poems. Each year he read for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival. 2005 saw the publication of his collection LOVEBITES published by Chanticleer Press, 6/1 Jamaica Mews, Edinburgh.

In August 2003 he read at the Edinburgh Festival as a Per Verse poet at LGBT Centre, Broughton St. He also has a BBC webpage BBC Web Site and Video Nation Site

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. The film is going into an archive at The Discovery Museum in Newcastle and 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 before touring the country and it is expected to go abroad, funded by The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute, Bioscience 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.

The South Bank Centre in London recorded his poem "The Holiday I Never Had"; he can be heard reading it on Poetry Magazines web Site

REVIEWS: He has written poetry reviews for Poetry Scotland and Jacket Magazine and in August 2007 he made a film called 'A Blank Screen, 60 seconds, 1 shot' for Queerbeats Festival at The Star & Shadow Cinema Newcastle, reviewing a poem...see Queer Beats Festival

Email: Christopher Barnes

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