www.colinmcguirepoet.co.uk

Dear Reader,

It has been a long time since I have posted on here. Needless to say, life took over. Now I have new website to replace this blog. I will keep this blog up for people to read the poems and stories I have on here but everything now going on in my life involving poetry, performance and writing will be at www.colinmcguirepoet.co.uk/

Goodbye blogger - it's been emotional, it's been language bound, since 2006 to 2015 - 10 glorious years of poetry, spelling mistakes, syntactic errors, grammar howlers and much else besides - the word, the play, the character and the observation.

Thanks to everyone who has ever read or commented or contributed.

See you on the website.

As I sit quietly, I begin to smell burning.

McGuire's full collection is finally out. Buy it. Read it. Dose it in petrol and set it on fire.
'As I sit quietly, I begin to smell burning' is a wild mixture of poetry and short stories. In the spirit of verging on discovering catastrophe. 'As I sit quietly, I begin to smell burning' display's McGuire's tendency toward the confessional, the social-realistic and absurd. McGuire has a voice that is frank and direct. McGuire write about childhood, private life, as well as Scottish life, as well as confronting issues of perversion, identity, masculinity and addiction.

8 pounds - packed with fire. 

Thanks to Red Squirrel Press for the opportunity! Purchase at RSP website or from InPress

As I sit quietly I begin to smell poetry...

All Quiet on the McGuire front.

Things are about to get a bit noisier. At least for the summer. The new collection is out. It includes stories and poetry. It is a much darker edifice than 'Everybody lie down and no one gets hurt.' The subjects differ wildly - Scotland, Scottishness, Masculinity, Sexuality, Madness, Fruit and Vege, Pornography and a lot more. Originally I thought this collection was all about SECRECY but after much editing and wrestling with subject matter I can say this collection is much more concerned with Scotland,-Identity-Sexuality-Madness. Secrecy has its place, indeed, it is the unwitting master behind most of this book, but Secrecy is not so prevalent and I ditched the original title 'The Secret Service' for something a bit longer (in the same spirit as 'Everybody lie down and no one gets hurt.') Which will be revealed in a matter of weeks.

Summer should be wild. Talking Heids has an LGBT night every week in August at Sofi's Bar. There will be a host of shows, poetry readings from many of the poets of Scotland, U.K. and abroad during the Festival, the Fringe and the Free Fringe.

There will be BBC Slam which is sure to be intense and new powerhouses of poetic performance dominate the scenery - Loud Poets and Sam Small, to name only a few!

So keep yours bra on, your boxer's clean, because we are about to pick up speed and rant at the wind!

Don't forget you can still order copies of 'Everybody lie down and no one gets hurt.'

Tis for you alone this gift for all.

:)X

Shoe Gazing

Shoe Gaze

My shoes tell me who I am.

All Day I Dream About Self.

Too blue, blaring eyesore.

A too large tongue stuck out.

Tied tightly with a final knot.

Walks over everyone. Stood on. 

Tramples everything. Trampled on.

Treads softly on temporary ground.

The last vestige of the ghost of purpose.

Legs peddling endlessly until almost worn

down to the sole, until only the shoes remain,
like stumps of axed Wonder boom or Cedars of God.

LGBT History Month & Gay Marriage Legal in Scotland!

What a day! Gay Marriage is now legal in Scotland. AMAZING, for those gay couples who wish to marry. Now they can come to the table of Marriage and share in its riches.

Incidentally, I was also commissioned to write poem for LGBT History Month! Here is the link! Thanks to the wonderful people at LGBT Scotland! They are amazing people, not least for commissioning me, ha, but also for being encouraging and engaging in the creation of the poem.

Click the LGBT Scotland link to read the poem.

What a day! Marriage is a strange concept. I usually associate it with Religion but in reality it is a practical matter, or even a matter of love (God forbid, ha), a matter of mutual care and share between to human beings being human. in this temporary earth, being together as best we can, in a loving pact, is hard to deny!

'Be gay be gay because today's today!' - e.e. cummings.

'Affection will solve the troubles of freedom yet' - walt whitman.

'Cohabitation has been corrupted, by marriage.' - Nietzsche.

'Love is an unspeakable thing, don't tell anyone about it,  just get married.' - McGuire.

Will you marry me? X

Everybody lie down and no one gets hurt. + Talking Heids.

Everybody Lie Down and No One Gets Hurt

Artwork by Kirsty Whiten

The launch has passed. It was a small success. Thank to Sofi's Bar for being a warm, homely little place for poetic intimacies, and ranting. Thanks to Red Squirrel Press, Sheila Wakefield, in particular, who brought the pamphlet to completion, while I wondered about how much profit I would make. (Delusions of poetry selling) :P

Now the book is out there in the world (well, about 30 copies, to be fair) and I am now able to sell the book. You can buy it from this blog! Simply click on the button - remember to select the right option i.e. number 2: Everybody lie down and no one gets hurt. I will then post it out.

The pamphlet should be available to buy from Red squirrel Press and on Amazon in the near future.

There will be readings to follow. A launch in Glasgow too. Hopefully, Govanhill Baths.

Now the little book is out there, it seems so fragile, a little book of sleep that, quite frankly, could easily be interrupted in its light, poetic, doze. If a gentle little word or two is needed, this pamphlet might be for you.

The Art work is by Edinburgh based Artist  Kirsty Whiten (Technically Fife) who I really liked for her mix of brilliant, life affirming colour, with dark imagery and surrealist depictions. Beautifully warped in their vividness.

Cost 5 pounds (including postage)!

Talking Heids

McGuire has started a Poetry night at Sofi's Bar, last Tuesday of every month, generally. Featuring two established poets, music, humour and an informal Open Mike, some light music in the background and a generous and warm venue, that is, Sofi's.

If you want to know more about the night, who is reading, what events are coming in the future, join us on Talking Heids, face broker page: Talking Heids.

There is a reading on the 17th of December, with Kirsten Norrie, who will read some poems and play music, and a yet unconfirmed male poet will join her for our last Talking Heids of the New Year.

Talking Heids will also be part of LGBT History Month in February. More on in the New Year!  


*Don't forget to buy the pamphlet. :P 

Of sleep and waking up.

Sleep is coming.

The pamphlet is due for launch on the 3rd of December 2013. Venue yet to be confirmed. It will be in Edinburgh, that's for sure, with a possible launch in Glasgow following later or in the New Year.

The pamphlet is being published by Red Squirrel Press, thanks to the industrious and hard-working, Sheila Wakefield.

The book is loosely wrapped in a duvet of ideas surrounding sleep, sleeplessness and the great wide awake!

It has been a labour of love, insomnia, mindfulness and addiction.

More details to follow, so get your pyjamas on, or get out of bed, turn the lights out, or stretch up your arms into the cold reach of the real world.

Sleep is coming and it's shattered.
Many people have fallen awake.
Bed has come in the night to help you grow.
Pillow like a placenta has come to nurture your soft neck.

Watch out for podcast next week at Scottish Poetry Library.

Love in the vaguest sense
of its invisibility,
McGuire.

:)