JINGLE ON MY SON!

JINGLE ON MY SON!
A doughty champion of his local culture.(Poet Tom Hubbard)Your performance at the city hall was soooooooooo good! Christoph thought it was excellent! (Carolyn)

23.5.12

TIDELINE



We are breathers of water
take sea air
We waltz in breezes
dream of waves
We break voices on shores
sink in the deep
We swim with sea horses
drink the ocean
We are poets of surf
skim on tides
We are dancers in sand 
dip toes in sun
We soak poems in North Sea
rock with the roll of it
We are fishes flying
scream with seagulls
We walk on coral streets
awash with words
We are sharks at the seaside
laugh with dolphins
We hear echoes of foghorns
lonely in dunes
We are singers of shanties
roar with ships                                



KEITH ARMSTRONG

18.5.12

ROOKS AT BUNRATTY CASTLE



























We’re Macnamara’s crows,
rooting for sticks and twigs in Limerick days.
We peck the flesh from Lord Gort’s arse,
from the hangers-on to his rich pickings.
We sweep our turbulent wings across the Shannon,
swimming in the Atlantic winds,
flailing over the airport.
We’re building our own
branches of castles,
screaming rebel rants at you below.
Us rooks
have seen the Vikings and the Stoddarts
rave and die.
We are a black brood
swarming though history,
watching you feckless humans
scrap over misery.
See how our wings beat
with the moment’s surf.
How dark our hearts grow 
with suffering.



Keith Armstrong

15.5.12

SONGBIRD



If I had been a really professional poet,
I would be still rewriting this,
poring over the umpteenth draft,
burning the midnight quill.

As it is, all I want to say again is this:
that a songbird does not need an Arts Council grant
to sing.



Keith Armstrong

14.5.12

I WANT MY POEMS IN A BIG PRESS



So you’re in print with a small press
a little press for a short arse
Well I want my poems in a big press
a large press with big breasts
with poems that talk to the world
with spirit in every word




KEITH ARMSTRONG 

3.5.12

MEN OF THE NORTH


Doctor Keith Armstrong presents:

‘Men of the North’ (part of Local History Month)
From poet John Cunningham to wood engraver Thomas Bewick, political agitator and poet Tom Spence, painter John Martin to writer Jack Common - their stories told by Dr Keith Armstrong aka The Jingling Geordie who also performs his own poems dedicated to this splendid array of local talent.

Thursday 17th May 2011  6.30-7.30pm 

Bewick Hall, Newcastle City Library



Admission free

Further information: tel 0191 2774149


the jingling geordie

My photo
whitley bay, tyne and wear, United Kingdom
poet and raconteur