groningen delegation with keith armstrong in newcastle 27/9/2008

back in groningen!

my tuebingen

at st mary's lighthouse, whitley bay

groningen twinning!

BROWNS GO DUTCH

Twinning is fun! What would we do without it
After all’s said and done? Let me tell you all about it:
We started back in ninety-two
With Julia and you know who;
With readings, talks and workshops too,
They made it run.

We’ve twinned together now for fifteen years,
And it don’t seem a day too much;
When the Jinglin’ Geordie hits the Huis de Beurs,
Then the Newcastle Browns go Dutch;
When the Jinglin’ Geordie hits the Huis de Beurs,
Then the Newcastle Browns go Dutch.

Years came and went; We had folksingers and pipers;
They would glide back and forth like a pair of windscreen wipers:
We’d drink and talk right through the night
And often argue black was white
(On Shearer’s shirt) till morning light
The birdsong sent.

[CHORUS]

But Keith was the one: the mover and the shaker;
With his ear for a pun, he’s a proper ballad maker:
As Naked Betty’s shame he hides
With poems “found” in City Guides,
His Flying Pigs will split your sides
Till tears start to run.

[CHORUS]

Now fifteen years have passed, but the link-up must continue;
We have not seen the last of the twinning’s bone and sinew;
We’ll fix up visits more and more –
Five years will celebrate the score –
Let’s drink a toast and raise a roar:
“Long may it last!”

[CHORUS]






Allan Wilcox

bolton images - ye olde man & scythe, the flying flute, arkwright's barber's shop on churchgate

Previous names for the Flying Flute have been the Fleece Hotel, Gaiety, Maxims, and Tiger Feet.

Richard Arkwright had a barber's shop in Churchgate before he moved to London and invented his Water Frame. He was married to Patience Holt in St Peter's on March 31st 1755. The plaque above the newsagent reads: Sir Richard Arkwright inventor of the water frame for cotton spinning occupied a shop on this site as a barber and peruke maker from 1760 to 1768. Arkwright used to travel as a peruke (wig) maker to collect hair and, during one such expedition, he met with Kay, a clockmaker, when he got interested in cotton machinery. Using water, he created a yarn known as water twist.

groningen visitors

Just to remind you that there will be an event with a Groningen poetry delegation from Newcastle's twin city (listed below) at the Ouseburn Boat House (owned by Newcastle City Council), Spillers Quay, Newcastle (near the Tyne pub) 18.00 to 20.00 on Saturday 27th September - admission free. There will be local poets including Keith Armstrong, Paul Summers, Ellen Phethean and Catherine Graham, and folk music, including shanties from the Ancient Mariners and a Northumbrian Piper.



Rense Sinkgraven
Anneke Claus
Tjitse Hofman
Ronald Ohlsen
Emiel Matulewicz
Willem Groenewegen.

armstrong in cumbria

PIGGYBACK

My father took me piggyback
to the people’s game.
I felt the surge of the Gallowgate end
beneath me
like the sea roaring
off Tynemouth.
I sensed the solidarity
of those football-mad days
and my little heart
swelled with a Magpie pride.
Black and white love
came to me early,
inherited down life’s straining seasons.
The throbbing crowd
lifted me
over tough shoulders,
the passion
surging with me
to the front
where I could share
the yearning dreams
for just a little glory.
Those terraces lit up,
made the blue star glow.
We young and thirsty Geordies
learnt quickly
to get drunk
on the back
of flowing football.







KEITH ARMSTRONG

armstrong at vigeland sculpture park, oslo

you passed this way

you passed this way
and in that second
my eyes kissed you
and the clouds loomed
over the cultural capital of oslo
opened
and pissed on a bureaucrat
until the sun grew
and made us smile
and made you hot
for me





keith armstrong

castle solitude

Castle Solitude (also known as Solitude Palace), was built as a hunting lodge between 1764 and 1769 under Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. It is not a true castle, but rather a rococo palace. Since 1956 the area has belonged to the urban district of Stuttgart-West. The castle lies on a high plain between the towns of Leonberg, Gerlingen and Stuttgart city. The castle offers views to the north over Weilimdorf, Korntal and Ludwigsburg.


Schloss Solitude was originally designed to act as a refugium, a place of quiet, reflection and solitude (thus the name). Construction of the castle was plagued by political and financial difficulties. Karl Eugen had taken Württemberg into the Seven Years' War on the losing side against Prussia. The building exceeded the budget allocated by the duchy of Württemberg. Further, political wrangling between the duke and influential Stuttgart land barons led to the duke moving temporarily from Stuttgart to Ludwigsburg. In the long run, the castle was prohibitively expensive to keep just as a temporary residence. In 1770 it housed a high school founded by Duke Eugen. In 1775, the Karlsschule academy moved to Castle Solitude. It served as an academy of arts, a military academy, and later a general university for children of the elite. Eventually, maintenance costs led to its closure as a school after the Duke's death late in the 18th century. Between 1972 and 1983, the Federal Republic of Germany restored the castle.

Since 1990, the annexed buildings (Officen-building and Kavaliers-building) have housed the 'Castle Solitude' academy. The Kavaliers building incorporates living quarters for students.


Castle Solitude was designed by a working group at the ducal court under the guidance of Philippe de La Guêpière with active input from Duke Karl Eugen and master craftsmen. Its exterior is typical Rococo. On the inside, however, the style is characteristic of classicism: instead of the irregular lively forms typical of Rococo, the proportions of the rooms and wall are typically classical in design.


Solitude avenue

The northern main gate of the castle marks the beginning of Solitudeallee, a partially tree-lined straight avenue leads directly to Ludwigsburg over 13 km. Duke Karl-Eugen commissioned the building of the avenue from 1764 to 1768 as a connecting route to the residence palace in Ludwigsburg. The avenue, which is is still largely intact today, leads via Stuttgart-Weilimdorf past Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Stuttgart-Stammheim. Only in Weilimdorf, where it intersects the main street, and in Ludwigsburg, where it is interrupted by the railway, are there minor irregularities. According to a plaque inside the castle, the avenue served as the baseline for the Württemberg land survey of 1820 and measures exactly 40,118.718 Paris feet or 13,032.14 meters.


Race track

After 1903 Castle Solitude was the finishing point of hill races. In later years, the grounds of the castle served as a hostel for drivers. From 1935 to 1965, the 11.3 kilometers Solituderennen course south of the castle was used for World Championship motorcycle Grand Prix racing. From 1961 to 1965, a series of non-championship Formula 1 races were also held on the same weekends, welcoming drivers such as John Surtees, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham. In their heyday, the Solitude races attracted crowds of 288,000 spectators, but they were abandoned in 1966.

In 2003, a revival competition was staged in and around the castle with former competitors and ex-world champions such as Giacomo Agostini. A rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of races was held in 2004.



The area of Castle Solitude belonged to Gerlingen until the 31st of March 1942, at which point it was assigned to the suburb of Botnang before being integrated into the district of Stuttgart-West in 1956.

back in iceland

jingling in france - proyart

jingling in france - amiens - twinned with durham

jingling in france - halluin - twinned with north tyneside

jingling in france - ivry sur seine - twinned with wear valley

armstrong at delphi

dangerous to be sober in groningen

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too many sissy-boys
on the loose
city poets
sweeping the streets
for verse
girls sticking their fingers
in my irish coffee
blobs of cream
on their lips

dangerous
to be sober in hotel de doelen
too much history
in the bathrooms
nazi tanks
rolling over it
or worse
supporters of f.c. groningen
in my face
teeth rattling with chants
from young throats

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too many doors revolving
in my eyes
undergound activists
digging up euros
for liquorice suppers
rights campaigners
stinking of fish
yesterday’s papers
under their feet

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too much to lose
too many egos
in the wind
guitarists shouting off
their helpless lyrics
whores
in the red windows
showing me their wares
when i’m drunk

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too much sleet
up your nose
pancake ships
sinking at night
in a sea of black moths
short skirts
troubling my fantasies
bottles in my mouth
and thirsty heart

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too many clocks looking down
on my words
the infernal ticking
of lost days
down the drain
the rain slashing
the cobbles of time
outliving my skin
and drenched soul

dangerous
to be sober in groningen
too much warmth
in cafe marleen
the beckoning stools
of intoxicated moments
swirling by
the chatter of pigeons
gobbling up seconds
nibbling in my head
and my hungover poems

dangerous
to be sober in groningen

dangerous
to be sober in groningen




KEITH ARMSTRONG