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Not really ablogger, but this desrves an entry....
Back from NY. Wow. We arrived the day that Central Station blew up – not sure if that made the news over here? A steam pipe exploded, and 12 people were injured, but until the cause was confirmed everyone was fleeing the area. We arrived in the city from JFK to grid-lock and umpteen police and army folk on every corner directing traffic! View of the skyline was fab tho…

We got to stay on 88th St West, on Manhattan island and a short walk from Central Park. It was amazing, if very hot. Two days of monsoon-like rain at the beginning and end of the week. Visited the Guggenhiem, the Met and MoMA (where I stood in the rain for 25 mins before they let us in. Unlike the other museums this one didn't open til 10.30 am, so I arrived too early...). All great spaces, but kinda of weird to see so much European stuff – especially at the Met which has Egyptian, Greek and Medieval Anglo-Saxon/ Viking collections, as well as Vermeers, Picassos, etc. There was a fab sculpture roof garden looking out over Central Park across pure cloud-like trees (no people or land in view)to the skyscrapers. Adapted to the sight of all the joggers, cyclists and joggers with baby-strollers... Out hotel was near Riverside Drive (the Hudson to the west), and there were also lots of very posh dogs being walked there each morning. Had I been brave I coudl have kayaked in the Hudson for free...

Visted the Woolworths tower but tourists aren’t allowed entry. Boo, hiss! Beautiful building tho. Completely get the ’new gothic’ business. That was my only trip 'down-town' except for our gig. Not so keen on the manic energy of the financial district, tho we did accidentally walk past Ground Zero whilst there. A friend of Emily's (fellow poet-traveller) had been working in an adjacent building when the first plane flew into the World Trade Centre. He'd walked out and headed home, but had walked past other people heading TOWARDS the Tower to see what was going on! Back home in the Bronx he and his wife could see the Twin Towers from their apartment window, but actually watched events unfolding on TV. He said it was incredibly surreal.

Our first gig at the Bowery was very empty – but it was the day after the Central Station explosion and a short-lived monsoon, so we weren’t surprised! It took us two hours to get there when it should have taken less than an hour, but we got stuck in traffic and waited in the wrong place for the (limited stop) bus. Me and Aileen opted fro subways thereafter, tho Emily tried to crack the bus system. We had a great meal after the gig at an Italian place.

Our second gig was out on Long Island at a place called Huntington (between Cold Spring Harbor and Amityville. Everywhere had such evocative names. Our train scooted thru the real Hicksville too). Long Island is a beautiful, beautiful place. George drove us for a short tour and we saw an osprey perched by the lake! as well as these fabulous mansion-like properties that were previously owned by slaver families. Like out of a movie - all wood and verandas and huge lawns... The first Black man to have a poetry book published lived there, Julian someone (he worked as a book-keeper to one of those families, and wrote religious verse). Walt Whitman was also born on Long Island apparently.

We read in a real barn with no windows, that had been rescued by the historical society from a local farm. They’d dismantled it, moved it, and then called in the Pennsylvanian Dutch (a community a bit like the Amish) who’d come down in horse-drawn buggies to do the ‘barn raising’ bit for them!…

There were 40 or so people in the audience that night, so it made up for the previous gig, and they loved us and were ever so friendly… But we didn’t stay for drinks cos by 10pm it felt like 2 am and we’d an hour-long train journey plus a short subway journey back to the hotel…

I'm still pretty tired. I did sleep on the plane coming back, but only for a few hours. They started bringing round teas and coffees at what was 7 am UK time, but 2am NY time! It was like being in hospital when you're desperate to sleep but the bloomin' medical trolleys keep trucking past... Arrived in Liverpool around 9 am UK time, yesterday... END OF NY COMMENTS Good news! I've been offered a place to do research on 'Poetry and Radio' at Lancaster University supervised by Paul Farley. Fingers now crossed for funding...

FREEDO0M, SLAVERY AND HOME
with Abi Idowu and Julian Jordan
Sunday 1st July
6.00pm at Artsmill, Linden Mill, Linden Road, Hebden Birdge #5.50

Three short solo sets plus an ensemble work 'Do you take sugar?' that considers how far attitudes may still reflect those of the slave trading families of Lancaster in the 18th century. Idowu is from Nigeria but currently lives in Bolton. She writes poetry, short stroies and plays. Jordan is co-founder of Bolton-based poetry organisation Write Out Loud and has written an award-winning film script, as well as poetry. The ensemble work was commissioned for radio by litfest and Lancaster Museums Services.

Cath was selected as one of five 'poets connected to Cumbria' for Watermark, the second issue of FLAX. Her connection is with the university where she took her first degree in 1991 and is now studying for an MA in Creative Writing. Cath’s selected poems are from the Woolworth’s sequence.

FLAX 002 is a free digital anthology and can be downloaded from the Lancaster Litfest site www.litfest.org It’s beautifully designed with photos of the poets, information on their work and approach, and interesting links – as well as a selection of five or more poems by each writer.

The poets launched the anthology at the Brewery Arts Centre at the end of March, and there are two further dates in Haslingden and Penrith.