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Papa Waltz

Raymond Antrobus, Miriam Nash, Wayne Holloway-Smith and the best new poetry books, festivals and events.

Poets grapple with their origins in the second episode of Blast, Radio 4's new alternative poetry series featuring the best new poetry and spoken word performance.

Radio 4's poet-in-residence Daljit Nagra pays a visit to Bradford Literature Festival and to Herefordshire, for the 21st annual Ledbury Poetry Festival, to meet poets writing about difficult fathers and absent mothers, upbringings and lost parents.

Wayne Holloway-Smith on failing to lift heavy objects on his dad's building site. Miriam Nash on growing up across two houses and the difficulty of saying where you're 'from'. Roy McFarlane on growing up in the Black Country and finding out - at the age of 14 - that he was adopted. Raymond Antrobus on trying to come to terms with losing his father. And Lebanese poet Zeina Hashem-Beck on correcting her mother's broken English.

Produced by Mair Bosworth and Hana Walker-Brown.

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Jan 2018 23:30

Poems featured in this episode

Love Song for My Parents, 20 Years Divorced

By Miriam Nash

Read by the poet

From: All the Prayers in the House

Published by: Bloodaxe

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Short

By Wayne Holloway-Smith

Read by the poet

From: Alarum

Published by: Bloodaxe

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Papers

By Roy McFarlane

Read by the poet

From: Beginning with Your Last Breath’

Published by: Nine Arches Press

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Sound Machine (Extract)

By Raymond Antrobus

Read by the poet

From Poetry Review Volume 107, No 1, Spring 2017

Published by The Poetry Society

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His Heart

By Raymond Antrobus

Read by the poet

From: To Sweeten Bitter

Published by: Out-Spoken Press

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Bottomless (Sequence)

By Raymond Antrobus

Read by the poet

From: To Sweeten Bitter

Published by: Out-Spoken Press

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Correcting My Mother’s Essay

By Zeina Hashem Beck

Read by the poet

Broadcasts

  • Mon 24 Jul 2017 23:00
  • Sat 13 Jan 2018 23:30