Origin Story

This time last year, on a Skype call to my Seattle family, I was shown a painting by my then 13 year old granddaughter, Natalie. It is so glorious it inspired a whole poem, so much fun to write. In August, I published a new collection, It’s Only a Matter of Time – even though time, as such, does not exist. It was officially launched by the Dead Good Poets Society of Liverpool in December, at the MerseyMade Cafe in Paradise Street. So, happy February. Enjoy!

The Whale Creates the Universe – oil painting by Natalie Kennedy

Origin Story

for natalie

In the beginning

there was a whale

big and blue and beautiful

perfectly big

beautifully blue 

Alone in an ocean of nothing.

Or so it seemed.

And in the beginning

there was a universe

so infinitesimally, 

illogically small

that no impossibly 

large whale

could ever know, 

or understand

why, or where it might be. 

And the universe floated

alone in the ocean of nothing.

Or so it dreamed.

The whale moved 

in perfect peace

throughout the silent space

Quite unaware of the presence 

of the infinitesimally tiny 

Insubstantial universe 

Blissfully resting

Alone within Its silent

lack of being

anything more 

than being 

infinitesimally

small.

And since there was 

no day or night

the absence of light

signified nothing more

than freedom to move

for the whale who swam.

And its tail began 

to swish back and forth

and the sound was

perfectly swishy

if illogical because 

what was there

to swish against?

Nothing but perfectly 

nothing. And yet—

The motion of swishing swished around

The whale began 

to perceive a sound 

and something stirred

inside its heart.

Like the start of a  feeling,

that tickled its mind 

and it found itself reeling

with a kind of a knowing 

that its perfect body

with its perfect tail

had created something

out of nothing—

out of nothing but itself.

Out of nothing 

but itself 

and the nothingness

of the void. 

And the sound shimmied 

around its body and fluttered 

across its fins.

It brushed its nose

as the whale turned and tumbled 

through the darkness,

till the tickle became a giggle

and the giggle became a guffaw

and the guffaw gurgled

and gushed

from its giant mouth

in a rhythmical, tonal pattern of sounds

that merged with the swishing

Till then the whale 

found itself wishing

that such a wonderful sound could be shared —

If only —

If only —

There was something else there.

and so it was, 

right there and then

even though there was

no when

that the whale created song.

And as the whale swam 

and its tail swished

the veil of nothing

began to shift

and the whale sang

and its heart lifted

feeling resistance

a form of insistence

that nothing was moving

while everything changed.

And somewhere, somehow

from the deepest depths of its 

infinitesimally tiny beingness, 

the universe felt a shiver –

a shock of a shake

and it began to crack 

and to creak

and to cleave in two.

Just in time for the whale 

to swim through

and the song shivered      

and shook each piece 

till a river

of universal smithereens

smashed  and crashed 

into being

a glowing

unknowing

festive flowing 

showing of itself 

in the trail of a whale. 

So it was that the whale 

swam on

and sang on.

And in its wake left 

the makings of galaxies

planets and stars

meteors and matter that is

and isn’t (as far as can be seen)

there at all.

On and on the whale sings

and swims,

swishing its tail

fluttering its fins,

rejoicing in the sound 

of its voice,

never looking backwards

because there is 

no back or forth

no south or north

no up nor down

no in or out

in the endless nothing that is

and is not—nothing.

And still the whale takes enormous pleasure

in constantly bringing 

into being

the stuff of the universe.

The universe which forms 

and endlessly reforms

all the while tirelessly 

yearning

to return

to its once upon a time

infinitesimally

tiny, dream of itself.

Flloyd Kennedy

Performing Live!

It’s International Women’s Day, and by a strange coincidence, I happen to be a woman.

Flloyd with 2 Ells. Photo James Wafer

Never mind, I’m performing a one hour set of my poems and songs tonight, Tuesday 8th March, at 7:30 pm. SHARP! This is invitation only, the link is ‘unlisted’ so contact me if you would like to join me. Bring your own wine, beer, cup of tea with or without a biccy, sit back and relax. There will be a short, five minute break to refill your glasses or cups. And mine.

If you’d like to have a copy of the words (songs and poems), click here to download the file.

The Return of Fairy Bessie

Amidst the covid chaos of the past few weeks, a moment of pure fun. I was invited to be a guest on the “Nana Funk’s Stocking Filler” show at the Unity Theatre, here in Liverpool last Friday. Nana is a local sensation, a burlesquing granny character created by the amazing clown performer Angie Waller. She has to be seen to be believed. I’ve seen, and I believe.

Nana Funk making snow angels Photo courtesy Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Angie asked me if I’d like to perform, as well as have a chat with her on stage, so I brought Fairy Bessie out of the suitcase, and Nana and Bessie had a good old reminisce about their younger glory days.

Fairy Bessie tries her hand at rapping. Photo courtesy Unity Theatre, Liverpool

You can watch the whole show now online, by renting the video from the Unity Theatre website. All proceeds for the artists involved.

Historic Event

It’s not often one gets the opportunity to be part of something historic, so I was pretty chuffed to be included in Threshold Festival X’s line-up yesterday. Sad that this was to be the final Threshold Festival though. This grass roots festival of music and visual arts has been running annually in Liverpool since 2011. It has been a huge success in promoting local artists and performers, as well as bringing extraordinary national performers to the city. For 3 nights and 2 days each year, every cafe, bar, gift shop and street corner in the Baltic Triangle would be jumping with excited audiences, enjoying their favourites as well as taking the newcomers to their hearts.

It’s no secret that Liverpool is a hotbed of musical talent, and Threshold ensured they were given a platform. But such is the nature of grass roots organisations, that they struggled to get funding and inevitably lost money. So having decided to finish up last year, and then having to postpone it to this year, they took the whole thing online and boy, did it go out with a bang!

You will find all the performances that were streamed online over the weekend are now available on Youtube.

Click here for the virtual art gallery.

Click here for Threshold Youtube Channel to watch all the events

Farewell Threshold, and thanks for all the love.

Things to do in lockdown…

Somebody recently described me as ‘someone who Does Things’, and I have to agree. But I don’t see that it’s anything to be particularly proud or, or not. It’s just who and what I am. I have to be Doing Things. And if I’m lucky, sometimes other people enjoy what I do.

So, I’ve published my first collection of poems, songs and stories. And now I’ve released the audiobook version as well.

And I’ve released some songs on Bandcamp. Here is the latest. It’s a Paean to the Liverpool weather, which offers never a dull moment.

What to do next?

If enough people buy (and review!) copies – paperback, eBook, audiobook or tracks – I might be able to buy my 4th Kenwood Chef. Amazon are offering a special on the Compact version, which might fit somewhere in my tiny kitchen. And then I can bake and grind even more healthy food for myself. As if I don’t eat too much as it is!!!

Whatever happened to the previous 3 Kenwood Chefs? Ah – that another story, for another time.

Reviews!

Some of my readers are sharing their response to “Sunsets & Kites”

I’ve just finished reading my copy of Flloyd Kennedy‘s wonderful collection!?? It captures her many facets and is so personal and thought-provoking.

Lucy Pickavance

With kindness, love and a gentleness almost forgotten, I found these words prising open my soul without my knowledge. I am left unsettled, ad my mind and heart are more exposed. There is a slowness in this book that is missing in the world. A kindness. A gentle beauty to the words and rhythms that allows the deeper meanings to move in the shadows. Visible but unseen… and I am changed.

This book is a delight. Make yourself a cup of tea, turn your phone off, sit in the comfy chair and allow yourself to drift gently with the tides for an hour or so. Don’t rush. Don’t look for meaning. Just go slowly. Thank you Flloyd.

Ted Gray

I found all the poems and stories entertaining and thought provoking and some of them I’ll go back and read again – and possibly again!

Mabel Macarthur

The book is available as paperback, or ebook, from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

I’ve just submitted the audiobook files to the publisher, awaiting review…

Stay safe!

Sunsets & Kites

There was a writing competition, sometimes back in the 1980s, out of the BBC, and a friend and I decided we would have a go. We set each other a modest challenge to get us going – she was to write a synopsis for a story, I was to write a synopsis for a radio play. In the event, she wrote nothing, and I came up with an idea for a musical radio play in which the characters were purely voices and musical instruments. My friend then challenged me to write a song for this musical play which included the words ‘sunsets’ and ‘kites’. The resulting song expresses the longing for all that would be lost if the nuclear war we all feared at the time ever happened.

That musical play is now a 15 minute script tucked away in a folder somewhere. The song has been sung many times at concerts, Open Mics, even recorded – you can find it on Spotify, Amazon Music and all the major streaming services.

My first poetry collection, also called ‘Sunsets & Kites’ covers a lot of ground, from before and after those heady days in the 1980s when the worst fate humanity thought it had to face was a nuclear winter. How times have changed. I’ve included some song lyrics and a couple of essays – and believe me, it’s not all strictly autobiographical…

Both print and eBook versions are available on Amazon (UK, USA and AU). I hope you like it!

On the Road Again

It’s September already, and I’m back in the rehearsal room with Dame June Bloom, Teddy Edward and Liam the Lamb. We’ve been invited by Live Arts, in the Scottish Borders, to bring the show to their local community, in the tiny village of Westruther.

One night only, Friday 20th September, we’ll be there! Also delighted to be able to offer a workshop on Friday afternoon, open to all comers.

My stage manager for this wee tour is Susannah Finzi, who wrote and directed “The Bottom Line” in July, at the cornerHOUSE Theatre in Surbiton, and invited me to take part in it, creating the role of The Busker.

The Busker.

Our plan is to meet up in York, (from London and Liverpool) where we both have to change trains, carry on together to Berwick-upon-Tweed, then we’ll be met and driven to Westruther.

On Saturday 21st we are hoping to head to Edinburgh, to perform the show at the Columcille centre. This is unfunded, so we are mounting a fund-raising campaign to help cover our travel and accommodation costs. With any luck, we’ll also have an audience!

If you’d like to support us in this endeavour, you can contribute here

GoFundMe

See you there?