Gospel Truth

With no story behind this Good News


Didymos Judas, no tales


Of tall wonders that must be believed


Or else belief and faith fails,


No seed in an immaculate womb,


No Christ unearthed from within a tomb,






There is just the word. And the word is


Ahamkara: trinity


Of body, mind and soul obscuring


Glimmer of divinity


From which self-promotion turns its face,


Denying the sovereignty of grace.






Then the word is Monakos, courage


To stand apart, not follow


Well worn routes, nor find refuge in crowds.


Decline direction to go


A way unmapped, seeking novel signs


Only an adventurer divines.






And the word becomes Metanoia,


An absolute need to know,


Blindness being transformed into clear sight


When light chases the shadow


Of fear away. Don’t simply believe


What all too readily can deceive.






No empyrean above the stars,


No infernal realm beneath,


No strict words of God in testaments


Voiced by prophets through clenched teeth.


For scripture cannot make Man of ape,


Only reason, reason and agape.


 
Dave Alton

northern voices

PUBLICATIONS COMING SOON FROM NORTHERN VOICES:

GRAND TIMES: A CELEBRATION OF TYNEMOUTH'S GRAND HOTEL (FOR HERITAGE OPEN DAY 9TH SEPTEMBER - INCLUDES POETRY FROM DR KEITH ARMSTRONG'S RECENT RESIDENCY); THE HIVE OF LIBERTY: THOMAS SPENCE REPRINT (FUNDED BY THE LIPMAN MILIBAND TRUST); LIKE THE SPANISH CITY: CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF WHITLEY BAY'S ICONIC DOME (FUNDED BY NORTH TYNESIDE COUNCIL); A MINER'S LIFE: GORDON MACPHERSON OF EAST DURHAM - FOLLOWED BY THE LIFE STORIES OF HIS WIFE AND OF HIS DAUGHTER, HEATHER WOOD (STRIKE ACTIVIST); COMMON STORY: A NEW BIOGRAPHY OF JACK COMMON BY DR KEITH ARMSTRONG (WITH 'BREVITY STUFF' PUBLICATIONS). WATCH THIS SPACE!

93 WOODBURN SQUARE, WHITLEY LODGE, WHITLEY BAY, TYNE& WEAR NE26 3JD TEL 0191 2529531

The objectives of Northern Voices are to:

1) Offer a platform for the views and experiences of those people living in the North East of England who are normally denied a voice. Through this, question and subvert established views of culture and the distortions which often surround them and give support to local autonomy and integrity as opposed to centralism and the anti-democractic hierarchies of government and big business, the aristocracy, mass media and ever increasing quangos.

2) Contribute to the culture of the region through a projects and events programme which celebrates its diverse communities, in particular the currently neglected working class, and the area's history and politics and dissenting tradition. Recent projects have involved a touring show in Northumbrian churches, performing poetry on the beaches, working in the community of Spittal, profiling Whitley Bay's Spanish City and the Marsden Rock in South Shields, celebrating the Newcastle writer Jack Common and the Durham links of poet Christopher Smart, performing and recording with folk, pop, classical and jazz musicans and exhibiting with visual artists and photographers. Important events have recently been staged with Amnesty International, the Tyneside Irish Cultural Society and the North East Labour History Society.

Northern Voices attempts to be original and innovative in its programme and to seriously engage with local people and issues rather than indulge in the predictable and unchallenging nature of many cultural events and projects which are often more to do with careerism and the overbearing machinations of cultural bodies which see the arts as a vehicle for commerce and business.

3) Develop links with likeminded people and institutions, locally, nationally and internationally by a commitment to collective action and to engaging in political activity in an historical context. Recently, reciprocal links have been established with Limerick and Cork, Bradford, Liverpool, Lincoln, Sheffield, Penrith, Aberdeen and Edinburgh and there are significant international links with, for example, Groningen in The Netherlands and Tuebingen in Germany, stretching back some twenty years. Further similar links are actively sought in order to avoid literary and publishing activity being presented in overtly institutionalised, centralised and isolated cultural ghettos which merely replicate prevailing establishment and ruling class orthodoxies.

Such links also question overly cosy notions of 'The North' and celebrate North East England's place in the world and particularly in Europe.

4) Offer help and advice to local people seeking to develop a voice. This can be through creative writing, songs, community research or on tape and through the media and new technology.

Membership is open to anyone who shares the objectives of Northern Voices and who wishes to engage in community arts activity in the North East of England.

Northern Voices acknowledges project support from the Community Foundation, Awards for All and North Tyneside Council.

MARSDEN ROCK

Sensational Rock,

swimming in light.

Bird-cries clinging to ancient ledges,

Kittiwakes smashing against time.

What tales you could tell.

Your face is so moody,

flickers with breezes,

crumbles in a hot afternoon.

Climbing your powdery steps,

we look down on the sea

thrashing at you. 

We join a choir of birds at your peak,

cry out to the sky

in good spirits.

Nesting for the sake of it,

our lyrics are remnants on the shore.

We keep chipping away,

do we not? 

We slip

through the pebbles,

splashing

with babies.

We leave our mark,

a grain

on the ancient landscape.

We go.

We dance like the sunlight

on your scarred body: 

tripping,

falling,

singing

away.

KEITH ARMSTRONG

Fred Reed - from the Tyneside Poets' Archive

Me


Me, Aa’ll nivvor be poor
Till emptied of me dreams…
Ne thowts vibrate wi’ winged words
T’ seek warm climes like valiant bords
‘ned trill theor joyous themes.

When hairt he lost desire…
Its ricochettin leaps…
Like weathered discus styns t’ take
And mek them skip across the lake,
Me youths fresh vorve t’ keep.

Aa’ll not knaa cynic taint,
Me spirit’s flights still high,
If Aa can scan the firmament,
Ower creation feel intent
T’ cry, Aa wundor why.”

Me, Aa’ll elwis be rich,
Stray in a gowlden clime,
If Aa can tarry ‘neath the spell
Of aall adventures still t’ tell
Wi’ “Once upon a time.”

And aad Aa’ll nivvor be
Still yeornin for the Springs,
High hopes wed t’ me memories
Till Beauty’s kiss the boond orth frees
And youth’s renewal brings.

Aye, in cremation’s fire
Hap silence high on me;
Scattor me ashes, say Aa’m gyen,
But Aa’ll be heor t’ whisper when
These words are read by ye.

Fred Reed