Weekly Blog 16: Artists in Residence at Bluecoat
posted 09 Jul 2020
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Doped in Stunned Mirages: A Poetic Celebration of Don Van Vliet
- Sat, 11 Nov 2017
- 5.00 PM - 6.30 PM
- Tickets: £5/£3
Celebrated for his surreal and poetic lyrics, Captain Beefheart published his poems on many of his album sleeves. Although his poetry has not been given the same attention as his music, it has continued to gain traction amongst fans, musicians and poets. Over a decade after his final album was released, Beefheart included a reading of his poems in the Stand Up To Be Discontinued monograph, and in 2014 Tom Waits wrote a poem for Beefheart which urged those who follow to go and 'build a strange home of your own'.
In this one-off poetry event, thirteen of the UK's most exciting poets have done just that. Each has taken on the challenge of writing a new poem in response to a specific Beefheart album, from Safe as Milk to Ice Cream for Crow. Poets include Patience Agbabi, Vahni Capildeo, Sarah Crewe, Patricia Farrell, Matthew Thomas Smith, Peter Finch, Libby Houston, Tom Jenks, Chris McCabe, Robert Sheppard, Zoë Skoulding, Helen Tookey and Jeff Young.
This symposium is part of the Captain Beefheart weekend, a series of events exploring the artists as a twentieth century visionary. To find out more about the weekend and other Captain Beefheart related events click here.