Returning differently

I shared this note yesterday.

It followed a note that reflected on a failed poetry initiative. Not a total failure. Most of it is an absolute pinch me experience. Let me explain.

One of my last big poetry performances before I had to take a performance hiatus was in April 2024 as part of of wonderful collaboration with my talented friend, the artist Emma Evans. I had written a poem about Manchester and she painted a painting in response to the poem, ‘The Case Against Nostalgia’ and I ‘met’ the paining at the unveiling in a beautiful hotel in the centre of Manchester. That night we excitedly told people we had been working on another project together!

In late 2025 that project was revealed as her Freedom collection launched and the poems I wrote for the project were beautifully displayed throughout her Gallery. I couldn't make the launch night as it was at a really difficult time for me, but seeing the project come to life was a beautiful source of joy for me. I also saw that some people had really conncected with the words of the poems as they shared them online. In another beautiful move, as I was less active on social media, was Emma making videos of herself reading my poems. It all felt very generous and made me feel included in the project.

Cut to 10 March 2026. Emma’s collection took on a new lease of life as part of ‘Paint Spinningfields Pink’. A selection of her work from her collections, including the Freedom collection were installed throughout the Spinningfields estate. It looks utterly beautiful and really brings life into the streets in that area of Manchester. In another move of generosity in the collaboration, Emma worked with the Spinningfields team to include a QR code to my poetry. As the launch also co-incided with a fundraising and awareness campaign for Prevent Breast Cancer I decided to offer these prints ‘for sale’ in exchange for a screenshot of a donation to the charity during the week after International Women’s Day. I promoted it on Facebook, Instagram and (shudders) LinkedIn. The main Spinningfields account also promoted it.

I didn’t get any donations, but I did make a donation myself as I felt I got publicity from association regardless of the success of my print making idea.

I was coming to social media fairly cold. No consistency in my content. This was because I haven’t felt in the mood play the game social media needs you to play if you want anything to cut through the noise. I am doing things I believe in and want to share and walking away. I have the apps on timers so I don’t slip into doomscrolling. It does impact on ‘reach’. I didn’t make reels as that is a performance. It is time editing. It is space on my phone I don’t have.

Despite all this rationalisation of my marketing ‘strategy’ I did still feel disappointed. I felt like people whose feeds I used to pop in have lost me from their algorithms because they see me less both online and in person. That realisation felt a little isolating, but it is also completely understandable if I consider it all from a more detached viewpoint. And as I have got older I realise you can learn from things that jar when you approach it with curiosity. I realised that it isn’t the online connection that needs the focus. It is the in person connections. Put them first. Spend some time nurturing this relationships and things will just naturally start to feel a little less lonely.

I will leave the poems online throughout Emma’s installation and see what happens. You never know who might be clicking on that QR code over a two month period.

And I am gently finding my way back to performing and being around creative people more again.

As part of my small steps back into it all I have been going to events in Wrexham, including the most lovely group at Wrexham Miners' Project and , Wrecsam City of Culture events and Voicebox Wxm. This has led to the most exciting opportunity, of performing at this years Focus Wales! Focus Wales is a music and film festival where Wrexham comes ALIVE. It is filled with music, conversation and fun. I cannot emphasise how honoured I am to be asked to be part of the Voicebox Collective Showcase. It’s like SXSW but in Wales. So it is better!

Next up on the slow burn pinch me list comes from attending this event last June.

After this event I got asked if I would be interested in hosting a spoken word night as part of Chester Literature Festival in 2026. Reader, I couldn’t have said yes fast enough. And after a lot of planning the tickets and sign up details are now out.

I also put a little instagram story out that I would like a few open mic spots to re-build my confidence performing, and I got offered a headline TBC and some other lovely responses.

By sheer chance in my next 7 minutes scroll I saw sign up sheets for a few more events and I have now got another event coming up at the end of March called ‘Come Rhyme with Me’ which is fusing poetry, food and art. Sounds absolutely incredible and inventive.

And finally, after venturing out to see a show by a dear friend in Manchester in January, I sat beside another writer, Zena Barrie, who invited me to perform at Word of Mouth in Manchester on 17th May a few days later. Zena is partly responsible for my creative second lease of life, having been part of the Greater Manchester Fringe team in 2019 when I embarked on my extended mid-life crisis. She mentioned Verbose, a night she used to host that I went to and never looked back! Poetically speaking.

I am excited to be returning more to this part of myself. I look forward to seeing where the tentacles of connections may lead next.