EMERGING poet, former Sir John Nelthorpe School student John Osborne, was back in town as part of the Local Boys Done Good project, reading some of his lines at the Angel Suite.
After graduating at the University of East Anglia, John (27) performed at venues including Norwich Arts Centre, the Soho Theatre and the summer Latitude Festival.
His first book Radio Head will be released by Simon & Schuster in 2009.
This
year he has become part of Aisle 16, the UK's most sought after poetry collective to be found at www.aisle16.co.uk.
He recently earned a rave review from the Guardian which declared: 'Osborne adopts the mundane and everyday as a springboard for deeper – and often surreal – thoughts and reflections, including the importance of drawing solace from things taken for granted; chocolate ice-cream and tv repeats of comedy duo The Mighty Boosh among them.'
As such material suggests, he’s also a good writer for slipping in the odd cultural reference – be it Southern Comfort or The Super Furry Animals.
John Osborne's poem 'She teaches Hannah’
We met a shepherdess by a river
she had skin like a dry stone wall
“I used to write poetry” she says
spying our notebooks, flashing a Diaz smile but only when I was in love."
She tells us that even though she has retired she still walks the same routes as when she worked
with just her sheepdog for company."
Here is his despription of the scene on the famous Waverley Bridge in Edinburgh:
"Everytime I see a couple kissing in public I'll think of you and me on Princess Street
We walked along Waverley Bridge battered
we'd been out all night and couldn't be bothered to go home
your breath smelled of cider and cigarettes but I didn't mind
because as we kissed open mouthed against a Burger King billboard
and a bit of slobber dribbled from the corner of my mouth"
The full article contains 332 words and appears in Market Rasen Mail newspaper.
