When I put my first poem on Soundcloud last February(?) March(?) I was contacted by Radio Wildfire and asked to upload some recordings to their website for broadcast.
Almost a year later, it’s happening! And faster than I can imagine. I got an email last Thursday asking me to please upload, as I was to be included in the next program! Gosh! How fast is that?
I find the arts like that. Seeds are planted and you wonder if anything is ever going to happen, then all at once things happen faster than fast. That’s why you have to always be ready.
Years ago, when I was living in Ottawa, I was friendly with a painter who lived round the corner. One evening when visiting him – he was painting, as usual. He was always painting. When I asked him why, he said: “Then when I’m inspired, I’ll be sure to be painting!”
My Soundcloud Image
If you’ve clicked on the audio tracks to the right, you will have heard my poems, but it’s nice to hear them in the context of a radio program, and hear the work of the other artists on the bill.
There’s also that ‘live radio’ element – though with Internet radio the ‘live’ factor seems a bit odd, but people do tell me they do listen to ‘live’ Internet broadcasts. Having worked in radio and having anounce-op’ed live programs, I can’t quite get my head round the idea that something that is pre-recorded (and mastered) is ‘live’. When I was doing live radio broadcast, if I flubbed something, or had a technical problem, well, I had to deal with it – live. So flubs were either passed over and ignored, or turned into a joke of sorts (depending on the context) and technical problems were dealt with – instantly – on the spot! Nothing like a live, on location interview being phoned in and the connection not working…
None of that will happen on the live broadcast of my poetry this evening. I won’t be in the studio – but my poems will be and it looks like they’ll have plenty of good company.
Radio Wildfire's Perpetual Flame
Radio Wildfire Live! transmission Monday 6th February 2012 @ 20:00hrs (UK time) contains two hours of spoken word and live literature featuring:
song from Michael W.Thomas
poems with backing from Alison Boston
a short play from Keith Large
an interview with Polesworth Poetry Trail organiser Mal Dewhirst about his new Radio Wildfire series, The Lost Poets
a feature onPaul Lester‘s new cd, Walking Through Walls
and a very timely uploaded poem about weather from Heather Wastie
spoken tracks from Black Country Dialectics
a cd by Dave Reevesahead of his forthcoming Wolverhampton Arena performance
plus a memoir by Jill Tromans that mixes family history together with Buffalo Bill’s visit to England
and ambient music from Jimi Dewhirst
The show is followed at 22:00 by the monthly diary from Birmingham’s poet laureate with Jan Watts‘ Irons in the Fire and then Longden’s Listings with Gary Longden.
To keep your interest smouldering between live shows there’s the constant transmission called The Loop. Listen in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.radiowildfire.com – Plus Radio Wildfire play-on-demand tracks @ www.myspace.com/radiowildfire – here to wildfire your imagination.
WHAT IS RADIO WILDFIRE?
Radio Wildfire is an independent online radio station which blends spoken word, poetry, performance literature, comedy, storytelling, short stories and more with a novel selection of word/music fusion and an eclectic mix of musical styles. www.radiowildfire.com broadcasts live 8.00-10.00pm (UK time) on the first Monday of every month.
Alison Amazed 
The Water of my Dreams is gorgeous!
Lovely. The spoken word. I’ve only performed a few times but much of my stuff is very oral/aural.
Good stuff. How did the night go?
Thank you. Glad you like that poem. Perhaps you can record some of yours and send them in. Doesn’t have to be live performance.