WELCOME TO
SCRIBBLING RIVALRY

the website of Ken Wood - Performance Poet and Writer

Access to the site is FREE but please also feel FREE to purchase any of the publications which will from time to time be offered for sale on the site.

Hobnobbing

Site News

23 December 2007

Once again Christmas is upon us and so I've put my Christmas verse page back on the site.  Click he greeting below to see it.

24 October 2007

Poems for Black History Month

A new page has been added to commemorate the start of the process of abolishing slavery in 1807, 200 years ago this year.

The poem 'Am I not a man and a brother' was inspired by the text on the graphic above which I found on the internet while searching for an appropriate image to put on the front cover of a pamphlet containing the other poem 'The Journey'.

30 April 2006

Concerned about the lack of performance in my PC, I did a bit of digging around looking for causes of slowness in PCs and came up with a number of little tweaks which will make a difference.

Inevitably these are written by techies for techies, and as such are beyond the comprehension of the average PC user. As a former techie, I have tried to restate them in words that should be understandable (hopefully) by anyone with even the most basic computer skills.

If your PC's performance is a cause of concern to you, Click here.

14th April 2006

My apologies for being off the air for a while.  I used to host the site with an American ISP called CFM and on 28th February, completely out of the blue, they sent an Email saying they were no longer going to be providing ISP services and that everything should be removed from their servers by 1st March.  Thinking it might be one of these hoax emails one gets from time to time, I decided to watch and wait, having nothing on their servers I don't have on my own PC.  Well, 1st March came and went with no problem - the site was still available - but suddenly on about 3rd March it went!

Unfortunately it's taken me this long to get it all back up and running again on new hosting.  If you experience any problems or can't access the odd page, please let me know.  I've done a fairly thorough check and it seems to be OK, but please let me know if your experience is otherwise.

I've used the recent upheaval to change around some of the poems on the site, removing some that have been on it for some time and adding more recent work including

Click the image above to go to a new poem about the terrible events of 22nd January 1879 at Isandlwana in Zululand South Africa, when the British army suffered its greatest ever military defeat at the hands of a Zulu army.

21st December 2005

I've put the Christmas verse page back up for the festive season and with that I wish one and all a lovely Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year.

1st February 2005

New page added for Valentine's Day.   Stuck for something to say to that special person?  Try these! 

We have now fully taken over the Platform music evenings at the Railway Tavern.  We are getting fantastic acts and the evenings are great fun.  Come along.  Click the link for details

19th August 2004

September is Music Month in the London Borough of Newham. A large number of events have been sponsored by the Council throughout the borough.  In addition to Platform, the regular songwriters' evening on the first Tuesday, The Railway Tavern is putting on a week long music festival as its contribution to this.  This festival - Railway Tracks - brings a week of live music entertainment falling into many different styles from relaxing blues to all out rock and reggae.

8th July 2004

Tuesday 13th July sees the first performance of AURAL S*X at the Railway Tavern, Stratford.  Ken Wood reunites with fellow poets Cadenza, Lucy English and Agnes Meadows, all of whom he met in Texas earlier this year and joins forces with Slam Champion Peter Hunter in an evening of unrestrained vocal pleasure.

Show starts at 8.00pm and ends at 10.30pm and is being recorded for broadcast on Break FM Newham during August.

20th June 2004

Scribbling Rivalry is pleased to announce two new services with immediate effect. 

We have acquired a spectacular PA Sound System which is now available for hire for parties, discos, presentations, etc.  This is an all Mackie (regarded as the best in the business!) system with FOH speakers, floor monitors, a monster sub-woofer, professional mixing desk, Shure microphones, stands, cables, etc.

We have recently launched a new service for business which we call Corporate Wordsmith.  This service includes writing of business letters (such as letters of introduction, terms of business change notifications, etc.), service descriptions,  marketing and website copy, business or personal profiles, slogan/buyline creation, etc.

The service has got off to a successful start with a number of assignments having been undertaken already.  For more details click here.

2nd June 2004

Recent interview with the Recorder Newspaper group resulted in a good feature in the 2nd June edition. 

22nd April 2004

The AIPF (see below) was a huge success and infinitely enjoyable.  A small selection of pictures below:

Ken in full flood during a reading.  (Note the cunning use of local costume to help him blend with the natives!)

Discussing the finer points of metre and rhyme with the incredibly talented Cadenza (at least that's what she told me!) from Sheffield, UK

With Oni, the Haitian Sensation

3rd April 2004

The Austin TX International Poetry Festival takes place this year from 15-18 April (for website click link above).   I shall be performing on Friday 16 in Fado's Irish Pub as part of the 'British Invasion' which runs from 3.15pm to 4.30pm, and then again on Saturday 17 in the Waterloo Ice House at 26 Doors 'Headliners' session which runs from 9.00pm to midnight. 

I have re-structured the Verse pages of the site a little, adding some recently written poems.

On Tuesday 6th April I shall be compering the next PLATFORM at the Railway Tavern, as well as giving an airing to some new 'dodgy' poems (as my daughter describes them)

9th February 2004

For the 60th Anniversary of D-Day this year in June I felt it appropriate to write a poem commemorating the tragic events on Omaha Beach when the American invasion forces suffered over 3,000 casualties, most of them in the first few hours.

Events

RAILWAY TAVERN, STRATFORD   

Hobnobbing

Listen to Ken Wood read Hobnobbing (579k wav file)

I like to dip my HobNob* in a nice, warm cup of tea.
Any time of day is good, but especially quarter to three.
Your HobNob's firm and rigid when you take it from the tin,
But it goes all soft and floppy after dipping in.

There's a knack to dipping properly that you really ought to know.
It's so awful if it breaks off and disturbs the status quo.
The trick's to keep it in there for precisely the right measure,
And if you get it just so, then there's no end to your pleasure.

Slip it in. Stir it around. Move it up and down.
Do it very gently or really go to town.
But once you've had your HobNob, place the cup up to your lips
And of the sweet libation take a few slow, gentle sips.

A HobNob nibbled on its own is very hard to beat,
But dip it in a cup of tea for an extra special treat.
Any time, any place, I always like to risk it.
'Cos dipping HobNobs in your tea absolutely takes the biscuit.

Copyright © Ken Wood 2002

* HobNobs is a registered trade mark of United Biscuits (UK) Ltd and used under consent

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