Poetry in the CQ
This is a slightly amended article to the one that first appeared in Issue 8 of Quarter Beat, August 2013.
'Poetry in the Cathedral Quarter: A Brief History of Sorts'
For many, the spiritual home (in essence as well as hard liquor) is often seen as the Cathedral Quarter. It has been the site of many open mic nights, performances, slams and festival readings over the years, and helped lay the seeds for the blossoming live poetry scene Belfast enjoys today.
The roots were laid in 1996, when husband-and-wife team Mark and Debbie Madden return to Belfast and opened the now legendary Arcadia Coffeehouse in North Street Arcade. Mark: "I'd been in Vancouver, where I helped form the first open mic sessions there and seen the scene grow to dozens of venues. When we came to Belfast in '96, we realised performance poetry didn't happen in Belfast, so we opened a cafe in which poetry would make sense."
Coffee house culture had not reached Belfast yet (or many other places for that matter). Arcadia instilled what was probably the first espresso machine seen in the city, along with Mexican food, a vegetarian menu, and most importantly, a regular open mic night. Progress was initially slow: veterans from the scene remember nights of only seven or eight people, pushing a concept to the public that was unheard of and alien. Debbie Madden: "The Big List stated we were having open mic pottery evenings in Arcadia... I still think we may have missed a trick there."
Arcadia regular, David Smylie: "On a cold November night in 2000, I made my way down to the Arcadia café for the first time. The Arcade was empty; the only sign of life was the noise from the café. Inside about seven people sat around tables illuminated by small candles, or on the large leather sofa." It was to a similar sight that I first entered, a few months later, poems in hand and nervously reading them out sitting on that sofa. Thankfully, the room was friendly and welcoming, and I was invited back to read again, as were others. With Belfast never being short on literary talent, the scene soon started to grow inside a Quarter that hadn't yet started to grow or see redevelopment: even the John Hewitt bar closed at ten, without a chip van in sight.
One of the early attendees was Brain Bailey, who had himself returned from Australia in '98, and "was astonished to find the poetry scene not particularly well attended or promoted". With Mark's support, he made up some cheap posters and started spreading them about town. "In a short space of time we had a good crowd coming to the gigs, and then the word of mouth started to bring ever more poets into the scene." Some of these early poster poked fun at local political propaganda, bearing such slogans as "Vote DPP: the Democratic Poetry Party" and "UFV: Undercover Fashion Victims". Suspicions aroused, one event saw members of Special Branch come down to scope out what they thought was a new paramilitary group, to find "just a bunch of stoned poets".
Soon the tiny café saw more and more people coming down to check out this literary curiosity. The nights grew crowds of fifty-sixty people, with standing room only; people even stood out in the arcade, peering through the windows, hungry for poetry and performance. Glynne McReynolds: " From the moment I set foot in the door I knew I'd found a home. The atmosphere was so welcoming and open, and, in contrast to most places I would go, I knew I could just turn around and talk to anyone in there, and they'd have something interesting to say."
Around the same time, the first Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival was set up, and the area was happily placed in the cultural spotlight. Arcadia, indeed all of North Street Arcade, found itself as the new home for poets, painters, musicians and bohemians, eager to share in their creativity and passion for the arts. The buzz of these halcyon days lasted for a few years, until early 2004, when disaster struck. A heartless arson attack gutted the Arcade, destroying the businesses, and leaving the artistic community effectively homeless.
The poetry scene floundered. Without the benefit of social media to keep everyone easily in touch, people dispersed and things grew quiet. The next couple of years saw occasional nights and gigs, one-off festival slams and some charity readings. Some folk drifted into Bookfinders Cafe near Queen's, where Brian Bailey helped form a regular poetry event. Ruairi McNally and myself formed 'Poetic Splendour', a poetry group of sorts, but without an appropriate venue, it soon disappeared. I launched ‘Speech Therapy’, a small poetry zine featuring some of the Arcadia poets and others, which survived for four print issues. Then up popped a small, independent art gallery on Donegal Street, just down the road from where Arcadia once stood.
The Safehouse Arts Space was keen to stretch its wings, and word soon circulated that they were looking to establish a poetry night. Brian suggested that I should take up the mantle, and soon after, Make Yourself Heard was formed in 2006: a new monthly open mic event, hoping to capture some of the spirit and bonhomie of the original Arcadia nights. Slowly, the poets of old returned and regrouped, along with new blood and new ambitions. Assisted by luminaries in the local live scene such as Marcus Keeley and Gerard McKeown, it helped established a precedent for poetry as a legitimate form of entertainment piunters were willing to pay for.
Make Yourself Heard experienced varying degrees of success. It teamed with Creative Writers Network for a series of gigs in the Black Box, but eventually stopped in 2010, due to personal illness. Elsewhere, poets were turning up in singer-songwriter nights and poetry slams in the Hewitt, the Duke of York, Whites Tavern and beyond. Events such as the Belfast Poetry Cup and the Belfast heat of the All-Ireland Poetry Slam appeared. More and more folk were realising that live poetry was a viable form of art and entertainment, which drew the crowds in. Thankfully, poets are generally a thirsty bunch…
Now, the scene is alive and well, with CQAF, Culture Night Belfast, and others having poetry as a part of their artistic makeup. Community Arts Partnership, based in Commercial Court, runs the Poetry in Motion project for schools and communities, encouraging local aspiring writers in all aspects of poetry: writing, editing, public speaking, marketing and more. It also runs workshops, readings and publishes poetry anthologies. Seedhead Arts, in partnership with somewhereto_ and PLACE NI, recently brought The Open Source to a pop up site on Donegall Street, giving a free performance space to poets during this year’s CQAF. This summer has already seen poet, playwright and filmmaker Damian Gorman’s recent residency in the MAC, local group Voica Versa group performing in the Black Box, and Glastonbury’s poet-in-residence Tony Walsh reading from his new collection in the Golden Thread.
Writer’s Square will always stand as testament to poets such as MacNeice and Hewitt, but look closer and you’ll find poetry in the bars and cafes of the Quarter, sometimes whispered, sometimes cried, and always wondrous.
'Poetry in the Cathedral Quarter: A Brief History of Sorts'
For many, the spiritual home (in essence as well as hard liquor) is often seen as the Cathedral Quarter. It has been the site of many open mic nights, performances, slams and festival readings over the years, and helped lay the seeds for the blossoming live poetry scene Belfast enjoys today.
The roots were laid in 1996, when husband-and-wife team Mark and Debbie Madden return to Belfast and opened the now legendary Arcadia Coffeehouse in North Street Arcade. Mark: "I'd been in Vancouver, where I helped form the first open mic sessions there and seen the scene grow to dozens of venues. When we came to Belfast in '96, we realised performance poetry didn't happen in Belfast, so we opened a cafe in which poetry would make sense."
Coffee house culture had not reached Belfast yet (or many other places for that matter). Arcadia instilled what was probably the first espresso machine seen in the city, along with Mexican food, a vegetarian menu, and most importantly, a regular open mic night. Progress was initially slow: veterans from the scene remember nights of only seven or eight people, pushing a concept to the public that was unheard of and alien. Debbie Madden: "The Big List stated we were having open mic pottery evenings in Arcadia... I still think we may have missed a trick there."
Arcadia regular, David Smylie: "On a cold November night in 2000, I made my way down to the Arcadia café for the first time. The Arcade was empty; the only sign of life was the noise from the café. Inside about seven people sat around tables illuminated by small candles, or on the large leather sofa." It was to a similar sight that I first entered, a few months later, poems in hand and nervously reading them out sitting on that sofa. Thankfully, the room was friendly and welcoming, and I was invited back to read again, as were others. With Belfast never being short on literary talent, the scene soon started to grow inside a Quarter that hadn't yet started to grow or see redevelopment: even the John Hewitt bar closed at ten, without a chip van in sight.
One of the early attendees was Brain Bailey, who had himself returned from Australia in '98, and "was astonished to find the poetry scene not particularly well attended or promoted". With Mark's support, he made up some cheap posters and started spreading them about town. "In a short space of time we had a good crowd coming to the gigs, and then the word of mouth started to bring ever more poets into the scene." Some of these early poster poked fun at local political propaganda, bearing such slogans as "Vote DPP: the Democratic Poetry Party" and "UFV: Undercover Fashion Victims". Suspicions aroused, one event saw members of Special Branch come down to scope out what they thought was a new paramilitary group, to find "just a bunch of stoned poets".
Soon the tiny café saw more and more people coming down to check out this literary curiosity. The nights grew crowds of fifty-sixty people, with standing room only; people even stood out in the arcade, peering through the windows, hungry for poetry and performance. Glynne McReynolds: " From the moment I set foot in the door I knew I'd found a home. The atmosphere was so welcoming and open, and, in contrast to most places I would go, I knew I could just turn around and talk to anyone in there, and they'd have something interesting to say."
Around the same time, the first Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival was set up, and the area was happily placed in the cultural spotlight. Arcadia, indeed all of North Street Arcade, found itself as the new home for poets, painters, musicians and bohemians, eager to share in their creativity and passion for the arts. The buzz of these halcyon days lasted for a few years, until early 2004, when disaster struck. A heartless arson attack gutted the Arcade, destroying the businesses, and leaving the artistic community effectively homeless.
The poetry scene floundered. Without the benefit of social media to keep everyone easily in touch, people dispersed and things grew quiet. The next couple of years saw occasional nights and gigs, one-off festival slams and some charity readings. Some folk drifted into Bookfinders Cafe near Queen's, where Brian Bailey helped form a regular poetry event. Ruairi McNally and myself formed 'Poetic Splendour', a poetry group of sorts, but without an appropriate venue, it soon disappeared. I launched ‘Speech Therapy’, a small poetry zine featuring some of the Arcadia poets and others, which survived for four print issues. Then up popped a small, independent art gallery on Donegal Street, just down the road from where Arcadia once stood.
The Safehouse Arts Space was keen to stretch its wings, and word soon circulated that they were looking to establish a poetry night. Brian suggested that I should take up the mantle, and soon after, Make Yourself Heard was formed in 2006: a new monthly open mic event, hoping to capture some of the spirit and bonhomie of the original Arcadia nights. Slowly, the poets of old returned and regrouped, along with new blood and new ambitions. Assisted by luminaries in the local live scene such as Marcus Keeley and Gerard McKeown, it helped established a precedent for poetry as a legitimate form of entertainment piunters were willing to pay for.
Make Yourself Heard experienced varying degrees of success. It teamed with Creative Writers Network for a series of gigs in the Black Box, but eventually stopped in 2010, due to personal illness. Elsewhere, poets were turning up in singer-songwriter nights and poetry slams in the Hewitt, the Duke of York, Whites Tavern and beyond. Events such as the Belfast Poetry Cup and the Belfast heat of the All-Ireland Poetry Slam appeared. More and more folk were realising that live poetry was a viable form of art and entertainment, which drew the crowds in. Thankfully, poets are generally a thirsty bunch…
Now, the scene is alive and well, with CQAF, Culture Night Belfast, and others having poetry as a part of their artistic makeup. Community Arts Partnership, based in Commercial Court, runs the Poetry in Motion project for schools and communities, encouraging local aspiring writers in all aspects of poetry: writing, editing, public speaking, marketing and more. It also runs workshops, readings and publishes poetry anthologies. Seedhead Arts, in partnership with somewhereto_ and PLACE NI, recently brought The Open Source to a pop up site on Donegall Street, giving a free performance space to poets during this year’s CQAF. This summer has already seen poet, playwright and filmmaker Damian Gorman’s recent residency in the MAC, local group Voica Versa group performing in the Black Box, and Glastonbury’s poet-in-residence Tony Walsh reading from his new collection in the Golden Thread.
Writer’s Square will always stand as testament to poets such as MacNeice and Hewitt, but look closer and you’ll find poetry in the bars and cafes of the Quarter, sometimes whispered, sometimes cried, and always wondrous.
