A solicitor and award-winning poet was invited to be part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Wolverhampton Literature Festival in the Arena Theatre. Ian Henery, who used to be the Poetry Editor of the Wolverhampton Student Union Newspaper, performed his work on Friday 1st February with musicians and spoken word artists.
"It was an honour to be part of it", Ian said "and I was chuffed to bits to be in the Arena Theatre. Wolverhampton means a lot to me. I was a law student at the University, I lived in Whitmore Reans for two years and that is where I met my wife. If I didn`t move into shared student digs in Harrow Street my four children would never have been born. My parents had a shop on the corner of Leicester Street in the 1950s and it was in Leicester Street that I had my first marital home."
Ian wanted to dedicate a poem at the Arena Theatre to someone who was not able to attend this year`s Festival. "He was a cultural, ambassador for the Black Country", said Ian "and the fact that the Black Country now has a flag, a Black Country Day and even an anthem is all due to cultural ambassadors like that gentleman. He was a cultural pioneer in the days when the Black Country dialect was not considered cool".
Geoff Stevens, who wrote many of his poems in Wolverhampton`s pubs, had an annual published output of approx. 280 poems every year internationally. This does not include the CDs he recorded in Black Country dialect, the artwork he exhibited or the poetry online. He founded Purple Patch Poetry and the Purple Patch Poetry Convention which was held every year at the Oldbury Reparatory Theatre, including the monthly Purple Patch Poetry Forum. "Geoff was a big supporter of poetry and spoken word", explained Ian "and he gave so many of the poets who are around today their first taste of performing in front of a live audience."
Geoff also co-founded Poetry Wednesbury with Brendan Hawthorne, who later went on to become the first Poet Laureate of Wednesbury. "It was my honour to be able to publish some of Geoff`s poems when I was Poetry Editor of the Wolverhampton University Student Union Newspaper" said Ian. In those days I had a pen name because I was a serious law student. The Newspaper was called "Sheepsclothing", my two regular two page A3 size article was called "Achtung Groovers" and my pen name was "Arthur Person" after a song by The Smiths called Half A Person.
"Arthur Person!" he said one night at the Oldbury Reparatory Theatre when I came off stage after performing a sonnet about Morrissey, lead singer of The Smiths. "You`re that Poetry Editor at Wolverhampton University! You called yourself after a song by The Smiths. Half A Person. Well, you`re musical taste is rubbish! But at least you have got good literary taste - you published my poetry!" He then laughed.
"He was right," said Ian. "We lost Geoff Stevens 7 years to the day of my performance at the Arena Theatre to cancer. He became my friend. Geoff liked all poets but he preferred only two: Brendan Hawthorne, with whom he set up Poetry Wednesbury and Dylan Thomas. I was out of luck."
Here is the poem Ian Henery performed at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival In memory of his friend Geoff Stevens.
Only Words Endure
Solitary hair where the cat once purred,
Lies betray love and the bonds of trust;
The sharpest sword flakes away in rust,
A symphony forgotten but once heard.
All things must come to dust eventually,
We are not blessed with immortality
And nothing endures through life but words.
We all die, it`s a fact and not inferred:
Every human and building, all age;
Empires are reduced to history`s page.
Every animal, insect and bird,
Everything beneath stars will perish.
Rocks worn away and all that we cherish,
Nothing will endure through life but words.
Ian Henery www.ianhenerypoet.com
