Spoken Word and Wayward Walks
Habitat
Homo sapiens speedwelli, while frequently elusive, has been identified in a variety
of habitats (see sightings, below). When not dabbling in woodland or venturing
onto foreshores, Germander is frequently found taking cover in municipal libraries
or museum collections.
Should you wish to convey a message or request an
appearance, Germander Speedwell can be contacted via:
Tel: London (020) 8341-2873
Mobile: 07986 776488
E-mail: g. speedwell@yahoo.co.uk
or click here for link.
Please write something relevant in the subject
heading so that genuine messages can be
distinguished from electronic weeds!
Reported Sightings
Expected sightings:
August: more Wayward Walks - dates to come.
Summer 2010 - Summer 201
Germander Speedwell is Writer-in-Residence at Surrey Docks Farm
Germander will be peeking in beehives, picking through archives, searching the gardens, shadowing staff, factfinding in the foundry, questing in the café, noting passing boats and the antics of goats, to write spoken-word pieces on the fascinating myriad of activity at Surrey Docks City Farm.
The farm is in Rotherhithe St, Rotherhithe, London SE16 - see info at www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk
Past sightings:
Performance venues
e.g. The Klinker, the Bonnington and the Vortex, London Canal Museum as well as various Thames-moored waterborne venues.
Resonance FM 104.4fm - several guest appearances on London's art radio station, including:
Jubilate Agno - reading on Resonance FM 104.4fm
A recording of this epic poem by Christopher Smart, read by Frank Key of Hooting Yard with Germander
Speedwell. Originally broadcast on Resonance FM on December 27, 2007 (the first ever complete reading
of this work?), it is still available to listen to as a podcast. Christopher Smart was an 18th C religious poet,
who wrote this bizarre, all-encompassing and sometimes unintentionally hilarious epic while in a period of
madness.
Go to http://podcasts.resonancefm.com/archives/877 to hear it in podcast form.
Or go to the Internet Archive, for a review and downloads: www.archive.org/details/JubilateAgno
Read about it here: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/12/for_i_will_consider_jubliate_a.html
Link to the actual text: http://www.hootingyard.org/?p=290
Regular guest appearances on SW1 Radio's 'habitat for the unexpected' - the Passport world music show, hosted by Phil Hogg.
The Sea Sheppey Maritime Festival
Annual weekend heritage festival on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent - participated in 2005, 2006, 2007 - see Diagrams 1 page for photos and details.
Germander is one of the artists featured on the Atlantic Basin Project, based in Newfoundland and launched in December 2007. See www.atlanticbasinproject.com .
See Thames Estuary Project in the menu, where there is also a link to a feature on Guardian online.
Wayward Walks
Germander regularly leads guided walks featuring curiosities of language and image in the city - see Wayward Walks in the menu.
Dockyard Dictionary walks at the Museum in Docklands
Germander led wordy wanders for the Museum of Docklands for World Poetry Day in March 2010, linking curiosities found around West India Quay with her spoken word pieces on strange ship names, curious cargoes, strange occupations and odd dockyard language.
