Free Vers(e)

For StAnza 2021, Scotland's International Poetry Festival, Free Vers(e) presents this special feature on first Scots Makar, Edwin Morgan, as part of the Past and Present Series!

Giving an introduction to our prolific and iconic gay Scottish poet, this special Free Vers(e)episode opens with a feature interview with Andrés Nicolás Ordorica, a queer Latinx writer and educator based in Edinburgh -- and one of The Second Life grantees of the Edwin Morgan Trust -- who has created a poetry film inspired by the work of Edwin Morgan, to be debuted in LGBTQ History Month 2021.

From there, Free Vers(e) looks at a cross-section of Edwin Morgan's work. This special episode is for anyone who loves poetry, Scotland, Edwin Morgan, or just learning something new.

*CW/TW content/trigger warning: homophobia & violence from 35:26-38:23*

In this section there is a reading & brief discussion of Edwin Morgan's poem 'The Pink Triangle,' which deals with gay men's persecution during the Holocaust.

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Audio Summary

00:00-26:55 Interview with Andrés Nicolás Ordorica

26:56-30:14 'The Loch Ness Monster's Song' & a note on Morgan

30:15-35:25 'The Unspoken' & World War II

35:26-38:23 'The Pink Triangle' (CW/TW homophobia & violence)

38:24-45:25 Jackie Kay, Section 28, & Edwin Morgan's privacy

45:26-47:56 'Strawberries'

47:57-Finish - What to Read Now: Annie & Éadaoín's recommendations

(& a spoiler for our next episode!)

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Links:

StAnza Poetry Festival - https://stanzapoetry.org/

Andrés Nicolás Ordorica website - https://andresordorica.com/

and Twitter - https://twitter.com/andresnordorica?lang=en

Edwin Morgan at the Scottish Poetry Library - https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/edwin-morgan/

The Second Life, Edwin Morgan Trust - https://edwinmorgantrust.com/the-second-life/

As promised, the bonus feature of some content that we couldn't fit into Episode 3!

This is a small miscellany of discussion, mentions, epiphanies, and diatribes, featuring some of mine & Annie's favourite poets. Social media links below.

Free Vers(e) is on the 2021 StAnza poetry programme! StAnza, Scotland's Poetry Festival, is set to run an incredible series of events from 6-14 March this year, most of which are free and online, featuring poets like Jericho Brown, Will Harris, Naomi Shihab Nye, Roger Robinson, Ink Asher Hemp, Imtiaz Dharker, Nadine Aisha Jassat, and our podcast compatriots, the Dead Ladies Show!

Free Vers(e) will be airing a special bonus episode for StAnza on gay poet, and Scotland's first Makar of modern times, Edwin Morgan, on Tuesday 9 March, 6-6.45pm GMT. Tickets are FREE. Donations to StAnza encouraged.

Check out stanzapoetry.org/festival (or @stanzapoetry on IG and Twitter) for more information.

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Audio Summary

00:00-13:06 -- Introduction & Discussion of two poems by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza

13:06-21:53 -- Shout-outs for Harry Josephine Giles, Gray Crosbie, Nat Raha, Vahni Capildeo and Rachel Plummer, feat. rant against TS Eliot.

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Socials

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza -- Twitter @sadqueer4life & website https://joshuajenniferespinoza.com/

Harry Josephine Giles -- Twitter @HarryJosieGiles & website https://harryjosephine.com/

Vahni Capildeo -- via Poetry Foundation https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/vahni-capildeo

Nat Raha -- via Boiler House Press https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/of-sirens-body-faultlines

Gray Crosbie -- Twitter @GrayCrosbie

Rachel Plummer -- Twitter @smaychel & website https://rachelplummer.co.uk/

Content warning: this podcast discusses trans issues, with mentions of trans violence and transphobia.

(There are further content warnings in the episode itself.)

This episode brings you a rattlebag of poems from trans poets! Opening with a discussion of the Netflix documentary Disclosure (2020), Free Vers(e) looks at some of the most exciting trans and nonbinary poets writing today.

(There was so much to discuss, we'll be releasing a further bonus episode with even more poets...)

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Links --

Travis Alabanza, We Know Visibility Well:

https://www.qxmagazine.com/2019/03/we-know-visibility-well/

Danez Smith on Poets.org:

https://poets.org/poems/danez-smith

Eileen Myles, An American Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53965/an-american-poem

The webcomic Eadaoin and Annie mention is, of course, Check, Please!: https://www.checkpleasecomic.com/

The thread Annie mentions is *not* about Star Trek, but Marvel(!), and is on Robin Stevens' Twitter here: https://twitter.com/redbreastedbird/status/1274681395881877506?s=20

This month, in the wake of the BLM movement and Juneteenth, we are participating in #PodcastBlackout. Instead of our scheduled episode, we're amplifying black queer podcasts, and other organisations advocating and fighting for equity and the end of systemic racism.

We have been active on our Instagram feed this month, and many resources that offer support to and learning about the BLM movement are saved to our highlights. We encourage you to donate, if you can, and be an outspoken activist in this movement.

Partly inspired by our great predecessors History is Gay, we're listing here the Black-created podcasts that you should check out and financially support if possible:

**Black, Queer podcasts:**

This QPOC Life - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-qpoc-life/id1300307098

AfroQueer - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/afroqueer/id1411257149

Category Is... A Black Gay Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/category-is/id1437814766

Queer WOC - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/queerwoc/id1216737914

Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hoodrat-to-headwrap-a-decolonized-podcast/id1279429651

**Black History podcasts:**

Black History Buff Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/black-history-buff-podcast/id1412528674

Noir Histoir - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/noire-histoir/id1215536989

**Organisations to Support/Donate to if you can:**

UK-based-

UK QTIBIPOC Hardship Fund - https://uk.gofundme.com/f/nepjh-uk-qtibipoc-emergency-relief-amp-hardship-fund

UK BLM Fund - https://uk.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund

AZ Mag & Black LGBTQ+ Creatives - http://azmagazine.co.uk/donate/

Free Black University fund - https://uk.gofundme.com/f/the-free-black-university

Black Minds Matter - https://www.gofundme.com/f/black-minds-matter-uk

US-based-

Breonna Taylor GoFundMe - https://uk.gofundme.com/f/9v4q2-justice-for-breonna-taylor

Marsha P. Johnson Institute - https://marshap.org/donate/

Black AIDS Institute - https://blackaids.org/donate/

Trans Cultural District - https://www.transgenderdistrictsf.com/donate

LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund - https://www.lgbtqfund.org/donate-1

House of GG - https://houseofgg.org/

Trans Justice Funding Project - https://www.transjusticefundingproject.org/donate/

The Okra Project - https://www.artsbusinesscollaborative.org/asp-products/the-okra-project-sponsored-project/

Black Trans Travel Fund - https://www.blacktranstravelfund.com/donate

For the Gworls - https://www.artsbusinesscollaborative.org/asp-products/for-the-gworls-rent-and-gender-affirming-surgery-fund/

Homeless Black Trans Women Fund - https://www.gofundme.com/f/homeless-black-trans-women-fund

In the second episode of the new Free Vers(e) podcast series, Eadaoin and Annie look at gay rights through history in the UK, Ireland, and Germany, leading into a discussion of queer stories from World War II.

Content warning: from 40:55-45:50 of this episode, there is explicit detail of persecution and torture within Nazi concentration camps. There are two further content warnings within the episode itself to warn you ahead of time.

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Episode Summary

00:00-10:30 Queer Pop Culture

10:30-28:25 Brief history of queer rights in the UK and Germany

28:25-48:54 Queer persecution under the Third Reich

48:54-1:12:19 Stories of Queer Love from the 1930s and 1940s

1:12:19-end What To Read Now: Annie and Eadaoin's Recommendations

Bonus Valentine's Feature: Section 28 & Sex Ed by Free Vers(e)

In the first episode of the new Free Vers(e) podcast series, Dr Eadaoin Lynch and Annie Rutherford discuss the untold personal story of two World War I poets, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.

Music originally composed and performed by Tamsin Dearnley.