Poetry: Angus McKenzie-Davie
Poetry: Alan Morrison: Shadows Waltz Haltingly and the Shadow of Huntington’s
For Alan Morrison the task of tackling poetically his mother’s fifteen year-plus fight with Huntington’s Disease, and its ultimate claiming of her, was an emotionally and psychologically thorny one. But so deeply had he been affected by witnessing the many harrowing stages of his mother’s illness that he inevitably attempted to assimilate it all through the expressive medium which comes most naturally to him: poetry.
Poetry: Kuli Kohli: Rag Doll
Poetry: Jonathan Andrews
Jonathan Andrews’ poetry recounts a lived experience of autism – a perspective, which is too often ignored in favour of second-person narratives of what an autistic person seems to be thinking or feeling. He feels short, evocative snippets of this experience are the most powerful – and that the poetic form is the perfect medium to convey these.
Poetry: Debjani Chatterjee: A Miscellany
Award-winning poet-translator, Debjani Chatterjee MBE, shares a few poems from her collections, including her latest book 'Do You Hear the Storm Sing?' (Core Publications, winter 2014). She has been called 'a rainbow spirit' (Paul Beasley) and 'a voice of rare originality' (David Morley).
Poetry: Claire McLaughlin: Remembering Blue
Poetry: Penny Pepper: Lost in Spaces
Poetry: Julie McNamara: Chaos Calls
Julie McNamara has been a tour de force within the field of Disability Arts for more than twenty years. Her current theatre work: Let Me Stay is a recipient of an Unlimited 2014 award, and is currently touring. Julie has also had her poetry published in several anthologies. Below Dao previews a selection from her first collection Chaos Calls, published by Vital Xposure.
Poetry: Owen Lowery: Otherwise Unchanged
Writing and studying poetry was initially part of Owen Lowery's recovery following a spinal injury incurred while competing in a charity judo tournament as a young professional sportsman. Having recently won an Unlimited Award, Lowery's first major poetry collection, 'Otherwise Unchanged', was published by Carcanet in 2012. The work speaks in a range of voices, drawing from poetic traditions far and wide.
Poetry: Carol Robson: Just Saying How It Is
Carol Robson loves the performance genre. She self-published her first collection Words of Darkness and Light in 2012, which will shortly be published as a second edition by Thynks Publications. She writes poetry on various themes but is passionate on issues of gender, sexuality, ageing and disability.
Poetry: Wendy Young
Wendy Young began a poetry blog as well contributing reviews for Dao in 2013, following involvement with Survivors’ Poetry. She says: "Writing about life experiences through truth and humour is a survival mechanism. Poetry is therapy and any chance to express hidden darkness is a reason to live."
Poetry: John William Brown
John William Brown is a poet, painter and performer based in Norwich. He has published in various anthologies and has produced a chapbook of his drawings and poems, Private View (1997). He was joint editor of the now defunct magazine for marginalised persons, State of Mind (2004-6). John submitted a selection of illustrated poems from his published works.
Poetry: Anthony Hurford: The Staff of Asclepius
Poetry: Richard Longstaff: 'A Curlew Calls'
Sean Burn: Is that a bruise or a tattoo?
Gini: Con.Text: the major and minor scroll
Gini was awarded a Diverse Perspectives commission to make creative responses to conversations with artists and audiences at Salisbury Arts Centre. The scrolls she produced give a creative insight into peoples' reactions to work exhibited and their reasons for coming to the Arts Centre.
Creative writing: A selection of short stories by Lynne E Blackwood
Lynne Blackwood started writing in April 2012 after illness terminated her professional activity. She is of Anglo-Indian descent and her emotional heritage plays a strong part in her writing sensitivities, reflecting a mosaic of experiences and cultures. DAO is proud to present a series of her short stories.
Song: Alas Atos from Making Waves Community Choir
Making Waves is a left/ green community choir, based in Cullercoats, which has a policy of freely sharing their produce. Oliver Swingler from the choir sent the following song to DAO. He says that if anyone else wants to record it and publish (with acknowledgement of Oliver and the choir), they are most welcome.
All The Lonely People: an anthology by Plum Tree Books
'Listening to the Dark' a selection of poetry by Peter Street
OUT WRITE poetry anthology by Norwich Pride writing group
Underwater Con.Text by Gini
A selection of poetry by Saradha Soobrayen
Headlining Normality: The Consultation by John O'Donoghue
At Shape's Headlining Disability debate on media representation of disability, Will Self, in conversation with Mike Shamash, posed the question of what it would be like to live in a world where disability didn't attract prejudice or stigma? In response writer John O'Donoghue imagines such a parallel universe...
View the Con.Text by artist and writer Gini
View the Con.Text is a unique audience engagement project devised by artist and writer Gini. Visitors were invited to take a comfy seat and chat about their own journeys and their thoughts on the 'The View from Here' exhibition, which took place at Salisbury Arts Centre from 9th November to 23 December 2011.
Neglected Voices - a cycle of transcription poems by Allan Sutherland
Short story: A Dying Breed by Ann Young
Poems on life in the asylum by David Trippas
Nothing to Fear - a short play by Bob Williams-Findlay
Poetry: Sarah Ismail
Poetry: Maureen Oliver
Poetry by 'Deaf Bitch'
Short story: Matt Padmore's 'Can Zombies Run?'
New writing: Peter Street's Memoirs
Peter Street was born in Wigan in 1948, the illegitimate son of an Anglo/Irish cotton mill worker and an Irish/Spanish glassworker. He was raised in Bolton by his mother and a stepfather: Thomas Edgar Street. Peter has six major collections to his name, and was a war poet in 1993 during the Bosnian/Croat conflict. He was recipient of a Royal Literary Fund grant in 2008.
Here he recalls memories from the first chapter of his life: "Disability has been a big part of my life. It is who I am. In many ways it has been the making of me..."
The Explorer - a cycle of poems by Allan Sutherland
Peter Street remembers Jimmy
As the Crow Flies - a novella for younger readers by Peter Street
Short stories by Colin Cameron
Peter Street: Collection of poetry and short stories
Peter Street's poetry conveys seminal moments. With an economy of words and a crafted elegance, he tells it like it is. Whether he's reminiscing on the power of childhood friendships, recounting life and death experiences, or writing about disability and impairment. His war poems are incredibly powerful and totally overwhelming descriptions of what he witnessed as a war poet attached to a relief unit at the height of the conflict in Bosnia.
Karen Sheader: Planet of the Blind
The Saga of the Job Seeker by John Exell
John Exell explores Job Seeker's Psychosis in an extended poem written during the recession in the 1990s