Mike Smith Rhythm & Rhyme

Mike charges on a £2 per-person attending basis, inclusive of expenses up to 50 miles in total, ensuring that organisers can plan events with some financial confidence.

10% of sales of publications to the host!

What the critics might say:

'Shallow, simplistic, superficial. A Triumph!'

Sir Christopher Wren

Said: "I’ll dine with some men.

If anyone calls:

“I am designing St. Paul's."

(Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 1905)

So, let’s call upon those people

Who passed on

This rhythm and rhyme

To witness that we’re doing

What they did all the time.

Let’s write it as we feel it -

With no Literature degree:

And if it’s good enough

For you to share -

It’s good enough for me.

"Brilliant! He puts into words just what I feel."

"I enjoyed your book of poems; they made me smile, brought tears to my eyes, made me angry - especially where children are concerned."

BEFORE.... "I don't like poetry!" AFTER.... " I could be persuaded!"

"Set my feet tapping throughout. Brilliant! This isn't how I remember poetry at school!"

“I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your amusing, clever way of looking at life and your rhythmic style. How do you do it?!”

"An evening of performance poetry inspired by a working visit to Nigeria cleverly evoked the whole feel of a short time spent in Lagos, from desperate searches for a football match on the hotel T.V. to innovative bartering techniques and the responsibility large corporations should have to impoverished countries like Nigeria. A tremendous evening of imaginative, innovative tales which give a whole new perspective to the ‘poetry’ word.”

"Brilliant performance last night. A word-smith in action. Such vibrant energy and talent. Really enjoyed the evening. Thanks for the laughter."

"Thanks very much for putting on the performance last night. We enjoyed it very much and certainly the people in the audience did. It was such a very entertaining evening, offering something different to our social programme in the village."

Mike Smith - Rhythm & Rhyme

'Ah, but is it poetry?'

I hear some people say:

Merely flimsy whimsy ...

Simple rhyming ...

Childish play ...

It’s what it is, I answer;

Define it as you will;

It’s not so much yer Shakespeare -

It’s more yer Benny Hill.

It’s not limerick or quatrain,

Or a classic villanelle ...

It’s not an ode or elegy

Or even dogerelle ...

It’s not sonnet, epic, ballad,

Free form or haiku;

It’s not a given form at all -

Not even clerihew:

Performances for adults can last as long as you would like, and vary between one and two hours ...or earlier if people start falling asleep.

Let’s feel it for its rhythm,

Let’s hear it for its rhyme,

Let’s sing it for its music,

Let’s share it all the time,

Till hearts and minds and bodies

By poetry are enchanted:

Arise! Arise! Lift up your souls!

Poetry Licence granted!

Let’s feel it for its rhythm,

Let’s hear it for its rhyme,

Let’s sing it for its music,

Let’s share it all the time,

Till hearts and minds and bodies

By poetry are enchanted:

Arise! Arise! Lift up your souls!

Poetry Licence granted!

Poetry’s our birthright.

Let’s win it back to be

The heartbeat of our living:

Our emotional ABC.

Let poems sing of everything,

Of matters great and small,

From grain of sand to universe,

Of anything at all.

Let’s feel it for its rhythm,

Let’s hear it for its rhyme,

Let’s sing it for its music,

Let’s share it all the time,

Till hearts and minds and bodies

By poetry are enchanted:

Arise! Arise! Lift up your souls!

Poetry Licence granted!

A brief extract from 'Poetic Licence'

Mike Smith

Pump up the language!

For audiences of all ages

HEALTH WARNING Poems can permanently alter the state of your mind.

'Rhythm & Rhyme - With Time for a Song'

Formerly www.ordinarilyspeaking.co.uk