Publications: The Men Pomes, Planet Middle Age & Planet Young
A favourite son of both Manchester and his home town Liverpool, Gerry Potter is an award-winning poet, playwright, director, actor, workshop leader and the creator and destroyer of the infamous gingham diva Chloe Poems. His previous publications as Chloe included Universal Rentboy [Bad Press, 2000], Adult Entertainment [Route, 2002] and Li’l Book o’ Manchester [Mucusart, 2007]. A former writer in residence at Manchester’s Contact and Greenroom theatres, he has a reputation for putting his Scouse voice on the line, a soaring sing-song accent, is strong on poetry and strong on the causes of poetrym, and has the distinction of having his collections in both the poetry and philosophy sections of Harvard University library.
www.facebook.com/GerryPotterPoetFanPage & www.youtube.com/gerrypotterpoet

The Men Pomes
Because men don't say poems
Poetry/Adult | ISBN 9780957014107 | pb | 144pp | £8.50

 

Is there a time somewhere I don't know
Where The Man stood alone
Atop his ivory tower and declared to the world
That his voice
Would be the only voice obeyed?
In that same time-space I don't know,
Did all the other men agree?

- from Cake

 

Gerry's third collection of autobiographical, domestic-fantastic theatre-verse for Flapjack Press explores the intimate nature of men. Here is where dreams and reality are inescapable and inexhaustible. It's where humour liberates and empathy empowers, where dark Catholicism collides with secular provocation and men resonate with melancholy and passion. Here, lives are led.

 

"Formerly a hero/ine of the poetry circuit as his alter ego Chloe Poems, Gerry now takes to the stage in his own right. This is poetry like nothing you've heard before - asking with a wry smile what it means to be male, Scouse, working class and gay. You don't have to be any of these to find The Men Pomes heartbreaking and heart-mending, with a roar of anger one minute and a roar of laughter the next: a statement of pride, joyfulness and scorn in the face of bigotry. Gerry Potter is a world-class performer at the height of his powers, delivering intelligent, humane and searching poetry that makes us all ask who we are and who we want to be" - Jo Bell, Director National Poetry Day

 

 

Contents: Spotty; Listen; The Killer Pumpkin; sometimes the sky; Little John; The Boogie Man; There, That Bloke Under The Tree; And Then The Man Said; Love Those Frankenstein Guys; The Ballad Of Jimmy Butler; Comrade Brother; Bashed; Somewhen; A Statue To See-Anne; A Little Bag Of Sad; Death, Me And A Taxi; Jimmy Bling; The Shmuck; Community Of One; Men In The Ink; Lonely Seeks Moonbeam; Tiny Bangs; The Quiet Place; How Do You Respect Fuck All?; Betting; In A Liverpool Moment; Folly Butler And Her Bad Man Blues; Folly Butler And The Blossom Of Fireworks; The Man Crone; Gone Fission; A Middle-Aged Muddling; And When I'm Old; Gordon; The Telling Man; Oh Father; Jesus The Babe; Elvis, Me And Big-Bang Momma; Slap; The Magician; Cake; Of Men; Bangs His Chest And Roars War At The Universe

Planet Middle Age
C'mon, Gerard!
Poetry/Adult | ISBN 9780955509279 | pb | 128pp | £7.50

 

Planet Middle Age,
A show on Radio Old.
A repeat with a quizzical demographic
And I am and not quite tuned into
Its frequency.

- from Planet Middle Age

 

Gerry's second instalment of autobiographical poetry intimately explores his own love, grief, friendships, family and journey into Planet Middle Age. It's a journey with jostling and lost tickets, the strength and vulnerability of firsthand secrets and seats warm from the strangers that sat there before, and the intensity and passion that takes us from one planet to another.

 

"In his last collection, Potter wrote about killing off his alter-ego Chloe Poems and discovering his Scouse voice. His true voice has never been more expressive than in this latest collection. Middle age has not dampened his talent. Here are poems that will amuse, move, inspire and provoke. Long may he continue" - Paul Burston

 

Contents: Middle-Aged Spread, Episode IV; Blank; Visions Of A Holy Isle; In My In Me; Our Paul; Mary Mac; Mr Feast Face; The Witherers; Folly Butler And The Ninety-Nine Soldiers Of Death; Folly Butler And The Ghosts Of The Dead; Folly Butler And The Life Of Death; Pantomimeism; Auntie Matter; Thirty-Six Hours; A Trilogy Of Vole, I-III; Pop-O-Matic Love; Don't Be A Dickhead, Gerry; The Memory Shop; Shaun's On The Moon; Hungry; You; Superb; Middle-Aged Spread, Episodes I-III; David; The Soldiering Of Soldiering On; It's A World, Things Happen; Summits Or Nothings; Sometimes I Get Lost; Got Lost; Multiples And Lies; Rough Day; Camp Me!; Planet Middle Age; Dream-Bound Inn; Pocket Of Love

Planet Young
There's no point jangling if you don't hear the jingle
Poetry/Adult | ISBN 9780955509230 | pb | 122pp | £7.50

 

Ordinary people press their ears to the wall.
There's a sound,
A whispering.
"The imagination is God.
The imagination is tell-tale.
The imagination is all..."

- from The Imagination Is God

 

Welcome to Planet Young, the debut collection "as himself" from the overwhelmingly engaging Gerry Potter - the poet formerly known as Chloe Poems. Rich with spell-weaving imagery and rhapsodic concepts, biographical, confessional and gloriously poetic, this lyrical journey thrusts you ever forward on a magical history tour, brake-slamming and horn-pounding through the domestic and fantastic of his formative years in Liverpool.

 

"If you want to visit Planet Young for one last time, you will finally be able to" - Studio Salford

 

Contents: My Scouse Voice; Battered Blue; Treza; Tiffany Bling; I Never Went To Eric's; Planet Young; One Moment Please; Brian; Brian And Gerry; Volcano, I-VII; The Sons Of May Butler; Drunks And The Ghosts; My Factory; Fidgetin'; Winged; Folly Butler; Blue Eye; A Summer Night's Daydreaming; Monster Me; The Day An Innocent Ate My Mum; A Trilogy Of Tramp, I-III; The Imagination Is God

Gerry's works are available from the online shop [via PayPal or cheque payable to Flapjack Press], from Cornerhouse in Manchester, News From Nowhere in Liverpool, Amazon & through all major bookstores' online ordering systems.

 

© Flapjack Press, 2011