Little Hulton's JB Barrington is no longer up and coming, he's kind of arrived. Performing his Salfordian verse at literature festivals and, this week, at the Shelagh Delaney Day event where he was commissioned to write a tribute poem to the city's most famous daughter (see here), JB is the city's must read and must see poet.
In the last month, he's been on the same bill as Peter Hook and Ren Harvieu in Terry Christian's Mad Manc Cabaret (see here), and numbers Johnny Vegas amongst his fans.
JB's first book of poetry, Woodchip, Anaglypta and Nicotined Artex Ceilings, comes with a warning - `Contains poems that rhyme' and sets the tone for verse that, like Salford bard John Cooper Clarke before him, speaks to people who wouldn't go near a poetry event.
These are poems of everyday life, love and, occasionally, anger, with Salford themes old and new slapped through them as they gallop along with a smile on their face handing out memories of boozed nights in the pub, spiteful gossip in The Bingo Queue, rubbish foreign holidays and the problems his mam has with texting.
There's a wicked poem about an ex lover You Had Me - and some tender words for elderly lovers...
"She holds his hand
He's no longer as strong as what once he could be
They fell in love in Salford 1953..."
And JB's got plenty to say about the rubbish social class system that underpins everything rubbish about society... Is It Fair?
"I want fair and square just and honest
I want them free from discrimination
I wanna snap and unwrap the reels of red tape
In the corridors of administration
Where the regulators regulate
In favour of the greedy
Where a wave of cuts make and create
More vulnerable and needy..."
There's almost two dozen poems crammed into Woodchip, Anaglypta and Nicotined Artex Ceilings, all written in an easy Salford twang with JB's wry wit shining the way towards what all good art should be a warts and all mirror of recognition and reflection.
JB Barrington
Woodchip, Anaglypta and Nicotined Artex Ceilings
£7 including p&p
You can get the book through JB's Facebook page The Words Escape Me click here
There's more reflections from JB on his Wordpress blog - click here
See also previous Salford Star interview with JB Barrington click here
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