Personal Poetry
Christine & Rommi Smith (poet-performer)
Christine Bousfield is a Bradford-born poet, who spent 27 years researching and teaching, first in Further Education, and (from 1989) in Higher Education, where she taught Literature, Comparative Arts, and Psychoanalysis.
She developed creative writing on her MA Courses, working on both poetry performance and poetry as therapy, and has run many workshops and performances outside the university. She often uses dreams and ‘free association’ in her own poetry, and is convinced of the value of writing, humour, and song as a ‘working out’ of memory and history—in her case, sometimes focused on experiences and histories in the Bradford area.
She is also fascinated by poetry's connections with music. She used to be a classical singer—more recently performing jazz standards with a band. The poetry she writes often borders on song (its original purpose), and is widely published, in national and international magazines (for example, The North, Envoi, Orbis, Dream Catcher and Aesthetica); in anthologies (for example, Sometimes (2006, Cinnamon Press), Images of Women (2006, Arrowhead Press), Mind and Body (2006, Fighting Cock Press); on CD, for example Thinking On (2000, Soundpie), Keep Hold of the Line (2004, Soundpie); and as The Weekend Poem on BBC Knowledge Text. Her pamphlet, Tense Formations, was shortlisted by Cinnamon Press for their Poetry Collection Award in 2005, and Between Stones was shortlisted in 2008, and three of her poems are to appear in the Cinnamon Winners' Anthology.
She has worked alongside poets such as Rommi Smith, Ken Smith, Peter Sansom, Geoff Hattersley, Ian Macmillan, and Gerard Benson.
Several years ago, Christine started a poetry jazz group, Nightdiver, in which the band performs her poetry, developing its musical implications. They perform in festivals and events in the North and beyond, for example at Cheltenham Literature Festival, and Riverlines, York.
has written a song, ‘Remémoration’, with composer Emma Nielsen (Royal Northern College of Music) for Leeds Lieder at Leeds Music College. This was performed by Manchester mezzo soprano, Carolina Krogius and pianist, Andrew Dunlop, in a recital at Leeds College of Music on 13th October 2007, and at the Royal Northern College of Music in March 2008. A CD of the work is available.