Overview

The River Was a God is a trilogy of poetry shows from the Edinburgh Fringe. They were developed through performance on the London spoken word scene over the years immediately following the Arab Spring. London is full of revolutionary minded artists from all over the world - I learned so much from sharing the stage with them. The first, SCIENCE, LOVE AND REVOLUTION features spoken word pieces developed through performance on the London spoken word scene over the years immediately following the Arab Spring. London attracts people from all over the UK and from all over the world, different poetic traditions, musical traditions, different philosophies, religions and politics. The spoken word scene became a forum, kind of an international university and a wake up call for me. I felt challenged to think about my deepest beliefs. SCIENCE, LOVE AND REVOLUTION was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and then featured at StAnza, Scotland's International Poetry Festival, and has since toured the UK and US. But the success of this show only made me realize that I had left important questions unanswered. I tried to address them in the two following shows. The second show, BUILDING GOD, was a consideration of three revolutions, the Paris Commune, the Russian revolution and the Cultural Revolution in China. It was written with the attitude, This is what I think. If you don't like it, fuck off. To my surprise, many people found the show both beautiful and challenging. A typical response was that although they did not necessarily agree with all the ideas, it made them think they should take a closer look, not just accept the establishment verdict on these revolutions. BUT, they often added, it could never happen again. Things had changed too much. That was my challenge for the third show, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD. I wanted to imagine that it was possible. What would that be like.. especially, what would it feel like? The answer took the form of spoken word musical theatre:

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9781913432003

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Reviews

TIME OUT LONDON ***** I am awed by Morgan's passion, his humorous yet enraged intellectual appraisal... An energetic, clever, passionate survey of human life. THE SCOTSMAN **** One of those rare, passionate performances... bristling with energy and interesting ideas. If you want a bracing crash course in how to read history... with a f***ing blowtorch, look no further. A driving score by Michael Harding, supplemented by a smattering of saxophone solos from the poet himself, manages to complement the text without competing with it. LITRO ARTS MAGAZINE He was brilliant. I've never seen someone transform so powerfully and fully.... He spits out the words of sacrifice, suffering and revolution, of wisdom and enlightenment. What he says is radical, is political, but it's also wise. *** David's work is a lion's roar folded neatly into a snake bite and mailed to the Aristocracy of the world with a note saying 'Do not open 'til Election Day.' I've known David and his work for some time now and it never ceases to amaze. His themes are always current yet routed in history and experience. It's sometimes a slap across the face with a feathered glove or a musical note played and held constant, lifting you to lofty heights and then just as you reach the edge of the stratosphere it cuts, and leaves you cascading downward rushing past all the moments you just inhaled on the way up. He is hammer and tongue, passion and revolution, rebellion and nurture all in a single pen stroke. Tshaka Campbell, poet and spoken word artist The River Was a God makes history dance in the page, the head and the heart. It is the product of hundreds of books and a careful dialogue between intellect and imagination, an un-ignorable contribution from one of the most important political poets in the field today. Pete (the Temp) Bearder David isn't just a poet, he's a surgeon, using verse as a scalpel to dissect the human condition, taking it apart word by word, delving inwards to reveal God living in our very molecules, the same force that spins the planets relentlessly fights for mortal breath. Clare Ferguson-Walker, poet and artist David Lee Morgan echoes the howl of Ginsberg, mixing Shelley's passion for humanity with the revolutionary spirit of Che Guevara. I kid you not. David's poetry is, like the man, a force for change. Matt Panesh (aka monkey poet), President, UK Centre, International Theatre Institute About bloody time. Finally the release of a much awaited collection of works by one of the most expressive poets on the spoken word circuit. Salam Jones, writer David Lee Morgan is one of the only true revolutionary poets we have left in the west. These words will propel you from the very seed of our communal existence into a future we can barely imagine. David's work is controversial, it's provocative, while being astoundingly beautiful - everything poetry should be. And there's a generation of poets who learnt the trade through this trilogy. Lisa Luxx, poet, essayist and activist

Author Information

David Lee Morgan has travelled the world with his saxophone, as a performance poet and musician. He has won the London, UK, and BBC Slam Poetry Championships, as well as a fair number of club slams in the UK and the US, including Soul City Arts and the Nuyorican. He has featured at poetry festivals and events all over the UK, Ireland and the U.S. including StAnza (St. Andrews, Scotland), Lingo (Dublin, Ireland), the Seattle Folk Arts Festival, and the Isle of Wight Festival, where he opened for Fleetwood Mac (sadly, not on the same stage). His spoken word show, Science, Love and Revolution, received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and was featured at StAnza, the international poetry festival in St. Andrews, Scotland. He is a longstanding member of the Writers Guild, and holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. He lives in London, grew up in the USA, was born in Berlin, and considers himself a citizen of the planet. He has been published in The Wooster Review, The Delinquent, The Human Rights Anthology, Huffington Post, Prowl, Schnews and Indigo.

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