for the love of cauliflower curry

"Ignore whatever is written about you good or bad. Do not listen to anybody.
If someone peers over your shoulder, jump up and hit him in the face.
Do not discuss your work, there's nothing to say about it.
Do not ask yourself why you write or for whom you write, but write instead as if each of your sentences could be your last."

Philippe Djian

John over Jullundur

john over jullundur
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

 

A kind of homecoming, looking out over the town my father was born in from the mosque he went to as a boy. the strange thing is that we can travel the world, maybe looking for something, and when we get there, it is still ourselves who we have to meet.

 

"A writer, when he's asked to discuss his craft, ought to get up and call out in a loud voice just the names of the writers he loves."

J.D. Salinger

Funny things happening on the way home from gigs # 65

mousepoet
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

 

well this is what happened on the way back from Salisbury yesterday

you've seen 'The Fly'? well in this case there was a mouse in the matter transporter

Portrait of Nek Chand

Portrait of Nek Chand
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

Poet John Siddique at Salisbury Poetry Cafe

Poet John Siddique at Salisbury Poetry Cafe
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

taken at final show of autumn tour 27/11/2008 by Tim Kidner

poet at work

poet at work
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

India is my father

india is my father
Originally uploaded by John Siddique

in search of my roots in india, i stop in a park in Jullundur to write my journal. I carry my father's photo from his wedding day in the notebook's back pocket. he was born here in Jullundur - left at partition and never returned. so i put his photo on the bench and write.

Two pics from Vienna

thanks to my fiend michi for these two pics from my recent Vienna trip.. I am Iron Man.. oh yeah

and a ubiquitous airport pic

Two new Jowonio tracks

 

I have posted two new Jowonio tracks at our myspace site
I Am U and Agency Of Chaos are now available to download in shiny 320 & FLAC. please share, and spread around, make videos to go with them, use them as you will. We just would like more people to hear our music.

Jowonio has been a quiet house for a long time, we hope you like these small offerings. Vocal duties on I Am U by my neighbour John the Wiz, all music by yours truly, dig those guitars baby...

Listen at Myspace

as the download function seems to not ne working on myspace you can get the ep from here gratis – share as you like

DOWNLOAD 320 mp3

DOWNLOAD FLAC

peace
John

A poem that a friend gave me....

which i keep in the back of my notebook, and sometimes read on trains, and planes, when i enter that secluded, almost cloistered space of travel, and i need reminding of the connections between life and life



Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

- Mary Oliver

Haiku for Barack Obama

Fifth of November 
A candle in the darkness 
- lighting our own flames 

John Siddique 2008

A Great Day on Planet Earth

Barack Obama Hope Sticker
Originally uploaded by PEEL

Barack Obama a mixed race man is the US president elect.. i never thought i would see the day, if find myself in tears of joy & relief at his speech, but it also makes me reflect on my country, Great Britain. Will we ever see the day when a person of Indian or Pakistani, or mixed heritage become prime minister? as that is the equivalent.

could we as a country give up our imperialism, greed, and war mongering? will we ever learn that peace is an active state not the tightness of security, or the absence of war?

As well as the celebrations that today so richly deserves, we must remember to look at ourselves.

This joyous day, perhaps this is the real beginning of the 21st century, when i sit down for breakfast in my cafe this morning, will the daily mail readers, the sun page 3 picture scanners, the 'good' people of west yorkshire where i live, and my country great britain, will they be inspired to hope & change and coming together to work for peace?

i pray, yes pray, that change is here.. that hope for change in the US becomes real, and that the Britain joins in with that hope and change.

BARACK OBAMA I Raise a toast to you and to the light of hope - Because today there is hope that even someone like me, a mixed race man with a strange name has a place in the world.

John Siddique - Poet - Photographed by Claire MacNamee

John Siddique - Poet - Photographed by Claire MacNamee
Originally uploaded by John Siddique