I am a monthly resident at Stranded FM Utrecht with my show 'More Poetry is Needed' 

Listen back to all the shows, all kinds of everything in poetry and music.

The show name is based on an artwork by Jeremy Deller, commissioned as part of a Dylan Thomas 100 project [Pictured] More Poetry is Needed is plastered on a wide wall at the back end of Swansea's Quadrant Shopping Centre. A reminder to commercial shoppers and the lines of parked cars: everybody and everywhere could do with more poetry.

More Poetry is Needed

Recorded at Stranded FM. 

One hour in honour of John Cooper Clarke, the bard of Salford, the punk poet of Greater Manchester.

In this show, I take a poet, discuss their lives and works, and their cultural imprint on a place in time. Recording at the beginning of the month of May, an evening in Utrecht, the sun was showing its teeth, the days were stretching out, and the poets were well and truly licking their proverbial nibs.

#01 More Poetry Is Needed: John Cooper Clarke

Four weeks ago I found myself eating a tomato and cheddar cheese dusted bap made by Loraine in a car travelling from Telford to Inverness. The engine purred as we passed through the Yorkshire Dales, the hills folding onto one another towards the peaks of the Lake District and the town of Kendal, I swear I saw the shimmering ghosts of Wordsworth and Coleridge climbing slowly to the top of a distant hill.

There was only one song that could be played on the car stereo, the only song that made sense in that moment, ‘Summertime in England’ by Van Morrison.

And it was then I hatched an idea for this episode of More Poetry is Needed: An examination of the poets, the literary and musical greats mentioned in Van Morrison’s ‘Summertime in England’, one of my all-time favourite songs.

Recorded 24th June 2023 at Stranded FM, Utrecht.

#02 More Poetry is Needed: Summertime in England

From the Beat Generation to The Village, Arthur Russell collaborated with poets and musicians that defined artistic movements. The avant-garde cellist, singer and genius composer produced work from dance anthems in the world of echo to poetic compositions with Allen Ginsberg and more. Join me for an hour as we make our way through Russell’s diverse musical compositions and influences.

#03 More Poetry is Needed: Ballad Of The Lights

702 years ago this week, exiled from Florence, Dante Alighieri died amongst the shimmering gold mosaics of Ravenna and was laid to rest in the city at the Church of San Pier Maggiore.

In the third and final part of Dante's Divine Comedy, he is guided by Beatrice through the heavenly abode of blessed angels, Paradiso.

Join me for an hour of readings of Paradiso and many transcendental anthems and poems of the upperworld.

Recorded live on 16 September 2023 at StrandedFM

#04 More Poetry is Needed: The Light of the Upperworld

The Halloween special of More Poetry is Needed with gothic poetry, howling goblins, giallo, Nosferatu, post-punkers, ravens, gibbons, and seemingly demons. 

Recorded at Stranded FM Utrecht, Saturday 14th October.

#05 More Poetry is Needed: Seemingly Demons

A show dedicated to the poet and songwriter Shane MacGowan whose music and writing I have always loved. He could build a character in a line, tell a life time in a few stanzas. I have a collection of songs from the early punk days to when he beautifully merged punk with Irish trad and then onto his days as his voice slowly faded yet somehow still held all its power of his past. I will also play some works by the legendary brummie Benjamin Zephaniah, who wrote about similar things to Shane, an immigrant experience, injustice, anger, love, always with humour, compassion and passion.

Thanks to special guest Ivan McConville who shared some nice words on Shane.

Recorded Saturday December 9th 2023 at Stranded FM Utrecht. Artwork by the exceptional Domino Whisker.

#06 More Poetry is Needed: A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day

A show dedicated to the intergalactic space probes Voyager 1 and 2 sent out into the universe in 1977, travelling at high velocity, dodging asteroids with messages onboard for extraterrestrials. With time these machines will disappear, where? We don’t know and maybe we never will. You cannot get more poetic than that!

Special guest and cosmonaut @gregjones99 joined live on air in @strandedfm, as we played music off Carl Sagan’s gold record (on board Voyager 2) amongst other cosmic anthems

#07 More Poetry is Needed: Beautiful Cosmos

Jesus is coming, look busy. Come with me as we flicker through the gloom, in this purgatorial place between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Tune in for a radio show dedicated the poetic works and music of and around Jesus Christ. 

We will roll that stone, we will open the curtains, we will fry that egg.

Recorded live at Stranded FM Utrecht March 30th 2024

#08 More Poetry Is Needed: Jesus Is Coming, Look Busy

As I prepare to head into the Cairngorms, I decided to do a show dedicated to the music of the highlands. 

Recorded live at Stranded FM Utrecht on Saturday, May 25.



#09 More Poetry is Needed: My Heart is in the Highlands

MORE POETRY IS NEEDED: ODE ON A GRECIAN BOY

Pictured are three miniature sculptures found by archaeologists at a Mycenaean acropolis. I spotted and photographed them over the summer while in Athens. The heads date from the 17th century BCE. These boys have been around for some time. 

Join me as we traverse the millennia soundtracked and serenaded by work inspired by the ancient beauty of Greece

Good to be back — μέχρι αύριο

#10 More Poetry is Needed: Ode on a Grecian Boy

MORE POETRY IS NEEDED: FORGOTTEN ENDS

I discovered a pot of poetic supermarket sushi that changed my life. It set me off on an investigation into Japanese philosophy through Wim Wenders’ film ‘Perfect Days,’ a collection of Japanese travel writing ‘Travels with a Writing Brush,’ and my memories of a trip to Japan five years ago, from the green pines of Arashiyama to bright Ukiyoe etchings in Osaka.

Join me and the voices of friends as we try to understand the wonders of Japanese nature, poetry and culture.

Photo taken during a performance of Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees in Karaoke Kan, Shibuya (2019)

Recorded live November 2nd at Stranded FM Utrecht.

#11 More Poetry Is Needed: Forgotten Ends

MORE POETRY IS NEEDED: Elsewhere, Walking in the Peatlands

First radio of the year from @strandedfm. 12pm NL, 11am IRE.

A special episode where I recite an essay published in @transcriptmagazine Issue One. 

The reading is a written documentation of a ten hour experiment conducted in August 2021: a walk from Leiden to Amsterdam in search of creative enlightenment. I intersperse each hour with music that reflects the landscape and circumstance I found myself in. I hope you enjoy. Lace up your boots, join my past self and my current self, my afterthoughts, on a stroll through the Groene Hart.

In the words of Bob Dylan in ‘My Back Pages’ —

“I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now’ 

Tracks:

Prairie - Oliver Coates
Smiling in Slow Motion - Mike Midnight
Marie - Henry Earnest
The Turning Ground - Tara Clerking Trio
Space 1 - Nala Sinephro
Midnight Blues - Pavel Milyakov, Yana Pavlova
Clouds Up - Air
Painful Memories - MDA Analog
Green Shower - Hiroshi Yoshimura
Lying Down - Frog of Earth
Boy 1904 - Jónsi, Alex Somers
Live Forever - Magic AL, Rosali
Solan Goose - Erland Cooper
Staying Here - Astrid Sonne

#12 More Poetry is Needed: Elsewhere, Walking in the Peatlands

"In late November 2022, I was in Utrecht, passing time before going into Tivoli for a concert by Einstürzende Neubauten. The fog was heavy and hovering with stubbornness as I wandered from the old canal banks of the centre through to the modern indoor mall, with its large-scale eateries surrounded by the construction sites circling the station. The lamplight struggled to make any progress through the dense and dark air. I had been to the venue only once before, earlier in 2022, at the end of June, to see Iggy Pop."

In this episode of More Poetry is Needed, I recite an essay called Two Nights of Noise at Tivoli' based on my experiences at the two concerts, where after I was left inspired by their adoration of sonic mayhem.

Read the published work on The Couch: https://thecouch.hethem.nl/two-nights-of-noise-at-tivoli/

The show went out live on Saturday February 22 2025 on Stranded FM.

Thanks to Melisa Cenik and Maia Keneney at The Couch.

Exceptional artwork for the title image by Kalle Mattsson (@buffalo_bill_gates), merging the smoking Blixa Bargeld with the deep ocean eyes of Iggy.

Tracklist:
Corale – Luigi Russolo, Antonio Russolo
The Pure and the Damned – Oneohtrix Point Never, Iggy Pop
The Endless Sea – Iggy Pop
Mass Production – Iggy Pop
I Wanna Be Your Dog (Live From The Aragon, Chicago, 1977) – Iggy Pop
Neuköln (2017 Remaster) – David Bowie
So Cruel – Depeche Mode (U2 cover)
From Her to Eternity (2009 Remastered Version) – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Awakening of a City – Luigi Russolo, Antonio Russolo
Kollaps – Einstürzende Neubauten
Back for Good (Radio Mix) – Take That
Wedding – Einstürzende Neubauten
Redukt – Einstürzende Neubauten
Sand – Einstürzende Neubauten

#13 More Poetry is Needed: The Mega Clang

Saturday morning radio all around the work of John Cale, maestro musician and producer. He made the viola sound like a steam train. 

John has been around, he’s 83. I saw him in Utrecht at the Tivoli last Monday, still rocking. There goes Johnny Cale, the browning banana, still showing his bright yellowish glow.

#14 John Cale, There's A Pigeon In My Window

As it was the week of my birthday, it felt like the right time to play you my favourites, poetry new and poetry old. This show went out live on @strandedfm, and I noted the passage of time.

We are all just flowers, rising from our pots.

#15 One Fine Morning for the Birthday Boy

MORE POETRY IS NEEDED: NÓISIN, NOW COMES THE SPRING

On Saturday 17 May Charlie was joined by Mark (@mtoallennon) of @noisincollective on the radio. 

We presented an hour of poetry and music for the bright threshold period between spring and summertime. It was the month of May and the days were only getting longer. Join us as we strolled around, through the ending and beginning of things, listening to the bird-chirps, smelling the aromas rising out of the foxgloves. The pollen count was high, and we are buzzing like the bumblebees.

Peader remixes, poetry, pagan, ethereal.

More Poetry Is Needed w/  Mark Toal-Lennon (Nóisin Collective)| May 17th 2025 | Stranded FM

MORE POETRY IS NEEDED: TIME GOES BY ON THE RINGWEG

Saturday 21st June 2025, the longest day of the year and the day the Ringweg or Ring road of Amsterdam, the A10, is being shut down and closed for a day of parties and other frivolity. All to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the city of Amsterdam. 

So in this episode I celebrated with the music and poetry of the motorway, the great loops, the passage of vehicles, stuck in traffic, or fuelled up and cruising on their way, the entry, the exit, the endlessness, can you smell the tarmac?

Strap in.

Tracklist
Overture (Bus) – Daniel Blumberg
Album: The Brutalist (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Dark blue – caroline
Music Video

LA – Amor Muere, Camille Mandoki, Concepción Huerta, Gibra...
Album: A time to love, a time to die

Autobahn – Single Edit – Kraftwerk
Album: Autobahn

Time Goes By – Kean Kavanagh
Album: The County Star

Roads – Portishead
Album: Dummy

Clouds – Maria Chiara Argirò
Album: Forest City

The Path Less Travelled – Vegyn
Album: The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

road – Duval Timothy
Album: wishful thinking

Mirror Mirror – Good Sad Happy Bad
Album: All kinds of days

X.U.Y. – Moin
Album: Belly Up

Handle – Officer John
Album: Handle

Love Is Overtaking Me – Arthur Russell
Album: Love Is Overtaking Me

Love Takes Miles – Cameron Winter
Album: Heavy Metal

#17 More Poetry Is Needed: Time Goes By On The Ringweg

Saturday 12th July 2025, I invite you to sit under the apple tree or stare at a balcony potplant, and ponder the wonders of a garden at summertime. 

I plan to bring some colours to your Saturday.

Recorded Live in Stranded FM Utrecht

#18 More Poetry Is Needed: Some Gardens in Summertime

Host of ‘More Poetry is Needed' @ Stranded FM, Utrecht

A writer from Dublin living in Amsterdam.
www.ciaolemagne.com

Writing on landscape and art — Radio shows — Travel Writing — Poetry — Guided Walks

More Poetry is Needed

Charlie Seadog