all through the night

all through the night
the old bridge sings
sleet in the week

Paul Conneally
February 2016

Still Hungry

still hungry
after the full English
a hole in the road
the knowing that October
is followed by November

Paul Conneally
October 2015
Leicester

Sweat Stained Shirt

Some men perhaps enjoy shopping for women's clothes with their wife or partner. Most don't.

We do it anyway, grudgingly, looking for an excuse to get out of the shop and wait outside or in some nearby café or better still a pub.

In Cannes there are so many clothes shops to visit and it's so hot that it's worth going in just for the air conditioning. After a while most of the men will finish up outside leaning against walls, sitting on bollards, until their loved one appears perhaps with a bag of purchases or worse without, which means a visit to another shop.

the shop assistant
sips a glass of cold water
my sweat soaked shirt

Paul Conneally
Cannes 2015

One Eye Open

summer's end

the homeless man's dog sleeps

one eye open

Paul Conneally

Reims 2014

Shrouded in Steam

a street seller

shrouded in steam

takoyaki

Paul Conneally

Painting: Two Octopi by John Singer Sargent

ice cold fingers

ice cold fingers
the fishmonger displays
his finnan haddock

Paul Conneally
2013

iPhone haiku

Fire Alarm

fire alarm
the temp unbuttons
her winter coat

Paul Conneally

Fajitas In A Teepee

Fajitas In A Teepee
Paul Conneally September 11 2010
Intervention renga with Watermead Estate community Thurmaston, Leicestershire.
Co-ordinated by artist Jemma Bagley for Charnwood Arts
Music: Judge Smut Dub by Dum Dum Dum 1979
Paul Conneally and Jemma Bagley return to Thurmaston revisiting the site that originally led to "The Sound Of Water" a psychogeographic / splacist exploration of Thurmaston, in the Borough of Charnwood, Leicestershire through a series of haiku walks, workshops and interventions with people that live and / or work in the area.
The Sound of Water was a piece of public art originally coming out of a Section 106 planning requirement for public art as part of the development of the old Merrimans site next to the A46 in Thurmaston into the new 'Watermead' housing estate. Conneally and Bagley were commissioned through Charnwood arts via Charnwood Borough Council to work with "community groups" to produce haiku like texts that could be incorporated into metal works of art by Richard Thornton in the new housing development.
Conneally and Bagley decided to approach the Thurmaston Action Group, that was actively campaigning against the 'Watermead' development, rather than just go straight into a school (which they did later) or such to generate textual material. The developers were not told that the group working with the artists to put texts into the new site were actively opposed to and campainging against the development. Approached by the BBC to talk about the project Conneally felt he would get a better understanding of what he was actually doing by asking one of the action group to speak, alongside Bagley, instead of himself and the interview itself became part of the piece: Sound of Water Interview

Fajitas In A Teepee sees the artists returning to the now complete new development and working with the new residents during an afternoon that was intended to bring the new community together. Fajitas In A Teepee is an "intervention renga" - non of the praticipants set out to write a renga - they were randomly approached by Conneally (Little Onion) in roving renga master mode to link with and shift away from the previously written verse as the renga built up on recycled cardboard around the playground in the centre of the estate. The artists took time to engage with and discuss resident and workers feelings about living and working in and around the new Watermead development including how the design and build elements affected their mood and style of living.
The video of the boards that were written in situ and attached to the wooden fence around the playground are not the finished piece. The piece was and is the interactions in and with the space and the people on the day.
We exchange places with spaces and in doing so both are changed.

Underground

underground journey

the closeness of strangers
on my breath

Paul Conneally