Hazel Winter’s first book of poetry, ‘I’m Scared of the Pig on the City Farm’, was informed by some curious happenings, from searching for Shaman in Siberia to gigging with Jah Wobble and the Blockheads

After writing and filming spoken word pieces over many years, Bristol-based singer/songwriter, guitarist, film maker and blogger Hazel Winter is publishing her first collection of poetry. Inspiration for the volume came from an eclectic range of exploits: there were ill- advised hitch hiking trips to Greenham Common, expeditions searching for Shaman in Siberia and playing guitar on Glastonbury Pyramid stage, but it wasn’t until the early morning pig-related trauma on Bristol’s Windmill Hill City Farm allotments that the poetic muse grunted her way into sentience. Pad down the winding pathways of muddy trotter-printed poetic fairyland with her and dip into ‘We Double-Dipped The Blockheads’ Humous’, shake your head in disbelief at ‘Three Drumkits on One Stage’, and blanch in empathic dismay at ‘Jah Wobble Said.’ Fans of Hazel’s band, the Flux Capacitors, will be familiar with these epic rhymes, as they’re often delivered between songs during their live sets

There’s more to Winter’s work than punchline humour, however. Things take a more poignant turn with ‘Bright/Burning’, which tackles miscarriage, while ‘Transvaginal Scan’ and ‘Menopause’ take on women’s health issues.

Hazel has spent 30 years playing in guitar bands including Bristol’s Blue Aeroplanes and has released four critically acclaimed solo albums on her own Death Row Bride label. She has been produced by John Parish and Adrian Utley (Portishead), and has played in Utley’s guitar orchestra with conductor Charles Hazelwood. She has been prolifically filming, editing and releasing music and poetry videos, working recently with filmmaker John Minton. This release of the first collection of her poems is the culmination of many years of writing and filming her spoken word pieces.

Working in the music industry and on her city farm allotment has proved a rich compost of inspiration over a period of many years, involving as it has, frequently toiling thigh-deep in excrement. The flowering of this collection has been illustrated by friend, artist and City Farm worker, Hope Talbot. ‘I’m Scared of the Pig on the City Farm’ is, in the words of another of Hazel’s bandmates and City farm Barista Lord Commander McNeil, ‘a quality product”.