Meet Omar

Omar Majeed is a local Hereford Poet.  Born in Crewe, Cheshire he grew up in Hereford having attended the Cathedral School and studied photography at Hereford Art College. Later on he went to Kingston upon  Thames, initially to study journalism, but his creative instincts lead him into a degree in Graphic Design.  Now back in Hereford he works as a copywriter and is studying fine art. He does the occasional poetry reading, makes short films for fun with friends and is reworking his passion project: SCree Magazine.

Omar’s Writing

We r all one we always win is a collection of over a decade’s worth of his poetry. Majeed can occasionally be found reading poems from this collection at events such as Booth Fest and most recently Courtyard Hereford’s Poetry Slam.

You can purchase a copy of his latest poetry book on his Etsy Shop: GravityEnterprises.

Here’s a taste of his way with words…

All That Is Within Our Grasp

We hold on tight to the hands
of those we love
as they hold on tight to us,

as if we may float away
should they or we
loosen our grip,

and still
through knuckles white
we let them slip.

“… In your hands a pine cone spirals, draped in cobwebs. A tiny spider crawls across your knuckles. Books lie beside us, unread as we chat in chapters about this and that.”

Notably at Apple Store Gallery in Hereford there are some copies available to buy. Apple Store Gallery is also where Majeed has done some readings at their poetry nights and he participated in a group art show last year for them. Omar has long been interested in poetry since his school days and won the Foyle Young Poet of the Year 2002. He’s had stuff published in Kingston’s Ripple mag and Short cuts competition pamphlet where his poem Duet was chosen as the winner.

One of Omar’s short stories about Aldous Huxley’s deathbed LSD experience was published in Askance’s Positional Vertigo collection available on paper copy and Kindle.

On Drawing

“Up until a couple of years ago I hadn’t done much drawing.  I mostly worked with text and photography.  My friends used to gather together in Lucy Baxendale’s living room and draw, an informal gathering that turned into a Drawing Club which meets every third Thursday at De Koffie Pot in the evening.  I was hanging out with everyone drawing.  They would give me a page out of their notebook and a pen and I would scribble stuff.  Gradually I wanted a ‘thing’ and started just drawing people from my imagination that I called my imaginary friends. This developed into the wooden painted sculptures that I showed at the end of my portfolio course. I like drawing people from the recesses of my head and then naming them. I’m thinking of giving them stories.”

His Magazine

“For about six years I was producing Gravity zine, which largely comprised of art submissions to a theme, and a bit of writing, mainly from Hereford creative and a few sympathizers.  The template involved putting out a call for work and then laying everything out and photocopying.  We had colour covers from Issue four letter-pressed by Fishbone press, and started hand sewing the binding. My friends would all get together regularly to help me put everything together. It was a collective endeavor to celebrate all the amazing work that was around and not a commercial venture.  I rarely made my print costs back. I gave everyone who contributed a copy and that was enough for a while.  SCree is an idea developed with Graphic Designer and Illustrator Johnny Burrage to make a more developed magazine, featuring articles about important contemporary topics and covering cultural events for which we can have an editorial team commissioning up to the minute articles and illustrations, and the layout is a bit more structured and professional. We want to be able to pay people for their work because artists have to work for free too often.  We are currently exploring funding models.  Keep an eye on the SCree Facebook page and Screezine.com for news.”

Among Majeed’s other creative projects he makes short films such as this one titled Lorem Ipsum made alongside with Johnny Burrage last year starring local musician Elspeth Anne Macrae. They’re working on a new one, titled Un Chien Errant (a lost dog.) He also writes semi-regularly for Minky Cuadra at Hereford City Centric blog.

Omar wrote a novella which he describes as a “transgressive noirish experimental thriller” called Dark under a pen name. The paper copies have sold out but it is available as a Kobo ebook here.

Check out the synopsis:

Ex-professional footballer Thomas Peterson receives a phone call alerting him to a disappearance that throws his already spiraling life into intrigue and disorder.  A transgressive, post-modernist thriller. Adults only.

More of Omar’s Poems found on SmallSongsOfHope.blogspot.co.uk
His other website: Is This An Art

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Connect with Omar 

Twitter: @MyDadsJacket
Instagram: @MyDadsJacket