YORK poet, artist, songwriter, sage and raconteur Rory Motion, now in this third year of a mid-Wales stasis, heads back to his old stamping ground this weekend to play the Great Yorkshire Fringe.

He will be phrasing on a Sunday afternoon in The Basement at City Screen in a Pay What You Want gig at 2pm as he makes "a Senior Railcard-assisted return to York with more comedy, poetry, songs, impressions and handy lifestyle tips".

His latest hour of whimsical wandering and wondering is entitled Cigarettes, Whiskey And Wild, Wild Strawberries. "It's a bit of a throwaway title," says Rory. "It's just one lifestyle choice that's available where I live, and so are wild, wild, women, but that's just not as sustainable."

Sunday's 60 minutes will be a mixture of "classic material and new stuff". Classic material? "Rooney's Prayer [a football variation on The Lord's Prayer]; the 'Bird poem'...

..."and I've written eight or nine songs about life round here". "Round here" being Llanfyllin, Powys, mid-Wales. "That's my response to hearing just how much of the Arts Council's grants goes within the M25 radius, and coming across this trend on game shows that come out of the BBC where they're quite happy to brand anywhere north of the M25 with the slur of stupidity."

He despises the "hive mind" of the metro-centric world that reckons everything must come out of London, with its belief that we are all working for the benefit of the South East. Hence the alternative life of Cigarettes, Whiskey And Wild, Wild Strawberries is the one for him in Llanfyllin and a handy lifestyle tip for you.

What else in the world is setting Rory's pen in motion? "The World Cup and haircuts and haircuts at the World Cup. Like that Croatian defender Domagoj Vida; he looks like a Mexican Day Of The Dead fetishist," he says.

Haircuts, rather than the football in Russia this summer, will be drawing his wit. "It's all a bit goal-orientated, isn't it," he reasons.

Rory Motion: Cigarettes, Whiskey And Wild, Wild Strawberries, at The Basement, City Screen, York, Sunday, July 29, 2pm. Tickets: Pay what you want or £5. Box office: 01904 500600 or at greatyorkshirefringe.com