Clare Stewart is the featured poet at the next DIY Poets quarterly gig at the Maze, on Thursday, February 13th. I’ve seen Clare perform many times now and always enjoy her raging social commentary, thoughtful constructions and absorbing narratives. As the image makes clear, she is a goddess of rhyme and verse. Here are a few words from Clare:

I discovered DIY Poets at a night light gig a few years ago, when members of the audience were encouraged to write a poem on the theme of light, and then Frank read them out. My poem wasn’t very good but I decided to come to meetings anyway!!!  Knowing and performing with the other DIY-ers has been amazing: encouraging, challenging, amusing, bolstering.

I’m somebody with too much to say and poetry is the best way I’ve found of saying stuff that’s important to me while other people listen. A therapeutic talk-space.

I moved to Nottingham from south London about 24 years ago. I work as a self-employed transcriptionist which doesn’t pay much but it’s great not to have a boss. About three years ago, I married a man whose surname is the same as my Christian name (the universe clearly wanted us to be together) but I didn’t change my surname when I married on the grounds that Clare Clare sounds too much like a clown. And I have a 19 year old  daughter who’s currently at Confetti College.