DIY Poets

Sue Allen Talks Poetry
Interviewed by Martin Dean

M. How long have you been performing poetry?
S. About 15 years on and off.

M. What was your first break into performing poetry?
S. I first performed in a pub called THE DEAD POET at Holbrook in Derbyshire. I had been attending a poetry workshop and the facilitator talked me into doing it. I was instantly hooked and was soon into the open mic circuit across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

M. Tell me what inspires you to write.
S. I’m a bit of a magpie and pick up bits and pieces that I overhear or just come across. If I think, there’s something in that! Then I steal it, store it and use it at some point. I love music and will sometimes play with songs I like. I’m a people watcher and often take inspiration from what I see or overhear in cafés or in shops. I don’t take life too seriously, so I often try to put a comic twist on things. I read a lot so that can often spark an idea. I just love words really.

M. What do you think of the idea of poetry as therapy?
S. Yes there is something in that, but I would qualify it by saying it means different things to different people. Although I would say I have found writing poetry a therapeutic occupation, I don’t necessarily write for that reason. Writing and performing brings me joy and that’s therapy for me.

You can catch Sue in a featured set at The Maze, Mansfield Road, Nottingham on Thursday May 10th.

DIY Poets Quarterly Gig At The Maze 8th February 2018
Reviewed By Frank McMahon

First up was co compere Sue Allen who did some poems that she described as “being out of her comfort zone,” with lots of word play. Poems such as No Place for Poets with its image of “crushed between bus stop and litter bin” created vivid and sad images. I was also particularly impressed by Burning Through Skin.

The night’s other compere Andrew Martin delivered a set of typically topical and political verse, with subjects including job losses at Toys Are Us. He then gave the audience a choice between poems on Carillion, plastic pollution or the NHS. The audience chose Carillion. Andrew asked “Why are you so rash with corporate cash?” He finished with a poem against the idea of the Alpha Male, Alphafa Male, from his newly published book, Echoes of the Mind.

John Merchant’s poems included a polemic against those who want to pass the buck and evade responsibility. Especially impressive was Deal With It, which could be called an anti-procrastination poem.

Martin Dean kicked off his set with a poem for his wife’s birthday, which was ‘mostly nice’ called A Steal, with the following memorable lines; “cutting edge laser beam finger, from under my nose she stole my heart.” Other highlights included a poem set in Nantes, the town where Jules Verne played as a little boy. The poem; Jules Verne and the Giant Elephant includes the following evocative lines “the welding together of disparate lives” and the “silvered ribbon of history”.

Martin Grey
Martin’s set included a memorable and moving poem about a memory of going for fish and chips with his grandad when he was fifteen, “lard fried sustenance. “ “I’ll ask him all the questions I never thought to ask him at the time.”

John Humphreys

John delivered a typically powerful set. John’s first poem celebrated the art of Rachel Whiteread, the first female artist to win the Turner Prize. John called on us to “celebrate suffragettes of culture” the poem was called House, after Whiteread’s work of art House, which was sadly demolished not long after its creation by the local council. The house was “cracked, missing, peeling, rusted, empty, falling, silent, lost’ and ‘dusty with death’

Then there was an ode to prolific songwriter Will Oldham, of which there were no fans in the audience (John asked if there were any fans), who John noted had a “penchant for strange, darkly mysterious imagery.” It was also an ode to the EP, that musical half way point between single and LP. Memorable lines included “ I refuse these cup of fools”

John also mentioned his book “The Day I Swallowed the World” which has a range of powerful poems, with quite a few on the themes of art and music and is well worth reading.

Clare Stewart
Clare started off by recalling a memory of a Monday in January 2017, a ‘memory of comfortable irresponsibility” and a “warm duvet, a camouflage against accountability.”
Her next poem Metaphor for Life looked at the transience of beauty, “sparkly snowscape in the sink” and how she “can’t bear to throw out this prettiness. The narrator in the poem wishes that they had the “courage to spoil it”

Finally her poem Terror memorably evoked memories of childhood. The poem is about Clare’s younger brother, “alligators under the bed” and “he mustn’t know I’m scared. “

Our featured poet was Jake Wildeman who has not been performing poetry for that long, maybe a couple of years, but who has made a big impression within that short period.
Jake kicked off with a series of memorable and witty poems inspired by working in the Sue Ryder charity shop in Nottingham city centre.

There was a poem inspired by the Smiths, who Jake used to hate but has now started to like. He referred to This charming shop, a reference to both the charity shop and the Smiths. Jake explained that as his manager liked the Smiths, he liked his manager and therefore he began to like the Smiths. He further evoked the Smiths with the following phrases; “this charming manager” and “what difference does it make”? Other musical references linked to the charity shop were Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath.

Other poems described how Fear drives all that people do and ‘the driving force to all I do is fear. “
Loyalty is Dead where “even the greatest ego cannot outlast eternity”

I really liked Lady Autumn “season of bitter ice, dead trees and empty days, she has a boyfriend now”

I also liked Fire. Jake informs us that it’s not the Arthur Brown version, “she cannot be doused or snubbed out.”

There was a lovely poem Jake devoted to Leanne Moden, co-host of Crosswords open mic at the Malt Cross, called Busy, “always be doing something, always be busy.”

To conclude a very memorable set from Jake who seems to be getting better and better.

DIY Poets started fifteen years ago with the production of issue 1 of our free A6 zine. We wanted more people to read poetry. I had never seen anyone read a book of poetry on the train. We put the zines out in local bars and cafes. We got Arts Council funding for our first couple of years. We originally met monthly in the Peacock on Mansfield Road.

Another aim of DIY Poets is to encourage poets to submit their work so they can get their work in print, rather than send it to a poetry magazine in the hope of it getting picked but nobody sees it as the magazine has a national circulation of less than 300.

DIY Poets has developed a lot over the last fifteen years. In 2011 we started doing quarterly nights at the Maze and we are having our thirtieth show there on May 10th. In that time I have seen performers develop their confidence and stage craft. We give each DIY Poet five minutes each but also offer a featured slot of up to twenty five minutes.
We have also performed at Splendour, the Green Festival, Light Night and at Nottingham Poetry Festival.

When DIY Poets first started meeting we had about three people at the meetings. We now have between 15 and 20 people at meetings. We meet on the first Wednesday of the month 8pm upstairs at Broadway Cinema bar on Broad Street (wheelchair accessible with a lift). The first part of the meeting is a business (less boring than that sounds) section of the meeting, looking at poetry events and giving poets the chance to perform at those events. The second part is more informal where poets can show their poems to others in written form and give and feed constructive feedback.

We now produce 400 copies of DIY Poets which is now printed on Risograph by Dizzy Ink. We no longer have Arts Council funding but self-fund through members paying between £2 and £5 per month. We have just printed issue 40 of DIY Poets and have expanded to 16 pages. Poems should be submitted to diypoets@yahoo.co.uk and should be 25 lines or less. We also encourage poets to send images with their poems. The zines are full of images that hopefully compliment the poems.

On this website people can, among other things, find back issues of the zine, find out about DIY Poets events and read the blogs of other poets. We can also be found on Facebook.

Take a look at DIY Poets through the Left Lion lens.

Left Lion interview

DIY Poets At The Hop Barn Southwell, Notts 10th February 2018

A Poetry Collection by Andrew Martin

‘Andrew is a poet with strong political beliefs and a massive environmental and social conscience, which shines through in his poetry. He writes from the heart with a deep sense of integrity, and his poems are instantly recognisable, with a wit and wisdom that allows him to discuss big ideas in ways that are still fully accessible. Whether he’s talking about birch trees or global migration, fox hunting or bras, the British weather or Margaret Thatcher, Andrew’s sense of humour is always evident in his work, and his judicious use of puns, rhymes and wordplay gives his work a thought-provoking depth. He is a writer of many flavours, often funny, sometimes serious, but always open to new ways of looking at the world’.
– Leanne Moden
Leanne Moden is a poet and producer from Nottingham. She is the director of Crosswords Spoken Word Open Mic, and is part of the team at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature.

‘Andrew’s poetry is inventive and playful with a definite voice. He has something to say and explores different poetic tools but always remains accessible and true’.
– Henry Normal

Henry Normal is a writer, poet, TV and film producer, and co-founder of Nottingham Poetry Festival.

By Lytisha Tunbridge

Full of the excitement of the successful launch of Every Last Biscuit, I decided that it was the time to branch out and take myself, and my pamphlet on tour. Abroad.

So, just before Christmas I hopped on a train over to Brussels and secured myself a slot at Speakeasy, the monthly spoken word event.
I happened on the Christmas Special so the event was somewhat larger than normal and there were about 150 people packed into the basement of the Piano Factory, now a collection of artistic spaces.
I was greeted on arrival by the irrepressible Mixy who was one of the compares for the evening, and Helene from the group Mididelapoesie, who interpret poems though films. We had a good chat and discussed diy poets and I invited them to get in touch with the group should any be over this way.
There was a vibrant mix of people of all ages and backgrounds performing in different styles. It was a game of three halves with a musical act to conclude. Sound a familiar format?
This being Brussels, it was a tri-lingual event. Having used all my French introducing myself, then concluding by thanking them for having me in Spanish (Not one of the 3 tri-lingual languages, but daftly my default ‘foreign’ language when under pressure). I read in English. Other performances were in a mixture of Dutch, French and English. There was a very positive audience and acts varied from classic poetry, through raps to duologues and dance. A very lively evening.
I would highly recommend Speakeasy to any poets heading out to Brussels (While we still can). You can get in touch with them on facebook.
If you’d like a copy of Every Last Biscuit, you don’t need to go to Brussels, you can either get it at Five Leaves Bookshop, or stop me for one when you see me.
Lytisha

RAPTURE by CAROL ANN DUFFY

PICADOR 2005
(PAPERBACK)

You know how we all have favourite books, that we come back to time and again, well for me Rapture is one of those. I’m not usually fan of love poems, I find them insincere and overly sweet. But Duffy finds a way of exploring love in all its many forms without turning to syrup.
For example, she can demonstrate a reawakening of love:

“I found the words at the back of a drawer,
Wrapped in a black cloth, like three rings
Slipped from a dead woman’s hand, cold,
Dull gold, I had held them before”

The aching pain of grief:

“love’s spinster twin”

And, of course rapture:

“Then love comes, like a sudden flight of birds
From earth to heaven after rain. Your kiss,
Recalled, unstrings, like pearls, this chain of words.
Huge skies connect us, joining here to there.
Desire and passion on the thinking air.”

I find her work profound and beautiful. What can I say? She’s made me a convert!

I have a serious Amazon habit – I know it’s contentious but there you have it, can’t stop reading and it’s so easy to order from Amazon…

At the moment, I’m reading Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, who’s an Australian Aborigine writer. It’s kind of magic realism writing, really absorbing, a long read, and not a particularly easy read but fascinating. I’m loving it though it’s taking me a long time to get through it – some of it is so spacey, you kinda have to read bits again to check you know where you are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpentaria_(novel)

I visited my brother recently and forgot to take Carpentaria with me, so I nabbed An Old Man’s Love by Anthony Trollope. Yes, a contrast, somewhat! Really interesting read. It’s making me a little bit despairing about the so-few choices of the main woman character, Mary Lawrie, and the awfulness of how she finds herself in this situation. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Mans-Love-Anthony-Trollope/dp/1978394721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509631787&sr=8-1&keywords=an+old+man%27s+love

I’ve also just bought Something Dark by Lemn Sissay and I’m looking forward to reading that, especially ahead of going to London on the 19th November for Lost for Words poetry workshop in the Foundling Museum, so am thinking about all things adoption and fostering… https://www.amazon.co.uk/Something-Dark-Lemn-Sissay/dp/1786822296