Monday 11th August (18:00-20:00) at The Albany, Blue Room
POETRY AND ACTIVISM: WHAT’S THE ISSUE WITH “ISSUE” POETRY?
With Carmina Masoliver
Poetry can be a means to tackle different issues: areas where we feel there’s injustice, raising awareness about something that deserves more attention, or finding a way to produce activist art. However, a problem may emerge from writing about topics such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and so on, in that the poems become too obviously ‘issue poems’ and may appear to an audience too clichéd or didactic. How do we avoid this in our poetry? How do we make sure that what we produce is still a poem, and not just a rant? This workshop aims to explore the ‘issue poem’ and to understand how we make the ‘issue’ go away.
Poet, writer and performer, Carmina Masoliver also mentors, tutors, facilitates workshops and organises events. She runs ‘She Grrrowls’ arts nights and edits the ‘Poetry&Paint’ anthology.
If you’re interested in attending any of these, email Jacob (mail@jacobsamlarose.com). You’ll then receive confirmation. There are other great workshops running that week by other Burn After Reading members, all taking place at The Albany.
Tuesday 12th August: 18:00-20:00— Language and Innovation with Cameron Bray
Wednesday 13th August: 18:00-20:00— ‘You Bring Out The Black Woman In Me’ with Rachel Long
Thursday 14th August: 18:00-20:00— Form and Structure with Lewis Buxton
Friday 15th August: 17:00-19:00— Physical Poetry: Exploring Ways of Using the Body in Poetry with Sophie Fenella Robinski
1. So, I guess number one has to be my performance… even if I do say so myself, haha! But seriously, after Latitude my nerves had calmed and I actually managed not to spend the three days leading up to my performance stressing. I really enjoyed my time there and could definitely have gone on longer!
2. The lake – the first thing we did was go boating in the lake, and on Saturday we picked the perfect time to brave the water and take a dip. There was a funny moment when a dog jumped in, but it got annoying pretty fast – luckily the owner got it back eventually. It felt so good to swim around as the morning sun shone down on us.
3. More than music – my favourite parts of the festival were the randoms little things that went on. As well as the lake, we hula-hooped, joined the community choir, held snakes and chameleons, painted with watercolours, did some shiatsu and meditation, and watched an impromptu acrobatic show. There was also the “Dave Off”, which was silly and hilarious. We also had a bit of a dance to some African beats as our campsite neighbours got chatting to us and got us to come down to the Feast of Fools where they were playing.
4. Favourite performances – fellow poets Emma Jones, Amy Acre and Amy Blakemore performed in Poetry Period on the same stage as me. I didn’t know they were going to be there until the day (let alone any other poets other than ‘Dead Poets’ Mark Grist and Mixy who we saw a couple of times). The last night we shared a second Roaming Rotisserie meal, plus some churros, and settled at The Amphitheatre where we saw a great range of acts including an open mic final with an incredible beatboxer and freestyle rapper (he managed to deal with the horrible audience-given topic of ‘Hitler’ perfectly), a hilarious comedy show from Le Pain (I think that was the name), and an energetic musical performance from Classy-Cool.
5. Music – I have to say a couple of my favourite music acts were ones I stumbled on – Swell on the first night, and Denai Moore who I hope to catch again at Camp Bestival. I also saw Kwabs, Kyla La Grange, Foxes and Public Enemy.
The Bad
1. The laid-back, chilled vibe of the festival meant that there was a slight issue with the organisation of everything. My set was cut in half, and it’s not that I would have minded having a half an hour set initially, but having prepared an hour of material, it resulted in me missing out all the more light-hearted poems and only realising the tone of my set afterwards. Still, two people who weren’t my boyfriend said they liked it. I had told someone earlier that there was a clash of the dance workshop and me on the board, which I’d also mentioned at the start of the festival as I wasn’t in the programme, and although the times on the board were changed, the fact of the matter wasn’t realised until just before I was due to go on, resulting in the cut of time. Although I thought they could have cut 5 minutes off everything and made up an hour of time, I didn’t want to appear The Diva – I was merely a competition winner after all.
2. Stage communication – in line with the organisation side of things, I felt like it would have been better to have poetry in one place. I didn’t realise there were a load of poets on the Forum Stage (I think) and that space would have probably been more better to host poetry, as it was very difficult to compete with the loud music from surrounding areas, children and drunk/drugged-up people running around and not knowing whether people further away would be able to hear. Those in the Poetry Period had a lot more to contend with in that respect.
3. I didn’t sell any books, therefore I don’t really know how much people liked me. I want to be liked. LIKE ME!!!
& The Ugly
1. The toilets. Having just come from Latitude, the SGP toilets were lacking in comparison. Mostly, there was a lack of toilet roll, but I also preferred Latitude’s type of port-a-loos with a lever-pull, but maybe they just needed to clean them up because they piled up way too high, and there were a couple of occasions where vomit and excrement were in places they shouldn’t be.
2. The drugs. I know that alcohol can be worse in many ways and I do drink a bit, but drugs still scare me a little; behind straw-bales and in the hidden sunflower field there were people lying on their own, near-dead to the world around them. This could also be to do with that the music went on until 6am and was really close to the campsite. I used to be pretty hardcore when it came to yearly trips to Reading Festival, but I just can’t hack that anymore.
Overall
Looks like the good is the winner here! As someone who usually goes to festivals for the music, the many adventures that were to be had at Secret Garden Party meant that I was more relaxed and happy to go-with-the-flow. The chilled out vibe must have had an effect on me as I was more calm about my performance and despite the distractions, I managed to get into my set and would have happily carried on and on and on…
This time last year I was performing at Larmer Tree festival, and now I’ve just come back from Latitude Festival, where I performed as part of the New Voices. It will be the first of five festivals that I will be performing at this summer, and considering how nervous I was and how surreal it seemed, it went really well.
So, Friday I arrived at the performer campsite after taking a mini-bus after my coach and a nifty little buggy (wasn’t quite so swish on the way back). In the glorious heat, I put up my tent and made my way to the poetry stage. I got there in time to see Charlotte Higgins, another New Voices poet. I loved the way she conveyed such powerful words in her softly spoken manner, and I felt this was even stronger on her Sunday night performance as her passion permeated the audience. Next up was Talia Randal and as she spoke of journeys through London, I immediately wanted to book her for She Grrrowls.
I stepped out to watch the end of Kelis and then Crystal Fighters. I was on my own and feeling a bit lonely and anxious of what lay ahead of me. I ate a Twister lolly that was more expensive than my book, but whilst I have employment, I don’t need to worry about that. Bohdan Piasecki was next up and, being the leader of the Roundhouse Collective, I then felt at home. I stuck around for Peter Hayhoe, Raymond Antrobus and Rosy Carrick’s impromptu set (which I was really happy about, so thanks George The Poet). I saw Andy Bennett, who also made me feel at home, and he gave me his food voucher, which I later spent on chilli with Ray and Hollie McNish. My anxieties were fading away fast.
I was told that Two Door Cinema Club were replaced by Lily Allen, who had already had a secret show slot. I waited too long to find out that the rumours were true. She even did a cover of a TDCC as I was walking away. I used to like her, and I liked ‘Hard Out Here’ as a song, but I don’t think her reaction to racism criticism was positive. Also, I find the rest of the album as a whole a tad boring. But, I do kind of feel I cut my nose off to spite my face and probably would have enjoyed the set. I just feel that as horrible as it is to hear accusations of racism, it is important to engage with that criticism and be open to it,because the complexities of race are just as complex as gender and we all need to learn. Just because someone does something wrong, doesn’t mean that can’t redeem themselves. Anyway, I went back to the poetry tent and watched Andy Bennett and Attila the Stockbroker, ending with Page Match, which was all amazing fun!
Saturday I slumped on a sofa to watch Josie Long, who was brilliant, and I then headed to the Poetry Stage to catch Rebecca Goss. It was incredible to hear her poetry since reading Her Birth. I watched John Osborne‘s New Blur Album for the second time and next it was Luke Wright before me. I was hoping he would do his garage track and he did! I was next up and after expecting to see the crowd dissolve, Rosy had done a lovely job of bigging me up, and there were more people left behind than I expected. The crowd was lovely and I left the stage feeling happy. I sold two books, though when I finally managed to meet my friend despite the lack of phone signal, I was told I forgot to say exactly where I would be. This meant I didn’t meet my friend straight away; I watched Richard Marsh’s show, Wing Man, as I was compelled by the subject matter and wasn’t sure whether my friend was also still in the crowd. I made my way back to my tent, meeting Peter Hayhoe and Dan Cockrill along the way. I shall blame them rather than my brain for not seeing Conor Oberst, who I was told did Bright Eyes songs to and is one of my all time favourite musicians. Still, this is part of the whole surreal experience of Latitude as a performer.
After catching one song from Conor, I watched Chimene Suleyman and then tried to contact my friend, managing to finally get through in time for First Aid Kit. We hung out with her boyfriend and brother (who bought a book – thank you!) and we watched a bit of Bombay Bicycle Club and Catfish and the Bottlemen, who were particularly great live. We saw a bit of Damon Albarn and parted ways. I returned to watch fellow New Voices Ben Norris and Tommy Sissons, Mark Grist and Dizraeli. Ben was on form and the crowd showed their appreciation with a massive queue for his Nasty Little Intro. I had seen Dizraeli years ago, but he was truly phenomenal and his time on stage whizzed by. Beat-boxer, Reeps One ended the show and I left in the middle as the rain started to fall, and after being up talking to poets until 4am the night before, I wanted an early night (in comparison) before my Sunday set.
I wanted to see Michael Rosen, but despite being up hours before, I didn’t leave early enough and the tent was full by the time I got there. Instead I watched Eric Lampaert and Sophie Wu on the Cabaret Arena and I was glad I saw them because I loved them both. I watched RSC: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again after seeing a bit of Selena Godden. I enjoyed bits of it, but I was insanely tired after having four hours sleep, and had my prescription sunglasses on, so I nodded off now and again. I heard other people saying they didn’t quite understand it all, so maybe it wasn’t the brief few seconds I missed before I jerked awake. It was interesting and quite poetic in its expression. I wanted to see The Molinogroup, but I ended up needing to swap signed copies with non-signed copies of my Nasty Little Intro. On my way back I caught some of the film about Amanda Palmer, which I enjoyed as I’ve loved her since The Dresden Dolls. I then saw Andy Bennett and was excited to hear some of his epic poem, to be published by Nasty Little Press. Luke Kennard was amazing to watch; at first I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he was just as entertaining on the stage as on the page. Next I saw the lovely Deanna Rodger before heading off to watch Parquet Courts who were great. So great, in fact, that a drunken man came on stage thrashing a chair to the floor, jumping around in joy, and left waving his cock at the audience. I wished I wasn’t on my own and tired and standing on the edge rather than in the mosh pit. Oh to be young. I felt very old looking at all the teenagers, despite being told on my return at Tesco in Wimbledon that I looked sixteen.
I walked over to the poetry stage via Woman’s Hour, annoyed at my disappointing noodles, but happy to catch some Roger McGough. I watched Haim who were incredible live, and got ready for my final set whilst watching Lemn Sissay and Jonny Fluffypunk from backstage. I felt nervous again, and I think I built up my expectations and left the stage not feeling as good. I didn’t get a big queue like Ben, but I hold on the the moment where one of the audience members asked for a hug, saying thank you in a way in which it was clear something I said had moved him. I clung onto that to make myself feel better about not selling as many books, not realising how much I wanted people to like me and my poetry and validate me by buying my book. I told myself that this hug was what poetry was all about (and not because he fancied me, Ben!)
I didn’t bother coming out for The Black Keys, and watched James Grady, Tim Clare, Charlotte Higgins, Ben Norris, Raymond Antrobus and Scroobius Pip. I hadn’t seen James before, so it was great to see him. I had seen part of Tim’s show, but seeing a whole hour was fantastic. I got a bit emotional at one point… strangely identifying with Tim’s anxiety but in a very different way as he is more extrovert and I’m more introvert. I’ve said Ray was one of my highlights from that day because he really stepped up the the pre-Scroobius slot and it went perfectly. We all stood up for the final act of the night and enjoyed the familiar spoken word until he was played out with ‘if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.’ I failed miserably at talking to Scroobius Pip, unsure how to say ‘remember when I judged you at that slam…’ a story I regularly drop into conversation when the man in question comes up. Instead I spoke to some merry Northern poets, introduced myself to John Cooper Clarke, and hung out with Ben and Bodhan until I couldn’t face dancing awkwardly anymore, and had an early night at 2am.
I ended my time at Latitude with a 40 minute trek, with my camping gear, trying to find where to get my bus from. The directions were very very poor. I should have waited for a buggy and told it to take me there. I set off at 7.50am and didn’t get on the bus until 9.35am and being the last one on, they weren’t even sure if there was room. ‘Er, that’s my coach, I am getting on,’ I thought. The journey back was fine and I nodded off a bit, unable to read Caroline Bird’s beautiful poetry as I had intended. Overall, it was a brilliant weekend and couldn’t have gone much better! I was so tired each night, I even managed to sleep through thunderstorms. I am truly thankful to Luke Wright and Tania Harrison for putting me on the bill, as well as all the many poets who made me feel part of the family.
Head over to the Nasty Little Press website to buy my Nasty Little Intro for just £2, or save on postage and packaging by catching me at a festival, gig or She Grrrowls event. There are just 200 copies and both Hannah Jane Walker and Sye Sanders have sold out, so snap them up fast! I highly recommend all the others on offer as I have read them all.
On Friday I’m off to Latitude Festival to perform as a New Voice on the Poetry Stage. I’m extremely excited, and rather overwhelmed at the surreal feeling that I was at Larmer Tree Festival last year and now I’m at lots of different festivals. Teenage Carmina would be proud. Being a strange concoction of introvert + shy girl + quiet one, all my joy is naturally bobbing along with a undercurrent of nervous anxiety. Poets are generally lovely though, so hopefully I’ll be okay and not have to rely too much on the magic fridge I’ve been told about.
On my return I will be collaborating with Not So Popular on the next She Grrrowls event at Blessings in Shoreditch on Wednesday 23rd July. We have Hannah Chutzpah, Selina Nwulu, Amy Acre, Kemi Taiwo, Prudence Chamberlain, Eley Williams and more.
I’m thrilled to announce that this July I will be publishing a mini-book of work as an part of the ‘Intro’ series with Nasty Little Press. In 2011/12 I completed an MA in Creative Entrepreneurship (aka Survival Guide for Artists) and one of the goals I wrote done specified getting a pamphlet published by Nasty Little Press, so… two years later, life feels pretty unreal right now. The books have just come through for me to number and sign – they are a limited edition print of 200 and cost just £2 and will be available to by online and in person.
Under the ‘Stage’ section of goals in my Arts Plan, after ‘organise my own series of poetry events’ was ‘perform at Latitude’. Through dreaming big and planning pragmatically, I am slowly making steps with my ambitions.
So, this summer I am extremely excited (and a bit terrified) to be performing at a total of four festivals. First up is Latitude, where I will be performing a mixture of old and new work as a New Voice at 2pm on the Saturday, and 8.30pm on the Sunday on the Poetry stage. Since winning the 16-25 category of Poetry Rivals, I will also be performing an hour long set at Secret Garden Party at 5pm on the Sunday at the new Amphitheatre stage. Everyone is free to come and go within that hour (except my boyfriend).
Then I’ll be heading to Camp Bestival and Bestival as part of Roundhouse Poetry Collective of 2013-14. This was also listed in my Arts Plan as a goal. At Camp Bestival the collective will performing on Guardian Literary Institute stage (5-6pm) and The Den Stage (Saturday 11am-12pm), and at Bestival you will find us in the The Amphitheatre. Although only a couple of poets photographed on the websites are actually in the collective, we will soon be officially launching ourselves out there, equip with a new name, and hopefully some promotional photographs. We will be performing our final showcase at the Roundhouse on Wednesday 20th August.
I got an offer in Time Out for half price tickets to the Covent Garden Comedy Club. The tickets said that the nearest station was Covent Garden; I clearly should have done some research, because it was actually Charing Cross, so we ended up a few minutes late. At the stage, although the host wasn’t Sally-Anne Hayward as advertised, he seemed okay. However, as the night went on his humour jarred with me, until the cresendo of his domestic violence joke. It wasn’t so much the fact that his wife is a black belt in karete and that he chose to use this anecdote (if it was even true), but the way he said it was simply not funny. ‘She was asking for it,’ is not funny when it is a reality that victims stuck in abusive relationships get that message in a serious context, where men are, in most cases, the perpetrator.
On reflection, the first act of the night, Geoff Norcott, was my favourite from the night. When his name was announced, I got out my notepad and made a note of his name. I hadn’t intended to write a blog post about this night, but after such a contrast of humour and… rubbish jokes… I felt compelled to do so. Maybe due to the fact I’m currently reading Americanah. Norcott managed to discuss matters of racism and sexism with intelligence, and his commentary on human relationships managed to stay human. The part dealing with relationships between men and women was relatable, without being offensive; I started off thinking he was wrong about generalising the way women apologise, but it then got me to reflect and I found myself laughing along. Not only that, but it was funny. I thoroughly enjoyed his segment of the evening and it set a positive vibe, which sadly wasn’t kept up by the rest of the lineup.
After a break, there was a section of two comedians. One of the names wasn’t on the lineup, but he had a posh accent and reminded me of a mix between David Mitchell and Matt Berry. His act was hit-and-miss, but the most memorable part (which I really appreciated as an Academic Mentor) was the reference to a semi-colon. I think much of the reason I didn’t like his act was due to its defence of smoking, and the fact I am becoming less and less tolerant of smokers. That said, there were some funny lines. Nick Dixon was also in this third of the show and he was doing so well, but what ruined it for me was the last reference to women, simply ending ‘it’s hard to find an interesting woman…’ Maybe, just maybe, he could have redeemed himself if he had just made another wanking joke. Or something along the lines of ‘another night alone again.’ Alas, he left the ellipsis there and I just found it another cheap shot coming from yet another all-male lineup.
Lastly, I was so angry and upset by Quincy’s act that I didn’t clap him. Mainly, I thought it was a massive shame and disappointment that he came out with the jokes he did. Part of my anger isn’t even so much directed as Quincy himself, but rather at the world, at the white-supremacist society that dictates mainstream humour. In as much as we had to deal with jokes about domestic violence, we also witnessed Quincy do a disservice to himself as a “person of colour”. Whilst there were one or two anecdotes that were genuine and dealt with race in an enlightening way, the majority was full of the stuff that does nothing but perpetuate stereotypes of black people. With a majority of the audience being white, it seemed that he was catering for this audience, offering them a dumbed down comedy, serving up jokes to do with jerk chicken, Reggae Reggae sauce, and other stereotypical aspects of black culture that he somehow felt they would find funny. And the sad thing was, they did.
Then it got worse as he ended up being the act that delivered a sexism that said that he actually believed what he was saying. He spoke about the incident with Jay Z and Solange, and said that Beyonce should have put her husband before her sister and acted. Oh, and the fact that he practically applauded Jay Z for not fighting back. Oh well done, congratulations. Because, let’s be serious, whilst I don’t condone her actions, if Jay Z and Solange were both physical in that situation, who would come off worse? What Solange did was wrong, but I will not applaud a man for not attacking a woman. What I hope is that Quincy will improve and let go of this need to people-please (white people) with clichéd jokes based on stereotypes, and not bring in sexist opinions that simply aren’t funny. I believe with more originality, and less tired offensive language, he would stand a far better chance of being a successful comic. With his microphone-stand fiddling and looking over the crowd, rather than at them, I can only assume he’s still got a few things to learn. I don’t blame him as much as I blame society, but I really wish he wouldn’t perpetuate this view of his people, and drive a wedge between POC (a term I’m not entirely okay with using myself) and women as a whole. Instead, take a leaf out of someone like Jamali Maddix’s book on intelligent and witty commentary on race.
It’s so hard to find good comedy nights. All in all, I enjoyed most of what the Covent Garden Comedy Club had to offer, but I feel I have to point out where it fell short. I would go back again, but it would have been nice to have a bit more diversity and a bit less offensiveness. As it was Pride, it would have been good to have someone from the LGBTQ community represented, not to mention more women. Any recommendations for comedy nights that may appeal to my tastes more?
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance.” – CesarePavese
Open Arts Café is an evening of new work by up-and-coming artists. This month they are exploring strangers, wayfarers and travelling.
Please join us for wine and snacks as our artists take you around the world.
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 