Poetry Arena ~ Saturday
He’s an animated character brimming with confidence, and the conviction he reads his poetry with captivates the audience. This is writing lifted from the street: teenagers, social workers, council estates, poems that imbue the everyday with hard-hitting relevance and significance, from short pieces that pack punches to epic ones that invite the listener on a journey into the unknown. Ultimately, Sissay’s an engrossing reader, and his rhythm and reason win the battle against the tempting sunshine pouring across the glowing Latitude Arena, leaving his words lingering in the corners of the mind as his set leads into the first open mic session of the weekend.
Stocky Stoke Newington poet Tim Wells is Saturday’s other main highlight. Clad in suit and shirt, you’d be forgiven for thinking him a second-hand car salesman, at least until he begins a brilliant set of poems drawn from his Forward Prize shortlisted collection ‘Boys’ Night Out in the Afternoon’. No wonder this geezer (and he is) has supported The Libertines with his ‘Cockney Hell’ poetry show: poems that span pubs, clubs, greasy spoon cafes, and memories of the 80s getting laughs one minute and deadly serious nods of recognition the next. In fact, Wells gives the impression of a writer both blessed and cursed: you sense he’s seen enough to act as poetic authority on the chosen subject matter, but then as he captures the frequent emptiness of urban progression with sheer sincerity, you feel the weight of his words in the tent’s humid air. Depressing? More illuminating and eye-opening, but either way, the sweets that Wells chucks into the audience see a good few in the front row more than ready for more from the lyrically gifted cockney.
Ben Wilkinson
Any chance you could find me an M-reg. Mondeo for under £300? Preferably black ...
;)
What 'Stocky of Stokey' ;) knows about cars can be written on the back of a till slip from a Stamford Hill bagel shop. However, Jane, you will always get an extra sausage on your plate. Probably a kosher one, with wallies.
As for Ben Wilkinson, a fine young talent, but he is young, and he has yet to witness the masters!