Photo credit: Clare Hannant | Interview by Zoë Brigley
[Voices] were the first musical instruments, therefore all poetry has a music, and in some cases rhyme, repetition, and participation built into it…
Hoxton girl in a “Last Poets” t-shirt
When the elocutions come - An expansive three double bedroom modern loft apartment... When the elocutions come - This former Victorian Warehouse conversion was reconfigured... When the elocutions come - There is a guest WC, a utility room, built in wardrobes and plenty of storage space... When the elocutions come - oak strip parquet to the original cast iron doors/pillars, to Lutron lighting, underfloor heating throughout and a fresh air filtration system.... When the elocutions come - located under half a mile from ...... tube on the Northern line... When the elocutions come - You can walk along the canal to the Towpath Cafe... When the elocutions come - Secure underground car parking spaces are available to rent on a long lease and/or purchase by separate negotiation... Until then, Hoxton girl will just – decide to gentrify what locals can't buy think 'they' invented Polaroids sit around gaining Hemorrhoids choose overpriced menus piss on live venues eat artisan food off slates hide behind community gates
This is such a great skewering of gentrification. Was there a particular experience that inspired it?
Gentrification is a major bugbear of mine. Living in Cardiff, house prices became exorbitant, so I moved to Newport. Then Newport became gentrified, complete with the destruction of the Chartist mural; angering many locals. I wrote a couple of poems about this that have since been published/featured in exhibitions. One of which I had the pleasure of performing in front of our Council, (at their viewing of the exhibition), which was a complete castigation of them for going along with such garbage….
The idea for the ‘Hoxton girl’ poem came out of a conversation between myself, ranting poet Tim Wells, and Eddie Piller, (who runs Acid Jazz Records), on social media; where we were discussing the gentrification of working class parts of London. We are horrified by this – it’s not just housing either – it’s ripping the guts out of places we would have hung out when we were younger. London was my playground in my teens and twenties. Tim had already written a poem ‘Hoxton Market Forces’ on this in his collection ‘Everything crash’, but the whole topic is a running sore to us.
One day Tim just posted up a photo with the caption ‘Hoxton girl in a Last Poets T-shirt’, and that was it! I had a title, a subject and, with the Last Poets reference, a writing style to work to…
I enjoy your use of repetition. It gives a feeling of an unstoppable force – here middle-class people changing a neighbourhood beyond recognition. There is also a kind of music to it, and I wonder how important that musicality is for your writing?
Well where this poem is partially written in the style of ‘When the Revolution Comes’ by The Last Poets, the musicality comes easily. However it’s also a semi found poem – I nicked bits from adverts for flats in a gentrified former mill. Adverts have a ‘music’ of their own. Think about George Orwell’s 1984 and the rise of jingles:
“The tune had been haunting London for weeks past. It was one of countless similar songs published for the benefit of the proles by a sub-section of the Music Department. The words of these songs were composed without any human intervention whatever on an instrument known as a versificator. But the woman sang so tunefully as to turn the dreadful rubbish into an almost pleasant sound.”
George Orwell 1984
So there’s a juxtaposition between real and manufactured music in the poem.
Aside from this poem, yep – musicality is important for me. I always have one ear on performance. There’s a part of me that thinks it’s down to my African heritage, and an oral tradition. Then another part of me thinks, “Hang on, there’s a Welsh oral tradition too”. Then you realise voices were the first musical instruments, therefore all poetry has a music, and in some cases rhyme, repetition, and participation built into it…
When I finally got round to doing ‘O’ level English Literature at an FE college, (too busy being a street urchin at school age), I fell in love with ballads. From traditional stuff like ‘The Twa Corbies’ to Auden’s ‘Refugee Blues’. There’s always music in a ballad…
How important do you think is satire and social commentary for the poet’s role? Is it something that you think about often in your practice?
I think my starting point has to be the James Baldwin quote “Poets, by which I mean all artists, are finally the only people who know the truth about us. Soldiers don’t. Statesmen don’t. Priests don’t. Union leaders don’t. Only poets”. It’s a more modern take on Shelley’s view of poets as the unacknowledged legislators of the world. I think both play a major part in how I write, and why I write – partially to bear witness, and with satire, to raise a stiff middle finger at the powers that be.
There are some poems that sum up a moment in history, such as Di Great Insohreckshan by Linton Kwesi Johnson, or To Whom It May Concern by Adrian Mitchell; a brilliantly hypnotic poem. It also has to be pointed out that in some cases, just highlighting one person’s journey/rite of passage through our oppressive world can be just as important, in terms of bearing witness. Then it’s about how you take others with you on that journey…
I think satire is a great deflater of overblown egos. Allows people to have a collective sigh of relief, and a laugh at the mediocrities who rule over us. It’s also a particularly useful way of engaging an audience. However, satire carries a heavy caveat. Mocking people you feel ‘superior’ to isn’t satire – it’s bullying. My bottom line is, if it’s cruel to mock the afflicted/oppressed – it’s rarely cruel to mock the rich/ruling class!