Scott Coe

In conversation with… Dominic Berry

15th March 2020 By Scott Coe Leave a Comment

I caught up recently with Dominic Berry during his ‘I Can Make You Fail Slightly Less’ tour.

Based in Manchester, he is an internationally award-winning performance poet and was the poet in residence during Glastonbury’s 2017 festival. As well as his adult work, he is known for his children’s poetry – performing as Dommy B, which you can also catch on tour this year in his ‘When Trolls Try To Eat Your Goldfish’ show.

In Conversation With... Dominic Berry (Picture Credit Gary Huskisson) — In Conversation With… Dominic Berry (Picture Credit Gary Huskisson)

What first got you into poetry?

‘I loved poetry at school, but all the poets we did were dead poets and I loved it. Most people said they hate it at school and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered great poetry. I moved to Manchester cos I heard it was a city full of artists and gays, and I like artists and I like gays, and I saw Lemn Sissay in his early days, Gerry Potter and Rosie Lugosi. I was really inspired and thought, I want to give this a go and I so did.’

So apart from those people, what things most influence your poetry?

‘What you write about… you just write something you feel. You just write so much that nobody connects to, you just have an idea and think, hopefully this will be good and you read it at an open mic and no one likes it. You think this is one for the drawing board and then every now and again something clicks… I’ve got a really horrible poem called ‘Men locked behind toilet doors’ and it’s in my book [No Tigers] and it’s probably my poem that’s got the best reaction. It’s won me a few competitions, it’s been in a few books and I really thought it was a poem just for me. I was in a very angry mood, I wrote a very cross piece of writing and yeah that’s the bit that really resonated.

I don’t really know, you just try.’

Men Locked Behind Toilet Doors – Dominic Berry

Do you have a writing process?

‘I do write but not every day as I’m a performance poet. A lot of my days are on the road, so when I do write they’re like a stream of consciousness. You just get up and splurge all the nonsense out. I’m a big fan of Meter form, a lot of the stuff people find quite archaic, forms like Sonnets, Villanelles and Triolets. I think it’s good – the restriction gives me a sort of sense of placement, the blank page can be so daunting I like to have something to fit it. Sometimes I might abandon the original form, where the poems grown different from this original form, but it’s a starting place. Form is something I’m keen on, I’m really nerdy about rhythms and iambs, and I really enjoy that kind of detail.’

What’s your favourite poem that you’ve written yourself?

It changes all the time. I write a lot for children these days, I didn’t used to but I’ve a poem called “Dragon in my homework” and I love that poem of mine, and it’s my poem that’s got the most views on YouTube. I don’t have my own channel, other people have filmed me, it’s not my best performance cos it’s like when I’d just written it. I could re-film it, but I just want to lift all those views, so I just stick with the current video. For adults, maybe “Men locked behind toilet doors” maybe the iPod poem, or the He-Man poem I do in my current show.

Dragon in my homework – a poem by Dominic Berry

What advice would you give to anyone writing or performing poetry?

‘Go to poetry events, read poetry, immerse yourself in other peoples work, no person is an island. Just experience as much as you can. It’s OK not to like something, just immerse and be part of the scene and learn from doing. Listen and write.’

What are you ambitions for this year?

‘I just want to have a really busy October half term. This is usually a really good time for children’s poetry. I’m contacting a lot of theatres at the moment in the hope that they’ll book me for an… as yet unwritten new children’s poetry show. So if I finish this year looking back over at October thinking, that was a busy October, that will please me very, very much. I think the show will probably be titled “Dommy B’s Best Adventure ever.”’

Performance poet Dominic Berry (Picture credit Gary Huskisson)

What other spoken word acts would you recommend we keep an eye out for?

‘Vic Richards, I went to a poetry event in my home town of Manchester and he was performing some new work. I know he’s got a new book coming out, his new work is amazing, he did three new poems, so the new book will be absolutely wonderful. Tahira Rehman, is a poet from Leeds and Jackie Hagan, she’s always someone to look out for.

You can find out more on his website or by following Dominic on Twitter.

Both his adult and children’s books are available via Flapjack Press (Dominic Berry, and Dommy B), and some can always be found on Amazon.

See more of our coverage and interviews in our Art and Literature section, or find local and UK poetry, music and other live Events.

Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig in Cambridge

26th February 2020 By Scott Coe 2 Comments

Have you ever checked out Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig in Cambridge?

Held on the second Sunday of the month it features a mix of the best of local music and poetry and is hosted by Mark McGivern.

*Mark McGivern Introducing Collars at the Flying Pig in January 2020*

I caught up with Mark at the Flying Pig to find out more about this eclectic regular event, as well as his own inspirations. I wanted to find out what inspired him to start this event. Mark explained ‘this night started at a different venue in town, when the guys that ran that venue saw me performing poetry and asked me if I’d like to run a night for them, putting together music and poetry.’

Mark knew a lot of the musicians in town having spent a lot of time working in the festival scene locally, with events such as the annual Strawberry Fair. ‘They asked me to put a night on and what inspired me from doing that, was to give people from open mic scene to feature length sets, which they didn’t ordinarily get – both from the poetry world and the music world.’

Mark has been performing poetry around Cambridge for many years now. Like a lot of poets he’s inspired to write a lot about his own life and relationships, ‘whether that be romantic or just friendship relationships and the interrelationships between people, that’s always what’s interested me throughout my life and that’s the majority of my poetry.’ In terms of other poets that have influenced him, Mark has one person that instantly springs to mind, ‘There’s a poet in Cambridge who does a lot of work, and that’s Fay Roberts. She runs open mics and other events and Hammer and Tongue, and if there’s any poet that’s inspired me to do better, it’s Fay.’

So, what advice would you give to anyone writing or performing poetry?

‘Whether they’re writing or performing – read other people’s as much as you can and then whenever you get the chance to see them, go and see them. Whether they’re just sitting there reading from a book, or doing the full on performance thing, it doesn’t matter – but go and listen, go and see, go and read, see what other people are doing, not to necessarily to influence you, but just to give you that wider sense and just that little bits of triggers and encouragement.’

Marks own ambitions for this year is to write and perform more, ‘I have the night here which I love, but I’m also heavily involved in the free festivals here – Strawberry Fair in the city, and that means that an awful lot of my time gets taken up with admin and I want to find time to get more creative and work in-between the admin, and to get out and perform.’

What acts have you got coming up this year at the Flying Pig that we should really look out for?

‘I have a very long wish list, but we’ll have Keltrix, who are a very well known Cambridge band, performing an acoustic set. We also have Ruby Glass and Three Years Younger doing sets for us. Beyond that I’m waiting for other acts to confirm, but the second Sunday of every month has Five different acts.’

Sunday Night Lives takes place at The Flying Pig, in Cambridge. For details of upcoming events, check out the latest listings by searching for Sunday Night Lives on Facebook – the next date is Sunday, March 8th.

The Flying Pig is a free house and is located at 106 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1LQ

*Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig in Cambridge*

Just like some other famous Cambridge inns (such as The Free Press and The Cricketers), it’s been a micro pub, long before Micro Pubs were actually a thing. Here since 1845, it’s been under threat for last 7 years from a planned office development. Previous plans have included demolishing the existing building and opening a new bar elsewhere on the site. More recent plans however seem to compromise by retaining the front section of the pub and redeveloping the rear of the site. The pub is a much loved inn and a live music venue, and would be sorely missed, especially as the last few years has seen the loss of so many small venues across the UK.

So if you’re free in Cambridge on a Sunday night, I definitely recommend checking out Sunday Night Lives. We certainly need more events like this, promoting local talent and supporting our great local venues. You can find out more about what’s on at The Flying Pig by following their Facebook page.

Looking for more local events in East Anglia? Check out our previous coverage of Poetry Swaps at Stamford Arts Centre, Wisbech Words at Wisbech Castle, and Pic n Mix Peterborough at When Polly Met Fergie in Peterborough.

Wisbech Words returns in January 2020

28th December 2019 By Scott Coe Leave a Comment

I myself have had the pleasure of being their featured poet in October 2019, so I’m really excited to be sharing details of their opening event, as Wisbech Words returns in January 2020.

This time, their featured performer is the internationally renowned poet John Lyons.

Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, John now resides in the Cambridgeshire Fens. He is a recipient of both the Windrush Arts Achiever award and the Peterloo Poetry prize.

He has a number of published collections, including the CliPPA shortlisted ‘Dancing in the Rain’ – a collection of poems for children, and ‘A Carib Being in Cymru’.

John, who describes his poetry as “the discovery of possibilities in language to express my encounter, through the senses” is also a painter.

Educated at Goldsmiths College School of Art in London, he is a co-founder of the Hourglass Studio Gallery and a founder member of CAM (Cambridge Arts Movement). You can find out more on his website.

The event as ever is hosted by Elisabeth Sennitt Clough.

Herself a published poet of several collections including ‘At or Below Sea Level’ described by Rebecca Goss as ‘work of rich darkness’ – It is a recommended publication of the Poetry Book Society and a poem from the book won the 2018 Shooter Literary Magazine Poetry Prize.

Again, there is a website with more details.

Wisbech Words returns in January 2020 on the 16th, starting at 7pm. It’s at Wisbech Castle, Museum Square 1-2 The Crescent, Wisbech, PE13 1ES. Wisbech Words is part of the Fenland Arts Development Scheme and is supported by the Arts Council England. Picture credit: Fenland Arts Development Scheme

Pic n Mix Peterborough returns from January 2020

15th December 2019 By Scott Coe Leave a Comment

‘Pic n Mix’ returns to the “When Polly Met Fergie” restaurant and bar in 2020 with its mix of comedy, music and spoken word artists from around the country.

On January 17th, their headliner is the International award winning performance poet Dominic Berry. Dominic was 2017’s Glastonbury Festival Poet in Residence, and winner of the 2017 Saboteur ‘Best Spoken Word Artist’ award. Joining him is Peterborough’s very own Keely Mills. Comics include Umar Haque and Lewis Harlock, with music from the Candy Nettles duo.

Then on January 31st it’s the turn of the Some Antics takeover from Leicester, which also features Leamington Spa festival’s Mike Took.

On February 28th it’s a celebration of local laureates and bards, including Wisbech’s Elisabeth Sennitt Clough, St Ives very own Chris Morgan, and Louise Hallian from Spalding.

Pic n Mix Peterborough returns from January 2020 (Art by Sean Reidy)

With further dates and acts to follow throughout 2020, we’ll be looking forward to some sweet entertainment.

Pic n Mix takes place monthly upstairs at the ‘When Polly Met Fergie’ restaurant and bar, located in The Westgate Arcade, Peterborough, PE1 1PY. If you’re also thinking of food beforehand, you can see the plant-based menu on the When Polly Met Fergie website.

Credit: Artwork by Sean Reidy.

So, what advice would you give to anyone writing or performing poetry?

What acts have you got coming up this year at the Flying Pig that we should really look out for?

Join Us…