Mouthy Poets: Say Sum Thin 7

Poetry Jenga

School is out and summer is here, and as my classmates were suffering through an epic downpour at Splendour I congratulated myself on the wise decision to attend a day of intellectual pursuit indoors instead of Nottingham’s premier pop festival, soon to be the Midland’s biggest mudslide. I love poetry but it’s something I struggle to engage my school peers with, and it’s fairly typical of my poetry lessons to compete with a classroom of boisterous distractions and moaning. I realised that once I’d got past the staid delivery of the bored school kids, poetry had far more to offer. I just needed to find it. That brought me to attend my first Say Sum Thin event, where I was ready to listen, learn and participate with some like minded souls in what has become Nottingham’s premier youth poetry event.

Nottingham Playhouse hosted the seventh bi-annual Say Sum Thin event, organized by Nottingham’s own Mouthy Poets crew. Say Sum Thin is fast becoming an institution for the hugely dedicated poetry enthusiasts, showcasing skills honed during their weekly meet-ups at the Playhouse. Mouthy Poets encourage anybody to join but have an age limit of fifteen to thrity-year-olds, giving the group a unique opportunity to explore the depths of Midands youth to adult identity.

The event was created to bring anyone who loves poetry together so they can express their love for literature and share their talents. Every Say Sum Thin features a guest appearance of a renowned figure from the field of poetry and this year John Agard was introduced as the Mouthy’s guest speaker. Agard is a highly celebrated Guyanese poet who, in 2013, was a recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. His poems have been featured in the English GCSE anthology since 2002 and he is a BBC Poet in Residence. His published poetry includes We Brits, Alternative Anthem, Clever Backbone and most recently Travel Light Travel Dark in 2013.

Open mic poetry

The first major event of the day was downstairs in the stalls foyer where a group of eager attendees gathered for the open mic event. The first of the performers to take the stand gave a brief yet compelling story about two children and the relationship shared between their family. This first performance was not only powerful in its effect, it was also a great way to start the day and compel listeners to hear more from the open mic sessions. The second performer delivered a poem engaging in family themes unafraid of sentimentality; the delivery was honest and heartfelt and both acts received much applause among the crowd as the next performer took to the stand, followed by many others throughout the day. Open mic sessions were open to all attendees but places were limited as many were keen to get involved. The success of the open mic was as much due to the receptive encouragement of the audience as the creativity of those that took the mic stand ss it offered a supportive platform to express and share ideas.

On the upstairs floors there was a bustling, vibrant atmosphere, where the Mouthy Poets had set up poetry based games and activities for attendees to mix with each other, have some fun and collaborate. I got involved in a ‘cut out’ style poetry workshop where I was encouraged to erase words on a page of text in order to transform the remaining words into an entirely new piece of poetry. Cut outs were a poetry style pioneered by Wiliam S. Burroughs, who had taken the idea from the Dada art movement. Obviously a favourite of the Mouthy Poets, several examples of Burroughs work were on display among attendees replicating his style. Another activity which garnered much attention was a poetry jenga game; where participants would take jenga pieces imprinted with famous lines of poetry and create a tower of mismatched poems fusing them into something new which some then chose to perform on the open mic stand.

Later in the day at the Neville theatre the crowd eagerly awaited the first appearance of guest speaker John Agard. While waiting for his studio set up Agard happily mingled with the attendees outside, exchanging conversation and posing for photos with his fans. Once escorted into the Neville theatre the show was kicked off by a greeting from Ioney Smallhourne and Jim Hall, two members of the Mouthy Poets team who set the stage by describing their love for poetry and how honoured they were to have John as a special guest. Introductions over and John Agard was welcomed to the stage. After raucous applause he discussed his work and his own love of poetry, and went on to give advice to anyone new to poetry who were interested in developing their skills further. After John was done introducing himself the session went on to its Q+A portion; among the questions asked were “what is your favourite aspect of poetry?” and “how do you feel about having your poems on GCSE syllabus?” In answer to the second question, John shared with the audience that if he had said no, it could rob children of an opportunity to read poetry from his perspective. He viewed his poem Half Caste (the first of his to be accepted on the syllabus) as taking an important step in teaching people how to confront difference, and has since met many school-leavers who have personally gained and learnt from his poems. One example given was a young woman who, after studying Agard, was inspired to pursue creative writing at Leicester University. One issue he did reveal was the context in which his poems were taught and the lack of respect for teachers “It just takes one good teacher to click with a student, but a classroom of rowdy students can make it difficult for everyone."

John Agard

The Mouthy Poets took to the stage once again with a series of scratch shows where one by one the Mouthys delivered poetry they had been crafting for weeks on end solely for tonight’s performance. The first to take the stage was Kai Muller, who presented a poem titled The Toilet Brush Revolution, the serious undertones of his voice juxtaposed against the satirical manner of the poem conveying a clear message of peaceful protest while creating a sense of amusement among the audience. After Muller came Ingrid Mclaren, who chose to accompany her poem Stop with her violin which perfectly complimented the tragic tones of her poetry. Many other Mouthy Poets took their turn on the stage and the scratch show was concluded with some final words from Jim and Ioney as the entire Mouthy crew gathered onstage to warm applause from the audience.

The evening show gave the Mouthy Poets an opportunity to showcase their talents to a much larger audience on the Playhouse main stage, prior to John Agard's evening recital.  The stalls appeared to be sold out for the event and the vast stage and lighting added to the drama of the young poets delivery. The performances featured a diverse mix of poetry content: one of my particular favourites was Jo Kelen’s Duck and Elephant, which used the relationship between animals as a subtext for friendship. Her words were serious but her performance had warmth and humour and resonated with the audience.

Maybe the most personally relatable poem of the evening was performed by Deborah “Debris” Stevenson, entitled Patter Cake Song. She was accompanied by a music track and backing vocals from her fellow Mouthys to great effect. The content of her poem explored themes of how a teenager can have trouble fitting in at school and relating to their peers. This struck a chord with me as similar circumstances had led me to explore poetry and discover the Mouthy Poets myself.

To conclude the evening John Agard took to the stage once more and held his audience enthralled at his recital of some of his best loved poems for well over an hour. It was all over by 10.30pm and after nine hours of Mouthy Poets I left feeling intellectually challenged, stimulated and I’d had a laugh. Most importantly, Say Sum Thin gave the opportunity for kids like me to enjoy and engage with poetry and like-minded people. Mouthy Poets opens up to new members in September - you can check them out in the links below.

Mouthy Poets and John Agard performed at Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday 19th July 2014.

Mouthy Poets on Facebook
Mouthy Poets' website