Spoil in Context
In the poetry collection Spoil I explore poverty, precarity, and land loss, from the point of view of a single-parent New Traveller. In it I trace my journey from Mevagissy to Essex and back to West Cornwall after the tin mines have closed, setting my stories against the social and physical landscape that mining has left behind, and the history that gave rise to it.
New Travellers, as a minority group, are part of a publishing trend that looks to address years of discrimination.
Historical records on the origins of Travellers are few and far between, as most travelling cultures rely on an oral tradition, rather than literacy; the information that does exist relies heavily upon external, romantic interpretations of their ways of life. The contemporary travelling community is a product of hundreds of years of people turning to a nomadic way of life as part of a changing Society.(1)
Many disillusioned young working-class people have, over the last forty years, turned to the New Travelling community as a place where they can live free from the rents, debts, and lifestyle constraints of mainstream society.(2) Much of this counterculture has been ethically and environmentally aware, yet this is an aspect of their lifestyle that has been consistently ignored in reports by the tabloid press which have incited hatred for them within the wider community.(3) This media bias has allowed police and government to behave in ways that contravene equality laws, violently discriminating against Travellers for living as they do, forcing many to move abroad or settle.(4) The new Police Bill aims to further criminalise and constrain their way of life.
Performance poetry is a means by which Travellers can articulate their anger and concern about the unjust way they are treated by the authorities.(5) Whereas there are now publishers like The University of Hertfordshire Press that publish Romani studies and texts, there is to my knowledge no press that specializes in New Traveller writing.(6) The closest thing to a New Traveller press is Enabler Publications who publish Travelling Daze, A Time to Travel, and Andy Worthington’s books.(7) Enabler focuses on alternative lifestyles, Travellers, and counterculture. The lack of published writing from New Travellers reveals another gap in a market criticised for failing to publish poets from minority groups.(8) In response to previous poor practice some publishers are now looking to publish poetry from these groups that addresses the issues that concern them.(9)
Broken Sleep Books are an inspiring example of a publisher doing just that.(10) As well as publishing poets from diverse backgrounds, they promote working class writers, and support causes such as Black Lives Matter. The poetry coming from Aaron Kent’s press is politically alive and kicking.
A recent U.N. report highlighted how Brexit will negatively affect poorer British people; this makes poetry that starts a dialogue about poverty, particularly relevant. The report states:
If current policies towards low income working people and others living in poverty are maintained in the face of these developments, the poor will be substantially less well off than they already are. This could well lead to significant public discontent, further division and even instability.(11)
Add to this the economic catastrophe that is the pandemic and the need for this dialogue becomes urgent. Both performance and workshops bring people together, building up communities, and helping members overcome isolation, creating a space for discussion and problem solving. Poetry provides a vehicle for people to ‘lay out their unrest’.(12) It is a peaceful but powerful form of protest. The poet speaks for the people. In times of hardship, social injustice, and persecution, they can articulate the problems, the thoughts, and the feelings of those people. They can share ideas and solutions. They can save people from despair.
I have been writing poetry for a long time, however, prior to studying at the university in 2017, it was confined solely to performance. I learned my poems by heart and the only way to access them was an oral rendition. Benjamin Zephaniah who also started by performing poems for people in small community settings says: ‘I really didn’t care about being published in books – I used to say I just want to be published in people’s hearts.’(13) Like Zephaniah I took advantage of any opportunity to perform, jumping up between bands at punk gigs, between speakers at rallies, in pubs, and at protests; at times moving people to tears. This direct engagement with the audience remains an essential part of taking my poetry into the public domain.
Now Spoil is in print I will organise a tour in order to read the poems and sell the book. Beginning the tour in Cornwall where the poetry is set, I aim to perform in community art centres such as The Fish Factory in Penryn, The Acorn Theatre in Penzance, and CAST in Helston.(14) In December I ran a very successful evening at the Krowji Arts Center in Redruth, It was well attended with an open mic session after the reading for local poets. As well as these dedicated art spaces, I would like to share the poetry with a wider demographic by performing in a variety of locations such as Kresen Kernow, the Cornish Heritage Library and Archive in Redruth, and Sprouts health-food shop in Newquay.(15) I will also utilize existing platforms such as Carn to Cove, which brings performing arts to rural communities via village halls.(16)
Over the summer I will organise a wider tour of the poetry around the UK. As well as working in art and community centres, I will perform at New Traveller sites and at music and poetry festivals. Being able to stay in my own vehicle and take my home educated daughter with me makes an extensive and flexible tour of Britain viable.
I want to deliver the poetry collection Spoil, to a wide audience using print, virtual, and live performance. I hope to be able to utilise the recent zeitgeist promoting female, performance poets, writing about minority group issues, to represent New Traveller women, bringing my work to audiences who are both familiar with and new to the themes I write about.
Bibliography
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End Notes
1 Helen (Herring) Whittle, ‘Living on the Edge’, in ‘A Time to Travel’, Enabler Publications http://www.enablerpublications.co.uk/pages/time_travel.htm [accessed 27th March 2020].
2 Rebecca Café, ‘Dale Farm: Who are the UK’s travellers?’, BBC News Sept. 2011 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15020118 [accessed 21st April 2020]; Hanna Dokal, ‘The new travellers’, Financial Times Nov. 2019 https://www.ft.com/content/77e1ada0-ff18-11e9-a530-16c6c29e70ca [accessed 22nd April 2020].
3,TravellerSpace, ‘Travellers look to a new age future – Norfolk’, Gypsy & Traveller News 24th Sept. 2013 https://travellerspace-gypsyroads.blogspot.com/2013/09/travellers-look-to-new-age-future.html [accessed 28th March 2020]; Lizzie Dearden, ‘The Sun and Daily Mail accused of 'fuelling prejudice' in report on rising racist violence and hate speech in UK: European Commission against Racism and Intolerance criticises 'reckless' reporting’, Independent Oct.2016 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-sun-and-daily-mail-fuelling-prejudice-racist-violence-hate-crime-speech-uk-ecri-report-a7351856.html [accessed 28th March 2020].
4 Ben Quinn, ‘Travellers 'assumed by police to be criminals rather than victims',’ The Guardian 22nd June 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/22/travellers-assumed-by-police-to-be-criminals-rather-than-victims [accessed 28th March 2020]; Dr Coretta Phillips, ‘Gypsy and Traveller Experiences of Crime and Justice Since the 1960s’, L.S.E. Dept. of Social Policy http://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/research/projects/gypsy-and-traveller-experiences-of-crime-and-justice-since-the-1960s [accessed 2nd April 2020].
5 Mab Jones, ‘Poetry as protest: It’s all the rage,’ The Guardian Nov. 2010 https://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2010/nov/24/poetry-as-protest-mab-jones-radical-artists-and-writers-jam-bones [accessed 2nd April 2020].
6 University of Hertfordshire Press http://www.uhpress.co.uk/subject-areas/romani-studies [accessed 28th March 2020].
7 Alan Dearling, ‘Travelling Daze’, Enabler Publications http://enablerpublications.co.uk/pages/travelling_daze.htm [accessed 27th March 2020]; Andy Worthington, The Battle of the Beanfield (Eyemouth: Enabler Publications and Training Services, 2005); A Time to Travel; Worthington, Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion.
8 Alison Flood, ‘Ode to whiteness: British poetry scene fails diversity test’, The Guardian May 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/24/british-poetry-scene-fails-diversity-test [accessed 4th April 2020].
9 Submissions, ‘We are Opening a Submissions Window’, Verve Poetry Press https://vervepoetrypress.com/submissions-willopen/ [accessed 28th April 2020].
10Broken Sleep Books, https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/ [accessed 10th Jan 2022].
11 UN report, ‘UN slams ‘patently unjust’ UK social security system,’
Welfare Weekly Jan. 2019 https://welfareweekly.com/un-slams-patently-unjust-uk-social-security-system/2/ [accessed 27th March 2020], p2.
12Aaron Kent, Broken Sleep Books, https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/ [accessed 10th January 2022].
13 Benjamin Zephaniah, ‘Notes from a passionate poet’, in Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2019), p.368.
14 Fish Factory Art Space https://www.fishfactoryarts.space/ [accessed 29th March 2020]; Krowji https://www.krowji.org.uk/ [accessed 29th April 2020]; The Acorn Theatre https://theacornpenzance.com/ [accessed 29th March 2020], CAST, https://c-a-s-t.org.uk/ [accessed 10th Jan. 2022].
15 Kresen Kernow https://kresenkernow.org/ [accessed 29th Feb. 2020]; SproutSpoken https://www.sproutspoken.org/ [accessed 26th April 2020].
16 Carn to Cove https://www.carntocove.co.uk/ [accessed 29th March 2020].