"It’s about the accumulation of voices pulling in the same direction. If somebody can inspire somebody else to express themselves through any artistic medium it’s a positive."
Stuart Webb reached out to us looking for a platform and publisher to work with on his poetry and while our submission window was closed for new writing at that time, we were curious about his voice. A long and lovely phone call later proved to us that we were in the presence of the real deal. Stuart is an incredible voice - his work is poignant and prescient. There is great bite but also deep pathos and warm humour flowing through the prose. He is also a thoroughly decent chap, constantly looking for ways to not only get his own work out there but to help others to realise their own voices and to understand that they have options and opportunities. Such was our connection with Stuart and his work, that we have jimmed the submissions window open. More on that in the future, for now, let's get into it with Mr Webb...
Stuart, let's go back to be the beginning, creatively speaking - may you tell us about that journey?
I’ve always been into words and writing. At school I was lucky enough to have one of those English teachers that really inspired and nurtured my interest in the subject. I studied Creative Writing at the University of Derby, at that point I was really more interested in writing fiction. I self published a novel in my twenties which didn’t quite set the world on fire…
I’d always been interested in the Beat writers and in 2016 I went on a Kerouac inspired road trip across the USA from Greenwich Village to San Francisco and that got me thinking about poetry again. During the pandemic my wife and I managed to fix up an old vintage typewriter and I got it into my head to write a long poem, a sort of response to The Wasteland but through the lens of the modern age. I wrote several more poems around the themes of declining Britain and put them together into a pamphlet Notes from Hysteria Island. I was fortunate enough to get published by Back Room Poetry. I have now finished writing my second pamphlet Bottle Episode and I’m pleased with how my writing has matured - not as punky, more nuanced.
How did you come to poetry, or has it always been with you?
I’ve always enjoyed playing with words and crafting nice lines, bolting words together in interesting ways. And I’ve always been into Kerouac and Ginsberg and John Cooper Clarke but I’d never really considered myself to be a poet, I would always describe myself as a writer. But since writing that first long one, I’ve realised what you can do with poetry and I guess that was the start point.
What themes and motifs drive you?
I like to think that I have a nicely slanted view on the world, I’m pretty keyed into the absurdities of it all. My earlier stuff was very much politically motivated and more in the ranting poets tradition. I now write more about the world as a whole. I like to thread pop culture references through my work and I like to use humour. I think you have a better chance of engaging people if they are entertained.
What are you seeking to unlock?
I can’t remember the passcodes for my internet banking, so that’s ongoing. But in terms of poetry I think it’s about conveying a point of view in a way that is engaging and hopefully entertaining. I think these days everything is so fast and so vapid that sitting quietly with an idea or a concept and creating a poem from it is a healthy activity. By the same token if somebody is going to sit and read a poem or listen to one being performed, it’s the antithesis of going to see the latest Marvel superbollocks, and that can only be a good thing.
How do you know when it’s done?
Often, I’ll think something is finished and move on to the next thing, but when I go back and look at it, I realise things might need tweaking. When I’m performing I like to have it all memorised but I quite often find that what I’m speaking has evolved naturally from what was written down, not in major ways, but I think the performance aspect helps to smooth and shape my work.
Do you perform your poetry publicly? And if so, tell us about that process - how do you prepare and what are you feeling when you’re behind the mic?
So, for me, this has been one of the most interesting things about this whole journey. I’m naturally quite an introverted person and have quite a lot of anxiety, so you’d think that standing up and performing poetry would be a horrible experience. And to begin with it really was, I’d feel ill beforehand, and really overwhelmed with the fear of it. I think this is quite a normal reaction to the thought of standing up in front of an audience. I just thought, if I want to get anywhere with the poetry stuff, I’m gonna have to just do it. And then after a while, I became so much more comfortable with it. I suppose I’ve now got enough confidence in my work and ability to deliver it that getting on stage and performing isn’t really intimidating anymore. Weirdly I find it easier to perform to bigger audiences than smaller ones.
Talk to us about the workshops and group work you do – who are you working with and what is the aim?
I don’t do anything at the moment, I’ve got a young family, a full time job and a head full of ideas that are driving me insane. However, I am in the planning stages of something. After realising how much self confidence I have gained through performing poetry, I would like to start going into schools and colleges and holding workshops based around performing poetry. I live on the north Norfolk coast and although parts of it are very affluent, so many coastal communities are struggling, so I’d be wanting to work in these places. I think kids these days are getting exposed to all sorts of negative and corrosive stuff on social media, and these things thrive on a lack of self confidence and worth.
If you can be brave enough to stand up in front of a crowd of people and perform something you have written, you can be empowered in a positive and healthy way.
I’m still working out what it would be like and how it would work, but it will be called Coastlines, which is also the name of the spoken word open mic I run in The Crown pub in Sheringham.
How can we make it better for all, with our art?
You can’t change the world with a poem, or a painting, or any individual work of art. You can argue that it has been done before by the likes of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Bowie etc, but I think those were different times. In the modern age we’re all too spread out for any one thing to do much. I think it’s about the accumulation of voices pulling in the same direction. If somebody can inspire somebody else to express themselves through any artistic medium it’s a positive. But I don’t think you can persuade a Reform voter that Nigel Farage is a grifting fascist by writing a poem about him.
Do you work poem by poem, thought by thought, or do you work with a collection in mind – single or album, so to speak
Generally I build a poem around an idea or concept that has lodged in my brain. When I’ve got enough that I feel are of good enough quality I’ll start to see common threads between them and then I become a bit more selective with the ideas that I work on.
Where does it come from?
I have a very active mind and I’m interested in a lot of different things. I’m more interested in writing about the world around me than being in an explicitly confessional mode, although I do think that the closer you are to that dividing line the more interesting it gets.
I think I have things to say about the world and to me, that is what an artist should be striving for.
Who or what have been great influences on your work, outside of your chosen medium?
Bob Dylan. I was fifteen years old when I first heard The Times They Are A-Changin' and that was very transformative. The artistry of his lyrics and commitment to following his own vision was just such an inspiring discovery as a teenager. Warren Zevon is another one. The humour he incorporates into his writing is nicely skewed and that’s very appealing.
Your voice – was it there from the start, or is it an ongoing quest to discover and define it?
It was always there, it was just pretty unfocused for quite a long time. I think if I had discovered the contemporary poetry and spoken word scene early it would have crystallised a lot sooner. But then again, it might not have been very interesting. I think you come to these things as and when you're ready. If I had been that bothered when I was younger I would have found it. But I knew there was something in me since I was a kid.
How can art help us?
Anything creative has an inherent value. It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to be nice and it doesn’t have to be shared. The act of making something does great things for a person.
How do you like to work?
I have two kids and a full time job so how I like to work is not the same as how I actually work! I like to use my lunch-break to get things down in the notes app on my phone and I’ll mess about with it on there for a bit. Often this stuff just gets forgotten about, but I’ll keep working on the good stuff and draft it up a few times on the laptop when I get a bit of spare time.
Sometimes it’s better to leave an idea that isn’t working and move on, and sometimes it’s better to keep going and wrestle it into being. How do you know when to step away, or when to push on?
A good idea or a concept will keep giving you a little buzz whenever you go back to it, so even if you are struggling or wrestling with it the perseverance is worth it just for the creative rush. It’s when the buzz disappears from something, when it stops being fun or interesting, that’s when I'll call it a day.
What are you watching/listening/reading at the moment that you can recommend to us and why?
The new Richard Gadd show, Half Man is very good. There’s a very unsettling quality to his writing, a sort of lingering sense of dread that is very powerful. I’m also rewatching the Shane Meadows series This is England which is brutal, beautiful television. I listen to a lot of podcasts and Ross Sutherland’s Imaginary Advice is a go-to. There’s a big archive of episodes, just pick one at random and enjoy.
What advice would you give to anyone out there who is starting out on their poetry journey?
Be brave and go to as many open mic nights as you can. Face that fear of standing up and performing, I mentioned earlier how it used to terrify me, but after a while it becomes a really enjoyable experience. If you can, learn to perform without reading from the page, but if you can’t make sure to look at your audience. Be confident in your work. Don’t try to be like everybody else. Write about whatever you want and be proud to be weird. Read as many different poets as you can and study how they generate different emotions. I like to set two or three goals a year and have a rough plan of what I want to achieve next.
Just try and get something out of it, be it having fun, or the joy of creating art, the chances are that you won’t make a lot of money out of it, so just enjoy the trip and see where it takes you.
Before you go, may you please share a poem with us?
Credit/debit
Because we lacked imagination
We called the lines on the pavement buildings.
Willed them into offices
shops and warehouses
Curled up inside them
to shelter from ourselves
Beat ourselves square with repetition
to better fit the working week
Slowly the clink of God in our pockets
became hissing paper
became invisible, intangible
And defining
We became children again
Placid, incapable and dangerous
Incomplete in a world
which we once completed
Reducing with each purchase
the purpose of existence.
We're constantly on the look out for new artists, creatives and initiatives to feature in TheNeverZine - so if you are, or know someone who is going their own way and doing their own thing on their own terms and would be a good fit to feature please smash that button below and get in contact. By talking to each other, and sharing our journeys, ideas and insights on creativity, art, mental health and resilience we can all create, share and thrive together. Nice thought that.
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