Jem Rolls

You know.

I mean, because the best performance poetry scene I've ever known was London in 97, 98, 99.

And virtually none of those people, virtually all those people have forgotten, and nobody knows, you know, and it's just, they don't barely perform anymore.

Lucy English ran off and became kind of the performance poetry academic for Britain, really, and Francesca Beasley and the rest of the others, no idea what they were.

And they were marvellous, you know, and I always ran a poetry club thinking that everyone should learn from each other, but actually, in the end, I think the main person who learned from everyone was me.

So...

Yeah, but anyway, in terms of open mics, yeah, I mean, some of them are awful, some of them are great.

I mean, the best one in Edinburgh is probably Blind Poetics, which is monthly.

But yeah, the one where I started was pretty horrible in the sense that everyone was awful.

It's quite a good place to start when everyone's diabolical.

And you don't stick out for being any more diabolical than everyone else.

And the first time I got on stage, I basically wrapped myself around the microphone and squeaked.

And it was absolutely terrifying for me.

I was sure at the time that all the various parts of my body were twitching, that my knees were just trembling, bending.

And actually they weren't.

That's just the way it felt.

But I don't think everyone necessarily finds it as intimidating as that.

I never got on stage until I was 31.

Well, I mean, if you go and see a rock and roll band, Mick Jagger doesn't stand out with the lyrics.

You go and see Hamlet, they don't stand out with the lyrics.