Interview - Nancy Dawkins

As a part of this blog

we aim to give the local poets a space 

to share a little about themselves, 

their inspiration

 how they write, why they write, etc.

so for your reading pleasure 

here is a wonderful interview 

from our August headliner, 

the absolutely brilliant 

Nancy Dawkins.

It’s almost impossible for me to pinpoint when I started writing poetry. 

I think I always have done in a way. When I was little I’d write 

lyrics and words on scraps of paper. I remember them popping 

into my head all the time. It never felt like something I had to force, 

it was just something that happened. At the time I called them lyrics, 

as I didn’t really read much poetry 

but was always obsessed with the words in songs. 

They didn’t always come with music though, so now I see that they were poems. 

One of the very few regrets of my life is that at some point along the way

I threw away a folder holding all the scraps of paper with these early poems on.

 

I can’t remember exactly what my early poems were about, 

although I’m certain that they often spoke of things 

I was much too young to have experienced yet. 

Listening to too much Shakira and Avril Lavigne in my bedroom

 inspired many early poems about relationships and love 

that at 6 or 7 I didn’t even understand yet. 

There’s a couple that stick in my mind, 

I won’t embarrass myself by sharing them, 

but they often held loneliness at their centre. 

I don’t think that I was a lonely child in many respects, 

but my work always had that thread. I think that remains in my work today.

 

I started writing poetry more purposefully I guess 

in my early twenties, 

and started taking it a bit more seriously 

during lockdown when I started Creation: Poetry, 

the online poetry night I ran with my friend Sarah Jane. 

It’s hard for me to write about writing itself 

because it’s mostly instinctual. 

It happens so deep inside my head 

that sometimes it feels out of my hands entirely, 

and I just surrender to it.

 

What inspires my poetry most is life, catharsis, pain, magic, confusion. 

Often writing a poem is my minds way of mulling over 

a situation I can’t quite grasp yet. 

I get told that my work is able to hold a lot of nuance and conflicting 

emotions and I wonder if that is because I use poetry to tease out 

my own confusion and conflict around certain situations or emotions. 

My poems are much more cerebral than my songs, 

which usually come from a more direct line of feeling. 

I use poetry to figure out what I feel from what I think, 

songs pour directly from the feeling. 

Performance itself is a source of inspiration too. 

I’ve been performing music live since I was 14, 

and my writing often dances around the idea of being seen; 

it is self-conscious. I write privately, 

but I know that I will perform them publically. 

Poems reflect myself to the world, and the way they are seen 

by others impacts the way the world sees me. I like to play with this,

 both as defence of self and of dissolution of it.

 

I pride myself on my work being quite immediate. I like some mystery, 

but I don’t want an audience or reader to have to really work 

to pull out meaning. 

I used to think my poetry wasn’t very good because it was too obvious. 

But I don’t enjoy cryptic poems, why would I write them?

 

I find Leicester’s poetry scene very inviting. 

I can’t engage as much as I would like because I find being around lots of people 

to be draining a lot of the time. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and ADHD, 

a frustrating combination. But even in the small doses I’ve had, 

I am incredibly grateful for what this scene has given me. 

I only moved back to Leicester 

after living in Sheffield for the best part of a decade 

about a year and a half ago, and entering the poetry scene here 

was a lovely way to settle in. I entered the Some Antics slam on a whim 

not long after moving back, which lead to my being the 2022 slam champion. 

That encouragement was really needed. If it wasn’t for that night 

I wouldn’t be doing this show for Get Mouthy, or the show I did for Run Your Tongue. 

It’s nice to be wanted, and to know that my work reaches people.

 

Saying that, I do think that perhaps there should be more emphasis 

on building craft before it becomes competition. Slam competitions 

in Leicester seem to be quite popular, at various poetry nights, 

and I often see early poets entering slams 

where I think it would have been more beneficial for them to have listened, 

performed in the open mic, developed craft and confidence 

before being set in front of judges.

It can be a big confidence knock to do that too soon.

 I worry when I see first time poets competing in anything, 

it’s not a competitive craft by nature, and to dive in so soon I think is a shame. 

I think that Leicester’s poetry scene could really benefit 

from there being more spaces for safe and constructive feedback. 

It is wonderful to have so much space for people to express themselves freely, 

and for many people that is all they need it to be. 

But for others, I think that they are craving development. 

I think there needs to be more space for critique 

and critical explorations of craft for those who desire it.

 

Poets who I admire in Leicester include the esteemed Emma Lee and Carol Leeming. 

When I won the Some Antics slam my fellow finalists 

were Marly Writes and Chris Oliver who are both exceptional poets, 

honestly either of whom could have won. 

Outside of Leicester my favourite modern poets are 

Yrsa Daley Ward, Franny Choi and Ocean Vuong. 

I obviously owe a lot to Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver.

 

Performing poetry without music has been interesting. 

There’s nothing to hide behind, no sound, no guitar held like a shield. 

It’s a lot more vulnerable and it is harder to pretend when I’m not feeling good 

or confident that day. When I’m playing music my performance 

is mostly the same regardless of what else is going on, 

with poetry it is much more affected my how I’m feeling at the time.

 

The best place to follow my is my Instagram 

https://instagram.com/mouse_teeth

and my substack newsletter/blog 

https://mouseteeth.substack.com

I do have a facebook for those that still use it at 

https://www.facebook.com/itsmouseteeth

 

A massive thank you to Nancy for taking the time 

to really go over our questions 

and give such great answers and insight. 

Please follow her social media pages and support local artists, 

also if you get a chance go and watch her performing music. 

trulyamazing! 

 

Nancy will be headlining at Get Mouthy on 21st August, 

and we would love to have as many of you there as possible. 

 

Thank you also to Sammy Nour, 

Kulvir Bhambra and Mike Pollock for the photos.

 

Peace, Love and Poetry 

Kyle