Viva Brighton Issue #62 April 2018

POETRY
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Waterloo produce equally exquisite
books. The press is run by Simon
Jenner, and embraces the two wings
of poetry, Modernists like Joseph
Macleod and Simon Smith, and
‘Brighton Naifs’ as Jenner calls
them, street poets with rawer voices
like the late Debo Thomas and Alf
Wiltshire. The press also went on to
publish poetry from Argentina to the
Ukraine, and has ambitions to be the
premier small press in the region.
But it’s not just publishing that
makes Brighton the poetry capital
of the South. Nights such as those
put on by Pighog and Horseplay
also play a part in giving poets a
voice. Michaela Ridgway is MC at
Pighog, and at the rather swanky
Nightingale Room at Grand Central,
she introduces a mixture of old
stagers like John Davies and Bob
Walton and newer voices like Sea
Sharp from Kansas. There’s also a
bunch of very impressive poets from
the floor, such as Colette Sensier, a
Young Foyle winner, and Bernadette
Cremin, who I think could go far.
Horseplay favours the Cult of
Impersonality. Here there’s no
distinction between MCs and
audience, with anyone who wants
to read getting a fair crack at the
mic. Verity Spott and Ben Graham
introduce the evening, then all can
have a go.
I’ve not even mentioned Hammer
& Tongue and newcomers Trope.
Another time. For now I’ve got
Rattle to finish.
John O’Donoghue
Pighog, Grand Central, 7.30pm 26th
April, £5/3. Horseplay, Black Dove,
7.30pm 26th April, free
Michaela Ridgway and Bernadette Cremin Robin Lawley
Sea Sharp. Photos by Andrew King
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