Interview with Verve: from Poem of the month competition

This interview was posted by Verve after I won their Poem of the Month with my poem Words fall out my mouth like teeth, crumbling. Original post here. To enter Verve’s Poem of the Month competition, click here.

What’s the backstory, secret, or spark behind this poem?
I’ve been learning Italian for a couple of years and it’s making me look at language afresh, not just for beauty and sound and all the things poets would normally be preoccupied with, but also its lifeforce, how powerful or powerless I feel when I don’t have language. Language lives on the tongue, it’s part of our bodies, it changes how we inhabit spaces. I like the idea of speaking the language of food, of what can be shared when language fails us.

Was this poem written specifically for the comp or pulled from your archive?
This one was serendipity. I’d just finished this poem and realised it fit the theme.

How does this piece sit in your wider work?
This poem is part of a series on the exploration of language learning. Later poems are more uplifting (spoiler alert, I finally learned some Italian). A couple of them are being published soon.

What role does ‘I’ take in your poem?
Big question. I’m very preoccupied by the role of “I”. For me, it’s a placeholder for whatever the reader is bringing to it. I’m always a bit baffled when people assume the “I” is actually, factually me. There are emotional truths in there, and occasionally some factual accuracies, but it’s usually a magpie mess of things I’ve overheard, read, experienced, noticed. It’s all smushed together and if something doesn’t fit the rhyme or the line break, it gets scrapped. None of it’s autobiographical. Except for the parts that are.

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Who or what inspires your writing right now?

I can’t stop rereading “Kitchen Hymns” by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Also in love with “Slip” by Amelia Loulli just now. There are some non-binary poets in my life who I shamelessly fan girl at, especially when they perform (check out “Not your Orlando”). There’s a lot of great spaces for bisexual poets just now. When queer poets take up space, I feel more brave.

Why did you send your poem to VERVE’s Poem of the Month?
I really liked the community vibe of the competition. I’ve always admired Verve – especially the festival - for the approach to inclusion and staying grounded. Any competition that puts money back into the poetry community is one I support.

What does winning mean to you?
I’m dead chuffed. I’ve been a poet for 8 years and my mantra is that success is “being in the conversation”. I stand by that, I love being in dialogue with poets, through what I write or down the pub. I like being in dialogue with language. It’s a good mantra to get you through rejections, which for any poet, are many. But winning something with Verve? Mate, I’m chuffed to my boots.

Anyone or anything you’d like to shout out?
Mentors, collectives, community, collaborators — this is your moment. 14poems for consistently bringing out amazing anthologies and helping me discover new poets. Chrissie Williams for bringing out perverse – every issue is a gem. The new Eff-able anthology featuring sexy queer disabled poets – it’s bloody great. John McCullough for the encouragement and the push. My workshop poets and queer poetry community for helping me stay the course. I also joined Society of Authors recently and was like wow, this is great.

Tell us about your writing practice.
I like fucking around with form. I like to get inspiration from language in real life contexts.

I’ve used legal contracts, labels on hand sanitiser bottles, grant applications. I think this is where language is at its juiciest. I like traditional forms too, big fan of iambic hexameter in tercets. I’ve just started playing with Zuihitsu, which is wild with possibilities.

Poetry is where I work stuff out and - hopefully - transform it. It’s a big part of me grappling with life’s demands. Poetry is where I “live the questions”, as Rilke would have it.

Someone recently accused me of drinking tea like a chain smoker, I light one cup off the end of another. Which is rude. And also kinda true.

Three words that describe your poetry? No overthinking. Go.

Saucy, spicy, tender

Have you published or performed before?
My debut book “eat the glitter” came out last year with Broken Sleep Books. I’ve performed in pubs, theatres, festivals, cafes, cabarets – recently with Poets with Pride, MoonCow Collective and Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. I also teach. I’ve run workshops with The Poetry School, Oxford Poetry Library and for a collective in Thailand. I did a collaboration with APT Gallery in East London where I worked with a sculptor – that was cool.

Where can people find you online?
On Instagram @dixon_kat and my website is katdixonpoetry.co.uk. You can find videos, performances and some other weird stuff on there.

Got anything coming up?
I’ve started writing a blog with tips for new poets, which is my way to gently give back to the community - katdixonpoetry.co.uk. You can pick up a copy of my book “eat the glitter” on the website there or at Broken Sleep Books. I’m taking a break from performing while I work on a manuscript. I’ve got a few performances booked for Autumn. Follow me on the gram if you’d like inconsistent updates and the occasional dachshund meme.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers, poets, or the world?

Your corner of the world is worth writing about. I sometimes get overwhelmed with the weight of the world’s injustices. Writing poetry or creating art can feel pointless. But I do believe being creative is an act of resistance, not because it changes the world in some big, deep way but because it helps us become who we are more fully, inhabit our being more fully, love, live and connect with each other more fully.

Sometimes opening the news app or your WhatsApp just makes you want to hide under the covers. I get it. Some days all I’ve got is reciting Italian verbs so I don’t have to think about all that other shit. But we’re all threaded together.

Whatever your corner of the world is, whatever love or doubt or questions you hold in you – write about them, inhabit them, live them. I think the more we do that, the more space there is for love and light in the world.

A fav quote from a fav TV show:

“Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place”

— Captain Holt, Brooklyn-99

Read the winning poem, Words fall out my mouth like teeth, crumbling

To enter Verve’s Poem of the Month competition, click here.