‘To me, poetry is another form of music’

Loz Anstey talks to Julia Thorley about finding her voice as a poet and a performer.

Loz with her poetry collection.

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Loz Anstey is well known around the county and beyond for her appearances at spoken word events and her performance poetry. She has a style that is uniquely hers.

“I like to go my own way,” she says. “I studied Creative Writing at university, but pretty much failed my poetry unit. My lecturer didn’t get what I was about and didn’t understand what I was trying to do. I was a mature student of about 24, so I was used to writing with freedom and confidence. At uni, I had to write for the lecturers and as soon as you know that’s what you’ve got to do it changes you as a writer. For me, it meant I started to have doubts about whether I could write poetry at all.

“Now I journal a lot, which enables me to write freely. If I write on my laptop it feels more structured, but in my notebook I get a more relaxed vibe. Sometimes I write and don’t even read it back to myself, never mind share it with anyone else; but I keep everything I write, because I worry that one day I’ll want to go back over my old notes to find the exact word or phrase I need. Sometimes I look back and see potential in something I wrote ages ago.

“Confidence is a massive issue, though. I was so overwhelmed after my degree that I got to the point where I just wanted to wing it. Even now I can be blindsided by what I think an audience wants. For instance, I was trying to write the ‘perfect poem’ and instead ended up writing ‘Come At Me’. It just fell out of me, and I thought ‘Where the hell did that come from?’”

Loz is a published poet, and her words leap off the printed page, but it’s on the stage that they really come alive. She doesn’t simply read aloud, she performs with passion.

“It was about seven years ago that I went to Run Your Tongue [a spoken word event that ran for several years at the Three Cocks in Kettering] and it was a real surprise to see people getting up and reading out their stuff. I thought, ‘Why have I never done this?’ I wanted to know what it felt like.”

Run Your Tongue has now relocated to Leicester. In its place is the recently established Lyric Lounge, which is slowly building up a following despite not having a regular venue yet.

“Losing Run Your Tongue left a real hole in the town, and sadly the pub has gone, too, but we need something to replace it and that’s worth supporting. Spoken word events need a separate space though, and this is easier to find in the cities, such as Leicester and Peterborough, where passionate audiences can hear some great performers.

“Another key factor is having a decent host. I’d like to have a go at that at some point, but don’t feel ready at the moment. It’s an important role and you have to get the balance right between being inclusive and welcoming to new performers, but also respecting the audience. There has to be a standard to aim for. There needs to be a mix of styles and tone, too. You’re not going to get anywhere by ignoring the traumas and challenges we all face, but you need to mix it up a bit.”

When it comes to choosing her own set list, Loz says she likes to take her audience on a rollercoaster ride. She will perhaps read ‘Emma’, a powerful poem that pulls no punches, then follow it up with ‘Pam’s Pants’, which is the piece of hers most requested by audiences.

Loz performing. Simon Eppey image.

“On the face of it it doesn’t really make much sense and it’s very silly; but I wanted to have a go at writing something funny and this was the result.

“There are all sorts of formal styles of poetry, but that doesn’t matter to me because I’m interested in how it sounds. I might write something and think it’s finished, but then when I read it aloud to rehearse it I will change it so that it flows well in performance. That’s more important than worrying about how it ‘should’ be. I am quite partial to a good rhyme, though. Apart from anything else, I think it makes it easier to listen to.”

‘Pam’s Pants’ was the first poem that Loz learnt to perform from memory.

“I practise a lot so that they come like that” – she clicks her fingers – “but it’s so hard to learn poems. It’s scary, but there’s nothing quite like being able to say to myself ‘I know this’ and being able to perform a piece, not just read it. Actually, that’s how I know a poem works. A good one flows and I can remember it easily. Those that I can’t, generally need more work. It can be a process of developing sentences and structure, of changing the odd word here and there.”

Loz has published a selection of her poems from the past few years, which she says was a useful exercise.

“The process of collating the poems for Orange From Grey meant I had to look at all the work I’d done. It’s also a useful prop to hold on stage in case I need to refer to the words, of course – and it means I have something to sell!”

When asked whom she admires, Loz names Jess Green and Rob Gee, but says she is finding it tricky to focus on reading at the moment.

“Instead I take a lot from music. I really enjoy Moby’s stuff – his lyrics are so poetic – and also Fleetwood Mac. To me, poetry is another form of music.”

The poems mentioned in this interview are in Loz Anstey’s pamphlet Orange From Grey, available from www.bookishly.co.uk/products/orange-from-grey-by-loz-anstey-poetry-pamphlet