Tell us about yourself and what inspired you to start writing.
Since school I have been told I had a way with words, but I had not thought of myself as ‘a writer’. One day, on a train, I felt sad about the recent loss of a very good friend and bored with the tedious journey I was enduring. This spawned a sudden sense of unfulfilment – not with life in general but with the words that were, as always, stumbling round in my head. I started to scribble, as I had often done, but for the first time I actually finished a poem. I have gone on to write and perform hundreds more, trying to improve them or diversify them or respond to different things, but that emotional hour on a train started the ball rolling.
Describe your writing process? Is there anything unique about it?
I think everybody’s writing process is unique in one sense because it is about their view of the world and, even if we share a perspective with others, we can only ever vouch for ourselves. My writing process is changing actually. I used to leap too quickly into word selection (the part I tell myself I’m quite good at) and not spend enough time ruminating about the underlying idea. I sometimes found that costly; some poems sounded like elegant houses built on unsteady ground. Nowadays I prefer to jot down just a few words – the statement, the twist, the punchline, or whatever – and let these take root in my mind for a while before I start writing the poem. When I come to build some sort of structure and character, it feels easier to do. A solid base is important.
Have you published any books or do you have a desire to do so?
My first book, ‘Love, misery and fruit crumble’ is, as the title suggests, a mixture of light and shade. It contains some quite frivolous work but also my very darkest work. The follow-up, ‘Binge thinking’, was a bit more experimental in that I used looser structures, less rhyme, more varied meter than I had in the first book. Again, the title gives clues. This one really was written in binges. It is more experimental than the debut but focuses largely on the same themes of the little things that bring joy and the areas of life that do harmful things to human hearts.
My latest book is called ‘Lowering Awareness’ and it is the one of which I am by some distance the most proud. It is more of a departure both in its content and its style. I like to think the poetry has become a bit more varied; it is certainly not quite so preoccupied with sadness and doubt. There is more work about landscapes and characters and the space around us. There’s always room to improve but I am allowing myself to be quite pleased with this book!
Do you have any favorite poets or authors?
My favourite poets are those I like to watch perform rather than read on the page. The one I’ve hero-worshipped the most and the longest is Louise Fazackerley. She combines humour with hard edged messages; she does characters and voices beautifully but she also squeezes out the gentlest line just when you don’t expect it. She’s a star poet. Look her up.
Do you have a favorite book of poetry or poems?
If I am to read poetry – and in an all honesty I haven’t done so very much in recent months – I go for older names like Larkin (for his aggression) and Betjeman (for his gentleness). I’m not sure it’s very ‘cool’ to like them, but we won’t worry too much about that.
What are you reading now?
I’ve been dipping in and out of “The runner of little races” by Ray Diamond. It’s a very spiky and at times quite harsh collection but it’s suiting my mood. It also makes me raise a smile because my first ever poetry performance, a nervous affair in London’s Poetry Cafe, was lit up by Ray. He was streets ahead of me but it was nice to tell myself I had ‘shared his stage’ and that I could aspire to be as good as him – one day!
What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Full-time job, pets, hobbies?
My hobby is to avoid talking about such things. Sorry to be unpleasant – I’m quite nice really.
Are you working on a current project?At the moment I am performing work from the latest book and planning to make a couple of short films (see Matt Chamberlain Poet on YouTube) and I’m looking forward to being one half of an anonymous-lit-art-collaboration as part of a project called An Assemblance of Judicious Heretics (see www.wordsmithery.info). Then I want to reassess which direction the writing is going in next.
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