Sally Jenkinson runs Poetry Pulpit, an open-mic poetry night in Bristol.
“Lullaby is about that weird insomnia-hinterland where you find yourself in the middle of the night, if you’re not a good sleeper. It’s kind of exponentially weirder if there are two of you that never sleep! Beautiful sometimes, as well though.
“At its best, performing poetry for me is cathartic and expressive and fun. At its worst, it’s a learning experience. You can think something is finished, then say it out loud on front of people and realise its utter drivel. So performing is definitely part of the editing process for me.
“I love the feeling when you are watching someone perform, and they articulate something - a notion or a feeling or sense of something - that you would never have found the words for yourself. Listening to poetry is like having a thesaurus for your thoughts sometimes.”
Poetry heroes:
Warsan Shire, Caroline Bird, Patti Smith, Simon Armitage, Amy Lowell, Robert Frost, Matthew Hollis, Rosy Carrick, Holly Blackwell from The Lovely Eggs, Adam Kammerling, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman… I would need several hundred note books to do this list any justice…