Pompey Poetry Party looks forward to performance artist, rapper, illustrator, monster maker and puppeteer, Spike Zephaniah, a well-loved figure in Southsea’s creative eco-system, step into a poetry night in Southsea next week. Headlining the event at Six Highland Road, the event looks set to be a crowd pleaser.
Combining his artistic skills with fast-paced rap poetry to form a unique kind of hybrid performance art, Spike’s work deftly dances between an eclectic mix of disciplines. He will show off all these skills at the Highland Road cafe which holds monthly poetry nights on the 5th of April from 7.30pm.
About His Journey
Born and bred in Portsmouth, Spike has been writing since he had a grasp of words. “Storytelling has been a compulsion of mine as long as I can remember,” says Spike. “Stories allow us to make sense of complex ideas and themes in a digestible way, and I’ve learned many truths from fiction. I like character-driven stories and gravitate towards the supernatural and surreal; I enjoy stories that take place just outside our own reality.”
Spike is an artist in high demand. Illustration and poetry have taken him country-wide, performing in schools, prisons, nightclubs, festivals, the Houses of Parliament and even events in the heart of Africa. It was during his time interning at a creative agency in London that Spike fell in love with the spoken word and became immersed in the city’s vibrant open mic scene. This seamlessly wove into his illustrations, sketching performers from life and incorporating drawing into his own performances.
Being A Poet
Spike soon gathered a following as a skilled artist and poet. His sense of spoken-word narrative has been described as spellbinding. Although these two disciplines are often seen as being at odds with each other, Spike was able to reconcile illustration’s intricate organisation with the often-impulsive nature of the spoken word.
“I can be very intricate and detail-oriented in my craft and it’s difficult to align with artistic impulses – ideas come much faster than I can keep up with. Perfectionism can be a real detriment to an artist, though it can also lead to incredible work; the crucial thing is balance. I tend to do my best writing by freestyling in my head and feeling out what works, then only when I have a few lines I’m happy with, do I write it down and fine-tune it, always by hand. If I approach it too methodically and try to write everything down from the start, it feels stiff. Often my poems veer off on tangents because I’m following the natural flow and letting the rhythm lead me where it wants to go.”
Eventually, Spike found his way back to Pompey. “A few years ago, possibly homesick, I felt compelled to create a Portsmouth-based superhero, and so ‘Captain Pompey & The Southsea Kid’ was born. Initially, this was just a silly idea and I never expected to go beyond a mock-up cover illustration. Then the first Portsmouth Comic Con happened, and the prints proved so popular that it demanded to be made into a whole comic. Collaborating with my brother Bal on the story, characters and colours, we’re now onto our third issue and the series has been well-received by the people of Portsmouth – the only audience that really matters! I actually think the comic is more a reflection of Pompey than it is of me or my work, though of course, I can’t help but bring some of myself into everything I make.”
Using Hip-Hop, Punk and Puppets
Spike’s writing often falls outside the realms of traditional poetry, using hip-hop, punk music, cinema and gothic fiction as a source of inspiration. Gorgeously anarchic with a dash of madness, Spike works from a place of devotion to his craft and the pure love of his characters. He shows a genuine affection for outsiders, often using his poetry to reflect on how they are not so different from ourselves. “I’ve always been a bit of an outsider myself,” Spike confesses. “I suppose with a name like Spike it was inevitable. I also found myself drawn to oddball characters from an early age, real and fictional. For me, the mainstream is far scarier than the dark corners around it. Outsiders make more sense to me because the ‘norm’ is utter madness! As philosopher Jidda Krishnamurti once stated, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” I carry that thought with me everywhere.”
There’s certainly a sense of ‘otherness’ in most of Spike’s poems, whether expressing his offbeat interests or exploring outsider characters. Spike’s notorious poem ‘Ode to the Slug’ is a celebration of outsiders in nature. “We are led to believe in ‘survival of the fittest’, but it’s the freaks – and I use that word affectionately – that adapt and evolve a species.”
He has a passion for creating monsters, whether through drawings, sculptures or puppets. Puppetry has become an increasingly large part of his artistic output including an ‘intergalactic hip-hop poetry’ act called ‘Runchtacular’ which has developed a life of its own and run wild. Horror cinema has played a huge, Godzilla-sized role in his development as an artist – no other genre speaking to Spike the way horror movies, and more specifically ‘creature features’, do.
“Monsters and the stories surrounding them have always fascinated me,” says Spike.” Too often monsters are used simply as narrative devices, a threat that must be escaped or destroyed, but I prefer to treat monsters as rounded characters like any other. I plan to make a horror film of my own eventually – they’ve been too big a part of my life and practice not to. I’ll get there one day.”
Spike Zephaniah will be headlining at Pompey Poetry Party on Friday 5th April 7.30-10pm at Six Highland Road.
By Caroline Brennan
