Neil Laurenson performing at SpeakEasy
-What inspires/makes you write poetry?
The desire to make people laugh; pleasure gained from rhyme, irony, etc.; other poets; an addiction to puns.
-How would you describe your work in just a few words?!
Silly; usually short.
-Which writers do you enjoy reading?
John Hegley; Lindsay MacRae; Sophie Hannah, Simon Armitage; Philip Larkin; Charles Causley; Sylvia Plath; Gerard Manley Hopkins; Edward Thomas; DH Lawrence; Thomas Hardy…
-Some of your work featured in the SP-published anthology of political satire, Never Mind The Ballots – does poetry have a place in politics?
Yes, though probably not in the debating chamber. I expect John Bercow would shout ‘order!’ if an MP recited a limerick.
-Which of your HCE poems will you be reading at the festival? Please tell us more about it…
‘Exclamation Marx!’ It was published in the Rogues edition of HCE. It’s written in the form of a letter from Karl Marx’s teacher to his parents about his carefree attitude towards punctuation.
-What are you looking forward to most at the Festival?
It’ll be my first one, so I’m really just looking forward to being there, seeing other poets, and finally meeting the HCE creators!
