The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureLiterature

The Chocolate Poetry Club’s FIRE: Community at its best – uplifting, galvanising and welcoming

The Chocolate Poetry Club’s FIRE: Community at its best – uplifting, galvanising and welcoming
19 December 2018
Laura Foulger
Avatar
Laura Foulger
19 December 2018

“A place for writers, readers and chocolate eaters”

If you come along to one of the Chocolate Poetry Club’s FIRE events, you’ll find yourself shoulder to shoulder with London’s most eloquent chocolate appreciators. On this particular wintry Monday night, the operation is held upstairs in The Camden Eye pub. There’s a neat little windowed alcove in the exposed brick of that room, which looks down on the lights of Underworld and of the EE shop on Camden High Street, and which serves as an apt stage for an unmic’d poet.

The poetry standard is high and the chocolate tasting with the ethical Seed & Bean is a unique touch, but what’s really remarkable about CPC’s open mic party is the familial atmosphere, one that glows ever warmer as the evening slides on and the drinks continue. Both seats and performance slots are first come first served but there are featured guests too, ensuring that there’s equal opportunity for all and a panoply of different voices showcased. Here are words presented in all their multitasking power: as protest, comfort, seduction and release.

Founder Paul Point compères the event, alongside Miss Yankey and Shaun Rivers. A strong start to the evening’s poetry is laid by Kory’s Dissecting Words and Ben P’s A Darkened City, followed by a devastating piece from Derek to his brother. “Some black men turn blades on themselves…” goes one line. It’s an early highlight.

After Ratfink’s rhythmic Futurebound, Merlin takes the stage with staff in hand. His poem is so boldly and so voluptuously sensual it gets moans of approval from the audience. Hip-hop poet Repeat BP brings deft lines and speedy rhymes, before Fisky orates his heartrending Man Enough (complete with nifty reference to flying dog Falkor from The Neverending Story). Then comes Moses, a first-timer, with a short but stunning poem about the destruction that comes from loving someone cruel.

JAMEL (the name stands for “Just A Man Expressing Love”) has a breezy charisma, and a love poem to match. Another highlight comes in the form of Lancelot, whose poem Tobago Christmas Change Up is a masterpiece of childhood memory and clever structuring. Its repeated chorus sticks in the mind days later.

The first half of the evening concluded, it’s time for the gathering to vote for their favourite poet; scribbling commences and folded pieces of paper are furtively handed over.

After a break, the House Band (the in-house team) kick off the second half with pieces including Library of Skin, Grace, Poetry Bomb and Shells. No doubts here – this is an immensely talented bunch.

Mr Sol’s piece wrangles with oil mining, trafficking and the plight of the NHS. Lines like “noose ties” and “knives and no forks given” linger on. Mhairi gives a heart-breaking account of a recent personal tragedy in My 2018. Jubi, who hails from across the Atlantic, reads First Time, a laudably honest piece about his first time, as a gay man, having sex.

Kiz calls out “capitalistic bullshit” in her urgent, damning poem. When her confidence falters, the entire club calls out encouragement. The eagerness with which the group lifts one another is heart-warming. There’s a change of weight with Lantern’s reassuring piece about the glory and light of love.

Skard’s poem is pure activism: a denunciation of MPs and Brexit plans, and a call to break the mould. Fiona’s Me explores death and existentialism with simple elegance. Neven performs several short poems on depression and social conscience. Manjinder conjures ethereal imagery of glittering lights from the point of view of a teenage girl.

Sam King is next with a damming summation of the UK’s “missing father syndrome”. Broken Pen follows up with skilful wordplay – his piece describes a no-good girl exclusively in clothing and brand name puns.

Featured poet Tanaka, who won the people’s vote last time, marks a climax to the night. He explains why “barber shop” is a synonym for “therapy” and ponders what would happen If My Body Could Speak. His effortless eloquence summons such hurt and hope that it’s impossible not to be moved.

It’s time to announce the people’s vote from the first half. It’s Merlin, who comes back to the stage to stampede-like applause. Following in tradition, he will take the featured slot at the next event.

The Chocolate Poetry Club offers a compelling reminder to put away screens and surround yourself with people, to listen to their tales of otherness, and to mine them for shared truths. This is community at its best: uplifting, galvanising and welcoming. And that’s before we’ve even got onto the chocolate.

Laura Foulger

The Chocolate Poetry Club is on at changing locations on the third Monday of each month. CPCFIRE is supported by Seed and Bean Chocolate, Powered by Fairphone. For further information visit the Club’s website here.

Watch a video about the Chocolate Poetry Club here:

Related Items

More in Literature

Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan

★★★★★
Laura Boyle
Read More

The Buddhist on Death Row by David Sheff

★★★★★
Laura Boyle
Read More

Walk with Me in Sound – the audiobook: A harmonious introduction to a mindful lifestyle

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Midnight in Everwood by MA Kuzniar

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More

The Simplest Gift by Stefanos Xenakis

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More

Mothers, Fathers and Others by Siri Hustvedt

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More

Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love by Huma Qureshi

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More

The Snow Song by Sally Gardner

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

★★★★★
Elizaveta Kolesova
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Royal Ballet School students return to the stage for post-Covid performances
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • South Facing Festival: Richard Ashcroft and his band were on impressive form from start to finish
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Tragedy of King Richard the Second at Almeida Theatre | Theatre review
Pisqu in Fitzrovia: A taste of Peru