Spoken Word Week: Interview with John Parham

John, you've it come off stage - how was it for you tonight?

It was quiet. It was quiet.

Could that possibly have had anything to do with the shooting that occurred round the corner at Whitechapel tube a couple of hours ago?

We don't know if it's got anything to do with that, but if people can't get here because of it, maybe it has.

Which poem did you enjoy performing the most tonight and why?

Probably 'Blackchapel Blues', because it's a very recent one and I've only tried it out once before. There's a lot going on in it that people who live here can relate to.

What's the idea behind it - is it observational?

It's just the blues really, it's got nothing to do with the daily news, it's just how things go around here - like you mentioned, that shooting. I've got loads of verses for it that I didn't include tonight, so when I get the lowdown on it I'll put in a verse about that as well.

Your first poem contained references to ex-soldiers who are now homeless and the commuters just walking past them - could you elaborate on that?

That was part of the poem 'Paying to Bear the Promiser'. This is part of British history that soldiers earn, basically, what a labourer earns, and they put their lives on the line. And a lot of them are homeless after they come back from Iraq or what not. I'm not patriotic by any means, but you see it, and it's a sad spectacle.

You appeared on the second Selfish Cunt album, English Chamber Music, with an anti war poem - is that right?

Yeah I did an anti war poem called 'Corpse', which was dedicated to Tony Blair at the time. It speaks for itself really.

Do you think there could possibly be a wide audience for poets in the UK? You get a lot of people going to watch crap bands, but it strikes me they could get more out of going to watch a poet or two. How do you think the scene's going?

I think the whole poetry scene is really quite healthy if it keeps out of the constraints of academia, and if, like with music, people just decide that they're going to do it for themselves, and they don 't worry too much about the career aspect of it.

Who's your favourite poet?

My favourite poet ever is the English poet John Skelton, who was somewhere between Chaucer and Shakespeare. He defied the establishment - he was a fierce opponent of Cardinal Wolsey (15th century power grabbing religious guru - Ed) and he's also these days called the father or rap! My favourite living poet is an Irish poet called Paul Durcan, who I admire greatly.