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‘‘Talk about current affairs whilst I counted your eyelashes. 93 over 90. I hoped you’d lost the last 3 on wishes about me.’’ – Jodi Ann Bickley, Drive Home
This week LitroTV brings you two poems by Jodi Ann Bickley that explore what is surely the greatest mystery of all – love.
It’s a theme which features heavily throughout the 25 year old poets work and she tackles it with the perfect mix of witty observation and whimsical rhymes. “Drive Home” and “I’m a dickhead but I love you!” were filmed at a London Writers Block event and are also the poet’s personal favourites.
After winning the 2009 Roundhouse poetry slam, Jodi gained considerable exposure and went on to perform at Glastonbury, Bestival, Camp Bestival and Shambala. She also took part in one of the most exciting poetry movements to happen in the last couple of years, where spoken word and electronica music joined forces, something critics named poetronica. Teaming up with dubstep heavyweight Skream, Jodi describes the collaboration as incorporating a “classic minimal dubstep beat” to aid her narrative. “A beat has to do whatever suits the poet. I aim towards proper storytelling with a beginning, middle and end, so it has to be minimal. Dubstep beats give me a blank canvas; they aren’t too overpowering and can be calm if I need them to be. Dubstep can create a sense of place just like poetry can.”
Of late it has been her personal life that has received the larger amount of attention, after she was bitten by a tick at a festival and contracted encephalitis. A stroke robbed her of her ability to walk and write and she successfully taught herself to do both all over again. Endearingly honest about her experiences on her blog, her ability to find new ways of telling stories make her one of the most talented and inspirational poets on the scene at the moment.
Emma Cooper
Emma Cooper is editor of Litro's visual arts channel LitroTV. She is a Bedfordshire based writer, passionate about films and books and in particular short stories. You can see more of her writing at www.skewedstories.com and www.readwave.com.
