Charlie Dark: National Treasure

Forget Stephen Fry, Charlie Dark is one of the UK's national treasures. A writer, musician, DJ, poet and pioneer of legendary club night Blacktronica, his theatrical stagecraft and vocal gymnastics have lit up stages from the US to Germany and all over the UK.

As a poet, Charlie is engaged in a lot of education work, shaping the poetical minds of children and young people all over the country. He even runs a thriving running club called Run Dem Crew. Charlie makes regular appearances on the international literature and spoken word circuit and has toured with the British Council to Germany, Spain and The Netherlands. He was featured at Poetry International at the South Bank in 2004. An experienced tutor and workshop facilitator, he runs courses on creative writing and poetry for young people and adults throughout the year and has been a Poet Coach for the London Teenage Poetry Slam for three years. As an enigmatic poet and performer, we thought it was high time we spoke to this national treasure about writing poetry.

> Why do you read?

I was never really a big TV fan as a child so books became my TV. It's a tradition that has continued into later life. The first book I can remember reading was a Ladybird book about two characters called Peter and Jane but the book that really gripped my imagination was Catcher in the Rye and another book I studied for A Level called Waterland by Graham Swift. I'm currently reading a number of books but the main one grabbing my attention at the moment is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

> Being a musician, poet, author and performance artist, what is your process? Do you decide ‘today I will write a poem, today I will write a song’?

From the age of 13 I have carried a notebook around with me at all times even when I'm doing a DJ gig. I record interesting particles of conversation that people say, things I see on the television or sights I see on my travels. Everything around me can be used as inspiration for a poem, piece of music or play.

Since the advent of the iPhone and small digital cameras I've taken to taking pictures too. In my studio I keep scrap books of ideas and things to keep me inspired at all times. There is no typical day as every day is different. I could be teaching in the morning with performances at night

> What do you love about performance poetry and how did you get into it?

The ability to engage and entertain people with words has a certain pull. As a kid I couldn't rap but I had a way with words and poetry allowed me to contribute to the Hip Hop medium that I loved and change peoples’ perceptions of what a poet could be.

I tried to get into performing after I left university but found the literature world very closed and uninviting. There was this perception that as a young black poet I should be writing about going back to Africa and upliftment but I felt that that had already been done by others before me. I'd come from the Hip Hop generation at a time when lyrical powers were being celebrated and thought that documenting my surroundings and influences was far more important. Most of the people I knew from Africa were trying to get out and not go back but not many people were writing about or being inspired by the emerging Hip Hop movement.

After being refused entry into some events and encountering the difficulties of the open mic, I just decided to start my own poetry collective alongside my friends. We called ourselves The Urban Poets Society and rented a gallery in Brixton and started doing our own events called Speakers Corner. We invited anyone who was being creative with words to bless our stage. MCs, singers, rappers whoever. Even The Roots played for £25 and a Christmas dinner.

> Do you read written poetry? Who are your favourites?

I like T S Elliot, Wordsworth and all of the classic poets but I also like Saul Williams and what I call the Def Jam and beyond generation of poets. There is a poet called Kevin Covell who I'm really digging at the moment too.

> How would you convince children and young people to read more poetry?

How long do you have? Introduce them to poems that reflect their lives first and then after time they will begin to appreciate the classics. If  I don't even have a window box and I've never had cut flowers in my house then how am I going to appreciate a poem about daffodils written in language I don't understand.

> What do you get out of writing?

Solitude and silence. And time to think

> Do you prefer performance poetry or written poetry?

A good poem should stand up on the page first and the stage second, as you are not always going to be there to read it to the reader. I write for the page first and adapt my pieces to the stage. This is a wise rule that a lot of the up-and-coming poets could learn from if they want to have long careers and rise higher in the literature world. A poet should be able to rock any crowd from the stiffest literature festival crowd to the main stage at Glastonbury. I speak from experience as I've done both.