Special Report on Hammer & Tongue

Alan Buckley on the 'Hammer & Tongue' Intercity Slam! - bravura performances & breakneck Mancunian psychobabble gutter poets

Hammer and Tongue, which began life in Oxford in 2003, has also been running in Brighton since April 2005. To mark a highly successful first year of gigs in Brighton, H&T co-founder Steve Larkin and Brighton promoters Sam and Jacob Berkson arranged an intercity slam contest – the top four placed poets from May’s Oxford Final (Lizzie McHale, Claire Fauset and Sophia Blackwell, captained by 2005 H&T Champion AF Harrold) headed down to Brighton on January 31st to take on the top four poets from December’s Brighton final (Elemental, M&Emmylou, Chris P and captain Jimmy McGee), with a return leg the following week in Oxford.





I wasn’t able to go down for the Brighton leg, but Sophia reported that Polar Central was packed for the event, with a typical Brighton crowd – very noisy, very young and very hip, with much dreadlocked hair and heavy-duty smoking in evidence. Although the first round was closely fought, a lively performance from Elemental just before the break edged Brighton into the lead. There was then a break, and poems from Steve Larkin, Oxford’s George Roberts and Brighton’s intriguingly named John Anarcho Pink Fluffy Bunny. Fortunately for Oxford, the Brighton team’s poorer slam discipline meant that they entered round two in a severely inebriated state. Elemental started (but failed to finish) three poems, while both he and Chris P incurred time penalties for overrunning. A bravura performance by AF Harrold ensured that Oxford swept to victory.





The following week, Sam Berkson compered the return leg at Oxford’s Zodiac club, where a much less boisterous audience proved hard to win over. We were under pressure when Sophia Blackwell had to drop out through illness and I was brought in off the subs bench – I don't write as much (or as good) slam-friendly poetry as she does, and the Brighton team chose to stay moderately sober this time round. At the break, Oxford were trailing by three points. However, full-on performances from myself, Lizzie and Claire in round two were capped by Ashley pulling a poetic rabbit from a hat – a stack of randomly harvested film quotations shaped into a surreal verbal collage, which earned two perfect 10s. Victory again, by a whisker.





The night was also a tribute to the late and great performance poet Hovis Presley. In the break between rounds, Steve Larkin introduced Hovis’s work to the audience and then invited Paul Blackburn and Julian Jordan from Bolton's Write Out Loud to the stage to read from Hovis's book, Poetic Off-Licence. They were followed by Thick Richard, who are breakneck Mancunian psychobabble gutter poets born from an unholy drug-fuelled orgy involving a Satan worshiping jackal in the toilets of an unfashionable post-punk club (according to their publicity material). All round, another excellent night of verbal dexterity and poetic sparring – here’s to this becoming an annual fixture.


Alan Buckley has had poems published in a number of magazines, and performs regularly in Oxford, Reading and London. He won the 2005 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival Slam.

N.B. The pictures in this report were not taken at the Intercity Slams! but are from the Hammer & Tongue website.