It’s amazing how lockdown can expand a poet’s horizons and hone his skills.
‘You know,’ says Gerald Kells, ‘it feels a bit like I’m emerging from a chrysalis. Anyway, that’s my link to a poem I wrote on my YouTube Channel. Subtle Plug.’
Gerald was already well known for reading around Walsall but over the last year he has become a regular at On-Line Spoken Word events from Swindon to Scotland, from York to Stafford, and occasionally still got to read live at events like the COVID secure Spoke in the Lamp in Brownhills when restrictions were relaxed.
As well as recording poetry for his YouTube Channel and Soundcloud, including his poem, ‘Chrysalis’ he’s contributed to a number of diverse anthologies, including a ‘Dog is Not Just for Christmas’ and ‘Purrfect Poems’ both of which helped support local charities.
book of memories by gkwm (soundcloud.com)
His haikus are regularly turning up on Facebook and were included in the Haiflu project and his poems matched to pictures on the on-line version of PoArtry.
He’s even had success with Short Stories, such as ‘Stone Walls’ on the Coffin Bell website.
Meanwhile, he’s been winning awards. He won the Sandwell leg of ‘Stay Up Your Own End’ organised by the Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists as well as the Stafford Live Monthly Slam and, most recently, the Shrewsbury Festival Slam, where he faced stiff challenges from across the UK.
Next year, when all this is over, he’ll hopefully be performing a set at the Festival, but you don’t have to wait that long. You can catch him at PASTA, Yes You Cant, Oooh Beehive, York Spoken Word and many other Poetry events.
And if you do, you’ll have to be prepared. His work can be serious, funny, sensitive, sometimes about nature, politics, jam or even Flamingos. One thing is certain, his work is always entertaining and thought provoking.
Gerald Kells, 1-2 Dec 2020
