TOAST 3 NNF 2024

I first became aware of Salena Godden when finding one of her poems, ‘I Want Love’, on Spotify. It was on her live album and I recall a provocative line about Fred West not knowing the love she’ll have for her children. I was shocked and astounded at this potty-mouthed poet. And as I dug deeper into her profile and work, I discovered she was in that vibrant trend of left-wing, outspoken poets; sharing stages with the likes of Joelle Taylor.

When Lewis Buxton introduced her for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, he recalled the first time he saw her perform. He described her poetry as an exhilarating mix of excitement and rebellion, likening it to the power and harmony of a church choir. It was true: her poetry is unapologetically proud, a loud streak of a firework bursting into a night sky. It felt deserving of a larger audience. Although seeing her, dressed in a striking red suit, just a few tables away felt overwhelming, the intimate audience of about 40 people provided a good backdrop, bringing a sense of communal support. TOAST does a great job at doing this - offering poets of all levels a platform to share their work. For me, it’s one of the highlights of living in Norwich. Lewis’s introductions add an extra spark to the poetry, skilfully removing any awkwardness and bringing out the best in the poets. When Salena finally took the stage, she truly lived up to the accolades.

Having published 2 books this year, including a prose novel as well as her new poetry collection With Love, Grief and Fury, she’s having a good year. Clearly the state of the world has brought a creative fire within her. Two key messages stood out from her performance: that young poets should be listened to and that the 4th July is our chance to put things right in this country.

What I love most about Salena’s poetry is that it often goes back to those moments in our youth when we can still be silly and laugh at the ridiculousness of everything, and still have that ardent feeling that art can change the world. One of the poems that she read, she’d written when she was 30 and was about her being a teenager – when she quoted Prince and Tracy Chapman, wore CND badges, was terrible at art and hated Thatcher and Regan. There’s so much movement to her poetry: it twists and turns, limbers up, congeals and tumbles and rolls. Her poems are like doodles on scrappy tissues. And her performance is completely based on the moment – choosing the poems to perform then and there on the stage from her book. From a poem about the seductiveness of words (“hot slut mess on speed dial”), to a poem about her wanting to sleep with the moon. Her poetry moves from the romantic to the unromantic and unsexy in a split second. My personal favourite poem was the surreal poem about a woman on her hinges at London Bridge, photographing her vagina. Whether drawn from reality or imagination, it encapsulated her unique voice.

With a last-minute change from Nikita Gil, Ross Sutherland was the next poet to perform in the Speakeasy tent. There was a yogi electricity to him and his bravado really took up the space. His first poem was about his name being the same as a rugby club, perhaps the best poem of the evening. Reading a stream of tweets on the club and mistaking them for him (“all 3 of my sons have in in Ross Suntherland”). He was a good compliment to Salena Godden and there was a strong overlap in themes, as they both read poems about their names, included music references, red imagery. His brilliant wordplay, twists of metaphors and dynamic delivery added an engaging energy to the tent.

The final words from Lewis Buxton lingered with me: “Poetry is a middle finger, it’s an orange with a knife in it, being drunk at a house party, almost kissing, a piano dropping from a 9th floor apartment.” Both poets encapsulated this feeling. Another great event at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2024.