Traditionally looked down on by the poetry establishment, those specialising in performance deserve their new chance to shine
News that one of the UK’s leading poetry prizes is introducing a category for spoken word artists is as welcome as it is overdue. The move by the Forward prizes signals that the poetry establishment is finally finding a way to honour a sector that it has traditionally regarded as a cuckoo in its nest, when in fact it has long been a fully fledged skylark. This prejudice has done poetry itself no favours, by excluding not only some of the most powerful voices of the last half century, but also those most likely to draw big new audiences into its thrall.
For three decades, the Forward prizes have stood alongside the TS Eliot awards as proof that poetry still matters. Each year, both sets of awards fill London’s 2,700-seater Festival Hall for winners’ ceremonies that are also performances, celebrating the art form in its most ancient iteration as something to be heard and shared. In this context, it has always seemed ironic that it has had no room for the culture-shifting polemics of, say, Linton Kwesi Johnson or Benjamin Zephaniah, or of a younger generation who, like George the Poet, are capable of reeling in a Glastonbury crowd.
