Mat Lloyd: Award Winning UK Performance Poet; A One Stop Spotlight
Today and tomorrow One Stop Poetry has the pleasure of highlighting Mat Lloyd. Mat has been performing poetry around the UK for 5 years, winning awards and accolades along the way. In 2009, he released his first official collection, Demo Tape. Today, however, I am dedicating this page to a charity that Mat is fully behind..CALM....
CALM...Campaign Against Living Miserably...is a UK Charity devoted to men. Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 15 - 34 in the UK, averaging 3 deaths a day. CALM is dedicated to helping reduce the number of these deaths.
Todays feature poem, Blokes, has been used by CALM to promote their cause. It also has been released as a short film, winning Best Film at the ShortCuts Film Festival, 2009....
Blokes
A Poem by Mat Lloyd
I started the evening
By telling him
That he looked a bit fat
And he explained that
"Well.....
every-time I fuck your miss's
she gives me a donut, slut!"
Thats how we were
Him and me
Him and us
Friendly banter
And the odd
Over the top cuss
Plenty of bravado
But no false pretence
And none of our joke
At anyone else's expense
And that night
We were trying to cheer him up
The only way we could do
With Jaeger bombs and tequila
Anything with Alcohol was good
Hell they'd done it for me
With toasts of
"Screw her she's a tart"
And they were fully aware
Of my broken heart
They never snapped at me
When I was acting shit
Or complained
When I was stressed
They picked me up
And sat me down
When I was a drunken
Mess
But anyway, I digress...
Tonight
I had on my supportive hat
I told him
She looked like she apple bobbed
In chip fat
And he laughed at that
That's how we were
Him and me
Him and us
Friendly banter
And the odd
Over the top cuss
Plenty of bravado
But no false pretence
And none of our joke
At anyone else's expense
Maybe its because we where blokes
We didn't show emotion
And I suppose through the commotion
You can see that we cared
My mate stared into space
Blank look on his face
That's how I knew
No amount of cheap shots
And bravado
Could change his mood
Change tactics say something crude
That's how we were
Him and me
Him and us
Friendly banter
And the odd
Over the top cuss
Plenty of bravado
But no false pretence
And none of our joke
At anyone else's expense
That night my mate found salvation
In whisky and pills
His text saying "I'm sorry"
Still gives me the chills
That last night a memory
I remember with a blur
Should I have said something different?
That's just how we were.
I was angry at first
What could I have said
Would it have made a difference
So he'd be breathing instead?
Maybe among the cussing and bravado
And the shots on that day
I should have said "I'd miss you dude!"
But he would have probably called me "GAY"
copyright Mat Lloyd
16 comments:
I was very honoured when Mat agreed to be spot lighted by One Stop..his performance poetry is amazing..this piece shared with us today is a great poem that really cuts at the heart...in support of a great charity, CALM..thanbks Mat for sharing your amazing work with us..cheers Pete
Why is it blokes can't say what they really mean? I don't think women will ever understand the 'stiff upper lip, all blokes together' world... But great poem, nevertheless.
excellent mat....really enjoyed the short film and the flow to your words...approaching a very serious issue...and i think jinksy said it well...men have a hard time with emotions and if we hold them too tightly they will consume us...
Incredible performance piece from the flow of words to the animation. Best of luck with CALM. I wasn't aware that"suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 15 - 34 in the UK." It's outstanding what you're doing to support the cause.
An extraordinary piece so well performed! Thank you.
Good post. Thoughtfull.
A lovely poem, it really flows and the use of repetition is effective in highlighting the unquestioned assumptions that these guys' relationship rests on, assumptions that prove tragically to be false.
But I feel that we all may have also lapsed into a set of assumptions about men and women ie.men=problem, women=solution. I'd like to see that challenged sometime-it's over simple.
oh wow - believe me - i just sat there for a while - speechless (after looking up some words…) and still don't find the right words for a fantastic - deep - touching poem like yours mat. think if i write on (but then it's going to be a looooong comment - or just say - hat off..
hat off!
Mat - I am impressed by the heart you have to try to rescue these guys before it is too late. Ya know if everyone in society made a small gesture to help his fellow man our world would turn on its axis more smoothly.
Hats off to you.
Pete thanks much so for spotlighting this great guy.
I am humbled by all the feedback, thank you very much. This piece is very dear to me as unfortunately I wrote it from personal experience. I always find there's at least one person in every crowd who has experience a similar loss.
MCL
Interesting...I guess the spotlight was needed for this guy cos I barely know him.
Great cause and best of luck. This was a really good piece...made me laugh and made me sad too.
I enjoyed the flow, repetition, humor, sadness, and most of all the TRUTH in your words, Mat. A well-executed tale of a taboo yet heart-wrenching subject. It appears I am that "one person in the crowd" so far. Good luck in all your efforts with CALM and may God bless the outcome of those efforts.
No way reading this piece would have had that edge, that realism, and that sense of loss, guilt, caring. The performance wasn't performed; it was life remembered.
Grief tears at each us and pulls bits of us off. This was given with such real intensity. I was undone. Thank you. Gay
I read the words and got so lost in the way you so brilliantly wrote about how two men hide their vulnerability so well with each other, I was smiling until WHACK the ending of the poem hit me. So beautiful and moving, and to hear you read it touched me deeply.
Lovely! Thanks for sharing Mat Lloyd's work here..I enjoy reading his works/words...
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