Cathy Crabb

"Suicides, come and get your rope and poem." Is a reaction I once had from a friend of mine in response to one of my poems. I took it as a compliment. To me my poetry is like sherbet dip. A quick hit. And quite cheap. I write like this because that's what I like to read.

From the age of eight I read Shakespeare and loved it, at the age of thirteen I saw my first performance of a Shakespeare play. I was utterly bored. So much so that I wet myself for stimulation. I am totally amazed and humbled by the language but could quite happily never watch another rendition of his plays for the rest of my life. And I definitely wouldn't subject my children to it. Go and watch Macbeth on a Wednesday matinee with GCSE students and you'll know what I mean. Observe their reactions half way through, you may as well, you won't be able to concentrate on the play with all the giggling and messing about going on. To quote  Smiths song, "The music that they constantly play, says nothing to me about my life". They may as well have barking dogs playing the parts. Actually, that might not be such a bad idea, at least it would be thought provoking. 

The Greeks (whoever they were) believed that profound messages are best put in the simplest fashion. Then the English language gets hold of their stuff and it becomes drag. By which I mean so over dressed in flowery language (because for some reason we assume multi-syllabic and in comprehendible means good), that we can't find what we're meant to feel. So, if my work is a sherbet dip, the English classics are the lipstick and lashes of language. Often mistaken for the foundation. 

Why am I writing this tripe? Because I think more people should write and not be put off by the classic or the pedantic or the snobbery surrounding literature. Write whatever you feel like and don't bother thinking about structure, punctuation or spelling for god's sake. Someone somewhere will like it, even if you don't. Those people who worry about form and structure usually witter on about musty old work and write boring uninspired poetry. Not like mine, which is brilliant.

I'll put down me trumpet now.  I am going to submit some more work to this site. I mostly write children's poems. I am thirty one, live in Oldham with somebody and have two sons.

View Cathy's work here and here.