Something Borrowed Podcast With Harry Baker

We're back baby - February's edition saw the wonderful Georgie Jones come to Margate! It was our first time meeting in person but you wouldn't know because it was a vibey vibey time from start to finish. We talk slams, online vs in person performances, trying to write a poem a day for a whole month and much much more. Poems cover topics such as Gym changing rooms, The entire universe, friendship breakups, refugees, the ocean and of course Margate, as well as maybe my favourite borrowed thing yet. It was a genuine joy to share a space and the least editing i've ever done on a video because it was all just so great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

You can find more of Georgie's work here
You can find my tour dates here

Happy New Year!

I am single handedly extending the January blues by taking 6 weeks to edit this but i think we can all agree it is worth the wait. Raymond Antrobus is a poetry legend. It has been over a decade since we first shared a stage together and it has been a joy to see his work flourish since then, and an even bigger joy to find out that he had recently moved to Margate so we could snap him up for a very special edition of Something Borrowed Live. With a range of poems covering mental health, Palestine, grief and Horses, alongside prime numbers, sticky toffee pudding, love and new years resolutions (no points for guessing who brought what energy) it felt like we could have spoken forever, and I am so pleased that we did manage to record the conversation we had. I hope you will agree.

You can find more of Ray's work here and you can find dates for my upcoming tour here!

A mildly festive version of the podcast, in that I shoehorned Christmas into a few of my poems and Will made us delicious boozy hot chocolates while we recorded. I was having so much fun with this chat that it is the longest episode we ever recorded, before being ruthlessly trimmed down to just under an hour of pure gold. I share my epic Christmas poem containing 24 years of memories in one, we have a grown up story time with Mark reading from his new kids book, we talk about school visits, rap battles and more, and mark finishes with an old fave that definitely isn't appropriate for his new child-based audience. Mark then stayed over and we played board games until about 1am. All in all a massive joy!

Surprise! We interrupt your monthly recordings for a bonus episode with the one and only Donna Ashworth - My reading of Donna's poem went viral on instagram which means I now have a new cult following of mostly American Yoga instructors, and quite frankly I am here for it. One of the many lovely things that have come out of this is me and Donna were messaging each other and despite Scotland to Margate being slightly too far for a live appearance (for now!) she kindly agreed to join me for a bonus Something Borrowed over Instagram, so we went back to the podcast lockdown roots! It was really really lovely to connect in that way but also very surreal to go back to that place mentally, so I can confirm it will be normal service as resumed next month. In the meantime why not treat yourself to a copy of Donna's fantastic book here!

Hello friends, and welcome to possibly my favourite episode we've ever done! Gemma is a fantastic poet and a warm and wonderful human, and in this episode we cover the big three Ps, Palestine, Pegging and Postcodes, as well as so much more. This episode was recorded live in Margate and you could feel the magic in the room, so I really hope is translates to the recording. You can also watch the episode on youtube if you enjoy using your eyes as well as your ears, and follow Gemma on Instagram to find out what she's up to or myself on instagram to find out about future episodes/adventures.

Hello Friends! 

The something borrowed train continues to steam ahead and this month we have on board the fantastic Neelam Saradia-Brayley! This was such a gorgeous conversation to have at a time when the rain outside seemed to reflect a general sense of foreboding about the world in general, and yet there was light and warmth within! We covered weddings, funerals, wellies, dinosaurs and much much more - I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

You can find out Neelam's latest activities (and buy her book!) here: https://linktr.ee/Neelam_the_poet
You can watch Rafeef perform her poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKucPh9xHtM
You can watch Caleb Femi's poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUwE80wx4c
You can watch the whole episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9r3m_Mq8MA&t=2s

It's Harry and Chris! The Comedy-Rap-Jazz pioneers are reunited live on stage in front of a beautiful Margate audience. Chris shares a couple of absolute stunners, I go as old as possible for my Something Old, there is a glorious freestyle moment involving Robbie Williams, and even a spontaneous extra jazz song, something nobody has ever asked for in the history of the known universe and yet was a wonderful wonderful time. Thanks everyone who joined us live and thank you for joining us wherever you are. Hope to see you in person one day!

We're back with a live studio audience! Season 3 kicks off in my beloved hometown of Margate for what will hopefully be a monthly occurrence of being joined by a special guest to share something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. To kick off this chapter/season I've got fan fave Helen Seymour for a glorious time including a dragon's den pitch, some in-depth detective work, Wendy Cope's legendary orange poem and a garage track about Greta Thunberg. What is not to love?

Happy Easter! This week I am joined by the completely wonderful Inua Ellams, a fantastic poet and playwright who I last shared a stage with in a crowded basement in early March 2020 in one of the last gigs pre-pandemic. Since then he had had his debut full collection of poetry The Actual published and it is completely gorgeous, we also talk about his RAP Party events as well as what is coming up for him, in amongst some beautiful poetry shared.

I Kick Off with something very old indeed in the form of a 17-year-old rap plucked from the archives, before sharing my new Easter poem on The Last Supper and something tenuously Blue in the form of the Chelsea kit mentioned in my poem 22! Meanwhile I borrow a Rob Auton poem and Inua borrows a Ross Gay poem to round off a wonderful episode.

I'll be taking a short break for the next while so I can focus on some writing, feel free to listen back to previous episodes in the meantime and I will speak to you soon!

You can follow Inua Here and order his new book Here
You can follow me Here, donate to the podcast Here, or donate to my Marathon fundraising Here!

Much love x

Welcome back! This week I am joined by fellow Roundhouse Poetry Collective alumni and brilliant musician Isabel. As well as a shared love for attempting covers of pop songs with cheap keyboards and mutual appreciation of Zia Ahmed, we discuss the sea and water in general, as well as the power of poetry to shift our view on the world. Izzy's Something Old is one of my favourites yet, as well as a borrowed poem 'Find The Poets' that stops us both in our tracks. Alongside poems about running and swimming, I reflect on home and the blue skies of spring ahead for my Something Blue.

In-between recording and releasing this episode I have run a marathon! You can find out more information about why (and sponsor me!) Here rather than donating for this weeks episode if you are so inclined, meanwhile, you can find Izzy on Instagram Here or listen to her new single Here (It's honestly such a banger)

I will be back next week as normal, look after yourselves x