Finding Their Voice

Poetry with the power to move and inspire is being generated from some unlikely corners of Scotland

- Dawn Geddes

POETRY has evolved over the years. Once seen as ahighbrow artform that was difficult to understand,the genre is becoming increasingly popular, with more poets writing about every day issues. To mark World Poetry Day on March 21, we speak to two of Scotland’s poets, housing worker Stephen Watt and former roofer William “Billy” Letford, who use their “everyman” backgrounds to create poetry meaningful and accessible for all…

Stephen Watt Born and bred in Dumbarton, Stephen was the first crime poet to appear at Bloody Scotland in 2016 as well as being Dumbarton Football Club’s first Poet in Residence. His work has been published in the collection Optograms published by Wild Word Press, Spit, and in the music and spoken word project Neon Poltergeist which he produced with musician Gareth McNicol. His new crime poetry collection will be published by Red Squirrel later this year.

“Like most school kids I just wasn’t interested in poetry at all. It wasn’t until I was 19 that I decided to pick up a pencil and start writing. A couple of weeks later I had the unfortunate experience of being mugged on the train.

Suddenly the poetry really kicked in and I started using it as therapy. Six months later I was jumped again – this time it was a guy who had a pen knife to my neck. These incidents were the catalyst for me becoming a poet.

“Most people start by trying to write love poetry – at 19 years old, I thought that was the best place to start too, but because of the assaults, my writing naturally took a darker turn. It became my way of making a wee bit of sense in my own head about what had happened.”