“It took me a while, to realise a poet’s what I am,
If what I read out’s not for you, I really don’t give a damn.”
Tonic Sta Press presents: Rabble Rouser – Mishi Morath: Collected Poems. Compiled by Katalin Morath, Christine Schultz Morath & Ferenc Morath. Edited by Niall O’Sullivan & David Turner. Introduction by David Turner.
Design and Illustration by Mark Coverdale.
The family and friends of Mishi Morath, who sadly died in 2019, have got together to publish his poems in a book that includes tributes from other football fans.
Mishi Morath was a legendary figure on the terraces of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club and a unique and much-missed presence on London’s open mic poetry scene. This first and only collection gathers Mishi’s ever-honest, personal musings on football, family, class, sexuality, addiction and friendship.
“If there’s one thing that is communicated in this book, it’s the joy of the amateur. Not just in Mishi Morath’s passion for non-league football, where players give it their all on dry pitches in front of small crowds in midweek fixtures on the outskirts of London, but also in his own joy in navigating a world he didn’t always believe he was a part of – poetry.
There is an element that can be found within Mishi’s verse that many professionals spend their whole creative lives chasing in vain and that is a voice of his own. Mishi was never one to mince his words, but in these poems, he is able to be truly open about his manifold passions and peeves in a way that is funny, moving and quintessentially Mishi.
In reading these poems I cannot help but hear his once again, and I’m sat under the stairs of the old Poetry Cafe, watching him riff through a loose sheaf of papers, feeling rapt excitement and maybe a little bit of dread about whatever he’s about to say next.” (Co-Editor Niall O’Sullivan)
“Mishi ‘Dulwich’ Morath treads a singular poetic path towards non-league grounds far and wide.
The poetry of the lower leagues is never far from the surface, but there is much more here: working class pride, Europe, survival, sexuality, fighting addiction, prejudice; finding a voice and being true to it. The poems collected here are a testament to the man who lived and breathed live football, later shared in the Open Mic rooms of his own South London.
Striking a note that is typically Mishian, prickly and passionate, his concern is with community. Penned with heart, a fair bit of grumbling and plenty of swearing, ultimately, it’s about finding family. Mishi had three of them, he said: his own one; his beloved Dulwich Hamlet FC and the Rabble that he roused; and finally, the poetry world, where at first he felt like an imposter but knew deep down that Poetry’s for us all.
There are many different poetries and many different footballs. Mishi sought his own, with honesty and pride. A proper poet who shows us that, all that should really matter / Is the warmth of heart inside.”(Michael Wagg)
“He would hate this, would Mishi – some old north-of-the-river, West Ham supporter, a bloody poet too, writing nice things about him. So, I won’t do that (well, just a bit), even though I had great respect for him (and his beloved Dulwich Hamlet – believe it or not I do know other Hamlet supporters and have visited Champion Hill).
When I first met Mishi it was at a poetry gig (a pretty dodgy one too, as I recall). You get all sorts at open mics, and first impressions can be misleading. Sometimes, though, open and honest does turn out to be straight up and proper. That’s how it proved when we had our first rabbit after that gig. Even if he was a bit of an awkward sod. I kept telling him that it isn’t ‘double-double’ it’s ‘two ‘n two’. He wouldn’t have it.
Mishi would always make out that he was just chancing his arm with the versifying. All the better for it, I would tell him, there’s plenty less accomplished manage to create less with access to more and better. That’s their lookout.
This book should prove how much Mishi loved poetry (amongst other things). Those behind its publication have demonstrated that many poets loved him, knew who he was and respected him for it. He is, and will continue to be, much missed.
So, this isn’t just about Mishi, good bloke though he was. Nor is it just about the poetry. It’s about the bloke and his poetry. Read the poems, then, and you’ll get some idea about the bloke.” (Chip Hamer)
£10 from Chener Books, Rye Books and Dulwich Books.
