‘It’s impossible to live in SE London and not be influenced by its exuberance and tenderness’
Luigi Coppola was stumbling around Glastonbury in 1995 and somehow found himself in ‘the Poetry & Words tent and never really left’, he tells Michael Holland.
He did emerge, though, and set about becoming a poet. He studied Creative Writing at Warwick University, ‘which gave me a space to shape the chaos into craft’, and began writing and performing his work, which he has now been doing for nearly thirty years: ‘Open mics, busking, slams and street readings’.
Going back further, Luigi feels that he first came to poetry as a child of Italian immigrants, ‘trying to make sense of two languages that didn’t always fit together. Words were both bridge and battleground.’
He moved to South East London, to be nearer the action and work – Luigi teaches English Language and Literature to 11-18 year olds. ‘London has a restless, generous energy: the sound of markets, bus engines, ten languages in the same queue; my poetry came out of noise,’ he proclaims. ‘It’s where I’ve found community, stories and rhythm. It’s impossible to live here and not be influenced by its exuberance and tenderness.’
Luigi’s poems have been published in Magma, Acumen, The Rialto, Ink, Sweat & Tears and Rattle, and been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, longlisted for the National Poetry Competition and Ledbury Poetry Prize, and placed in The Poetry Archive Worldview Prize.
He has regularly performed his work in this part of the capital, and beyond. He has been part of the Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective, he is often found at festivals, in pubs and on the streets sharing his words with the world. ‘I write to unmask the strange inside the ordinary: the humour in grief, the surreal in the everyday, the logic that hides in chaos. Poetry, for me, reconciles contradictions: insider and outsider, teacher and student, voice and echo…’
Luigi was on a poetic roll and I found myself swept up in his undulating rhythms as he told me about an alter ego, The Only Emperor, under which he makes music: ‘It’s spoken word layered with lo-fi beats and visuals: a kind of multimedia storytelling.’
The poet also collaborates in other projects: Rope & Skull with guitarist Swithun Cooper, and Stalking Corpses with producer Darren Gash and with the artist Dohyun Baek. ‘All of us experimenting with word, art, multimedia, lyric video work, exploring how poems can exist as sound, text and image at once…’ There was a pause – more poetic than pregnant – to ensure his words settled in my mind. I opened my eyes and he continued. ‘Each performance I view as an experiment: a mix of projection, film, voice, and improvisation. I love the physical connection of a live audience: it keeps the work honest.’
I felt like I had just woke from a meditation session, but with a clear sight of why I was here. I asked what he is currently working on and found that he had provided haikus to accompany the artwork created by prisoners at the wonderful Koestler Arts Exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall(until 14th December), and has just published a book of his poems.
It’s called Even God Gets Distracted Sometimesand created in collaboration with visual artist Mark Shuttleworth. ‘It’s part art-book, part performance script, part meditation on how we survive the noise of modern life.’ He explained how each piece is paired with artwork by Shuttleworth, creating a dialogue between text and image.
I had to go but not before Luigi told me of the Cutty Sark Sea Shanty Festival on 22nd November. ‘I’m performing under the boat at 11am and in the boat at 2pm.’
Any last words, I asked. ‘Ultimately, I want my words and music to bridge audiences: the page, the stage, the screen, and the street.’
I feel sure that will happen.
Even God Gets Distracted Sometimes is available from Broken Sleep Books, Waterstones, Amazon, and independent retailers.
https://linktr.ee/PoetryPreacher
https://linktr.ee/evengodgetsdistractedsometimes
ISBN: 978-1-917617-17-8
Publisher: Broken Sleep Books
RRP: £19.99
