Amber reviews Hollie McNish at The Poetry Pharmacy

A pattering of voices and a chattering of feet about the clock tower. Just as the ever-drowsy high street of Bishops Castle begins to sink blissfully into another Wednesday evening, tucked away sweatily beneath the hottest heat on record (for this year… so far), lovers of poems begin to gather! Some perch outside the Town Hall, dazed like bouquets in their best summer outfits, whilst others and stride to greet one another with wide arms and enthusiastic earrings.

This rural pit stop in award-winning poet Hollie McNish’s extensive Lobster tour (26^th June 2024) was no less anticipated for its humble location; the event having sold out almost as soon as it was announced a year prior. In the last decade McNish has garnered a widespread following, much loved for her humorous yet poignant reflections on her everyday experiences (motherhood, identity, social justice), and for her captivating live performances.

With all gathered and seated in the hall, the excitement was palpable despite the heat, and soon the hour’s chime from the belltower above signalled the start of a comfortable kind of trance where time itself and all thoughts of water jugs went on temporary hold. After a quick introduction by Deb Alma (owner of The Poetry Pharmacy bookshop & host of the event) Hollie took her place at the mic, casually dressed, framed by a large arched window filled with rooftops, sky and hills.

Hollie was immediately able to put her audience at ease and get them giggling with stories about her total repulsion towards lobsters and subsequent morbid fascination- the inspiration behind her newest collection Lobster: And Other Things I’m Learning To Love. In Lobster she reflects on her own encounters with disgust in various contexts; offering a thematic flipside to her previous book, Slug: And Other Things I’ve Been Told To Hate.

The performance proved to be as much storytelling as it was poetry-reading. Leading into each poem she shared the inspiration behind her work, describing the types of thoughts and experiences which lead her to pick up her pen and write. Only in retrospect did I consider the passion it must take to speak as though sharing each story for the first time. The feeling as an audience member was akin to chatting with a close friend, interspersed with poems as hypnotic interludes, her voice shifting to a strong, flowing cadence- a cool stream, making pebbles, mud and bugs as appear crystal clear, sparking tears and laughing ripples.

It’s hard to choose my favourite poems of the night. I notice the titles that first spring to mind, Buy The Boy Flowers and The Problem With Aging, both beautifully illustrate the value and simplicity of joy. I connected with the urge to pick apart all of the silly ways in which we justify its rationing and complication; ‘watch him frown at first, as if you’ve got the wrong person, the scent filling his lungs’. (Also, an honourable mention to -Your Baby Is Gross, and bald, with a bow on top.)

As someone who is still lingering in the lobby of the world of poetry, experiencing this reading was another small nudge of encouragement. I appreciated the opportunity to hear the stories behind each poem and connect a real person with a face and a voice to words on a page. It’s great to see that The Poetry Pharmacy is putting Bishops Castle on the map as a poetry destination in its own right (alongside the likes of Ledbury and Hay-on-Wye), and hopefully more ‘glitzy poets’, as Deb jokingly referred to Hollie, will consider it worth a stop.

To learn more about The Poetry Pharmacy visit:
www.poetrypharmacy.co.uk/bishops-castle