Creative on the rise!

Introducing Danny!

Danny is a phenomenal poet and spoken work artist, with remarkable passion and determination to make impactful strides in the world through his craft and this is very obvious in his zeal and consistency in the world of Literature, specifically poetry which speaks for itself. His relatable and brilliant style of writing is exactly why Danny  is now here on the most prestigious writers platform in the world. 

Today, we take a foray into the world of Danny with excerpts below detailing his amazing story.

"The Poet Badger Started in a Bank Queue

I wrote my first poem in a queue at Barclays Bank. I was twenty-nine, stressed about money, and the queue was moving slowly. The energy in me wasn’t.

I’d always enjoyed creative writing, but I’d never written a poem as such—though perhaps I’d written bits of one without knowing it. Then a line turned up: “I feel it in the air…” I followed it into debt, pressure, and the question underneath it all: what’s it about? By the time I reached the counter, I still had the money worries. I also had a poem. Barclays hadn’t planned that bit.

Listening to Mike Skinner and The Streets had helped me realise poetry could be about anything. The huge things, the tiny things, just one moment that catches you or even a night of raving. 

I’m from Boston, Lincolnshire. I spent my first year of life on a horse-drawn cart, and I grew up with very little. I remember having no carpets and the seats doubling as a toy box. It made me resourceful. In my early twenties I taught myself floristry, went on to run flower stalls, and tried other businesses too. I’ve lived and worked in London on and off for twenty years, worked as an actor, including in commercials. and found myself in plenty of strange jobs. 

Much of my other working life has been in events, setting up exhibitions, art shows, parties and other spaces.

Around the same time as poetry, I wrote screenplays. Friends and I made pilots from some of them, and the work brought us close to people in the industry.

For a while, a feature film looked possible. Then the money fell apart, which is a fairly effective way of stopping a film. 

I loved the making of it, though: finding a voice, following a strange idea, seeing what happens when other people get hold of it. Poetry lets me do some of that with a pen, I’ll squeeze it into whatever time I find.

Writing has come along with all the jobs and journeys. It’s helped me look at ordinary life more closely. A silly conversation, a bird, a tree, a feeling, a dream, something someone says slightly wrong—a stop sign, any of it can open up if I stay with it.

I’ve done various spoken-word appearances. I still maintain I’d have won one slam if my friends hadn’t misunderstood the scoring system and given me a lower mark thinking it would help. 

My writing leaned towards spoken word for a long time, and it still can, but I’ve found a love for form and structure as well. I never studied the classics. Discovering them now is a joy.

Some people have called me a rough hippy. I’ll swear, then tell you why a flower’s amazing. There’s a softness and kindness in me, but it doesn’t always come out softly on the page. Sometimes the poem needs to have a go.

I like a poem that can make you laugh and then leave you thinking about something deeper. Sometimes I tuck the meaning inside a daft tale. Sometimes I follow a thought before I know where it’s going. In the mornings, I’ll let the words come out in a stream and see what’s there. Plenty of it goes nowhere. Every so often, a line makes me stop. It’s instinctual, really. Whether a poem ends up on Instagram, in a book, or never leaves my notebook, I’d still write it. That’s how it happened in Barclays: I wasn’t trying to become a poet or make anything for anyone to read. The words just turned up, and I followed them. They still do that. A sentence can hit me at any time, usually when I’m meant to be getting on with something else. Often, actually.

I’ve travelled through many countries and spent time in monasteries. I’ve been an addict and a party animal. I can do elegant or a building site. Writing has helped me make sense of some of what I’ve seen, and my faith has grown through that exploration. At times, it feels like a way of talking with God. At other times, I’m asking questions, noticing things, or making a beetle do something peculiar. I think there’s room for all of that in the same conversation.

I’m working on a collection called 42, written as The Poet Badger. There’s worry and wonder in it. Dirt, spirituality, awe—and a fair bit of fun and nonsense. The aim is to release this December. 

Writing it has made me more honest about what I feel. Sometimes I don’t know what I think until a line comes out and I look at it. I’m more curious about the world, and a little more willing to sit with things I can’t explain yet.

I’d like to build a writing website and release more books. I’ve bought a stealth camper van, and the dream is to live in it, write every day and meet poets from around the world. 

I have a real passion for freedom, new systems, revolution and nature. Perhaps drive until I find some melons and coconuts to live on. I’d love that. Writing every day. Coconuts and melons.

That first day at Barclays, I went in thinking about what I owed. I came out with something I could give away. Thank you to Poet’s Digest for the competition and for inviting me to share my story. It means a lot to be featured. instagram is @badgerpoems