More Mixed Messages is courageous, unflinching, authentic, informed and indefatigable. Mark doesn't look away, or speak in whispers. The work sits well in the rich vein of protest poetry; confronting the reader and society with visceral truths wrapped in humour and righteous anger. Mark compels the reader to the centre of the most heightened moments, to inhabit the hard questions about themselves, about life, about society; to hear the words as they read, to feel them as they're heard. Asserting the questions: Am I in or out of the system? What am I made of? Do I contribute to this? If not me, then who? Looking back to look forward, Mark evidences that change has happened and so change is possible. This collection invites you to discover more of a poet for the times.
Poet, performer, educator, Mark first trained at Rose Bruford College, graduating in Theatre, retraining as a teacher of Secondary Drama at Goldsmiths in 2004. He's still acting and teaching, while both performing his poetry and using it to facilitate workshops on culture, identity and poetics. Publishing his pamphlet 'Mixed Messages' in 2009, he has toured nationally, as far afield as Johannesburg in person, and worldwide online, from Ronnie Scott's to the Paralympics, working with all ages from five upwards. Featured on Radio 4, BBC Radio London, Jazz FM and Choice FM, his commissions include; The Royal Maritime Museum, the charities ACLT and Crisis and BBC Radio Four, for whom he contributed a suite of poems to 'Lights Out: From the Ashes of New Cross' in 2020. A founder the 'Poetry in London' group Thompson has curated and hosted numerous events from 'Lipped Ink' at the Poetry Society Cafe, to 'Fighting Talk' at Greenwich Theatre and monthly online events 'Poetry from the Grassroots'. In print he has featured in the Morning Star and three anthologies since 2020; 'Poets Against Trump', 'Football is Poetry' and 'Poetry is our Protest' a collaboration with Spoken with whom he also contributed to a poetry exchange with Born Lippy in Newcastle in 2021. Mark hosted local Black Lives Matter events in 2020 and contributed poetry to commemorations of 'The Battle of Lewisham' and the New Cross fire, helping to mark local moments, key to the history of the Black British experience.
Title: More Mixed Messages
Author: Mark 'Mr T' Thompson
ISBN: 9781913958343
Binding:
Publisher: Burning Eye Books
Publication Date: 2022-10-12
Number of Pages: 60
Weight: 0.2001 kg
Mark's poetry is punchy, precise and positive. He doesn't waste words, and always hits his target. One of the UK's most vital poetic voices of the 2020s - Steve Tasane, Poet and author.
