LifeJacket – Details, episodes & analysis

Poets and writers often find themselves navigating the perimeter. You face the physical perimeter of a line or paragraph end. You skirt the boundary of the idea trying to find the right way in. Pause at the perimeter of your drift, feel the ebb of the moment, seize a gap in your day and examine what happens inside the lines with poems by Liz Amos, Craig Chalmers and Jo Fisher in this week’s LifeJacket.

You can follow Liz Amos' work at https://liz-amos.com/

Craig Chalmers is a regular performer at Hampshire & Dorset open mics.

Jo Fisher writes on Substack as https://jofisher.substack.com

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

LifeJacket is made possible through Arts Council Funding. Stay buoyant.

As we wade in the waters, we find ourselves stepping across time - the past, present and future flows through language. A poem from further up the river remains in these currents and in our listening, remakes our understanding of language, ourselves, time.

In this episode of LifeJacket, we hear the poems of Concha Méndez, whose poems, in the words of poet and translator Harriett Truscott, shift from vibrant statements of desire and possibility, through grief at the loss of her first child and her country, to an expression of the role of the poet as truth-teller in the world,.

Featuring Harriet Truscott reading the works of Concha Méndez, recorded at ArtfulScribe’s LitFest 2024. A special thank you to Paola Ulacia Altolaguirre and the Concha Méndez Estate for permission to air this material. You can learn more about Harriet’s work at https://hmtruscott.co.uk/

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

LifeJacket is made possible through Arts Council Funding. Stay buoyant.

The writer sometimes doubles as a psychogeographer, imbuing place with human behaviour, nature and emotion - or the reverse, imbuing the human with the elements of a place. This week’s episode of LifeJacket plays two pieces from Angela Chicken and Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly, and strafes processes/practices such as ‘inscaping’, to borrow the term from Gerard Manley Hopkins and ‘zoning’ from Wanda Coleman, with some Ezra Pound and Catherine Liu concepts sprinkled in there for good measure.

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

Angela Chicken is a poet and writer based in Southampton.

Issa Loyaan Farrah-Kelly is a poet and the host of The Clifford Street Corner on www.voicefmradio.co.uk a monthly show dedicated to poetry, lyrics and literature.

LifeJacket is made possible through Arts Council Funding. Stay buoyant.

Episode 4: Relearning My Name

The name is the story. In this LifeJacket special, two young writers navigate systemic and social issues in an expression of solidarity, hope and future-making.

Relearning My Name is an audio docu-drama which combines dramatic monologue with real interview extracts to show the racial prejudices faced by students of South Asian descent in the UK school system.

Written and Directed by Batool Zaidi & Cassie Wicks.

Mix and Mastered by Andy Halliday.

Originally commissioned by BBC Arts, executive produced by Jeremy Routledge at Calling the Shots.

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

This episode of LifeJacket concerns the desires of poets, clearly catalysed by experiences and lyrical dreams. We’ll hear from Harley Truslove as they navigate their intimate relationship with the moon, as all poets are wont. Claire Griffin stokes the fire one feels in the gut when they are homeward bound. And Claire Hillier interrogates the visages and visions of a woman burned to the ground, to rise from the ashes anew, ablaze with renewed possibilities.

These performances are all scored by the Tongue Fu band, led by Chris Redmond, recorded at the showcase celebration of ArtfulScribe’s How to Play a Poem Like a Song cohort. There is a live improv band responding to the poets words in the moment, themselves catalysed by the lyric and bringing these poems of desire into the air. More info at https://www.tonguefu.co.uk/

About the poets:

Claire Griffin is an Irish writer living in Germany. Her poetry explores the thresholds of midlife—motherhood, memory, identity, and time. She has performed with Tongue Fu and is an active member of the Irish Writers Centre. She was highly commended in the Irish Creative Writing Awards. Her debut collection-in-progress, Midway, gathers poems on what we carry, what we let go of, and what carries us.

Claire Hillier, known as Claire H ‘the poet’, is a poet, spoken word artist, and musician from St Helens, Merseyside. Nomadic by nature, she has lived in Winchester, Brighton, Stroud, and is now Bournemouth based. She self-published a no#1 bestselling poetry collection, and performs at numerous UK festival stages, and sell-out events. She hosts SCRATCH @ Patch Bournemouth.

Harley is a local poet, performer, and general nuisance. They’re the assistant facilitator for ArtfulScribe’s 15-18 group on Tuesday evenings (come along!) and can generally be found around open mics sharing their work. They are currently semi-touring their first ever solo show, ‘thirty’, a comedy/poetry set about getting older. They’re also known for their gamebook work, and recently released their first novel with Holmgard Press

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

How is our lifejacket holding up? From what crude materials did I compose its sleeveless visage? Through life’s shrapnel and stray pebbles, brackish currents and brutal rapids, it has seen better days. A crude yet crafted thing. The poem is such a thing, too. Both a crude, yet crafted thing. The poem, a composite of those simple stray truths and experiences, yet honed and crafted into a structure, either recognisable, like a jacket, or disparate.

Featuring poems from Jayne Ede, The Village Boy, Syd Meats and J Pyrite.

LifeJacket, a literary podcast and buoyancy aid, produced by ArtfulScribe, available to stream on all platforms, with episodes released every other week. Follow the link in the ArtfulScribe bio or on the website at artfulscribe.co.uk to listen and access liner notes to this episode.

About Jayne Ede

Jayne is a civil servant living in Southampton. They write poems drawn from natural, social, and emotional observations, often inspired by animal behaviour and the everyday creatures overlooked by humans. Their style is energetic and rhythmic, balancing sincerity with silliness, and they particularly enjoy exploring how the ordinary can reveal the extraordinary.

About The Village Boy

Based in Hampshire, The Village Boy is a spoken-word poet of British and Sierra Leonean

heritage. His poetry explores themes of love, anger, and longing, employing central tenets of humanism and existentialism to resonate with a diverse audience. His performances have

graced venues such as the Barbican Centre and Victorious Festival, as well as more intimate settings including universities, weddings, pubs, and open mic nights. His work is available on Spotify and other audio platforms.

About Syd Meats

Syd Meats is a singer-songwriter and poet. His songs have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 but his poems haven’t. He has performed at events and festivals around the UK and was a 2019 Hammer & Tongue Regional Poetry Slam finalist. From 2014 to 2018 he ran a grass-roots open mic event in Romsey, Hants. He was shortlisted for Verve’s first Poem of the Month in April 2025, and Highly Commended in the 2025 Charm Poetry Prize.

About J Pyrite

J Pyrite is a nonbinary person who has been writing poems for over half their life. Their work focuses on themes of trauma and recovery, specifically the mythologisation of lived experiences. They have a self-published book called "The Lizard's Dance" and are also a visual artist and photographer. J is based in Southampton and can be found at many local open mic nights.