Poet Mike Garry to perform in Shrewsbury

Now, Mike will be performing at The Wightman, in Shrewsbury.

He plays a show tomorrow before returning in April as main tour support for the legendary John Cooper Clarke.

"What we do is a show," Mike explains. "The diversity of poetry you get from an evening with John is amazing. It's real fun and an honour to be able to tour with him and up-and-coming support Luke Wright. We're like a family."

Looked after by ex-Clash manager Johnny Green, each poet brings something different to the table. But while the other two performers focus on the comical edge of spoken word, Mike's performance is raw and hard hitting.

"I write about myself in lots of ways and the things of daily life that most people hide behind. A lot of men don't talk about the things that I talk about, the emotional side of things. I try to speak honestly and from the heart. I think that's the key."

Garry's performance is unique in many ways, one being the way in which he conducts himself on stage. Mike has a reputation for his emotive tone of voice and the way in which he varies his delivery.

"I think my technique has developed as time has gone on," he explains. "When you first start performing you're nervous and knock out poems as quickly as you can. As you develop as a performer you learn there's a number of things you can do to convey thoughts and ideas.

"The human voice is a musical instrument and it's something you can use to add to a performance. It's important to make the listener do some work, make them stretch themselves. Poetry is about listening carefully to words.

"All I've got is a body and I just want to convey ideas with every possible element of my performance. Ultimately, I use whatever necessary to convey the themes I speak about."

Something both Mike and John have in come is that they originate from Manchester. "I write about Manchester and I don't write about Manchester. I write about the city because it's my home but I also just use it as a conduit for themes such as poverty, divided class and other themes that run throughout society. Manchester is full of immigrants working in the city, a lot of people flock to it. It's the number one employer in the cultural industries, it has a great history of music and art and the people there aren't afraid to express what they feel about things. It's a boiling pot bubbling with talent and arts."

As well as performing regularly, Garry is an ex-librarian and facilitates workshops with many young people from those in school to young offenders.

"I try to make them realise that reading and writing is their way out. It's all about convincing people to shift their gaze. The most important thing is to communicate, if they can communicate its half the battle."

Garry has also been working with The Cassia String Quartet to bring together a collaboration of poetry and classical music. That is something he hopes to focus on more this year.

"I believe what we're doing is truly unique," he adds. "I've never worked with a band before, to collaborate with such strong musicians is an eye opener. We'll be going to Morocco to record and film there, we'll also be playing Good Life Festival, which is founded by Cerys Matthews," the former frontwoman of Welsh rockers Catatonia. "She's a big fan."

Catch Mike Garry at The Wightman, Shrewsbury, tomorrow.