rebecca kenny

Rebecca Kenny is the founder of Written Off. A qualified English teacher, she developed the idea of her own micropublisher whilst in recovery from a major road traffic accident in which she broke her back, neck, pelvis and sternum.

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Rebecca's work in five words:

• Cathartic

• Reflective

• Empowering

• Witty

• Mundane

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Following her accident, she collaborated with poets from across the world to put together a pamphlet, The Poet Who Broke Her Back, to raise money for the Major Trauma Centre who cared for her. Following on from this, she composed her first collection, Crash & Learn, which she decided to publish under the initial Bent Key name. 

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The rest, as they say, is history.

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You describe your poetry as "focusing on the mundane parts of existence that make you feel something." What does that mean?

 

I love the little bits of life that we don't talk about much, simply because we take them for granted - little things like a cuddle from my son, eye contact with a friend from across a crowded room, the seconds before a first kiss - stuff that isn't setting the world on fire, but has a sense of mundane beauty about it when it's isolated and examined. I love pulling apart those moments, exploring why they mean so much to me, and people seem to really identify with that.

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When did you begin writing poetry and getting your work out there?

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I wrote a lot of poetry in my early twenties, but looking back, it was obscure, over-emotive and very, very angsty. I had a little WordPress page that I abandoned at 25, and then I didn't really write anything until 2020, when I hit 36. I started my Instagram page in October 2020, after seeing the success of the Liverpool poet Laura Ferries, who I worked with briefly and who produces some brilliant stuff. Inspired by her, I started posting online again - and it grew from there! 

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In August 2021, Jyothi from What's The Sketch asked me to perform at a poetry event in Altrincham and after that, I caught the bug. I met Rebecca Phythian, Lisa O'Hare and The Bee Bar Barman - all legends who have pushed me to become a better artist and performer.

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Does being a qualified English teacher affect how you see poetry?

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I don't think so. I'm not a grammar snob - in my opinion, language is fluid. It's a constructed set of rules and rules are made to be broken, right? 

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I guess what it does affect is my ability to craft an extended metaphor or appreciate the beauty in well-crafted writing - I've spent years reading what I fondly call 'clam chowder rhymes' (after a student who couldn't find a rhyme for "the snow is as white as powder", so she went with "so I sat and ate clam chowder" - she did later fix it!) and I have a very high appreciation for anyone with a grasp of figurative language that transcends those basic images. 

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In my own writing, I've actually had to work hard to break away from those strict grammar rules imposed on students at GCSE - playing around with structure and grammar has been quite freeing.

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Who are some of your key influences as a writer?

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I still love all of the poems I read at school - Armitage and Duffy really opened my eyes to that style of poetry that focuses on the mundanity of life that I try to evoke in my own stuff. My favourite poem is I Am Very Bothered by Simon Armitage, and I love sitting and reading his stuff over and over. The World's Wife by Carol-Ann Duffy is one of my favourite collections.

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Aside from those two, I love the Mersey poets - McGough, Patten and Henri - and I have a massive soft spot for Tony Walsh and Hollie McNish. I also love lyrics, and Alex Turner's words for The Arctic Monkeys are just pure poetry to me.

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Chuck in Charly Cox, Amanda Lovelace and Taylor Swift and I think you're close to a full collection of my inspirations!

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What is a topic you'd love to write about, but haven't yet?

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I'm a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, but I don't often write about queer issues. I would love to explore my queerness more and write a bit about my lifestyle in that respect. I think it's sometimes easy to fall into straight poetry as a bisexual woman, but I would like to focus on my romantic relationships outside of that. 

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I also keep saying I want to write about travel - I've seen a lot of the world thanks to my itchy feet, but think I need to start travelling again before I can write about it.

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Which poem do you wish you had written?

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Sweetness by Stephen Dunn. I hold on to that poem in times of crisis, and it has saved me more times than I can count.

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What can we expect from a Rebecca Kenny show?​

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A few politically-charged rants, a bit of singing (if you're lucky), a couple of extended metaphors, some positive affirmations and a whole lot of smiling. I hope!

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