Bermudian poet Alan C. Smith is swiftly gaining a reputation as a cat poet, but his cat poems are never cutesy, tend to be fully clawed, and are rarely about cats at all.

Some of Mr. Smith’s cat poems, along with several other poems of a more general nature are included in the Bermuda Anthology of Poetry, released last month.

“I do write a lot of cat poems,” said Mr. Smith during an interview with the Bookworm Beat. “I have a whole book of them. I use to have cats, but I think I wasn’t a very good owner. Interestingly enough, the cat poems are the ones I have the most trouble getting published.”

The Bermuda Anthology of Poetry contains around 80 poets by many of Bermuda’s top writers. It was the brainchild of former Minister of Community & Cultural Affairs Dale Butler, coordinated by Kim Dismont Robinson and edited by Jamaican poet Mervyn Morris.

Mr. Smith’s work has appeared in literary journals and compilations such as Poui, The Caribbean Writer, In Our Own Words and in the award winning children’s anthology, Under The Moon & Sea. Just recently his poem, ‘Emily Hurricane’ in Under The Moon was requested to be in a book of Commonwealth children’s poetry. In Bermuda, he has been heavily involved in the literary performance group, Crabs In A Bucket.

“I started writing when I was 16 years old, but I didn’t get serious about writing until I was about 24 years old,” he said. “To me it is always about getting better. I am at the point now where I am confident in my work but I still feel like I have so far to grow.”

When he first started writing poetry, there weren’t many avenues to publicly perform work in Bermuda.

“There really wasn’t anyone else doing it,” he said. “I didn’t have avenues like Chewstick or Crabs In A Bucket. Now there is a place where you can go and hear other people read. I mostly developed by reading and doing the odd workshop when I had a chance.”

Mr. Smith’s philosophy has been, if there aren’t performance outlets, try to create them.

“You can always go to the Arts Council and get money to assist you because they are there to promote creativity,” he said. “But we still find it somewhat difficult to get a good following for the Crabs In A Bucket performances. In my opinion, they are all top shelf. The performances are quite impressive, as impressive or more so than performances I have seen in other places.”

He said that some people might fear that a poetry reading will be stodgy, but if people came they would realise the true potential of a poetry reading.

Over the years, Mr. Smith’s poetry has taken him into other domains such as painting, music and dance. His poem ‘Black Pearls’ was written to be partly spoken and partly sung. One of the poems included in the anthology, ‘Severed Child’ started out as a collaboration between Mr. Smith and a local dancer.

“That was a collaboration with a dancer who wanted to do a movement piece to poetry,” he said. “We sat together and talked about themes. I had just gone through a horrible breakup and she knew someone who had died.

“To me these experiences were not dissimilar. So I just went and wrote completely from my experience.”

Mr. Smith often composes his poetry while pedal biking, walking or moving in some way. This gives his poetry a strong sense of movement and rhythm.

“There are people who know me who say ‘are you dancing any more’,” he said. “I never danced. I have a natural ability to move, but I was never a dancer. Most of the stuff I write I write for the page, but I just have a natural rhythm to the way I write because I do a lot of my writing when I am in transit.

“The cat poems are purposely rhythmic. I wanted to do something that was whimsical so I purposefully borrowed from hip hop poetry a bit, old nursery rhymes and limericks. But I also worked to make them slightly more sophisticated.”

As an example of Mr. Smith’s versatility, he is currently working on some pieces for an art show.

“I am creating visual images, and writing the poems right on the pieces,” he said. “They interrelate. It is all about the sea. They are pictures of people and I have taken their features and filled them in with shades of the ocean. It is difficult. I don’t paint. It is all computer art. I consider myself a poet first and most of the other things I do are as a result of the poetry.”

Mr. Smith first became involved in the visual arts while making posters for Crabs In A Bucket productions.

“I could get public domain pictures from the Internet, but I wanted something that was personal,” he said. “So I would take pictures and manipulate them on the computer and then it developed into actual art.”

He said most of the really good poets and writers he knows are multi-talented in some way.

“Maybe it is one talent that is able to diversify,” he said.

Like many writers, the poet carries a journal wherever he goes, and writes all the time.

“If something comes to mind I will write it down,” he said. “I can write on paper or on the computer. I would be just as happy to have a lap top I could carry in my pocket.”

His poetic inspirations include e.e. cummings and Pablo Neruda, among others.

“When you think you are good and then you read something by Neruda, you realise how far you have to go,” he said. “e.e. cummings I like because of the way that he puts words together. It is uncanny what he will do with order and how it will make something mundane completely profound.

“Mervyn Morris isn’t necessarily one of the people I identify with in a big way but I love his work and I was really happy he got involved. I love the sparseness of his work and the precision. It is amazing how loaded some of his little poems are.”

Mr. Smith said he is often inspired by other poets to change his writing style from time to time.

“I try a new approach sometimes,” he said. “I am always impressed with poets who are able to work with the minimal words. In my own work, even though I don’t necessarily write short poems, I am constantly taking out words that aren’t necessary.”

He is currently talking with the Kaleidoscope art gallery about arranging the next Crabs In A Bucket performance there.

“I have a few performance projects I want to do,” he said. “I want to involve some dancers. I also want to do something with a choir, but that is still up for grabs. It will include visual art.

“These things evolve as they go along. The performance thus far is three people including myself, Kim Dismont Robinson and Chris Astwood. We will also invite people to come out and read who do not want to perform. The plan is to have a few different events over a two week period of time along with the art show.”To contact the Bookworm Beat, email bookwormbeat1[AT]hotmail.com