Words Will Never Hurt Me

Hailing from East London, Michaela Boakye-Collins is a Spoken Word Poet with a carousel of lyrics ranging from coffee to religion. Jay Star Nine from B*I*T*C*H*£*S catches up with the self described, “funkadelic, soulistic, high-afro-rockin-weirdo.”

Michaela should be a character from a Lewis Carroll novel. Her eccentricity is what makes her endearing to all those that know her. Having a

bout a quadrillion friends in common and always bumping into her at the Theatre Royal Bar in Stratford, it was definitely time to talk to her about her art form. On stage she is electric and her words are volts that pulsate right through you. Her pen is her sword, her vocabulary her amour - leaving you scarred with the vivid memory of her bold and in-your-face style. She is phenomenal. Citing her faith as inspiration, Michaela is a proud Christian, she humorously says: “I see God in a pair of shoes, on a roof and even flickering in a light bulb.” Having only been performing for a few years, Michaela is twenty-one and wrote her first poem at aged eighteen. Her first gig happened after begging a manager in a bar in Ealing to perform her material. Since then, she has performed all over London, including: The Jazz Cafe, Hackney Empire and locally in, Theatre Royal Bar. But her best performance to date was working with the jazz band at a venue called the 'Nuyorican' in New York and describes them as, “the best jazz band alive.” Her confidence protrudes right through her being, in how she sits, talks and looks and when describing her performance style she says: “I infuse a lot of comedy into serious issues to make everything relative to people; I can’t be bothered with all the simile and metaphor stuff. My performance style is pretty passionate and energetic it tells a story even without the words.” With a library of poems under her belt one would assume it would be hard to keep old material fresh, especially pieces that are familiar to the audience, she insists: “I enhance the performance, change it up, add new lines and turn parts into song. You got to keep recreating things. I like my poems to be in transition, so much so, that you would not recognise the same one you heard two years ago.” It is easy to assume that performing your work gets easier but she disagrees: “It is not that much different now, except I’m not so overtly concentrating on the fact that I’m reciting a poem. Now I get to separate myself from the audience, grin at them, do a little dance and think what I am going to have for dinner.” As an audience member she definitely performs poetry for the soul. Cue: snapping fingers. Her poem, ’Miss-First-Class-Degree’ has ruffled some peoples feathers and she informs that she got a bad review where a journalist wrote, ‘it was cliché for a black poet performing a poem about white racists.” It is her candidness not her words that might offend some people. So, who is “Miss-First-Class-Degree with the same qualifications on your CV as me?” Michaela reveals: “Actually, she isn’t white, she is black Caribbean. She lived on my friends halls and this poem is based on those silent ongoing altercations she had with her during her time in dorms.” The poem is about the protagonist asking ‘Miss-First-Class-Degree’ for a pen and her ignoring their request. It is witty and insightful where many probably experience that same situation before.

Living in the multicultural East London she believes that her poetry is type-casted for certain events, she ponders: “There seems to be a glass ceiling between myself and middle class events. I hold my faith accountable for that, rather my ethnicity. Black poets don’t scare people as long as you keep calling it Spoken Word. Its Black: pianist, ballet dancers and fine artists that terrify people, so I’ll leave that horror show to them.” Her first album is to be released this year and is called, ‘Fixing Barbie: The Hologram.’ It will be a
miss-matched-mix of: jazz, electro, pop and drama, she enthuses: “Its more one for the sisters, but the guys will love it too. It is very out-of-the-box; it has: emotional, funny and exciting moments, I’m in love with this, you will be too!”

Images sourced from icheala's facebook page