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Sadly their opposition can be bought off and their mouths filled with gold.

HW: You’ve answered your own question with that list: these are targets for the sharpest arrows that writers can fish out of their quivers.

SV: Royal Babylon: The Criminal Record of the British Monarchy, is one of the most profound yet polarizing poems of our time, how can a new generation of writers be encouraged to tackle the meaty issues that beset society like corporate greed, racism, poverty and government policy? Poetry is heightened language, and language exists to effect change, not to be a tranquilizer. If poetry isn’t revolutionary, it’s nothing. HW: Octavia Paz said, “If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide” and, according to Denis Diderot, the encyclopaedist and one of the principal mentors of the French Revolution, “Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.” Why? Because it’s a space where you get to ask and to answer the fundamental questions, and this includes querying the social structure in all its aspects. SV: Do you think poetry can challenge the social structure of society? In short he is a true literary original and boldly embodies the Gonzo spirit: Frestonia lasted almost a decade and had its own institutions and postage stamps.īefore Banksy, Heathcote was spraying the walls of Buckingham Palace and Notting Hill’s low rent district with ‘protest’ graffiti and social messages. In 1977, together with a group of fellow squatters, he established the ‘state’ of Frestonia in Notting Hill and declared independence from Britain.

Heathcote Williams is a best–selling poet, critically acclaimed playwright, award winning author, accomplished actor and celebrated activist who pioneered the investigational prose poem and uses this medium to tackle a variety of political and environmental issues.Īs a leading figure in the London squatting scene in the 1970s, Williams successfully ran a squatters ‘estate agency’ called: ‘Rough Tough Cream Puff’. Saira Viola asks Heathcote Williams about the significance of poetry in modern society, his influences, and much more.